We let Derek come up with the cold open for the show this
week. Derek, what was it?
What best? What beer hits differently after
dark? They all hit after dark.
No, I had saw something on a different Facebook group and I
thought it was a great question. I go, I got to remember that and
I'm going to ask it in one of our show openings, it said, name
an attraction for you that hits different when you do it at
night. And I went, Oh my God.
And immediately I had a bunch come to mind and I said, Hey,
I'm just going to throw this at at the whole group and the
audience all around the world. So, Jeff, you go first.
I have two that come to mind and cred a coaster at Disney's
California. Adventure.
Love that at. Night you get to see the special
effects in a lot more detail and this one seems dumb because the
ride is inside, but I actually like Haunted Mansion at night as
well. It seems a little small those
windows. Yeah.
OK, credit Coaster's a good one. I didn't even think about that
one. But it's hard to ride at night
because doesn't Pixar Pier close early for the yeah, for world
Color? So you have to you have to make
sure you time it and you get it like right when it gets dark,
because if you wait too long, Pixar Pier will close.
The first one and the only one that I even think of.
And I feel like a lot of people would say Tron, but to me it's
too short to really enjoy the the one second of night time.
Big Thunder. I love big Thunder at night.
It's just especially if if you end up on it when the fireworks
are going off because you can see the fireworks, it just like
the cool air on your face. It just feels faster at night.
So that's my answer. I don't know what the rules are
Derek, but my head went to two roller coasters that are not in
a Disney theme park. 1 is Velocicoaster.
The islands of. Adventure and the other is
Stardust Racers at Epic Universe.
Both of those I find myself hilariously laughing the entire
ride normally when it's light out because it's so fast and
chaotic and I don't know what's going on.
But then add the element of just pitch black darkness and I'm
just laughing hysterically even more because I don't know what's
happening. Yeah.
That's a good one. It's a good one, and Stardust
has a different soundtrack at night than it does during the
day, so that's kind of neat. Derek, did you answer your own
question? Well, the first thing that I
honestly popped in my head, which was kind of embarrassing,
was the Moana walkthrough thing at Epcot.
It does feel totally different at night, and everybody will
back me up. I swear to God.
You go through that thing during the day and it's like, OK, what
is this? But you go at night, you get
some really impressive shots of everything glowing and Spaceship
Earth has got. Well, now I need to do.
It I'm surprised you've walked through it more than once.
Right. I I I think I got lost on my way
out of the park. I.
Didn't even know it was open at night so it.
Is and I always look at it at night and I go, you know,
there's like hardly anyone in there.
It would be really nice to see it because I think the only time
I've ever been through it was during the preview.
And I always think, no, it's too cold.
I don't, I don't want to go through it at night, but we're
going to be there on Saturday. I'm going to have to take my mom
through it, maybe at night, I'm telling you.
The people at Epcot are going to get freaked out and be like,
wow, there's so many people here at night.
All of a sudden it'll be like it's the time for show.
That's what it is. Hey everybody, and welcome to
this week's episode of The DVC Show.
I am your host, Paul Krieger, joined as always by my lovely
wife Amy. Krieger.
We've got the Honorable Jeff Haslam with us today.
Hey everybody. And the one the only sales
something he sells you. Hampshire.
Deep series somewhere with the more.
Executive in it. Hey now, happy Monday everybody.
Happy Monday. I wonder if there's someone out
there that always watches this on a Tuesday and and always
wonders why we say happy Monday. There are and we know it is the
coolest thing in the world when we're, you know, in the parks,
you know, with our families or with our friends.
And if someone happens to watch the show, I we hear so many
stories about how they watch the show, when they watch the show,
what time of day they watch the show, how many pounds they've
lost listening to the show. It's amazing A.
Recurring theme of people that I've met lately is it's usually
in the evening after work with a bottle of wine which I'm not
sure how to take that. But.
We'll, you need a little alcohol in your life to tolerate us
apparently. So welcome to this week's
episode everyone. It is a new month and thus it is
time to discuss some news that has been going on in the Disney
Vacation Club in Disney Space recently.
And I feel like we got a couple good, good topics to kind of
chat through. There's been a decent amount of
stuff DVC related, decent amount of stuff around the parks and
resorts. So we've got plenty to chat
through and debate on tonight. Before we get into it.
This and all of our content is brought to you by Key Holder
Vacations and the world of DVCDVC resale market where you
can buy or sell a Disney Vacation Club contract.
We are in the final days of red hot deals over at DVC Resale
Market. So be sure to get that hot deal
from Derek or any of the amazing agents over at DVC Resale Market
before that wraps up end of the month.
Is that correct, Derek? And at the end of?
The month end of the month, right?
28th, no more. They're gone.
Amy's going to help you finance that contract over at my Monera
Monera Financial DVC rental store where you can rent some
DVC points. Try before you buy or rent out
your extra points for cash and Unlocked Magic Unlocked
magic.com/DVC fan for discounted Walt Disney World, Disneyland
and Universal Park tickets. I was, I was looking, in case
anyone was wondering why I was creeping up here as I was trying
to look at Jeff's shirt. And I like his shirt very much.
In fact, I have that shirt and I believe I've never actually worn
that shirt. And I was thinking about wearing
it for the show today and something told me, no, don't do
it. I'm glad.
