Disney Dollars will not be sold after Saturday

[TheOrangeBird01]

Why would anyone buy a $10.00 Disney Dollar on eBay for $10.00 or more dollars? They are worth $10 at Disney but worthless anyplace else. Could people possibly be that foolish?

Surprisingly, people do it. There are eBay shows dedicated to selling $1 Disney Dollar bills for upwards of $5 plus shipping! I guess it's the "coolness" of having Disney characters on your money, but it's really just a glorified bill that can only be used at Disney Parks.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Surprisingly, people do it. There are eBay shows dedicated to selling $1 Disney Dollar bills for upwards of $5 plus shipping! I guess it's the "coolness" of having Disney characters on your money, but it's really just a glorified bill that can only be used at Disney Parks.

Amazing! There must be a very fine line between cool and insane!

 

[NobodyElse]

I'm sure this has been brought up here before. Disney Dollars were a great way to get a "free" cash advance on your credit card of choice.

 

[MinnieM123]

Worthless anyplace other then Disney. I know you can still use them in Disney, however, when you think about it, they took your money and the only way you can get it back is to purchase something that benefits Disney. With cash I can spend it anywhere and have not tied up cash for what are worthless pieces of paper anywhere other then on Disney property. Hence the reason why I have never had any in my possession.

When gift cards became available, fewer people were buying the Disney Dollars. Prior to gift cards, I used to always buy some Disney Dollars, because I thought they were a fun novelty. (Incidentally, I never ended up with any extra Disney Dollars after a trip, as I also brought cash or credit cards with me, for most of my expenses.)

I always thought that the creation of Disney Dollars was one of the better marketing efforts by Disney. Some people would also give Disney Dollars as gifts (especially to children), to help them save up for (toys, etc.) that they could buy during their vacation. I still enjoy the attractive designs, and I can understand how people may want to keep some of them now as souvenirs. Now, I wish I had saved one from years ago.

 

[Goofyernmost]

When gift cards became available, fewer people were buying the Disney Dollars. Prior to gift cards, I used to always buy some Disney Dollars, because I thought they were a fun novelty. (Incidentally, I never ended up with any extra Disney Dollars after a trip, as I also brought cash or credit cards with me, for most of my expenses.)

I always thought that the creation of Disney Dollars was one of the better marketing efforts by Disney. Some people would also give Disney Dollars as gifts (especially to children), to help them save up for (toys, etc.) that they could buy during their vacation. I still enjoy the attractive designs, and I can understand how people may want to keep some of them now as souvenirs. Now, I wish I had saved one from years ago.

All very good points, but, I guess that there were not enough people buying them anymore to make it worth the print cost and contrary to the plans of the accountants, people were no longer keeping them as souvenirs. Those kept are never redeemed so the money belongs to Disney with nothing but the cost of a small piece of paper in exchange for, in some cases, $20. It is a great idea for kids as gifts though and it's to bad that is another thing being lost to progress.

 

[ford91exploder]

I'm sure this has been brought up here before. Disney Dollars were a great way to get a "free" cash advance on your credit card of choice.

Which is probably another reason that they are going Buh Bye, Because in exchange for cash Disney now has a liability on their books.

 

[ford91exploder]

Surprisingly, people do it. There are eBay shows dedicated to selling $1 Disney Dollar bills for upwards of $5 plus shipping! I guess it's the "coolness" of having Disney characters on your money, but it's really just a glorified bill that can only be used at Disney Parks.

They are a collector's item so to that particular collector community they are worth more than their face value, There have been lots of designs over the years so that in itself makes them collectible.

 

[ford91exploder]

As a stand alone business unit, Disney Dollars is redundant and not profitable enough.

Hard and electronic currency needs to be spent on higher margin goods and services.

Yet is it not amazing when Disney was operated as a collective whole the margins were on the order of 20-35%, Now with the dueling business units and being run like a 'business' the best they can do is 10-15%. If they are in it for the money surely the returns alone would dictate the strategy. But no it's all about the STOCK PRICE to hell with ROI.

 

[Polydweller]

All very good points, but, I guess that there were not enough people buying them anymore to make it worth the print cost and contrary to the plans of the accountants, people were no longer keeping them as souvenirs. Those kept are never redeemed so the money belongs to Disney with nothing but the cost of a small piece of paper in exchange for, in some cases, $20. It is a great idea for kids as gifts though and it's to bad that is another thing being lost to progress.

Post 14 gives a good explanation of why it's more than the cost of a piece of paper. As long as a Disney dollar is in circulation, ie not in Disney's hands, it has to be treated on the balance sheet as a liability. Reason, as low no as its out in circulation there is a possibility, regardless of how slim, that it can be used to buy merchandise or services and that means Disney has to return real value to the individual. Thus, the liability is always there and always negatively affects the balance sheet.

