I used the free F&W sample this past weekend and it was a GREAT membership perk, IMO. It got me to the park when I wouldn't have otherwise gone and we spent money on other stuff while we were there.
Call for Ideas: New Membership Program Perks
- Thread starter Nicole
- Start date
Yes, we were curious on this perk as well. We will be attending June 30th for the Early Entry so we want to make sure we know what time we should really get there.
Diddo to that! In addition, the 50% (as long as you're a premier member) got us to buy quick queue on an otherwise normal day we wouldn't have. We hit every ride when the line was fairly long for each attraction so I was happy to only pay $20 per person so I didn't have to wait forever. When we went to ride Loch
Ness, the line was through the extended queue and waiting right at the entrance. Saved us so much time.
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Probably too late... BUT, one of my ideas for perks would be to have special member days during the weeks during the school days so we can go during the week versus the weekends when it’s slammed. And on the member days they have lights on verbolten and Escape from Pompeii. Also allow members to get free coaster insider tours those days and they can see the show building of vbolt while the lights are on. I would also say that on those days they could get free foods and drinks from select restaurants and 30% discounts at all others.
So, I have been noticing that many of the benefits we suggested in this thread have been implemented... just not at BGW. I suppose it isn’t surprising that when Dan moved to SWO he took our ideas with him (if that is indeed what happened). That said, I find it very frustrating and not a little bit irritating to find so many of our ideas apparently being used to reward pass members at a different park, especially when we received so few of the perks we requested. Perhaps the most infuriating was finding a good pass member shirt, being sold at the customer service desk, located inside the member lounge. A shirt, which looks as if someone might have spent more than three minutes designing it, and which didn’t seem to be intended to prove that people wouldn’t actually buy pass member merchandise.
They know they have to give us nothing and that if it pisses people off and they dont renew that there will be 20 others lined up anyhow. They dont have to compete with anyone here, they know they are the only game in town. SWO has to work to entice people through the gate, here they make it as difficlut as possible for us to enjoy the park yet its still always packed. Bottom line is until a sizable group isnt showing up we will be treated the same, get crap perks, and crap merch.
Actually, my impression is that is it personality-driven. I think that we might have gotten better perks, if the staff hadn't changed.
I’d very much agree and add some of it felt like whoever took his desk saw those things and went “ah crap”.
I guess my suggestion would be more like a not doing instead of doing. Last year when this whole membership thing started they dangled all of the benefits that you would get. 3 preview days hardly qualify as membership exclusives. I saw for the spring preview and the HOS preview where one person with membership would/could get in a whole family or friends. If you say it is a MEMBERSHIP preview than it should be just that; MEMBERS ONLY. The other thing that infuriated me throughout the entire season was all of the free & reduced price passes and tickets. I felt like I was supporting all of the free passes walking through the gates. Then I could always criticize the "free" handouts like the can cozies and sunglasses. They didn't cost BGW anything as they had Coca-Cola logos all over them. As for the lanyard......what did that do for you? Big deal, it was a different color than the other lanyards given out all season long. And don't forget the Christmas ornament! Between the lanyard and the ornament; they couldn't give them away. And, what was with the ornaments only being available on certain days? You know they were in the Emporium every day. I kept telling myself I was done with BGW but have already renewed my stein so I guess I'll deal with it for another year. Hopefully there will be some improvement and some reason why I pay for membership. I was proven wrong this past season. I thought for sure as people's passes came up for renewal they would "force" them into membership. Unfortunately, that's not happened. I still have friends paying half of what I pay for the same benefits that I get. Oh yeah, they came for the preview days and weren't turned away and got the same handouts I did. They didn't get a lanyard...big deal and they even had ornaments dropped into their shopping bags last week. What!? So show me some benefits that are truly benefits and not what this past season had to offer!
How do you come to that conclusion? It's 3 days that non-members/pass holders aren't allowed in, guaranteeing smaller crowds. That feels like a great perk to me.
Well, they may not have cost BGW anything, but someone has to pay for them. And if Coca-Cola is paying for them they are going to take the opportunity to advertise.
I remember 2 years ago on a Friday they gave out little key ring flashlights. So what if it had the logo. I clipped it to Maggie's leash and it's nice to see her business at night to clean up. The coozie sits in my collection along with ones with Landshark, Budweiser, Coors logos that I also got for free. I only got 2 I didn't pay for. The sunglasses are cheesy but I stuffed them in my WCUSA bag. If someone steals them so what.
Basically I'm not getting the point of being unhappy about free stuff having a logo.
