Why can't DVC members get AP on payment plan

[taurus8012]

I think as a DVC owner,we should have the ability to make monthly payments for AP's like Florida residents . I had Busch Garden AP's for the past three years and really enjoy making the monthly payments. I will continue to bug DVC until they allow DVC owners the option to puchase AP's monthly like Florida residents.

 

[Chuck S]

All we ae entitled to as DVC Owners is what is spelled out in our contracts. Any perks and discounts can be discontinued at any time. As to whether or not we should be able to pay AP in monthly payments, that is not DVCs decision. Park tickets are controlled by the Parks and Resort division. DVC has to negotiate for those discounts. It would be entirely possble that the parks division would require DVC to pay for the APs up front, and then DVC would be responsible to recoup the money from the owners. That would likely up our dues to cover any costs involved, including additional bookkeeping. Or that the parks division would want DVC to be responsibile for the park ticket if the owner defaults. They may all be under the Disney umbrella, but each division is responsible for their own finances and profitability.

Also look at another possibility. FL resident are more likely to be stable, as they live there and visit the parks regularly...so they would not want to loose access by not making a payment.

With DVC, someone could buy a pass one month, and decide to sell their membership the next month, and no longer make their AP payments...basically getting highly a discounted park ticket for that one visit. Disney is not going to take on a scenario that has the potential to lose $$. Look at how many resale contracts have delayed closings because the current owners want one last Disney trip before they sell.

One other thing to consider would be international members. DVC does not do bank drafts for dues unless it is a US bank account. It would be hard to give the AP financing as a perk to only US based DVC Members. Limiting it to local FL resident passes eliminates that problem.

 

[erionm]

I think as a DVC owner,we should have the ability to make monthly payments for AP's like Florida residents . I had Busch Garden AP's for the past three years and really enjoy making the monthly payments. I will continue to bug DVC until they allow DVC owners the option to puchase AP's monthly like Florida residents.

DVC has no control over the payment plans. All they can do is work with the ticketing group to try and get that option extended to members.

 

[tjkraz]

My guess is that there are legal difficulties (expenses) involved with making collections from non-paying AP holders in 50 states rather than the 2 they support right now. If Disney did offer payment plans, to some it would become the latest and greatest way to vacation cheap at Walt Disney World--pay the 1/12 deposit and then close your checking account when you get home to prevent Disney from deducting any more payments.

Never hurts to send in requests but as other posters pointed out, I wouldn't hold out for something exclusive to DVC members. It all depends on whether the Disney ticketing people are willing to expand payment plans to residents of other states.

In the meantime open your own vacation savings account and start putting away a little money each month. Takes about 10 minutes to set up and has the same basic effect.

 

[Chuck S]

In the meantime open your own vacation savings account and start putting away a little money each month. Takes about 10 minutes to set up and has the same basic effect.

Another option would be to purchase a Disney gift card every month, if they didn't want to save it in cash or bank account.

 

[bgraham34]

My guess is that there are legal difficulties (expenses) involved with making collections from non-paying AP holders in 50 states rather than the 2 they support right now.

That seems more like the issue right there. Its probably just not worth it to add 49 more headaches to that option. And don't forget those owners in the UK and Canada.

Another option would be to purchase a Disney gift card every month, if they didn't want to save it in cash or bank account.

Thats a great idea as well. i might start doing that.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

I would love to make monthly payments on APs. Unfortunately, we are letting ours go this year. That is an idea however about buying monthly gift cards.

 

[dvc_john]

All those explanations still don't explain why Seaworld/Busch Gardens has no problem allowing monthly payments.

I've had a Seaworld/Busch Gardens AP for many years, and pay monthly. And I'm not a local resident.

 

[GOOFY D]

All those explanations still don't explain why Seaworld/Busch Gardens has no problem allowing monthly payments.

I've had a Seaworld/Busch Gardens AP for many years, and pay monthly. And I'm not a local resident.

I would bet that Disney has significantly more volume to deal with than Seaworld/BG.

 

[tjkraz]

I would bet that Disney has significantly more volume to deal with than Seaworld/BG.

Exactly. I suspect Disney is a bigger target for guest fraud, too.

 

[tjkraz]

I'll add that publicly Disney executives have often been quoted as saying that they felt payment plans "cheapened the product." I really don't follow their logic on that but if that's the internal philosophy, it may play a role in the decision.

