Originally Posted By vbdad55 It hurts. Or did. But I accepted it and moved on. It does beat living in some pixie dusted reality. It's not 1959 ... or 1979 ... or even 1999. The world has changed, mostly not for the better ... and sadly, so has The Mouse. this is reality - for the Mouse and every other company we all deal with.. they are certainly not exempt
Originally Posted By demderedoseguys You can't get baseball cards with bubble gum anymore-things change.
Originally Posted By danyoung >...why the AP discount $100-$125 - they didn't have to - they already had my money ? Plenty of examples...< This was my thought as well, dad. I don't know quite what the Spirit is expecting from Disney, but I've always felt that they do a great job at making me feel special. There's the AP discounts, the pin discounts, the wonderful but ill-named Tables in Wonderland card. Plus the marketing they do to AP'ers like you & me goes a long way toward making me feel like the company really does appreciate my business. I just don't buy that there's some big hidden mandate within the company to weed out all of us dedicated park fans.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 exactly - tables in wonderland card saved me over $400 last trip when I had my nieces and my daughters boyfriend with us - paid for my AP.... they don't have to offer. So I got a $100 discount on the AP - which covered the TIW card plus - and then the savings paid for the AP... I'm viewing that as quite a nice deal - even with the TIW price increase -- and I will use my AP in July 2010 to get 2 trips out of it. no I'm not happy at not getting valet parking at DVC resorts in the future - but again I don't view it as a master plan to screw me over
Originally Posted By demderedoseguys >I just don't buy that there's some big hidden mandate within the company to weed out all of us dedicated park fans.< I couldn't agree more. It's laughable to picture the suits at Disney sitting in a board room plotting an attempt to get rid of the faithful. If anything, I keep getting offers from Disney to buy more DVC points at reduced (but not my much) rates. >exactly - tables in wonderland card saved me over $400 last trip when I had my nieces and my daughters boyfriend with us - paid for my AP.... they don't have to offer. So I got a $100 discount on the AP - which covered the TIW card plus - and then the savings paid for the AP...< Yes sir, buying DVC has also been one of my better decisions.
Originally Posted By mousermerf The company doesn't want you gone - they just don't want you to think, or more precisely: to disagree with them.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***You can't get baseball cards with bubble gum anymore-things change.*** Seriously? Man, that sucks! (the gum was always kinda crappy though)
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<This was my thought as well, dad. I don't know quite what the Spirit is expecting from Disney, but I've always felt that they do a great job at making me feel special.>> Oh Danny, my 'pals' at TWDC always make me feel like a very special Spirit. But what I was referring to was the select few of us who have been charter APers since 1982-83. The ones who have spent more than most guests, even those who plunked down money on DVC. (Oh, not the 11-year-olds that somehow are Charter APers because mom or gramps raised a fuss at Guest Relations and starting cursing and intimidated the CMs into 'grandfathering' them in ... something I have heard happens more than I'd ever want to believe.) Anyway, my point was simply that I feel Disney should be actually doing something significant to honor us for the years of loyalty (not to mention the tens or hundreds of thousands we've spent at WDW). We ARE the whales of WDW. Vegas takes care of its whales with comped rooms, meals, gifts and/or significant discounts etc ... all we get is the lowest renewal rate (and just barely as DVCers are now given very great renewal rates as well) I'm generally not of the 'entitlement mentality' mindset, but I'll make an exception here. There have been years where I've spent MONTHS in Disney resorts and thousands on food, drink and merchandise. Many years. Yet, it's like we don't exist. <<There's the AP discounts, the pin discounts, the wonderful but ill-named Tables in Wonderland card.>> Discounts are nice. But the discounts for a brand new APer from Ohio or the UK are the same level as I'd get as a Charter APer. I don't think that's right. You give them 30% off? Fine. I'll take 60%. It's very much like frequent visitors in Vegas and frequent flyers at different levels on airlines ... I've never been more than a Gold elite flyer and usually Silver. But as such we get certain perqs. They get better as you go up. Disney should do likewise. <<Plus the marketing they do to AP'ers like you & me goes a long way toward making me feel like the company really does appreciate my business.>> So Disney's marketing magic makes you feel wanted? How nice. Would you like a side order of pixie dust to go with that flaming scalp? (at least you have a good excuse for that bald head of yours!!!) <<I just don't buy that there's some big hidden mandate within the company to weed out all of us dedicated park fans.>> I think sometimes people take what I write too literally. I don't believe Disney has any mandate about getting rid of us as guests. That said, they view many of us as high maintainance and would much rather not have guests who actually know what the 'four keys' are or what 'bad show' is about or how they're supposed to be 'exceeding' our expectations. But they still are more than willing to take our money. And there's no program designed to get rid of us or any other such nonsense.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<The company doesn't want you gone - they just don't want you to think, or more precisely: to disagree with them.>> For once, I completely agree with you!
