Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct Why ? The new Annual Pass room discount program. With an annual pass, a room can be discounted up to 40% depending on the season. I could call a day before if I wanted and get the discount. All that was needed was a one night deposit fully refundable if you have to cancel up to 5 days before. NOW --- an annual pass room discount can be had when booked a minimum of 60 days. Also, the one night deposit on a room is NOT refunded if you cancel. AND ... ( but wait, there's more) to change or adjust a reservation, there is a 50. charge !!! Yeah ... the message to me is: "WE DO NOT WANT YOUR BUSINESS" I live in Connecticut and held an AP for 6 years. And I USED it !!! It was a nice to know that when unexpected time off or unexpected air fare sales came up, I could book a trip ... especially when the Winter arrives, I would be LOOKING for the chance to sneak a trip to WDW. In other words, having the annual pass gave me reason to visit more. The rational is " well, I have it - so I might as well use it " NO MORE. I e-mailed to tell WDW they lost me as a customer and received a very nice call. I explained my point of view. They said the original policy was 120 days advanced booking and due to the complaints, it was lowered to 60. That's nice. Doesn't help me - and the message is still clear : "WE DON'T WANT YOUR BUSINESS" I will go once a year in June for Gays Days. My plan will be to buy the convention discount ticket (yes, Gay Days is considered a convention with 100k people showing up for the events), attend MK on Sat. and wear RED to "be seen", stay off-site and attend the Typhoon Lagoon and MGM party and that's it. Having vacationed at WDW regularly since 1992 (going since 1975) I feel too many customer appreciation things have fallen - this AP policy change is the last straw for me. I will find new places to go. WDW no longer has my business. Perhaps it can be explained better here: <a href="http://www.mousesavers.com/newapdiscounts.html" target="_blank">http://www.mousesavers.com/new apdiscounts.html</a> at the bottom of the page is a link to submit comments to Disney. It say: I have received more mail about these changes than about any other topic I've ever reported on MouseSavers.com! Complaining to me does no good. I have no "pull" with Disney! If you are an Annual Passholder and you don't like the new Passholder "Best Rate" Plan, you can make your comments known to Disney by e-mail. Click here to go to the DisneyWorld.com web site where your comments can be sent through a form. I hope others feel the same way and comment. What's next? The Florida resident discount program? yeah ... bye now
Originally Posted By trekkeruss Wasn't his issue brought up here on the boards a few months ago? I seem to recall a thread about it, and the OP of that discussion brought up the same concerns you have... but it turned out the new policies weren't nearly as restrictive as originally thought. It times like these that I with there was a search function.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss I was mistaken that the issue was resolved to anyone's satisfaction... FWIW, here is a link to that thread: <a href="http://mb.laughingplace.com/default.asp?WCI=MsgBoard&WCE=T-65933-P-1&Refresh=1210130744" target="_blank">http://mb.laughingplace.com/de fault.asp?WCI=MsgBoard&WCE=T-65933-P-1&Refresh=1210130744</a> IMO, the discount is still available to you. The way I see it Disney made it more restrictive because some folks took unfair advantage of the booking system, and it cost Disney money. They closed some loopholes to weed out those people.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss Oh, and while I hate nickle-and-diming, at least the fee to change a reservation is so minimal. Try that with your airline ticket and it's $50-100.
Originally Posted By kennect Dennis, I feel like you about the new policy but as it stands now it wouldn't have really made any difference in past visits of mine where I used the discount....We have to plan ahead here, no last minute trips.....It will be a hard decision to make on my next trip to buy an annual passport or not...It seems that WDW is on a constantly changing schedule regarding room rates and ticket options... As far you visiting GayDays I still want to complain about my initial beef with it...It is just too hot to visit Orlando in early June...I am just one person that isn't willing to deal with that weather!
Originally Posted By Kimrue <<NOW --- an annual pass room discount can be had when booked a minimum of 60 days. Also, the one night deposit on a room is NOT refunded if you cancel. AND ... ( but wait, there's more) to change or adjust a reservation, there is a 50. charge !!!>> you still get the discount right? I think the AP holders had "too many" benefits before, in my opinion. Being that I live pretty far from wdw I think it's unfair that at one point if I need to switch things around on my family vacation that was planned 5 months earlier, due to a family emergency, my rooms can get gobbled up by an AP holder at practically half the price I'm paying and end up sol and scrambling for a place to stay...and yes this has happened..
