New DVC General Manager

[heynowirv]

Agreed. I didn't care for Terri's management of DVC but nothing in Bill's resume points to anything other than more pennypinching and reduced owner experiences.

How long before they institute another round of resale restrictions?

There's not much left to trim .

 

[heynowirv]

This means he will do what Disney wants, he wants to retire from Disney. He will do what is good for Disney.
Like him or not ,Jim Lewis had NO intentions staying with Disney. He came to make DVC a public success then move on.

In retrospectJim's not looking so bad.

 

[Lee Matthews]

There's not much left to trim .

Gonna say, not much else they can trim away for resale owners. It will also get to a point that stripping more away won’t be any benefit to their direct sales.

They need to be speaking to parks and resorts to get better AP discounts and perks.

 

[Liquidice]

You say there's not much left to trim, but we could lose evening extra hours (Deluxe Hotels only, no Villas), the ability to buy the Sorcerer Annual Pass, Moonlight Magic (Terri did say in the latest Disney Files magazine that it would be coming back as soon as they could), Dining/Merch discounts, Epcot lounge ...

I'm sure there are creative ways they could make your resale experience worse too, they could start buying up more points at ROFR for one. I'm not creative enough to figure out what else they could do to resale owners.

I'm not defending Disney here, I haven't been happy at all with what they've done on the parks side recently and what seems to be imho price increases that impact DVC members more so than others (I calculated to get the same experience I was in 2019, it would cost 70% more in 2022! Compared to a non-DVC out of state customer the price increase is more than double).

I'm just saying - don't give them any ideas on how to take away more things from us!

I would love to see the new SVP take a look at the recent price increases though and perhaps introduce a special discount on APs for DVC members, such as re-introducing a DVC specific price for the Incredi-Pass, and further decreasing the price of the Sorcerer Pass.

 

[kandlsutton]

He is a Dookie, so can’t be good (UNC Fan here).

 

[Jwaire]

I'll give him a chance, but I'm not sure what he can do given the state of Disney's C suite. Their entire mission statement seems to be "less for more money."

I'm sorry, but Terri Schultz shouldn't receive a promotion to anything. Her response to COVID was bungled at best, the Web site is still terrible even after multiple upgrades and she's had TWO separate point chart "anomalies" throughout her short tenure. What is she getting promoted for? Not quitting during COVID?

 

[Sandisw]

You say there's not much left to trim, but we could lose evening extra hours (Deluxe Hotels only, no Villas), the ability to buy the Sorcerer Annual Pass, Moonlight Magic (Terri did say in the latest Disney Files magazine that it would be coming back as soon as they could), Dining/Merch discounts, Epcot lounge ...

I'm sure there are creative ways they could make your resale experience worse too, they could start buying up more points at ROFR for one. I'm not creative enough to figure out what else they could do to resale owners.

I'm not defending Disney here, I haven't been happy at all with what they've done on the parks side recently and what seems to be imho price increases that impact DVC members more so than others (I calculated to get the same experience I was in 2019, it would cost 70% more in 2022! Compared to a non-DVC out of state customer the price increase is more than double).

I'm just saying - don't give them any ideas on how to take away more things from us!

I would love to see the new SVP take a look at the recent price increases though and perhaps introduce a special discount on APs for DVC members, such as re-introducing a DVC specific price for the Incredi-Pass, and further decreasing the price of the Sorcerer Pass.

But those things don't come from DVC...Even membership perks come from DVD...the developer. Yes, all divisions are under TWDC, but who decides things makes a difference. So, nothing that DVC owners have gained or lost was a result of who was in charge of DVC, like Teri.

 

[Sandisw]

I'll give him a chance, but I'm not sure what he can do given the state of Disney's C suite. Their entire mission statement seems to be "less for more money."

I'm sorry, but Terri Schultz shouldn't receive a promotion to anything. Her response to COVID was bungled at best, the Web site is still terrible even after multiple upgrades and she's had TWO separate point chart "anomalies" throughout her short tenure. What is she getting promoted for? Not quitting during COVID?

Actually, I think DVC went above and beyond for owners during the past 18 months. They did a lot of things they did not have to do. It is one area in which they put owners first and tried to help in best way they could...including giving owners DVC/DVD owned points to replace points that expired during and shortly after the closure...the same thing they are now doing for international owners.

Now, I agree about the website. It needs to work better.

 

[Donna M]

I'd like to give the guy a chance. We can't be judging him when he hasn't even started yet, time will tell. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

 

[Jwaire]

Actually, I think DVC went above and beyond for owners during the past 18 months.

Fairly certain we went 2 months without a peep from DVC after the initial closure announcement, not to mention member services and administration were decimated causing even more problems, but I agree they stepped it up in the end for the most part regarding policy— rescinding holding, point swapping, etc.