So, I get your point that as long as the dollar is not redeemed it's only the cost of a piece of paper but the impact on the company is actually the full value of the bill.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Post 14 gives a good explanation of why it's more than the cost of a piece of paper. As long as a Disney dollar is in circulation, ie not in Disney's hands, it has to be treated on the balance sheet as a liability. Reason, as low no as its out in circulation there is a possibility, regardless of how slim, that it can be used to buy merchandise or services and that means Disney has to return real value to the individual. Thus, the liability is always there and always negatively affects the balance sheet.

So, I get your point that as long as the dollar is not redeemed it's only the cost of a piece of paper but the impact on the company is actually the full value of the bill.

Only on paper, it is accounting-babble at it's finest. They don't care how much liability it creates, the have the money and the odds are they won't ever have to give it back in cash. When used to buy something they also get to keep the markup, which for Disney can be quite high. In the meantime they have used that money to make more money while the purchaser has just whatever it will buy at the time of purchase with no gain whatsoever. I'm puzzled as to why they would still not offer it, unless the quantity being sold is not sufficient to cover the cost of keeping track of it. No demand, no supply!

 

[ford91exploder]

Only on paper, it is accounting-babble at it's finest. They don't care how much liability it creates, the have the money and the odds are they won't ever have to give it back in cash. When used to buy something they also get to keep the markup, which for Disney can be quite high. In the meantime they have used that money to make more money while the purchaser has just whatever it will buy at the time of purchase with no gain whatsoever. I'm puzzled as to why they would still not offer it, unless the quantity being sold is not sufficient to cover the cost of keeping track of it. No demand, no supply!

Remember Disney is all about financial engineering these days and a Disney dollar cannot be counted as revenue until it's exchanged for goods or services at Disney

 

[Cesar R M]

solution.. Make plastic disney rechargable bills.

 

[Andrew_Animatronic]

Huh, I still have about $25 Disney Dollars in a drawer. Guess I'll be holding onto those.

 

[Goofyernmost]

Huh, I still have about $25 Disney Dollars in a drawer. Guess I'll be holding onto those.

And Disney wins $25.00 in reality. Sure it shows up as a liability on the books, but, it is a liability that will never have to be paid back.

 

[dreamfinder]

Amazing! There must be a very fine line between cool and insane!

Is it really any different than anything else someone would purchase that isn't essential to survival? The designs on some of the Disney Dollars were kinda cool. So paying $5 for a dollar sized piece of hangable art isn't any different than hanging a postcard on your wall at current Disney postcard prices. Or framing the different denominations in a given series ($1, 5, 10, etc) could easy be hung up instead of a poster or lithograph. And heck, I wouldn't be shocked if a bunch of forum members came out to say they had E tickets hanging on their wall somewhere, and those cost what, 80 cents when issued?

I do have to admit, I can't say I ever saw anyone getting Disney Dollars back in change, or ever getting non-new Disney Dollars at Disney. It's almost like they spent the extra few cents on the double sided printing instead of doing paper gift certificates, and tossed them away once redeemed.

 

[awilliams4]

We purchased another $150 on Saturday. We have somewhere in the $800 range. We will use them. Probably around $25+ a year for the next 25 years or so. They are fun to give to children to use.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

Too bad the Disney Dollars could not have stuck around another year. 2017 would have been the 30th anniversary. Could have went out with a bang. Oh well. We all know how Disney treats anniversaries theses days, except DL 60th of course. Cupcake anyone? LOL Disney Dollars are yet another thing Disney Collectors like to collect. I myself have quite a few different ones. Not a big collection though. I also have a MAPO property sticker that I recently purchased. A little bit of Disney History of my own. Not to mention a few pieces of WDW and DL restaurant china in near mint condition.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

I was at WDW this past Saturday and the only place that was left to purchase any denomination of Disney Dollars was at EPCOT. They only had Stitch $10 bills. Guess they were popular after all. Now if you want them you'll have to pay almost triple value on average on EBay.

 

[ford91exploder]

Post 14 gives a good explanation of why it's more than the cost of a piece of paper. As long as a Disney dollar is in circulation, ie not in Disney's hands, it has to be treated on the balance sheet as a liability. Reason, as low no as its out in circulation there is a possibility, regardless of how slim, that it can be used to buy merchandise or services and that means Disney has to return real value to the individual. Thus, the liability is always there and always negatively affects the balance sheet.

So, I get your point that as long as the dollar is not redeemed it's only the cost of a piece of paper but the impact on the company is actually the full value of the bill.

And since we know that financial engineering is considered more important than guest satisfaction well the demise of the Disney Dollar is obvious, Note down the road UNI is STILL quite happily selling "Wizarding Money" and even has a complete storefront with an absolutely amazing interactive Goblin AA to sell the Wizarding money (which we bought as a gift for some hardcore HP fan friends of ours) and yes the wizarding money can be spent in UNI parks.

Makes you wonder just how bad financially off Disney is when they need to eliminate a tiny liability like the Disney Dollar. Do the gift cards expire now? and is that why they are still being sold?.

 

[anchorman314]

Do the gift cards expire now? and is that why they are still being sold?.

Nope. Still against the law to have expiration dates and service fees in both FL and CA.