That is a nice shirt. It's got all the park icons on
it, doesn't it? Yeah, yeah, I like that.
Thanks everybody that. That's my new one.
See, Look, it's, it's a very classy Disney.
We got it at. Where do we get it?
I can't remember the last part. I'm going to get to Disney
probably. If anyone has just a lot of.
Very nice. On their hands and can just go
back through every show and just like, talk about us talking
about shirts. Oh, I know, I'm wearing my hot
spirit jersey. That would be a great
compilation. I don't know which way it yeah.
Epcot, Spirit Jersey and Paul, we're going.
To turn into fashion. Vloggers before Paul has a Royal
Caribbean Royal Beach Club. Dude, Royal Beach Club Sun
Hoodie because, you know, with the amount of lights that Amy
and I have on us in this studio, we need, you know, SPF
protection, so. That looks nice and big and
loose and baggy. Kicking off the news that I
wanted to discuss tonight at the biggest that I think happened in
the Disney Vacation Club sphere, actually happened back on
February 10th, which was that new winter and early spring DVC
incentives launched. And with those new incentives
came price increases. So actively selling properties
all saw a price increase. We knew this was coming.
This was announced I think late last year, but Polynesian
Riviera cabins at Fort Wilderness and Aulani increased
from $235 per point to $243 per point.
And for some reason beknownst to me, the villas at Disneyland
Hotel actually increased from $245 per point to $248 per
point. These are pretty typical first
of the year increases that we normally see with Disney
Vacation Club. So it's not shocking, but I
think at least what's shocking to me is that we are closing in
on that big $250 per point number that I think we've.
Yeah. And then it's kind of, it's kind
of interesting how soon this came after the $500 resale fee
because this is what, an extra $8 per point for most resorts.
So 3063 points less than 63 points is, you know, of of those
extras 5 And I know you're like my math's always everywhere.
I don't. Really know what kind of math?
I'm trying math right now. I'm a little confused by the
math times. 62 my 5 is 500 so drop this at the fee.
Did you just times by 62.5? Yeah, 62.5.
Yeah, I see. OK.
I still don't know what we're trying math, but I was.
Trying to get to like how you're, they pretty much made-up
for that $500 resale fee. So now I'll just go back and buy
Reese. That was an easier way of saying
it, totally. It just took a while to keep
there, She. She writes loans, but yeah, I, I
don't know that like, I'm not quite sure of why both came down
at the same point because, you know, that it did kind of offset
that resale fee that everyone was kind of saying was really
going to change the resale market.
The only thing that is really surprising to me is that even
normally I sit here and I will tell you that, hey, the
incentives came out and you know, direct pricing is just
bonkers. It's astronomically greater than
it was previously. All I'm going to say at the end
of the day is do the math at this point.
I did have a gentleman reach out to us that's in the DVC fan
community. He was actually considering the
difference between buying a Disneyland Hotel resale contract
or buying Disneyland Hotel Direct and comparing the two on
150 point contract. But yeah, the difference ended
up, yeah. Sorry if I lost you that sale,
Derek, but no. No.
No, we got it. We got if it's what I'm thinking
of, it's Gary. So yeah, exactly.
So yeah, Gary, Gary had sent the spreadsheet to me and was just
asking some questions. But ultimately what it came down
to was that with a lot of the incentives right now, the
difference is somewhere between 5 to 7000 dollars direct versus
resale. And he was going back and forth
on the fence about that. And you know at the end of the
day, if you are looking for the benefits of being a direct
member and you want those those opportunities, that's a low
barrier to entry for those. That's probably one of the lower
opportunities that we've seen with direct pricing for a period
of time. So I don't know if he ended up
going direct, Derek, you might know more than I, but you know
he was, he was bouncing back and forth between the two for a
while. There is still a significant
savings with resale, but it was interesting to see those numbers
be broken down and kind of see that in certain instances it
could be worthwhile to buy that direct contract if that's what
you're looking for at this point.
Well, that's just it. And we had a long conversation
on the phone and he did his research and I think that's what
I can't stress enough. And Paul, and you just said it
too, you're like, just do the math.
And that's what Gary did. He computed everything.
I think he used every bit of technology possible AI,
everything else plugged in. I mean, I'm not even kidding.
It was amazing. And he was so great to talk to
you and I stressed to him and I said, Gary, this is about at the
end of the day, this is about you.
If you have, even if the numbers make more sense for you to buy
resale, but a part of you is not going to be happy, right?
If you're going to have that FOMO, if it's for whatever
reason it is, then we want you to buy direct.
We truly do. We want you to do what's best
for you. But at the end of the day, he
did the math. I was like, you know what, no,
like I'm going to go with resale.
It just makes financially way too much sense for me versus
buying direct for any of those little, little temporary perks,
temporary discount. So just do do the math.
That's it. Take your time, do the math.
You know, if you're on vacation learning about it, you don't
feel the need to have to do it right then and there.
I mean, I know I have a lot of friends that are probably like,
shut up, stop saying that. But truly we want you to make
sure that A, it's going to work for you and how you vacation and
B, crunch the numbers, crunch the numbers.
No matter which path it is, just do the math because you don't
want to head down a path and go, oh, crap.