Originally Posted By ADMIN <font color="#FF0000">Message removed by an administrator. <a href="MsgBoard-Rules.asp" target="_blank">Click here</a> for the LaughingPlace.com Community Standards.</font>
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct Hey TDLFAN !!! Bob and I might do an early Jan trip for his b'day and stay at Parliment House to check it out. Plus we have Universal 1-day park hopping tickets and the Parliment House is offering free one day tickets to Universal for checking out their new time share. Hey - why not? It is 35. for 4 nights stay - free Universal tickets - free admission to all 5 clubs and all I have to do is spend 90min listening to the speil. hehehehehe Party Party
Originally Posted By WDWNutCase "Trailer Park Guests" NICE terminology. *rolls eyes* Hope that made you feel "superior". So far as I see it, if you visit the park more than 7 days in any given year, the pass is still worth it. We are DVC members so discounts don't apply to us anyhow.
Originally Posted By SuzieQ Heck, it's still easier to get room discounts with an AP at WDW than it is at DLR. You don't know how good you had it!
Originally Posted By Kimrue <<The way I see this...they have started seeing the proverbial light. People *are* coming to this inferior resort in droves and they see no reason why they should be discounting anymore. The airlines have made it easy for any trailer park guest to afford a trip here. So since Disney has become a "let's make the money"-type company where quality is not at the highest it could be...their motto seems to be now..."Let's stick it to them".>> I feel that this is supposed to be inflammatory to kick start this topic and we all know how our dearest likes to do that so I'm not biting...furthermore...I to find the affordablility quite satisfying and I do not live in a trailor park. All I know is what I've experienced. I have never and WILL never go to TDL so I cannot comment on how splendiferous it may be but I'm happy right where I am!!! Me and all of the other WT lp'ers out there YYYYEEEEEhhhaaawwwww.
Originally Posted By beamerdog Whoa. Never say never. I'd like to go to TDL (and lurk around that section quite a bit) and probably never will, but I'm always hoping. And I'm also interested in the decline of the WDW AP. Any decrease in discounts for the frequent WDW guest is a minus in my book. This is an indicator that management obviously caters to the once-in-a-while guest who may not be as discriminating as some of the APers. (Of course I don't have an AP, but *do* notice the minuses around the park.) Wow, I wish I could take advantage of the Gay Days convention rate, but that would be pushing it.
Originally Posted By trekkeruss The airfare to Tokyo is the biggest pill to swallow when planning a trip to Japan and TDR. If you're lucky, you might find a fare around $500-$600. There are accomodations in Tokyo for less than $100, but don't expect anything but very basic and _small_ rooms. Food (in Tokyo) can be downright cheap if you don't eat at regular restaurants. If you're not staying at TDR or at one of the neighbor hotels, you have to factor into your costs transportation, meaning subway fare... not cheap, but not outrageous. TDR itself price-wise is about the same all around, from tickets to food to souvenirs.
Originally Posted By TDLFAN >>I feel that this is supposed to be inflammatory to kick start this topic and we all know how our dearest likes to do that so I'm not biting...<< That's because you are on to me and know better as opposed to oh so many newbies here... >>NICE comments. Hope it made you feel better<< Actually, yes it did.
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct I posted this on the newsgroup rec.arts.disney.parks and here are some interesting responses ------------------------ Hi, all, This is an interesting thread. There is another, more global component that IMHO may have influenced the change in the AP discount policy. Over the past two-three years, the hospitality industry has done more research on discounting sleeping rooms and found that putting "heads in beds" at any (or ultra-low) cost is not effective in improving the bottom line. For about a year *before* 9-11, the hotel industry (and all of travel and tourism) had been in a slump. Discounting became SOP for many companies, because the conventional wisdom was that any head in a bed was better than no heads. In other words, getting any revenue from someone in a room was better than no revenue. After 9-11, that strategy was used even more agressively yet hotels still suffered, so hospitality industry organizations decided to do some revolutionary research. What they have learned is that many discounting strategies actually hurt the bottom line. Income from the room and ancillary services (like food and shopping) were frequently less than cost of operations, or at least less that the income the hotel needed to reach their profit goals. My feeling is that the WDW AP discounts (and some of the other discounting programs at WDW) probably fell into that category. While I was disappointed to see the change in AP room discounts, I was not surprised. I think that we AP-holders have to change our perspective and realize that APs are more like a loyalty program, rather than a discount program. We get some perks -- discounted admission, discounts on some shopping and dining, access to some "exclusive" events and products -- in exchange for our "loyalty" to visiting WDW. Happy day, Anne ===================== Anne Easterling Author of the EZ Fun Travel Guide to Walt Disney World <a href="http://www.ez-wdw.com" target="_blank">http://www.ez-wdw.com</a> Now available -- EZ Fun Map Guide to WDW 2006 Edition Ebook Start planning your WDW vacation right now! --------------------------------- Dennis, I agree with you 100% My family has been staying