How Do You Feel About The DVC Store?

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

In the latest Vacation Magic magazine they had plans for a DVC "store" where they'll have a mockup of a two bedroom Animal Kingdom Villa and will be selling DVC this way, I think in Chicago in a mall.

I confess I was less than thrilled to read about this new marketing plan; there are days where I feel like DVC is already overburdened and can't cope with current members effectively.

Anybody else read that article and think, *bummer*?

 

[dwelty]

Nope, I think it's great. The more sucessful DVC is, the more units they sell. The more units they sell the more resorts they build. More resorts mean more vacation destination options for me! I think DVC does a fine job serving it's members. The member satisfaction numbers bear this out.

 

[Chuck S]

I don;t know what overall impact this will have for existing members, I'm thinking very little, if any. It means resorts may sell out faster, leading to more resort construction or locations.

The impact would be the same as they add more members, with or without the offsite sales offices. It makes using your home resort booking window very important, but it was getting that way anyway.

 

[drusba]

No complaint about it. If they can sell that way, they should try it. However, it is risky in that I do not think anyone (even at Disney) is sure that the store will generate sufficent sales to financially justify its existence. Interesting that they chose Chicago to test this idea, which means some marketing data indicated their chances were better there than elsewhere.

Having the store is a disconnect from any complaint about MS service for members. Without that store, they are still going to sell out SSR, build and sell-out AKV, and probably build and sell-out some more in the future and have any problems you may be concerned about with MS as a result. Having the store doesn't change that result.

 

[DVC Grammy]

Nope, I think it's great. The more sucessful DVC is, the more units they sell. The more units they sell the more resorts they build. More resorts mean more vacation destination options for me! I think DVC does a fine job serving it's members. The member satisfaction numbers bear this out.

ITA!

 

[snyderla]

I like the idea, since I live a couple of hours from Chicago and go to that mall every so often. I hope they sell member merchandise!
Lori

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

aw, I guess I'm just a curmudgeon, then...

 

[mouse4ever]

I'm actually looking forward to it opening since that's the mall I always shop at! I'll get to go see the model before I see the resort!

Does anyone know the actual opening date?

 

[dwelty]

No complaint about it. If they can sell that way, they should try it. However, it is risky in that I do not think anyone (even at Disney) is sure that the store will generate sufficent sales to financially justify its existence. Interesting that they chose Chicago to test this idea, which means some marketing data indicated their chances were better there than elsewhere.

I think they chose Chicago because they get alot of DVC exposure at WDW for East coast residents, and DLR for West coasters. It makes sense to put something in the middle. Imagine walking into that location on a miserable Midwest January day, walking thru the Animal Kingdom models, and seeing all of those sunny WDW pictures placed everywhere.

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Nope, I think it's great. The more sucessful DVC is, the more units they sell. The more units they sell the more resorts they build. More resorts mean more vacation destination options for me! I think DVC does a fine job serving it's members. The member satisfaction numbers bear this out.

I have to agree with you on this mattter. The only problem (in my book) is that VB and HHI are the only beach resorts and unless they build a new beach resort then these 2 resorts are going to become overwhelmed with the WDW resort owners. Once AKV and the Contemporary are built out, the membership will be great.

 

[skylynx]

The Doorway to Dreams will be in my local mall, so I'm happy about being able to get my DVC "fix" the way I get my Disney "fix" at the Disney Store (a bit less now since it isn't owned by Disney any more. I actually was a cast member there for a couple of months and would have stayed if it had stayed Disney-owned.) I hope the new DVC store does some stuff occasionally for Chicagoland members. like a member's night. I've seen the AKV models already, and we think they are really lovely. So much detail in the carved wood furnishings with images from the Lion King...

DisneyQuest tried to make it in Chicago but failed...but that had much to do with how expensive it was for local "kids" (like me and DH) to go on a regular basis, so it ended up being a one-day destination for out of towners on holiday, or a once a year trip for a birthday or something for locals, and that wasn't enough traffic to pay the bills in that location.

 

[Granny]

I confess I was less than thrilled to read about this new marketing plan; there are days where I feel like DVC is already overburdened and can't cope with current members effectively.

Anybody else read that article and think, *bummer*?

I don't think you're a curmudgeon, but I do tend to agree with others. Since they can't "oversell" the amount of rooms available, it really won't have much negative impact and I know that the number of members I'll be competing with for home resort booking advantage will never grow throughout the course of my contracts.

The biggest advantage to this ongoing growth of DVC membership is that we are getting to be a more and more significant part of the Disney guest/spending picture. This can only help us to "negotiate" continued strong perks, discounts, etc as there is more and more collective buying power as members are added.

I am surprised at the Chicago location, and have a hard time thinking that they will be able to justify that cost unless they also add some retail/merchandise elements to offset costs. Still, it is good to see Disney's commitment to DVC remain so strong as there were fears several years ago that DVC would top out and Disney's commitment to it would wane.

 

[poggs]

In the latest Vacation Magic magazine they had plans for a DVC "store" where they'll have a mockup of a two bedroom Animal Kingdom Villa and will be selling DVC this way, I think in Chicago in a mall.

I confess I was less than thrilled to read about this new marketing plan; there are days where I feel like DVC is already overburdened and can't cope with current members effectively.

Anybody else read that article and think, *bummer*?

Personally I am not worried about the DVC/hotel capacity, more the ability of the parks to cope with the added numbers. The parks are already very very full most of the time, add on to than yet more DVC'ers and it will be very difficult to enjoy WDW. Dinsey need to build a new park before new DVC IMHO.