I wish I would have taken just a little bit of time because I
probably made more sense to me to go go this way verse going
that way. And Paul has given everybody all
the tools to know all the prices to all the incentives you have
all the prices on resale. So you've got everything at your
fingertips. So, yeah, well.
And the thing that I like to stress too is there are no two
DVC members that are alike. You have to do what's best for
you and your family and your travel habits and your travel
needs. We love it when people post
questions in our DVC fan community group and you'll get
answers, Ones that you wanted, ones that you didn't, ones in
between, you know what I mean? But the fact of the matter is it
ultimately comes down to you and how you're going to to use the
membership. We want you to get the best out
of it. There's pros and cons to every
decision that you make here and we just want you to be happy and
use that membership. So that's why we, and Paul
especially, put this information out so that you know what you're
doing for you. Yeah, I know.
I love that he said that because I'm sitting here thinking, OK,
if if they wanted the Disneyland points as their home resort, but
they want to also be able to use them other places than that,
they definitely want to buy direct.
But in in a lot of people's cases, if it were me, if I'm
buying Disneyland Hotel, that's where those points are going.
And that's why our Grand Cal contract, it doesn't matter that
it's its own use year and it lives off in its own little
island because we don't use it for anything else.
So in this case, resale being restricted, the Disneyland hotel
really isn't going to matter because that's where you're
using those points. I'm not going to waste those
points and use them on Saratoga or something else.
Not that I don't love those resorts, but those points are
met for Disneyland so. Gary, I think recently retired.
So First off, happy retirement, Gary.
We're talking about you a lot. But yeah, when he kind of broke
it down for me, I think it was like he was looking for a long,
long weekend a year or, you know, 2, two night stays or
three night stays a year at Disneyland Hotel.
He's local out in the California area.
That's what he's looking for. That's why he wants to buy those
points. So to your point, that ability
to use those points at other properties is not as, you know,
important to him as it would be otherwise.
So, yeah, also on the incentives that just recently launched,
wanted to touch on, there is a limited time add on incentive
for Saratoga Springs Resort. And the only reason this
surprises me, Disney does this from time to time.
They always are doing maybe kind of an incentive on a special
resort or something. Saratoga just surprised me
because I think in the current environment, we have so many
actively selling properties. Like you already have
Polynesian, you've got Riviera, you've got the cabins, which I
feel like they just need to throw points at people as
they're walking by to hopefully sell some and see if they can
stick. But very weird that they would
add Saratoga into the mix at this point in time.
And the incentives are not anything to really write home
about A200200 point purchase. The base price only comes down
to $170 per point. I think right now resale, Derek,
it's like averaging 98 to $100 per point, So I know.
You were asking, I know you were asking him the question, but I
swear that I thought you called him Resale Derek like that was
his name. It is now.
That's that's. Resale Derek.
His thoughts So. Another title, another title I
like. But yeah, the Saratoga just kind
of kind of surprised me. Why give people just another
option at this point in time? Maybe it's just geared towards
people looking to add on. I don't know, Like, I don't get
it. I'm trying to put my yeah, I'm
trying to put myself in the shoes of someone that would look
at this and go, heck yeah, I'm going to spend $70 per point
more. And $70 a point like that's
crazy. And again, a lot of times, you
know, the direct people need a what they call kind of a drop
down product. Like listen, I'm going to sit
with the family. I'm going to show you, for
example, right now, I'm sure 99% of the time it's here's
Polynesian, right? I'm going to show you.
But they might look and go, that's nice, but I don't know,
it's a little rich for my blood. But you don't want to let that
family go. So then they reach out something
else. Normally back in the day you
might have one drop down product or A2 two different one.
But my God, right now Disney has like 37 live resorts that
they're actively selling Mitch for families.
Families are leaving with like price sheets, like in a binder.
And then you have to go home to try to figure out which one do I
want to buy? And to add a sold out resort
like Saratoga on top of it just seems ridiculous.
So, you know, use Aulani as your drop down product for God's
sakes. You've been selling that since
1973. You have points to be able to
lower the price on that. So you know, pitch your first
tier resort and then if you need a drop down to just get a family
in the door, you've got Aulani. So why they're adding Saratoga
to the mix? And like you said, Paul, I got
people every day that are buying it for like 100 bucks a point
and they're not buying it back in Roefer.
So it's a slam dunk right now on the resale market.
Don't buy Saratoga direct. Don't.
I hope we all have adjoining rooms in a nursing home at some
point a long time from now and are still doing this show and
there's 37 active resorts so that we could just stitch those
two clips together well. And on top of that, like I mean,
I guess the drop down thing does make sense.
You're talking if you're going from what did you say 24245-A
point to 170 a point. I mean, if you're buying 150
point contract, that's 11,000 in savings, No, they're not going
to send anybody to resell. So they have to do something to
keep you in the door. But I agree with Paul, the
Saratoga thing is, is weird because nobody really likes it
there except Amy Krieger. So.
Actually, Gray, that's his favorite resort, too.
Oh, is it really? Yeah.
He proposed to his fiance, Taylor at Saratoga Springs at
the gazebo. So that's.
See. Now, you shouldn't knock it
anymore, but I do love Saratoga. I just think it's quiet and
peaceful. I love the stone on the
building. I like the way the architecture
of the buildings look. And we always had a buy there
for the cheap points. But like in this, in this case,
it's like buy there for the more expensive points.