at various disney world resorts for 2 weeks every January for the last 11years. This year because of personal reasons we were unable to book our January trip until now so no AP discount. So yeah i feel the same way you do- they don't want me as a guest anymore. ---------------------- No I guess it doesn't help you. I suppose they should change their policy immediately so it does? Uh huh. Every company has policies that have to be worked with. I think you're making a pretty big deal about something that isn't exactly unreasonable. There are thousands of hotel room in Orlando, stay somewhere else. No need to overreact. If you don't like it let them know. Proclaiming to the world that "they've lost my business" is unlikely to impress anyone. yeah ... bye now ef ----------------------- The Annual Pass is a ticket to get in the parks. From time to time "perks" have been added and subtracted as dictated by marketing considerations; but the primary purpose is still for getting in the parks. One can only wonder why you thought an extraneous use of the pass would go on forever. Never has. Probably never will. Bye!! ------------------------ Jim Hill Media has a few articles on this topic, this was the first: <a href="http://www.jimhillmedia.com/article.php?id=1577" target="_blank">http://www.jimhillmedia.com/ar ticle.php?id=1577</a> Just a quote: "From a business perspective, I would rather have a couple of thousand vacationers paying full price then 5000 passholders any day. The company makes a lot more money off the former. As a shareholder and future pensioner I want Disney to remain a viable economic concern; a growing economic concern. The annual passholders do not add to that growth. They provide some dollars, but not near what they used to versus what they cost." -Joe ------------------------------- The new AP policy certainly cuts down on impulse trips. Part of the pleasure of having an AP is feeling like you can decide on a quick trip to WDW that you might not otherwise have made. I know that the one year we had an AP we made four trips down in one year. Something I would never dream of doing otherwise. Trust me, Disney still made a ton of revenue from us. We simply spent it on things we would not normally do: character meals, MVMCP, more expensive dining options, high quality souveniers... And, none of those trips down were planned with more than thirty days leeway. -Fizzie --------------------------- Yeah, Disney seems to be discouraging spontaneous last-minute trips. Nowadays, even if you're willing to pay full freight to visit at the last minute, you may not get to dine in your favorite places--they're so booked up. Disney is also, if you'll notice, pricing to encourage longer trips that don't include off-campus trips to see other attractions or eat elsewhere. I'll still go to WDW but I can only plan ahead for longer vacations maybe once or twice a year. So instead of one longer trip and four or five weekend trips, Disney is just going to see me once a year. And, frankly, if I'm going to be doing that much planning for week-long trips, you're as likely going to see me heading for Paris or Tokyo where I can combine Disney with visiting an attractive city. Not that Orlando isn't attractive but...well...erm...um... Caren TDC Queen of Adventureland --------------------------- Disney is not only pricing for longer trips, but they also aren't often showing availability for shorter trips. If you are looking for a 4 night trip and don't find the room available, check for 7 and you just might. Denise -------------------- I understand that WDW has made an AP less attractive, but looking at the economics of it, it might be possible to achieve similar rates other ways - a basic MYW ticket with AAA room discount perhaps? Also Disney has made the dining experience available to AP holders, allowing us to save 20% at most table service meals, rather then just 10% at lunch. We wrestled this year with getting APs because the discounts aren't as good as they used to be. We're probably going to have to stay at mods instead of Deluxes. The MYW rates seemed a better deal until we decided to squeeze in another trip the week after next Thanksgiving. Admittedly, our situation doesn't match yours since I can't take spontaneous trips. If I don't plan my vacations months in advance, my calendar fills up and I don't get them. At any rate, if you're that angry at Disney, then there's no reason to go there. But if you like the parks, your protest is more likely to hurt you than them. They wouldn't have made this change if it didn't make economic sense, and their new pricing structure has helped far more non-AP holders than it has hurt current AP holders. FWIW, Dirk -----------------------
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <What they have learned is that many discounting strategies actually hurt the bottom line. < true in any business -- just ask Ford and GM
Originally Posted By BlazesOfFire When I first heard about this program, I contacted Disney about it with my disappointments. I encourage everyone to do that who is not happy with it either. But unlike Dennis, I did not get a response. Being a Florida Resident gets me pretty much the same discount as AP does. (Didnt seem like that a couple years ago but since then the discounts have been the same! AP discounts at first seemed better) So now, whenever my family and I want to go to Disney, we just call up for a Florida resident discount, and we can book these whenever we want, and change them however we want, with no penalties. Unfortunately not everyone can do this because they are out of state! I still encourage everyone to contact Disney and get this right!
Originally Posted By dennis-in-ct Hi BlazesOfFire - I never read your original post on this topic. I found out when I tried to book a room two months ago.
