News Disney Explores Amazon Prime-Like Membership Program to Offer Discounts and Perks

[TheMaxRebo]

I’m with you…this is a useless subscription idea on the surface…

UNLESS they make it some kind of “park membership” that replaces APs by some type of small discount bundling?

“They wouldn’t do that!!…”

…oh but they would want to. Oh yeah.

oh yeah, if it is the other way, where it is like a "club" where you buy a membership and then that grants you the opportunity to get D+ at a lower rate, park tickets at a lower rate, member lounge access, special MB+, etc. ... but the fee is like $300/person to join, that is something totally different

Now, that could still make sense for people - even if don't save a ton at the end, people like belong to something "exclusive"

 

[Joel]

I love it when companies have my data.

You would.

 

[Mickey5150]

A membership is a great way for Disney to be able to raise rates on everything a la cart. This new offering could have Disney+, free shop Disney shipping, free genie +, free hotel parking, free yearly magic bands, etc. Then Disney raises the price of genie+, Disney+, maybe charge a resort fee. Certain members would save money, some may break even, but most might lose money. If you want the best deal you get Disney Super +.

 

[Grumpy4196]

A membership is a great way for Disney to be able to raise rates on everything a la cart. This new offering could have Disney+, free shop Disney shipping, free genie +, free hotel parking, free yearly magic bands, etc. Then Disney raises the price of genie+, Disney+, maybe charge a resort fee. Certain members would save money, some may break even, but most might lose money. If you want the best deal you get Disney Super +.

It COULD have all of that, but I am willing to bet it won't.

 

[GhostHost1000]

A membership is a great way for Disney to be able to raise rates on everything a la cart. This new offering could have Disney+, free shop Disney shipping, free genie +, free hotel parking, free yearly magic bands, etc. Then Disney raises the price of genie+, Disney+, maybe charge a resort fee. Certain members would save money, some may break even, but most might lose money. If you want the best deal you get Disney Super +.

We all need to remember nothing is free if we are prepaying for it in another way

 

[UNCgolf]

This feels like the kind of thing that would only potentially make sense for people who go to the parks multiple times a year or buy a ton of Disney products.

Of course we won't know until there are final details, but I'm really struggling to imagine a scenario where this offering would make fiscal sense for the vast majority of people. I can't think of a reason I'd want it unless it was so heavily skewed towards the consumer that it would cost Disney money (which isn't going to happen).

 

[CaptainAmerica]

This feels like the kind of thing that would only potentially make sense for people who go to the parks multiple times a year or buy a ton of Disney products.

Of course we won't know until there are final details, but I'm really struggling to imagine a scenario where this offering would make fiscal sense for the vast majority of people.

Seven hells, none of this makes fiscal sense. It's not supposed to make "fiscal sense," you're blowing discretionary money because it's fun, not consulting with your Vanguard advisor on a wealth management strategy.

 

[UNCgolf]

Seven hells, none of this makes fiscal sense. It's not supposed to make "fiscal sense," you're blowing discretionary money because it's fun, not consulting with your Vanguard advisor on a wealth management strategy.

You missed the point. I'm not talking about fiscal sense in terms of overall goals, but in terms of discretionary spending on Disney.

I'm saying this service will likely end up costing most people more money on Disney offerings than they would have spent without it -- i.e., they'll send up spending $300 with the subscription instead of the $250 they'd have spent otherwise.

Amazon Prime works like this for a lot of people (I don't know if it's the majority, but it wouldn't surprise me), and Amazon is more useful overall than any Disney specific offering will be for the vast majority.

 

[DisneyfanMA]

100% agree. As a technology professional, I think the whole privacy/cookies/tracking thing is completely overblown. No human ever sees your data, and the benefits users derrive from it, in my opinion, make it worth it. Even Apple, who claims that they are the privacy company, track you far more than you think, because they have to to make their services work.

I think if people could see an Internet with no cookies for anyone and no location tracking, etc., they'd be surprised how much of the things we use and take for granted just wouldn't work without it. Even if you personally disable it, you still benefit from the millions who don't. And so I'm in the same camp - as long as I know the company - cookies on, location services on, etc.