I just don't get it right. It's weird.
What did you say Aulani was selling for to?
Aulani Direct. Hold on, let me fight with my
iPad now for 5 minutes yet again to pull it back up.
Aulani right now is up to $243 per point.
That's that's before incentives crap on.
Packer 243 Two. 43 per. Point I don't.
Want a? Drop down product at that point
because for two reasons, you know, that's not any cheaper
than some of the other resorts that are selling and #2 Aulani's
just too weird for people. It's too far away to have it be
their home resort, you know what I mean?
Like, it's great. We love it.
We've talked about how much we love it.
But to be in Saratoga Springs at the model Center and trying to
get talked into something that you can't see, I just don't
think that's good enough, you know what I mean?
So yeah. And not to knock Aulani because
it's an amazing resort. We're finally going back this
year. I'm so excited, but it's like,
it's like you need to buy GAP Insurance when you when you buy
Aulani direct because there's such a big gap.
I've had people come and try to refinance, you know, direct
Disney loans with us that have bought Aulani and they're just,
they're so underwater because of that, because of the, you know,
the value, the difference in value between selling it resale.
So, yeah, I mean, we've seen Aulani going for as cheap as
gosh, it's creeped into the 80s. Yeah, this this past year.
So yeah. So yeah, 240 something that
blows my mind and I don't. Want to fully come out and say
this, but you look at the direction of the Walt Disney
Company and the the profit driven mindset that they have
granted, you know, any company is profit driven, but more than
ever, we're seeing them make decisions in that regard.
And you wonder if they just don't care if someone gets
underwater with a contract, because at the end of the day,
what that means is they're gonna take those points back from that
person and then resell them. And so it's it, it's a bad
situation for the buyer. It, it potentially kind of,
we've said this and alluded to it several times.
It it kind of moves to the Disney vacation called product
more into that traditional timeshare kind of mindset.
It's not there yet. I don't think it'll ever will be
there. It will always be special.
It's Disney. Yeah, but.
It won't be there, yeah, like because, but.
Still, there's these small things that have changed that
you look at the broader timeshare industry and you go,
Oh, well, yeah, you know, it's kind of following those
footsteps a little bit in in some of those decisions in
looking at at just incentives on the whole.
Just in terms of a new member. If you are looking to add on, I
do want to give a shout out to Lauren De La Cruz, who actually
wrote the article this month on the incentives.
Amy and I were actually falling down a ski slope at the time
that all of this dropped, unfortunately.
More on that coverage soon, but Fort Wilderness incentives are a
slightly better deal than the last round if you're purchasing
200 points or more. Disneyland Hotel lower across
the board compared to previous offers.
Riviera small increase, Aulani small increase, Polynesian about
the same until you get to 200 points or more and kick in those
anniversary, 35th anniversary savings.
I've said 35th anniversary so many times that I feel like I
need to bring up that. That is one of our news topics.
It is the 35th year of Disney Vacation Club and they recently
came out with a special logo and it sounds like we're going to
just kind of be doing some small celebrations throughout the 35th
year. I feel like it was just
yesterday that we were celebrating the 30th year of
Disney Vacation Club, which is wild.
So. And Derek, you've been here for
all 35 of those years. How's it been?
Resale Derek has yes. I just can't believe it's been
like when I tell people still like just invitation started in,
you know, 1991 and direct points were $49.00.
People can't believe it. I was just telling someone today
and they asked me on, you know, the live chat feature like, hey,
so do these points ever change? Because I'm learning about the
club and I'm looking at the point chart, blah, blah, blah.
So I'm explaining them, you know, it's a hedge against
inflation. That's why you joined.
The number one reason he's like, well, I don't get it.
And I was like, well, so let me put it this way.
Members that joined in 1991 direct, they paid 49 bucks a
point, use the exact same point charts that someone that buys
direct from Disney today for whatever $245 per point.
Every member uses the same point chart.
It just comes down to how much did you pay for your points?
That's what it comes down to. So it's been an incredible 35
years. I can't believe when I bought,
you know, in the late 90s that I, I had Boardwalk, I had old
Key West and Vero Beach. That was it.
And now the fact of all of these amazing resorts that we have
that keep going and people love for different reasons, it's,
it's still to this day it's the best vacation product out there
that you can buy, bar none. I will die on that hill.
Nothing else comes close to it. Nothing else.
You can take your Hiltons and your Marriott's and your
Wyndham's and. I was five years old when Disney
Vacation Club launched, and I'm still kicking myself for not
buying that back in the 90s. We.
Still sit in bed some nights and go we really shouldn't have done
that wedding we should have bought ADBC contract This is
that 35th anniversary logo by the way that I.
Was 235 years while Derek. Was talking another kind of play
that the 30th anniversary logo actually was very similar to a
logo they had for Disneyland Paris.
So they're always kind of doing a little play with a little bit
of a silhouette, Mickey and everything.
So, you know, you're hiding behind the the logo there.
But yeah, it'll be interesting to see as the as the year goes
on, kind of what other special things they do to celebrate the
35th anniversary of Disney Vacation Club.
Looking at the broader. Yep, I do hope that they do some
good merch with it because the merch that they have right now
is kind of hot garbage. Sorry I.
