Did anyone else get this email from MS?

[justadreamaway77]

Membership extras are funded by the developers marketing budget which has nothing to do with dues. Things like the Epcot and TOTWL lounges are paid via that..and can not come out of dues.

Dues cover the operation and management of the vacation ownership plan and resort. We pay a set fee to DVCMC to manage the program.

This type of service could have a fee, but technically that fee could be waived for those eligible for membership extras because DVD pays that fee for them

However, IMO, that gets very muddy, so I think it’s more likely you would see this type of service to be just part of membership extras, or offered to all under the same terms and conditions.

If I had to guess, it will become part of membership extras and only eligible for those owners, even if it becomes a fee based perk.

TOTWL is set up to make money. If it was funded by marketing budget, it would be free like the EPCOT lounge.

 

[Sandisw]

TOTWL is set up to make money. If it was funded by marketing budget, it would be free like the EPCOT lounge.

The space is a commercial space which was run by Disney prior to the new situation.

Now that is it limited and part of membership extras, it means that DVD and Disney came to an arrangement to have them lease the space…like they lease the Epcot lounge space from Disney…in order to limit guests.

The fact it makes money is irrelevant. DVD is paying something to Disney to keep it exclusive to a certain set of guests.

My guess is that the profits from the nightly sales..all or some..go to Disney Food and Beverage as part of the deal.

The snacks and drinks at the Epcot lounge are only free because DVD has decided to cover the costs for those They could change that tomorrow and start charging for those things.

 

[Bearval]

So, this email arrived today. Not sure what it means.

Anyone else get this?

Sounds good, but I'm wondering what the catch is...

Dear ********* family, We are excited to share that Disney Vacation Club® is piloting an all-new Member Experience Specialist Team designed to enhance your Membership. You're invited to participate in this new program before arriving and during your upcoming stay at Disney's Riviera Resort, where you will have the chance to experience an elevated approach to Member Services. Along with existing pre-arrival and on-site support, the Member Experience Specialist team will help manage your vacation requests in a proactive, personalized way. To ensure that you arrive with ease and while on-property, this dedicated team can assist with dining reservations when available, search for recreation availabilities, organize your special events and so much more! This test program opportunity begins on 09/06/2022 and lasts through your vacation. Please respond to this email or call your Member Experience Specialist at 1-844-382-6772 to share your vacation requests with our team. We thank you for participating and helping us explore more ways to enhance your Membership. This email was sent to

It is going to be a fee based service after the testing phase. The may offer it for free at first but it will eventually cost you just like genie +. Just another way for Disney to nickel and dime you to death. God forbid they leave any money on the table.

 

[Genie+]

This might be DVC’s answer to potential buyers who comment that WDW seems too complicated lately. Now they have an answer- special concierge service for you if buying direct.

 

[J-Dog]

Difference is, that even if you pay a little extra to have the seat of your choice, everyone on that plane is going to get a seat, it just may not be the seat they wanted. If they did a paid Concierge for special ressies, then that puts others at a disadvantage to getting a table at all. I'm all for paid perks like extra hours, lightening lane, etc but paying extra to get a dining ressie seems a little much to me.

Of course, I have no idea exactly how this works, but the MS rep that emailed me literally wrote that they "get up bright and early to make the reservations for you".

That tells me that there is no advantage/disadvantage for anyone else, it's just they make your ADR's at 60-days instead of you doing it. If that's actually the case, then it's not going to negatively affect anyone else that doesn't use this service.

 

[BamaGuy44]

I don't know if we're just a cynical bunch, if Disney's questionable track record recently has us jaded, if it's their weird way of communicating things (or lack thereof), or a combo of those.

But man, it seems our little DVC community and Disney fans in general tend to pre-decide to hate literally everything that gets announced or even hinted at even if we know basically nothing about it. Not everyone obviously, but a strong tendency IMO. I've been guilty of it somewhat myself.

Not trying to tell anyone what opinion to have or share, just an observation/musing. We're all friends here, right?

I've said it for many years: Nobody hates Disney like hard core Disney fans. Same is true of hard core Star Wars fans (I am one). True of many enthusiast groups really.

Ah, human nature, you are a strange beast.

 

[Ruttangel]

As someone mentioned, plans change. We were at WDW for 2 weeks in Aug, we changed Dining so regularly that I don't think any of our original ADR's remained.

The next thing is they'll say what park reservations do you want and then ask about whether they can add Genie+ and LL bookings. Before you know it you're broke before you get there rather than when you leave

 

[J-Dog]

I don't know if we're just a cynical bunch, if Disney's questionable track record recently has us jaded, if it's their weird way of communicating things (or lack thereof), or a combo of those.

But man, it seems our little DVC community and Disney fans in general tend to pre-decide to hate literally everything that gets announced or even hinted at even if we know basically nothing about it. Not everyone obviously, but a strong tendency IMO. I've been guilty of it somewhat myself.

Not trying to tell anyone what opinion to have or share, just an observation/musing. We're all friends here, right?

I've said it for many years: Nobody hates Disney like hard core Disney fans. Same is true of hard core Star Wars fans (I am one). True of many enthusiast groups really.

Ah, human nature, you are a strange beast.

Lol! I agree.

It seems like half the posters on this thread are already sure that this is an attempt to nickel-and-dime us, and so they hate it already. When in reality, no one really knows anything about it.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I have a two week trip booked for late November and haven’t received this email. I probably wouldn’t utilize it anyway because I don’t trust anyone to be as motivated as I am to get my most important adrs.