 

[erionm]

All those explanations still don't explain why Seaworld/Busch Gardens has no problem allowing monthly payments.

I've had a Seaworld/Busch Gardens AP for many years, and pay monthly. And I'm not a local resident.

Disney's AP Payment Plan is written as a Retail Installment Contract (Consumer Note). IIRC, those from Seaworld/Busch Gardens and Universal are basically automatic payments to a CC.

By using the Consumer Note, Disney probably has more protection to recover any monies owed them if the purchaser tries to break the contract.

Also by restricting the purchase to CA and FL Residents at their respective states theme park, they only have to deal with laws governing Consumer Notes in those two states.

 

[spiceycat]

think it is the discount we get with AP.

now with SW (senior discount) if you got the payment plan - you were not entitled to receive the renewal discount for next year. still go the senior discount but not the renewal discount

 

[erionm]

think it is the discount we get with AP.

now with SW (senior discount) if you got the payment plan - you were not entitled to receive the renewal discount for next year. still go the senior discount but not the renewal discount

AP Pricing is now the same for FL Residents and DVC Members, so the price is not the reason they don't offer the payment plan to DVC Members.

FL Residents can renew an AP at the renewal rate and still take advantage of the monthly payment plan.

 

[dvc_john]

I must admit that the Seaworld/Busch Gardens Platinum pass is a bargain. Good for all 3 SW's, both Busch Garden's, and some water parks. (Plus free preferred parking, dining discounts, preferred seating, etc.)

I got mine many years ago (maybe 10 years?), and as long as I keep paying monthly, they don't raise the rate. So I'm still paying the monthly rate I paid 10 years ago!

 

[taurus8012]

All we ae entitled to as DVC Owners is what is spelled out in our contracts. Any perks and discounts can be discontinued at any time. As to whether or not we should be able to pay AP in monthly payments, that is not DVCs decision. Park tickets are controlled by the Parks and Resort division. DVC has to negotiate for those discounts. It would be entirely possble that the parks division would require DVC to pay for the APs up front, and then DVC would be responsible to recoup the money from the owners. That would likely up our dues to cover any costs involved, including additional bookkeeping. Or that the parks division would want DVC to be responsibile for the park ticket if the owner defaults. They may all be under the Disney umbrella, but each division is responsible for their own finances and profitability.

Also look at another possibility. FL resident are more likely to be stable, as they live there and visit the parks regularly...so they would not want to loose access by not making a payment.

With DVC, someone could buy a pass one month, and decide to sell their membership the next month, and no longer make their AP payments...basically getting highly a discounted park ticket for that one visit. Disney is not going to take on a scenario that has the potential to lose $$. Look at how many resale contracts have delayed closings because the current owners want one last Disney trip before they sell.

One other thing to consider would be international members. DVC does not do bank drafts for dues unless it is a US bank account. It would be hard to give the AP financing as a perk to only US based DVC Members. Limiting it to local FL resident passes eliminates that problem.

I really could care less about the so called difficulties that DVC might have. Busch Gardens have been doing this for years so they have a business model. I used DVC owners as a safe base from which to start

 

[disney212]

Another option would be to purchase a Disney gift card every month, if they didn't want to save it in cash or bank account.

We do this too! We actually purchase them each week with our Disney Visa Card (gets me points to use for a Disney card). We buy enough to cover AP, DVC dues and our food at the parks. By purchasing at Kroger we also get pump perks points to lower the cost of our fuel. I go online and pay the card off every couple of weeks so no interest. It is win win for us. We have enough points on our Disney Visa to pay for our food for upcoming December trip! I take all the small gift cards to the local Disney store and buy 1 large gift card for my dues and one for my AP. Makes it much easier than reading off tons of different card numbers and typing them in.

 

[Chuck S]

I really could care less about the so called difficulties that DVC might have. Busch Gardens have been doing this for years so they have a business model. I used DVC owners as a safe base from which to start

You should care about the difficulties DVC may have. Those difficulties could add substantially to our dues if an owner defaults on a payment for a discounted AP, as Disney Resorts may hold DVC responsible in exchange for the ability to have a payment plan. Remember Disney and DVC are two separate operating companies. everything between themis negotiated. If a DVC owner or their guests don't pay their room charge bills, it goes to DVC to try to collect, not Disney. It costs us all money for the Member Services time.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

What Disney has to do (probably) is figure out a way to CYA for people that come for a week to ten days, buy on a payment plan, and then cancel the CC the week after they get home. Same state enforcement of financial obligations is much easier (for CC's) than it is once you cross state lines.