Mean we can pivot there. That's new favorite term hot.
Garbage. Yeah, I did have I did have on
the list tonight to talk about merch.
So I mean, we might as well go there.
And this this is what I don't understand.
So this is the moonlight magic merch that came out for 2026
recently. And I we can unpack this several
different ways. You know, First off, I just,
I'm, I'm a little confused by the Mickey I'm.
Confused by the location on the shirt and size of the.
There's a lot to be confused on here, but I'm mainly confused by
Mickey. I I don't want to fat shame
here, but I I want to say Mickey's had a couple too many
churros. Maybe on this it just looks.
Like it looks like something I could draw and that's not
saying, is it? AI Mickey did.
Is this potentially it? It is a little like Teemu Mickey
a little bit, but my biggest complaint about this and then
I'll let Jeff, you know, hop on his his merch soapbox since he
used such a elegant term, hot garbage.
But in the history like look back at I feel like they've got
to have sales numbers for moonlight magic merch.
I feel like if you would put the words moonlight magic somewhere
on this it would sell better. Those shirts where they had
Moonlight Magic and they had a list of all the dates and
locations on the back. People love those.
That was a. DVC fan shirt.
No, no, you, yeah, you had something similar.
But they did, didn't they do it too officially?
They might have done it prior. I think they did it.
One year, one year. Also, they used to do special
merch that was like it would be, you know, moonlight Magic and
then like down the sleeve or something it would say like
Epcot or Magic Kingdom back when Magic Kingdom had Moonlight
Magic. That was worth the days.
I. Know we've never got to
experience that but. Yeah, I just, this was a miss.
I will give them credit. They recently did have a Slam
Dunkin merch. I, well, I don't want to use the
term slam dunk, but they did have a recent merch success,
which was I loved the new mugs that they came out with.
They're a stackable mug collection, but they only did it
for like 8 of the resorts. And according to Derek, there's
37. So how am I supposed to collect
them all there? And you know, it's, it's not for
all of my home resorts. So I ended up not choosing to
buy it. Yeah.
I was, but he only had like one or two home resorts that had
mugs. Yeah.
I mean, so I mean make us all feel included.
Give us all a little bit of merch.
I don't know. What are your merch complaints,
Jeff? It's.
Such an easy thing, you know, and we've got a video coming
out. I just sent it to Paul about the
happiest market. It's like a a cast member Etsy
type store that's off property. That the quality of the shirts
that people that aren't working for Disney are coming up with is
astounding to me. And then we get this thing,
which I mean, it's fine, but look at like, look behind me.
I, I think it's safe to say I'm kind of a Mickey fan.
And this version of Mickey is unlike any other version of
Mickey we've ever seen. And like Paul said, he's just,
he's disproportionate to himself in, in some ways.
And so I I. Don't.
Know I don't know who's in charge said Why have a kind logo
that's big dead center on a sweatshirt?
I don't know. I don't know who fell off and
hit their head. But we want to buy things.
We love buying things. Our our community loves to buy
things. Yes, the fact.
That these aren't flying off the shelves and they have every size
imaginable in every store that you go to.
Like they're going to end up at the character warehouse down the
street next month in every size because they I don't just don't
think they're selling. Yeah.
But I'm I'm I'm always amazed too, Jeff, is that items like
that don't just say like appear after one day.
There was 134 different meetings for sure that showed every
design possible that went through this.
And then they had a meeting after that meeting and this one.
And that's what finally wound up is that and I'm just always
amazed, like how did they get through?
It's cute, don't get me wrong, but I didn't think for something
like Moonlight Magic, right, Something like Moonlight magic
that people are willing to buy 150 points.
Direct thus. For the hope that they could
someday get into said event. That's how much people love this
event so they're willing to buy 150 direct points to try to get
in there and that's what you got is oh hey pal, do you like my
shirt? I'm sorry about my weight.
Like it's just like, it's like you have people, like Jeff said,
people love to spend money. I always say at every single
resort, and we've probably talked about this before, but I
love seeing what they've done to the Christmas ornaments.
Their ornament game is so trillion times better than it
ever used to be. But I think in every DVC resort,
they should be selling an ornament on that resort.
I think every DVC resort, you should be able to go into the
boardwalk and buy a boardwalk towel.
You should be able going to Bay Lake Tower and buy a towel.
People love their resort. They want to spend money on
stuff like this. So yeah, it's just strange and
it's all just, God, it's just so much of it is just like, OK, so
when this doesn't sell, they'll just change it and put it out
for some other different type of events.
OK, Yeah, well, where's the pins?
Like I don't. Know if Paul's try to put this
shirt in in this on view? So this is from 2018.
So I will say I know I will say it says me like magic was great.
It has the year, which is great and it has Epcot on it and
that's awesome. But like, why does it look like
Figment is? No, it's like he's unleashing
his flatulence all over the spaceship Earth and the people
in line. Or Figment.
Give him a rough time on this show, don't we?
It's. A It's a weird position for him
to be standing in, it looks. Like he's presenting, yeah.
It looks like he's going to twerk.
And. Then like this and then the the
stuff coming out that's, yeah, no, look, there's like Pixie
dust coming out of his butt if you look.