 

[BamaGuy44]

Lol! I agree.

It seems like half the posters on this thread are already sure that this is an attempt to nickel-and-dime us, and so they hate it already. When in reality, no one really knows anything about it.

Haha literally the first reply was expressing hatred. I know Cap is tongue in cheek a lot of the time though. Nothin but love for my DVC buddies, I enjoy reading all the opinions!

 

[RivShore]

Lol! I agree.

It seems like half the posters on this thread are already sure that this is an attempt to nickel-and-dime us, and so they hate it already. When in reality, no one really knows anything about it.

Exactly. This site is great at stating wild speculation as fact.

So far this seems like a TA service for people who can't use TA's. If could be free, it could be paid or maybe they will fund themselves by upselling (I hadn't thought of that option until @Ruttangel mentioned that they will probably push G+/LL, above). Lots of ways this could go, including nowhere!

 

[Sandisw]

Difference is, that even if you pay a little extra to have the seat of your choice, everyone on that plane is going to get a seat, it just may not be the seat they wanted. If they did a paid Concierge for special ressies, then that puts others at a disadvantage to getting a table at all. I'm all for paid perks like extra hours, lightening lane, etc but paying extra to get a dining ressie seems a little much to me.

I get it won't be popular with everyone if it is a paid service, but right now, those that pay extra for CL services...cash and DVC...get special access to one who does indeed help with all of this.

So, I see it as expanding that service to more than just a small group. Again, if I have the ability to pay someone to do things for me to make my life less stressful, and the cost is worth it? Then I would love that option.

I think the point is more that it could be something additional that we have access to that we didn't before, paid or not.

And, it isn’t really different than a paid IAS because there are only so many spots on a ride in a day and by people paying for one, others may not get it like what is happening with GOTG now.

But, we really don’t know too many details so nothing has come out to say it’s anything more than someone else doing it for you.

 

[Annabell]

Not received any email about this.

 

[Memorymakerfor4]

My 60 day window opens in about a week and I find myself wishing I could take advantage of this service. I'm normally an enthusiastic planner, but life is super busy right now so I haven't had much time to nail down plans. Like a lot of other DVCers, in the event we don't get exactly what we want, we know we'll be back soon so handing over some control on ADR day doesn't sound so bad. I'll be interested to see if this develops into something.

 

[mrsap]

I'm not seeing the disadvantage of doing this. Why is it a bad thing to let them book my ADR's? I already stated that I don't care that much if they don't get exactly what I want.

If this program is anything like Club Level Signature Services that provided the same ADR booking service at one time, then it will be hit and miss. They do not have any special access to reservations that are not available in the system and book for multiple people. If dining reservations are a priority and you have specific restaurants that are a must have, I’d always recommend doing it yourself. Otherwise, roll the dice! Who knows, maybe things will be different with this program and they’ll surprise us! Good luck!!

 

[J-Dog]

If this program is anything like Club Level Signature Services that provided the same ADR booking service at one time, then it will be hit and miss. They do not have any special access to reservations that are not available in the system and book for multiple people. If dining reservations are a priority and you have specific restaurants that are a must have, I’d always recommend doing it yourself. Otherwise, roll the dice! Who knows, maybe things will be different with this program and they’ll surprise us! Good luck!!

Yep, I'm compiling my list of ADR's to give them now.

I figure that they likely won't get everything that I want, but I usually don't either when I do it myself, and it's not the end of the world.

Maybe they will get me exactly what I want, and I will be a proponent of this new system, even if it becomes a paid service. Or maybe this will be a disaster and I won't get anything I want - if that's the case, then I probably wouldn't use the service again, but it's still not the end of the world. We can always get other ADR's later.

Thanks for the effort you put into the Rumors thread, BTW!

 

[J-Dog]

So, I submitted my ADR list to them a few days ago.

Now, when they first emailed me about this, I sent them a reply email, and they responded almost immediately - like less than a hour after I sent the email. I then emailed them twice more that day with questions, and they responded very quickly.

However, I still haven't gotten an email response from them since I sent the ADR list - 3 days ago. I even sent a follow-up email, basically asking for confirmation that they had received it - nothing.

I called today and the MS rep was extremely helpful and polite and did confirm that they are "working" on my ADR list. Whatever that means.

So, hopefully this thing still goes through, although I'm a little less confident now about the whole thing, since their follow-up was less than stellar. We'll see. If I end up getting none of the ADR's, it won't be the end of the world, but will still be pretty disappointing.

 

[ITGirl50]

I got the email today. We have had a December Standard view BLT reservation booked since January. We changed to a CCV cabin this week. I wonder if they think we’re fancy and we will pay for it? If we could get what we wanted, I would be interested but not for a huge fee. So is this legit?

 

[J-Dog]

I got the email today. We have had a December Standard view BLT reservation booked since January. We changed to a CCV cabin this week. I wonder if they think we’re fancy and we will pay for it? If we could get what we wanted, I would be interested but not for a huge fee. So is this legit?

It is legit. As of now, it doesn't cost anything for this pilot program, but I think most people suspect that it will cost money in the future.

I have no idea why some people are getting asked to participate in this, but not others - maybe just a random lottery-type drawing? I don't think that's it, because I've never been drawn for anything in my life...

 

[heynowirv]

We are going October 18 and never received the email.