I beg to differ with you warfleg but we were in line waiting to enter the park at the Spring preview and the family of 5 in front of us was allowed in when only the mother had a membership level pass. I don't recall the reason but there was a "special members only" light show (Don't remember the name of it but it was good) at the Ireland theatre and an employee was checking to see if everyone was eligible. A person 4 or 5 back from us was the only Membership passholder and they allowed a group of 6 in, on just the one membership pass. As you entered they handed you Coke sunglasses and vouchers for a soft drink. All of that group was given what was meant to be for membership passholders only. At HOS when we waited for the gates to open the same thing happened with a group of 5 and only 1 had membership. They allowed the whole group in. Each was given a cozy and a pair of sunglasses. My point is that if BGW advertises it as being a preview for Membership passholders ONLY than ONLY membership passholders should be admitted. To your point about smaller crowds...yes, they were smaller crowds but they would have been even smaller if ONLY Membership passholders had been admitted.
My point about the logo giveaways was that BGW didn't pay for them. I assume Coke did since it had their logo. That being said, I paid my Membership fee to BGW, not Coke. I also paid a "pretty penny" to buy a Coke so I think Coke could afford to give away some swag. If it had BGW logo (like the ornament and lanyard had) then I would feel like I had paid for it with my membership fee and it would have been a BGW benefit. Any other logo was just a giveaway. My thinking is if it is a Membership Program Perk (as this thread is titled) than it should be swag from BGW. Not some sponsor.
Hope that explains what/where I'm coming from. I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm just saying if it is a BGW perk; it should come from BGW. Like the lounge or a t-shirt as has been mentioned before.
My point about the logo giveaways was that BGW didn't pay for them. I assume Coke did since it had their logo. That being said, I paid my Membership fee to BGW, not Coke. I also paid a "pretty penny" to buy a Coke so I think Coke could afford to give away some swag. If it had BGW logo (like the ornament and lanyard had) then I would feel like I had paid for it with my membership fee and it would have been a BGW benefit. Any other logo was just a giveaway. My thinking is if it is a Membership Program Perk (as this thread is titled) than it should be swag from BGW. Not some sponsor.
Hope that explains what/where I'm coming from. I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm just saying if it is a BGW perk; it should come from BGW. Like the lounge or a t-shirt as has been mentioned before.
I completely agree with Rothbury, the perks were crap. Im sorry but hour for hour what I pay for my Disney annual passes is a bargin compared to BGW. Look at the perks they do, the magnets are pretty darn nice and have Coke no where on them even though the WDC had a exclusive contract with Cocacola. Look at the Food and Wine this past year, 3 visits and you get a really nice cutting board with the F&W logo and I get all my photopass photos for FREE. But I would just as soon BGW not give us anything as hand off the pure crap they did this past year as member benifits that equal the value of what I pay each month, heck I got the same pair of cheap free sunglasses at Krispy Kreme this year for buying a $7 dozen doughnuts. I know people paying $9.33 per month and I pay $22. How is that fair when I have been a pasholder as long as them. They were just smarter and called the parks bluff and I got screwed by the park for trusting them. They sure seemed to enjoy their days in the park just as much as me paying much more. Their tree has the same piece of crap free ornament as mine and their member lanyard is the same color blue. They enjoyed their days at Seaworld Orlando this season and now acording to the website the premier membership I pay for dosent get me in there. I just dont get it how people act like we should be grateful for the handouts from the park....we pay for this stuff.
We were told last year that people with legacy passes would still get into Member events for the 2018 season only. So, the fact that they were able to attend some of the Sneak Peaks last year is completely in line with the Park's original claims.
I will say, the discount on Quick Queues is a great perk for me. Anytime I bring someone new to the park, I lie to be able to hit everything with them, and that means getting a QQ. A 50% discount on those is pretty compelling.
Not what we were told....I asked was specifically and was told no both in person and the day I renewed and when I called Orlando to ask a number of questions I had that I talked to people from both Orlando and here in Williamsburg on that call. I was specifically told I would not get inro the HOS preview or any other members previews. I do remember an exception of the preview the first day of 2018,
I'm having trouble getting excited over a foam drink cozy, cheap pair of ugly sunglasses, or lanyard. But then I don't collect park stuff. Also for the record, Bush =/= disney nor do they try to be. Finally the mouse clearly DOES NOT have an exclusive contract with Coke, because it is widely available at BGW and KD.
^This. Why should anyone expect BGW’s pass plan to bear any resemblance to what Disney gives its pass members? BGW doesn’t compete with Disney. Their only immediate competition is KD, and from a “perks” perspective alone (cost nonwithstanding), I would argue BGW offers more than the competition.
In general, there are very few things one can compare a regional park to WDW about fairly.
Disney Parks has a contract to only serve Coke products...the contract was for 10 years and has a few years left. "Exclusive" was probably not the exact term to use but you know what I meant....thats just a word twist.
In a cost comparison forn park time BGW is way more expensive. BGW is open from March-Dec from 11am-10pm at the most, many days they close way earlier and in Oct and Nov they dont even open during the week. WDW is open every day and some days as early as 7am and closes as late as 2am. For what you pay hour by hour WDW is a much cheaper option.
I new I would get comments on how great BGW was......