Do you see it sparkly? I would still take that shirt, I
take that one over the shirt that Paul showed because that.
Oh yeah, I agree. Yeah, even.
With figment. On it.
It's got a name on it, you know that.
I would still take twerking Figment over that Mickey.
Saving us from this conversation and moving us forward.
Just a little teaser for next weeks episode of the DVC show,
we are going to devote an entire episode to talk about the next
CEO of the Walt Disney Company who was announced and surprise,
surprise, it was Josh Demaro. And I think while while we were
surprised, no one was surprised all at the same time with that
announcement. I think the bigger question is
what it means broader for the Walt Disney Company, what it
means for the future of Parks and resorts, Disney Vacation
Club, and then also kind of looking at studios and all of
those other things. So we're dedicating a whole show
to that. So be sure to TuneIn next week
as we talk about that. Something I want to linger on
for a little bit is Parks related.
But actually earlier this week, before we filmed this show,
there were some reports that started to circulate.
And Len Testa actually, I think, posted originally on a forum
online that he had heard a report that Imagineering had
basically been told to scrap the plans for Villains Land for the
Magic Kingdom at this point because they were underwhelming.
We've heard that from multiple sources and that to think bigger
and to think with fewer budgetary constraints.
At this time, I just, I want to go around the room and kind of
unpack this for a second. I know we've seen very little
kind of finite concept art or anything outside of 1 singular
picture for villains land. We did destination D 23 this
summer. Destination D-23 just said we've
been spending the past four years in Barcelona, Spain
studying architecture. I don't.
Think it was quite. I mean, they visited, but I
don't think they've been in there for four years.
But no. But to my point.
Yeah, it was supposed to have this, you know, Gothic
architecture quality similar to like Gal Galpi.
I mean, I can never say that, right?
We yeah, we do love, we love Barcelona, but I hope they
didn't scrap that portion. I hope it's more all the other
junk that they haven't showed us yet.
Where? I'm stuck with it.
Is that here we are almost four years removed from the initial
announcement of Villains Land and we are no further to knowing
what this may look like. And I'm concerned that, you
know, we going back, we may be in the nursing home together by
the time Villains Land actually actually opens.
Jeff, thoughts on this? Yeah, there's so many thoughts,
but I'll try and I'll try and sum up.
I like the thought that they're scrapping it because it's not
big enough or not to their quality.
And I kind of selfishly hope that it was because of because
we, it was reported widely that Josh tomorrow and his team went
up to Epic Universe and and got a tour of that new theme park.
We know that they've been elsewhere, like you guys were
saying around the world, looking at different design
opportunities and stuff like that.
I want them to do it right because The Villains is a huge
IP product for them that doesn't really have a resonating space
within the parks. They've tried a few things.
They've got that weird show over at Hollywood Studios.
They've done some parades over the years.
You know, they have a starring role in Fantasmic, but it it's
the Villains are like The Muppets to Disney and they don't
know what to do with them. It's a, it's a hugely successful
IP that they just can't figure out how to put in the parks the
right way. So I'm comforted in the fact
that maybe they're pumping the brakes and taking the time to do
it right. Obviously time will tell if
that's actually what's taking place.
But meanwhile, we've got construction going on and pretty
much everywhere else with Monsters Inc, with Animal
Kingdom and, and Tropical Americas and Cars Land.
I finally made it over to Magic Kingdom last week when my family
was in town and saw the construction that's going on
over there. Like they, we've got plenty to
look forward to at this point that I don't mind taking a beat
on something this important to make sure that it's done right.
Yeah. It's it's been something that I
think has been rumored for so long within the theme Park
Community as a potential like as something that's been on a
drawing board or a white board in a backroom of Imagineering.
And, and it has to be done right.
You look at everything that Epic Universe did over at that park,
they did not really, you know, there were a couple budget cuts
that happened related to the pandemic and stuff.
They're already working to fix some of that.
They're already looking to add on and expand that park.
So when you have a company like Universal and Comcast that has
their, their, you know, gas pedal down, you cannot cut
corners if this is what you've promised the Disney community,
because people have been waiting for this for way too long.
They love their villains way, way too much.
And, you know, yeah, I if this is a lot of rumors within the
community right now. But if this is one of kind of
Josh's first things, you know, he doesn't fully take over as
CEO until mid March, I believe it is.
But if this is kind of one of his first directives that he's
pushing out before doing so, I think that that tells volumes of
the direction of the company. And you know, like, like you
said, Jeff, I'm I'm excited by it.
Derek, thoughts. Well.
Yeah, I have a lot of thoughts too.
Is I think it's more important than people realize because I
think Villains Land, I think for Disney is their chance to come
out and be like the Magic Kingdom guys.
It's not just for babies. Like I think that's their
chance. Can Disney do something that's
hip? Can Disney do something that's
edgy? Can Disney do something that's
honestly maybe even a little bit scary?
So I think for them to come out and playing it too safe, which
like you talked about, Paul, I mean, they announced this four
years ago. And I think the only thing we've
seen is that same picture that everybody's seen and we've seen
a couple pictures of. I think this is what we want our
railings to look like, like that, that's it.