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 Oh, and the Disney Dining Experience, which has been bastardized as the Tables in Wonderland because the Disney Dining Plan is what they really care about, was great back in the 90s. When ONLY us Florida residents could buy it. When it cost $25 a year for TWO cards, and they weren't so anal about who the second went to. It was an incredible deal in the 1990s ... and a decent one righ up until around 2004-05 when DDP began. That's when the price points of Food and Beverage across property jumped up 2-4 times a year to make DDP appear more of a 'deal' to tourists. Now, it can certainly be a 'value' to folks if they're intent on eating at Disney owned locations for all or most of their meals. But they've lost me. Not sure they'll get me back (hey, maybe a FREE Tables membership should automatically be given to ALL charter APers). If I want to eat at a Disney locale, I can arrange it at a place where I get an AP discount. Or I can go with a CM friend. Or, in very rare instances, I can bite the bullet and pay full price.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***We ARE the whales of WDW. Vegas takes care of its whales with comped rooms, meals, gifts and/or significant discounts etc ... all we get is the lowest renewal rate (and just barely as DVCers are now given very great renewal rates as well)*** What any of you spend in a year at DisneyWorld is but a small fraction of what a Vegas whale spends in one visit. It's not even physically possible to spend that kind of money in Orlando. You could book a suite at the Grand Floridian for an entire year and STILL not even match the whale and his one visit. So, not a great analogy right there.
Originally Posted By Mr X Oh, and if you DID go ahead and book that suite for a year, I'd be willing to bet you'd find yourself getting treated in similar fashion to a Vegas whale. Just a guess, mind you. Being a frequent visitor who dines on their discount or occasionally maybe even buys some gaudy piece of crap from them for a few thousand dollars doesn't do it.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 I think the whale analogy is a very good one. You don't have to lose millions or even hundreds of thousands at Vegas casinos to get freebies and great upgrades etc ... Compariably, WDW charter APers have spent far more than other APers and regular guests. Even if someone comes to WDW and stages a $50K wedding at the GF, it's a one shot deal. I've been adding to the Mouse's coffers in small, medium and a few large chunks for years. I'm not looking for free rooms everytime I go to WDW. I'm not looking for free meals or free Cirque tix everytime. But it sure would be nice if they did something ... and small discounts that they give to almost everyone or LE pins simply don't count. There are plenty of things they could do. They choose not to because 1.) they believe (correctly) they'll get money from us anyway (although I'd point out that they get less and less from me annually) and; 2.) they'd much rather cultivate a new guest who has no expectations or vastly lower ones that someone who knew what WDW was in its first few decades vs. today.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<Being a frequent visitor who dines on their discount or occasionally maybe even buys some gaudy piece of crap from them for a few thousand dollars doesn't do it.>> X, when a discounted veggie entree at a table serve location costs over $20, I really don't think they are hurting. I think they are making a tremendous profit. And I don't do gaudy, I do tasteful whether I buy something at Disney or Neiman-Marcus or Macy's or Target. You seem to be overlooking the point here, which is most charter APers have spent far more money on WDW than any other guests (except perhaps a few celebs and royals). I know my number is well into six figures. So, if tomorrow they gave me a free seven-night cruise for next summer, a free lifetime D23 membership and tossed in a Tables in Wonderland card for nothing, they'd not even scratch the surface of what I've spent (and let's not even talk about all the folks I've gone and turned into Disney fans for them just due to my love of their products). Oh, and if they did all that then I'd gladly take the LE pin too!
Originally Posted By Mr X ***And I don't do gaudy, I do tasteful whether I buy something at Disney or Neiman-Marcus or Macy's or Target.*** Oh, I wasn't speaking of *you* per se.
Originally Posted By danyoung >APers have spent far more money on WDW than any other guests (except perhaps a few celebs and royals). I know my number is well into six figures.< While I haven't been a charter member since whenever, I have been visiting at least twice a year (some years many times more), as well as usually twice a year to DL. I'm sure my cost expended goes well into 6 figures too. So what? I'm not looking for anything special, other than what I've already accepted and what Disney has agreed to give me. To visit for 25 years or more, spend so much money, and then after the fact want something special, seems disingenuous at best and greedy at worst. I think you're on your own on this one, Spirit.