I think most people don't care all that much about corporations who are tracking activity to sell stuff. It's when the govt and other unknowns (China, bad actors etc) are spying on your online behavior it gets very creepy very fast.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

You missed the point. I'm not talking about fiscal sense in terms of overall goals, but in terms of discretionary spending on Disney.

I'm saying this service will likely end up costing most people more money on Disney offerings than they would have spent without it -- i.e., they'll send up spending $300 with the subscription instead of the $250 they'd have spent otherwise.

Amazon Prime works like this for a lot of people (I don't know if it's the majority, but it wouldn't surprise me), and Amazon is more useful overall than any Disney specific offering will be for the vast majority.

Where are you getting that this is supposed to be a money saver? Nothing in this article said "spend X, save Y, Y > X."

Amazon Prime isn't a money saver. You're spending extra to get a service you wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

 

[DisneyfanMA]

A membership is a great way for Disney to be able to raise rates on everything a la cart. This new offering could have Disney+, free shop Disney shipping, free genie +, free hotel parking, free yearly magic bands, etc. Then Disney raises the price of genie+, Disney+, maybe charge a resort fee. Certain members would save money, some may break even, but most might lose money. If you want the best deal you get Disney Super +.

and even without raising the stand alone prices, the "free" things you mentioned aren't so free when it comes with indefinite monthly recurring charge to your favorite CC.

 

[dreday3]

You missed the point. I'm not talking about fiscal sense in terms of overall goals, but in terms of discretionary spending on Disney.

I'm saying this service will likely end up costing most people more money on Disney offerings than they would have spent without it -- i.e., they'll send up spending $300 with the subscription instead of the $250 they'd have spent otherwise.

Amazon Prime works like this for a lot of people (I don't know if it's the majority, but it wouldn't surprise me), and Amazon is more useful overall than any Disney specific offering will be for the vast majority.

Prime is about $12.99 a month?

I disagree people lose money on Prime. Why would have you have Prime if you don't order a lot through Amazon (we order, at least weekly) - so we save a ridiculous amount on free shipping, plus the movies/tv shows are included for streaming. It's a bang for your buck service if you order through Prime a lot.

I agree in the sense whatever Disney offers would most likely not be any kind of cost saving for us.

I would be happy with a resort Loyalty program, like with cruising. Discounts/perks start coming in with number of trips, length of stays, deluxe vs value stays, etc.

 

[UNCgolf]

Where are you getting that this is supposed to be a money saver? Nothing in this article said "spend X, save Y, Y > X."

I'm not, which is my entire point. I don't see why most people would subscribe to this if it's not going to save them money.

I realize there is a subset of huge Disney fans to whom it would be worth it if it gets access to special things (like the existing D23, DVC, etc.) but it feels like they're positioning this as something for a much larger group.

Again, it will depend on the final details, but I'm just having a hard time envisioning a way this captures a large subscriber base.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Where are you getting that this is supposed to be a money saver? Nothing in this article said "spend X, save Y, Y > X."

Amazon Prime isn't a money saver. You're spending extra to get a service you wouldn't have gotten otherwise.

It saves you by offering free shipping which, depending on what you order and how much, does indeed provided a shipping discount which surpasses the cost of membership.

And if you watch Amazon Prime streaming shows, it has even more value.

Again we don't know if this thing coming is a discount plan, but, remember Tables in Wonderland? It was a membership that offered discounts on meals. I did the math and it only saved you money if you were buying more than $700 worth of dining per year (if I remember correctly), but, for some people, the were spending at least that amount and so the TiW membership saved them money.

Of course the real 'price' of getting a membership discount bargain is that it locks you into engaging with that company and you might spend more with the company for other things since you're interacting with them so much.

*If* this isn't a discount membership plan, I'll skip it.

 

[UNCgolf]

Prime is about $12.99 a month?