Like that's all that people have scene, whereas people want to
have this land, you need it to be something they need it to be
something so cool. No, we don't expect it to have a
a Stardust Racers type of a thrill ride or a Velocicoaster
type thing. But I think if you can have it
where you have a land, and I think that's what's so important
that you want to kind of spend time in and just be like, Oh my
God, yeah, let's do this. But I can't wait.
Stepping into, you know, villains land is so cool.
Look at this. This is so great.
Oh my God, this is the coolest place.
Let's just go out to eat here. I just want to ride this ride.
I just want to hang out because I love the whole vibe because
it's so different and it's so unlike anything that Disney has
ever done. So I think it is super important
for Disney to do this and do it right because they only have, I
think from what I've seen, what there's one restaurant, right?
There's obviously stores, yeah, I think there's just one main
attraction from what I've seen. I've heard two.
I've heard two attractions OK. Yeah.
So I mean 2 main things. So one of them is going to be
some kind of a coaster, I'm sure, and then another kind of
an indoor attraction that's not too scary for, you know, for
everybody else. But that's what I'm most excited
about because I know what monsters is going to look like.
We all know because it exists in the movies.
If you want to see what monsters land is going to look like, it's
in the movies. There is no quote UN quote
villains land that you can kind of see.
So they have the ability as Disney Imagineers.
And if I were them, I'd be super freaking pumped up to be like, I
get to create a land from scratch.
Like we get to take all these different villain characters and
put them into a land. We get to build it from scratch,
which is, is what Disney does better than anybody else, you
know, So I'm, I'm super excited to see what they do, But I do
think it's incredibly important to have it done right because
it's the Magic Kingdom. It's not like you get to build
something and go, oh, that wasn't great.
But hey, we still got a ton more land here.
Like, no, you don't. You got to do it right.
It's, it's weird how dependent we've gotten on IP when it comes
to these things. You know, I think, and, and
that's really the struggle that sounds like, and that that seems
to be the struggle that I, that imagineering is having at this
point is to come up with an original idea that aligns with
why, why all of these villains are together in this singular
place. But you know, why not bring in
studios? Why not bring writers in from
studios that have that have worked on these, these movies?
My head immediately goes to Wreck it Ralph when they somehow
injected all of these Disney characters into that movie so
successfully. Because obviously it's the
Internet and you know, I hope everyone's seen Wreck it Ralph
by this point. I'm not spoiling anything, but
you know, it it it made sense for them to come together
weather. So when you look at kind of the
flywheel of of Disney, you just kind of have to ask yourself the
question like, why is not studios talking to parks and
sort of saying, let's come up with this original story.
Let's not only just come up with it, let's make a movie about it
and let's launch all of this stuff at the same time.
Maybe that maybe that is what they end up doing, but that just
makes so much more sense in my head because then you have a
cohesive storyline that tells you why all the villains are
coming together. Then you can, you don't have
these issues and all these questions.
But again, it makes it more dependent on the IP and it's
just so weird that we can't, I, I don't know, we just can't come
up with an original idea or we're not, we're not certain
enough to invest in an original idea these days like original
Disney park parks. But that's.
A that's such a good idea, Paul. Like truly, I mean, it gets me
excited hearing you talk about that because could you imagine
if you could, you know, have the Disney company with so many
different media outlets and everything else start from
scratch and say, OK, what are some ideas?
Why are all these villains from these certain popular movies?
Why are they all here? Then you could, you know, do
Internet shows. You could do, you know, series
on Disney Plus. You could do so many things that
by the time people ate, they can't wait.
Oh my God, we got to get to the Magic Kingdom.
You want people to just blow past a Cinderella castle and be
like, I got to get to villains land because Oh my God, this is
such a cool story. Or I read the book on why all
the characters are here. I can't wait to see how they
bring it to life verse the usual path for the last guy knows how
many years is walking into insert IP land here going that
looks kind of almost just like the movie.
Yeah, neat. So monsters so neat.
Yeah, exactly. That's exactly what it's going
to be. It's going to be awesome.
But how neat to have that ability to have that clay to, to
build something from scratch and to have people wonder.
Like you said, Wreck It Ralph is a perfect example because people
were so pumped to be like, Oh my God, that's a dude from from,
from that game and then that game and oh, that's why they're
all sitting around together. Yeah, that'd be that'd be cool.
Not to derail us too much, but since we're talking about this,
have you guys been to Animal Kingdom lately and looked at the
construction going on at Dinoland they ran?
Through it, really. I was about to say I ran through
it really fast, but then I realized I was running really
slow at that point of the marathon.
So I did run through it and it was like, holy moly, that's a
big building that. Encanto building is mass.
It owns that area. Like I was blown away.
I hadn't been over there since it went vertical and I was just
you. Know I hope they can blend it in
more. Yeah, I'm excited.
I hope that attractions awesome. I am actually really excited for
that section, yeah. Is that supposed to be a water
ride or like a just a dry ride? Like a dark ride?
OK, we don't. Know.
Really. I don't think we know.
I think there's been a lot of speculation, but I don't think
there's been anything that I've seen anyway.
The only. Thing we know concretely is,
well, obviously we know Indiana Jones, but the, the, the
carousel, we know kind of more about that and how it's going to
be carved of different, you know, animals and things.
But yeah, the Encanto ride's been pretty on the download.
Not too much, yeah. I bet you it tells the story of
Encanto. What do you think?
Or. Could could tell.