 

[Sammie]

Wow, how about letting the guy have a chance before forming an opinion. No one is going to please everyone and honestly I don't think Terri did a bad job.
Working through a pandemic is something no one at Disney had any training or experience with. I think many forget that and honestly I think some of you will never be satisfied with anything.
And many of you are disappointed over things that DVC has no control over, so your disappointment is not justified toward DVC for that. Not knowing is on you.

 

[Sammie]

Fairly certain we went 2 months without a peep from DVC after the initial closure announcement, not to mention member services and administration were decimated causing even more problems, but I agree they stepped it up in the end for the most part regarding policy— rescinding holding, point swapping, etc.

And how much was Terri directly responsible for that, probably none. She can only do what headquarters will allow and it was a situation no one had ever faced before. Considering that, I think they did all right by everyone.

 

[ABE4DISNEY]

And how much was Terri directly responsible for that, probably none. She can only do what headquarters will allow and it was a situation no one had ever faced before. Considering that, I think they did all right by everyone.

Terri's biggest issue was simply not communicating during the pandemic...even if she had nothing to update, you know? That's what a good leader does.

However, let's all hope that Bill will bring a fresh and better perspective to DVC.

 

[New Mouse]

Considering they made this guys intro sound like a bland internal corporate promotion announcement and didnt even let the pr department try to plus it up, thats very telling!

 

[Sammie]

Terri's biggest issue was simply not communicating during the pandemic...even if she had nothing to update, you know? That's what a good leader does.

However, let's all hope that Bill will bring a fresh and better perspective to DVC.

Unless you are told not to. What would you have had her say, if she knew nothing about what was going to happen?

 

[Liquidice]

Unless you are told not to. What would you have had her say, if she knew nothing about what was going to happen?

You're making an assumption (unless you work for Disney and know first hand) that someone above her said not to. She could have said "I know a lot of you have questions such as ... and we don't have any answers yet because we're trying to figure it out, but I promise to get you more information as soon as I know".

Not sure why corporate would tell her not to say something like that and it would have made members feel a lot better than hearing absolutely nothing and then having them flood the call centers.

 

[Sammie]

You're making an assumptions (unless you work for Disney and know first hand) that someone above her said not to. She could have said "I know a lot of you have questions such as ... and we don't have any answers yet because we're trying to figure it out, but I promise to get you more information as soon as I know".

Not sure why corporate would tell her not to say something like that and it would have made members feel a lot better than hearing absolutely nothing and then having them flood the call centers.

Do I work for Disney, nope. Do I know people that work for DVC, yep. As to saying what you suggested, that is nothing more than hand holding and while that might have been necessary for you, during the time they were closed having DVC send me some fluff was not needed.
At times like that, no company wants someone to say something they can't fulfill and honestly they were adjusting daily as did every major company.

 

[Ssplashhmtn]

But those things don't come from DVC...Even membership perks come from DVD...the developer. Yes, all divisions are under TWDC, but who decides things makes a difference. So, nothing that DVC owners have gained or lost was a result of who was in charge of DVC, like Teri.

My viewpoint on DVD vs DVC vs some other division is this: Who is responsible for the DVC member experience and satisfaction? If that was Teri, then that’s who is accountable, regardless of a bunch of corporate infrastructure details that are not mine to worry about - I don’t work there.

 

[Ssplashhmtn]

Actually, I think DVC went above and beyond for owners during the past 18 months. They did a lot of things they did not have to do. It is one area in which they put owners first and tried to help in best way they could...including giving owners DVC/DVD owned points to replace points that expired during and shortly after the closure...the same thing they are now doing for international owners.

Now, I agree about the website. It needs to work better.

I agree on all points above - especially the website

 

[ABE4DISNEY]

At times like that, no company wants someone to say something they can't fulfill and honestly they were adjusting daily as did every major company.

Personally, I really wasn't terribly affected by the shutdown too much. Sure, I had to cancel a couple vacations but I did not have any financial loss like others.

I hear what you are saying, but I am really looking at this quite objectively from what I heard/experienced from people here on the Disboards last year. There were many DVC'ers who were extremely affected and they only had radio silence. Plus compare how DVC handled it vs other local & national organizations like our schools, our businesses(i.e. grocery store) who were actually on the far other end...it was information overload.

I just think that Ms. Schultz dropped the ball...big time. She should have been communicating throughout even if she didn't have any firm information, and I am very doubtful that her hands were tied that tightly from up above.

Edited to Add: It was later pointed out that she did communicate 4 times which looking back doesn't seem too bad. However, I do remember the emotions here on the Disboards during that time, and there was much frustration from many members over the lack of communication. So maybe those 4 times just didn't address what was needed at the time?