I disagree people lose money on Prime. Why would have you have Prime if you don't order a lot through Amazon (we order, at least weekly) - so we save a ridiculous amount on free shipping, plus the movies/tv shows are included for streaming. It's a bang for your buck service if you order through Prime a lot.

I agree in the sense whatever Disney offers would most likely not be any kind of cost saving for us.

I'm a Prime member, but most Amazon stuff ships for free anyways if you're willing to wait a little longer. It's really about getting things faster rather than saving money on shipping, since generally people don't actually need whatever they ordered in the next day or two and would be fine waiting a week.

Prime is admittedly different now because of the streaming options and Amazon's original content, but it was originally created mainly as a way to get people to commit to using Amazon for all their online purchases. If you buy a handful of things off Amazon because you're a Prime member instead of going and picking them up at a store (or ordering from a different website... or even not buying them at all), that's a win for Amazon.

That's also how it can cost people money -- a combination of ordering things they wouldn't have bought otherwise and paying for expedited shipping that they don't really need -- but yeah, with all of the additional Prime media content that's less likely to be the case now.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

It saves you by offering free shipping which, depending on what you order and how much, does indeed provided a shipping discount which surpasses the cost of membership.

Are you under the impression that you don't get free shipping without Prime? You do. It's just slower. Paying for Prime is paying to upgrade your shipping speed, it doesn't save you anything.

And if you watch Amazon Prime streaming shows, it has even more value.

"Value" and "savings" aren't the same thing. I buy a hamburger and it has value. That doesn't mean buying a hamburger saves me money.

Again we don't know if this thing coming is a discount plan, but, remember Tables in Wonderland? It was a membership that offered discounts on meals. I did the math and it only saved you money if you were buying more than $700 worth of dining per year (if I remember correctly), but, for some people, the were spending at least that amount and so the TiW membership saved them money.

I'd be shocked if this amounts to a glorified coupon book.

 

[UNCgolf]

"Value" and "savings" aren't the same thing. I buy a hamburger and it has value. That doesn't mean buying a hamburger saves me money.

This is what I didn't quite get at in my earlier posts.

While saving money is part of it, value is also part of it -- my issue was that I'm having a hard time seeing how this either saves enough money OR provides enough value to be worth it for most people.

If it gave me access to Club 33 locations in the parks, then yeah, it's probably worth it (obviously it's not going to do this, but just a wild example). If it's stuff like exclusive merchandise etc., then that of course has value for some people, but likely not enough to be more than a niche offering akin to D23.

It just depends on what is actually offered. Nobody can make any definitive statements until details are out.

Also, to be clear, I'm not suggesting that means this is bad regardless of the final details. If people want to pay for whatever is offered, that's great and has no effect on me.

 

[dreday3]

Are you under the impression that you don't get free shipping without Prime? You do. It's just slower. Paying for Prime is paying to upgrade your shipping speed, it doesn't save you anything.


"Value" and "savings" aren't the same thing. I buy a hamburger and it has value. That doesn't mean buying a hamburger saves me money.


I'd be shocked if this amounts to a glorified coupon book.

But I would pay for faster shipping, so it works for us. Plus I get free ebooks, discounts at Whole Foods, free Grubhub delivery from all restaurants, Amazon Fresh online shopping and things I mentioned previously.
I agree a percentage of people wouldn't benefit from the above, but we personally use all of the above (plus streaming)

I don't think Disney meant they would be like Prime, because they won't be offering discounts with other companies.

 

[Nubs70]

Why subscribe to a "service" whose offerings decrease, quality diminishes, availability is constrained and overall experience suffers over time? Why subscribe to D'Amaro's "Inevitable Result of Progress"?

So, I can get a discount on future increases?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

But I would pay for faster shipping, so it works for us. Plus I get free ebooks, discounts at Whole Foods, free Grubhub delivery from all restaurants, Amazon Fresh online shopping and things I mentioned previously.
I agree a percentage of people wouldn't benefit from the above, but we personally use all of the above (plus streaming)

I don't think Disney meant they would be like Prime, because they won't be offering discounts with other companies.

I like Prime too, I wasn't putting it down. But I'd save money without it.