Could tell something else? That was kind of the meat and
potatoes of the news that we had going on over the past couple
weeks. Another thing that popped up,
the 2027 Disney Vacation Club member cruise was announced.
This one was actually kind of exciting to me.
I don't know that I'll book it necessarily.
Bookings actually open on Saturday, February 28th.
On that day, if you're calling member services for any other
reason, good luck because most of it will be dedicated to the
member cruise booking that day. But it is the Disney wonder and
they are headed out to the West Coast this this time for the
member cruise. April 7th, 2027, seven night
round trip voyage and it's pretty cool because it's going
to some unique destinations. So it departs San Diego, then it
goes to Catalina Island, then it's at sea for a day, and then
it spends 2 days in San Francisco, which is incredibly
unique cruise port. Yeah, I.
Thought that was my opinion. That was neat that it spent it
goes overnight. Yep.
Gonna go back to sea for another day, take you down to
essentially what we call the Nassau of Mexico on that side
and then not Ensenada, Ensenada and then back we just, we just.
Did yeah, we did Catalina Island and Ensenada last year.
So Catalina Island's really pretty.
It's, it's a seven night cruise too.
So it's, it's a longer member cruise.
The one that we went on a few years ago was only four nights,
but I think that it's great that they're kind of giving the West
Coast people some love. So giving them something that if
you live over there, your DVC member, it's going to be an
easier cruise for you to get to. You know, it's not
international, so you don't have to go, you know, far like the
one this year. But but yeah, so I I say this
now and it'll probably already happened by the time the show
comes out, but we keep getting asked.
I keep seeing people asking in the DVC fan Facebook group, you
know, what about the pricing? Have the point charts come out
yet? They have not as of today,
Wednesday, February 18th when we film this, hopefully we hear
soon because they it does go on sale very soon.
So, but if you're not familiar for a DVC member cruise, not the
same as like the first wave sailings, you know, and those,
but for the chartered DVC member cruise, you can book with all
cash or you can do points. So you don't have to just do
points. You just have to be a a member
that qualifies for the direct parks in order to book the
cruise and the final payment or the the full payment is due
basically once you book. So the way it worked for us was
we booked it and then they call us back later that day to
collect the full payment. Yeah, for all the details on the
on the member cruise, head to dvcpan.com and search in the
search box for 2027 DVC Member Cruise.
We kind of outline the information that you're going to
need when you make that initial phone call to member services.
Basically some general information about your guests,
what kind of state room you're looking for.
Once they have all of that information, they've got you
locked in, they're going to give you a call back later that day
to finalize the details and then lock in your payment.
Payment is due in full at the time of booking for that member
cruise. As Amy said, you can either do
points, cash or combination of points in cash if you want to to
pay for it. And member cruises, what's
unique about them is that there are some special activities that
you would experience above and beyond the traditional Disney
Cruise Line. It is a kind of a full buyout by
Disney Vacation Club of that boat.
So they normally bring on some cool entertainment options.
They have some unique gifts that they give you for joining them
for the member cruise sailing. So for those that are eligible,
I have always kind of said it, it's a fun thing to at least try
once or twice if it aligns with your vacation plans for where
you're looking to go. But also realize that it is
going to be at a premium cost compared to let's say that they
offered that exact same ceiling otherwise, which I'm not quite
sure that they do. I don't think that they offer a
I've. Never seen it over a day in San
Francisco option but. Because of all the extra
add-ons, it is going to be at a little bit of a premium price
compared to your normal costs for a Disney Cruise Line
experience. So and.
And, and odds, odds are you're going to be on the boat with the
guy that does the voice of Mickey Mouse and the guy that
does the voice of Goofy. Yeah.
Those guys are. Every single yeah, every member
cruise. Yeah, Jodie Benson is also on.
All the member. Cruises a lot of Disney.
Princesses, some of the A. Lot of some of the Broadway
people both Susan Egan usually is on.
Genie, Yeah, yeah, they do kind of go back to the same rotation
of people quite frequently. But but yeah, so other than
that, that about does it for the most recent Disney news that has
happened in the past couple, couple weeks.
If you didn't catch it, be sure to go back on our YouTube
channel youtube.com/DVCfan. Check out.
We did get into a refurbished 2 bedroom villa at Animal Kingdom
Kidani. We've got photos on dvcfan.com.
We've got an entire video review that we did of that, a one
bedroom, a deluxe studio. It is our favorite.
Speaking for Amuna, it is our favorite room on property right
now. Yes, it.
Is it's amazing. Did you guys?
Get a chance to watch the video and and check that out.
Yes. I'm so excited to stay there.
I'm so excited. We we just booked it for
marathon weekend. Yeah, in 20. 27 it's always.
Funny to me, like when when they knock it out of the park.
But like, we've not seen them actually, like, publicize it at
all yet of like, hey, here's what the new Animal Kingdom
rooms look like. And it's like, like, blow this
up. This is amazing.
Like, these rooms are amazing. Like, people are going to give
you so much positive feedback about it.
Yeah. This is one of the best, one of
the best refurbs we've seen. Well, that's going to do it for
this cycle of Disney and BBC News.
I'm sure we'll have more to talk about next month.
So until next time, we will see you next Monday.
Bye everybody, see you. Everybody.