Sure they can cancel your AP, but if you've already used it for a 10 day stay and never intended to come back again during the duration of your AP, they really get screwed if they've only collected the first month's payment of $50 or so. Never underestimate the number of people that would screw Disney over if they "never have to see them again." Thousands
(really hundreds of thousands if it were open to EVERYONE) would do it, despite the fact that we would like to believe differently. It would be a cluster on gate collections for Disney. Why wouldn't people do it? Look at how many lie about kids ages right now!

What they will likely do (IF they ever do anything) is find a compromise with a substantial "down-payment" much akin to the price of a MYW ticket for 5-7 days, maybe with the PH option but likely not since that rapidly approaches the price of an AP anyway.

Another bonus for FL residents is that they ARE more likely to want to keep their passes active, and they're in-state. This makes enforcement much easier for in-state residents.

One advantage we have going for "us" is that we don't actually have a discounted ticket as we often reference it. We actually have a seperate category of AP and what we refer to as its discount isn't really discounted, it IS our/DVC's gate price. This makes us easy to seperate from "normal" AP holders. We're also more likely to keep our tickets in force since we are likely to come multiple times in a year since we own on-property. We're also a group that is likely to NOT buy APs if we only have enough points to come one week a year. There's also the possible enforcement of payment through DVC since we are ALL under contractural obligations to DVC already, at a MINIMUM, for our annual dues.

Bottom line? IMHO? We ARE likely to see an AP payment plan for DVC members. Probably sooner rather than later. My bet is that it's already well into the planning and maybe even the early preparation/implementation stages. There's really no reason they can't implement a system for US similar to FL residents since we really are sort of residents based on what I said above.

For the normal traveler that buys APs? Ain't gonna happen, IMO. Enforcement is just too hard, again, for the reasons outlined above, and for that reason, there's really no benefit to Disney to roll those dice.

We'll see, but that's what I think because that's what makes sense to me.

 

[Chuck S]

What Disney has to do (probably) is figure out a way to CYA for people that come for a week to ten days, buy on a payment plan, and then cancel the CC the week after they get home. Same state enforcement of financial obligations is much easier (for CC's) than it is once you cross state lines.

Sure they can cancel your AP, but if you've already used it for a 10 day stay and never intended to come back again during the duration of your AP, they really get screwed if they've only collected the first month's payment of $50 or so. Never underestimate the number of people that would screw Disney over if they "never have to see them again." Thousands
(really hundreds of thousands if it were open to EVERYONE) would do it, despite the fact that we would like to believe differently. It would be a cluster on gate collections for Disney. Why wouldn't people do it? Look at how many lie about kids ages right now!

What they will likely do (IF they ever do anything) is find a compromise with a substantial "down-payment" much akin to the price of a MYW ticket for 5-7 days, maybe with the PH option but likely not since that rapidly approaches the price of an AP anyway.

Another bonus for FL residents is that they ARE more likely to want to keep their passes active, and they're in-state. This makes enforcement much easier for in-state residents.

One advantage we have going for "us" is that we don't actually have a discounted ticket as we often reference it. We actually have a seperate category of AP and what we refer to as its discount isn't really discounted, it IS our/DVC's gate price. This makes us easy to seperate from "normal" AP holders. We're also more likely to keep our tickets in force since we are likely to come multiple times in a year since we own on-property. We're also a group that is likely to NOT buy APs if we only have enough points to come one week a year. There's also the possible enforcement of payment through DVC since we are ALL under contractural obligations to DVC already, at a MINIMUM, for our annual dues.

Bottom line? IMHO? We ARE likely to see an AP payment plan for DVC members. Probably sooner rather than later. My bet is that it's already well into the planning and maybe even the early preparation/implementation stages. There's really no reason they can't implement a system for US similar to FL residents since we really are sort of residents based on what I said above.

For the normal traveler that buys APs? Ain't gonna happen, IMO. Enforcement is just too hard, again, for the reasons outlined above, and for that reason, there's really no benefit to Disney to roll those dice.

We'll see, but that's what I think because that's what makes sense to me.

But there would be a whole new way to scam Disney, too. An owner who is short on cash and wanting to sell their ownership interest could buy an AP for their "last trip" and then sell the contract. An AP would probably not be considered as a closing cost, unless Disney puts a lien against the DVC contract. A costly procedure to file with the county.