All You Bought Was a Room

[WilsonFlyer]

We've seen it and used it as the buzz-phrase on here for years. Well guess what? It's a good thing, because that's about all that's left anyway.

 

[UrsulaWantsYourSoul]

Perfect - you prepared yourself for the inevitable and we've arrived! Some of the earlier perks were destined to be short-lived as membership grew - can't have THAT many people with free park access. Anything beyond the room I'll be elated with but whatever - mostly just happy to have access to deluxe rooms near my happy places. Early park access, merch/dining discounts & free parking currently are nice.

 

[Sandisw]

Well, the parks are still there and are still open..so we are not quite there yet.

Personally, we are still getting a great deal of enjoyment out of our trips.

 

[MinnieSueB]

I'm just hoping after the 50th is over & demand drops - perhaps we can get APs back

 

[Marionnette]

We've seen it and used it as the buzz-phrase on here for years. Well guess what? It's a good thing, because that's about all that's left anyway.

Well, you could buy a ticket and not be able to get into a park. That happened to a lot of people who didn't realize that they needed a park reservation and capacity was topped at 30%.

FWIW, I knew going in that DVC didn't owe me anything other than a chance to use my points for a reservation. It stinks that APs are not available for sale. But that's the case for everyone, not just DVC members.

 

[Madame]

They did our family a favour. No ME, no APs, no *real* EMH, no FPs, FILTHY TL washrooms and on and on - I was actually just explaining the ridiculous “EMH” today to DH and being a non Disney fan he just shook his head at how Disney fans are willing to accept any crumb and pay twice as much. We’ll use DVC as our Orlando base and branch out. Disney doesn’t have a monopoly on magic.

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

They did our family a favour. No ME, no APs, no *real* EMH, no FPs, FILTHY TL washrooms and on and on - I was actually just explaining the ridiculous “EMH” today to DH and being a non Disney fan he just shook his head at how Disney fans are willing to accept any crumb and pay twice as much. We’ll use DVC as our Orlando base and branch out. Disney doesn’t have a monopoly on magic.

Have you read the Harry Potter books?

 

[Madame]

Have you read the Harry Potter books?

Multiple times. I was a LOTRs fan before Harry but my boys and I are huge Potter fans. DD never got into them but she loves big coasters and has outgrown WDW - we’re looking at adding Sea World into the mix next summer. I’ve heard they have some impressive coasters

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

Multiple times. I was a LOTRs fan before Harry but my boys and I are huge Potter fans. DD never got into them but she loves big coasters and has outgrown WDW - we’re looking at adding Sea World into the mix next summer. I’ve heard they have some impressive coasters

Yes. The world of Hogwarts is lots of fun. LOTR too. Sea World, no. After seeing these spectacular creatures in the wild and knowing they are intelligent and have family oriented behavior, I cannot support Sea World.

 

[Madame]

Yes. The world of Hogwarts is lots of fun. LOTR too. Sea World, no. I had a huge home on acreage on the waterfront of the Puget Sound. I literally had whales in my backyard. After seeing these spectacular creatures in the wild and knowing they are intelligent and have family oriented behavior, I cannot support Sea World.

Yes, understandable. Did they not agree to phase out the killer whales? Marineland here in Canada did I’m pretty sure.

ETA yes ML here did. I assumed major aquatic parks did the same

 

[Ms Bibbidi]

Yes, understandable. Did they not agree to phase out the killer whales? Marineland here in Canada did I’m pretty sure.

ETA yes ML here did. I assumed major aquatic parks did the same

I hope so.

 

[Smugpugmug]

Yes. The world of Hogwarts is lots of fun. LOTR too. Sea World, no. I had a huge home on acreage on the waterfront of the Puget Sound. I literally had whales in my backyard. After seeing these spectacular creatures in the wild and knowing they are intelligent and have family oriented behavior, I cannot support Sea World.

Seaworld announced in 2016 that it was ending it's killer whale program and the CEO specifically stated that he wanted the parks to focus on coasters, so that says to me that they're moving away from the aquatic animal shows that were criticized in the documentary Blackfish. I want to go to Seaworld to check out their coasters too but no one in my family will go with me due to the exact reason you stated (and I agree with it too).

 

[purpliequeen]

Concierge Collection is pretty awesome. We got tired of the "World" after our first decade with DVC. Disney does a great job selecting the hotels in the Collection. After several years "away" we returned and found the magic again.

 

[bwvBound]

We've seen it and used it as the buzz-phrase on here for years. Well guess what? It's a good thing, because that's about all that's left anyway.

Well ... I must say, some of these are really nice rooms!

I'm not ready to fly ... so all of our points are going for VGC and a nearby Concierge Club exchange before California re-opened. My, oh, my. VGC is a very special place and I know we'd never pay cash for the hotel side. We are quite grateful for our DVC stays!!

 

[BeachClub2014]

We bought a commitment to vacation with our family through that room. Yes, I am fully aware that the family can take a million non-Disney vacations or that there are cheaper timeshares out there. All true. But, watching your children grow up at WDW over the years and now planning trips with our adult "kids" and grandchildren is really what it's all about, and it's been special for us. A gazillion priceless memories have been made, and a gazillion more are hopefully yet to come.

Some of the various perks, discounts, and programs over the years have been great, others we never used so their absence is no huge deal to us.

 

[AdamsMum]

We've seen it and used it as the buzz-phrase on here for years. Well guess what? It's a good thing, because that's about all that's left anyway.

To be truthful, it's a great room in a great location. When I bought my first contract (resale) I had no idea about any perks.
I do agree with you about the feeling of it all though, but my feelings are a mainly about the changes in the parks. My next trip will probably be in early 2024 with my 2 adult children and DD's significant other, and we'll combine it with Universal. I'm sure they can navigate all the digital stuff for me. After that? I don't know.
I keep looking at resales, and have to kick myself because I'm remembering the "home away from home" feel that I used to get when I was in WDW. It's hard to break old habits!

 

[Matty B13]

They did our family a favour. No ME, no APs, no *real* EMH, no FPs, FILTHY TL washrooms and on and on - I was actually just explaining the ridiculous “EMH” today to DH and being a non Disney fan he just shook his head at how Disney fans are willing to accept any crumb and pay twice as much. We’ll use DVC as our Orlando base and branch out. Disney doesn’t have a monopoly on magic.

We just picked up some more points in our Feb UY, and were planning fall WDW trips with our June UY points. But after all the changes lately, we decided to put the June UY points up for sale and not take a second WDW vacation in the fall. Just did a Universal/WDW trip in April and our girls loved the Harry Potter rides, so no real need to keep doing the same rides at WDW twice a year.

 

[tjkraz]

My feelings toward Disney are invariably colored by the full duration of our DVC ownership. We took our first family trip to WDW in late 2002 and became members about a year later. And here's how things compare to those early days:

Magical Express: Did not exist

Magic Bands: Did not exist

Dining Plan: Did not exist, and we've never used it

Extra Magic Hours: Not operating (post 9/11). The current variant isn't my favorite, but it's gone thru many revisions over the years.

FastPass: Paper tickets. Personally I prefer the recent FP+ variant, but I still like the current Genie+ system better than the original paper FP which required running across the parks and standing in lines for tickets. Genie does have the advantage of no tiered attractions and multiple parks per day, plus it's more realistic to get more than 3 rides per day.

Park Pass: It's an annoyance, but can be overcome with a minuscule amount of advance planning. Certainly less effort than making FP+ reservations 60 days in advance. And if I'm taking the "glass is half full" approach, on a day when MK attendance is so high that they aren't allowing any more Park Pass reservations, I'd prefer to choose another park anyway.

DVC perks: No Moonlight Magic, no private lounges, no merchandise discount, dining discounts limited to about 20-30 locations

Number of DVC resorts: 7

Annual Passes: available but no DVC discount. Also we were never heavy AP buyers, having them only about 15-20% of the time. Non-expiring tickets were the greater loss.

Often it's a case of Disney giveth and Disney taketh away. New attractions, perks, performers, fireworks make way for the old. Some additions are better. Some are worse. The cost is undoubtedly higher, and we all have to perform our own cost/benefit analysis. I don't begrudge anyone who decides that their 100th ride on It's a Small World will be their last. At the same time, I can't really pinpoint any exact period in time when WDW was superior, with the expectation that things remain unchanged or continue to only improve.

 

[howardlee2]

really enjoyed taking our kids to Disney in the 90s and 2000s. Had FREE park passes till 2000!!! really spoiled with that. after a hiatus now looking at taking a couple of small (2,4) grand children early next year. can't say I am really excited about it as it feels like Disney is extorting every possible dollar and then some. Instead of several trips per year it looks like it will be years in between.....And that's even with DVC points and many leftover park hopper passes!

 

[AnnaKristoff2013]

I'm just hoping after the 50th is over & demand drops - perhaps we can get APs back

The 50th isn’t what’s driving demand right now.