Disney's Best Kept Secret

Are you ready for adventure? 

Disney Vacation Club (DVC) has been billed as “Disney’s Best Kept Secret”, luring in potential members via strategically placed kiosks in the Disney theme parks and resorts, challenging them to explore the secret. That’s the thing about us members – we love being in on the secret. Of course, when establishing your business, being branded with the Disney name can be both a blessing and a curse. The foundation of the parent organization begins as unique, authentic, and talkable, but that leaves a great challenge to prove your individual merits as well.

A DVC window display at Disney's Hollywood Studios

At first glance, DVC is offering a product that anyone has access to – hotel rooms and vacation packages. What makes them unique is how the product can be accessed. With a captive audience of vacationers having the time of their lives, DVC pitches the possibility: Imagine if you could lock into generations of amazing, deluxe vacations today. The memories you’re making this afternoon? You can revisit them every year. You can expand on them in faraway places. You can capture this vacation, and DVC can help you guarantee you’ll always have another one to look forward to. You’re prepaying on magic, putting memories on layaway, and you get to pick when, where and how you’ll enjoy them.

That’s it.

Despite the fact that the Orlando area boasts one of the country’s highest number of hotel rooms (2^nd only to Las Vegas if you believe Spencer Reid of Criminal Minds) and there are plenty of other vacation clubs to choose from that are arguably a better value, Disney sells based on its authenticity. The company has spent more than 80 years establishing a tradition of family, quality, and magic, and their Cast Members (employees) are trained to evoke these values (or at least get very good at pretending). DVC extends that heritage into an “exclusive” club where you’ve become part of the family, and the commitment is apparent in most – if not all – of the Cast Members you meet on your trips.

Art the Greeter at the Beach Club Villas

As an example, a woman named Mary works the coffee bar at one of our home resorts, and every time we’re there, she remembers my family and I, speaking with us in familiar tones as if it had been days and not months since the last time we met.  Obviously, not every person you encounter will be a Mary, but if there are enough of them greeting you with a “Welcome Home”, you feel good about your membership and share that with others. The authenticity breeds talkability, as travelers begin sharing stories about an Art the Greeter in the Beach Club lobby (who even has his own facebook page!), proudly wear the DVC logo on their hats, and encourage friends to check it all out for themselves.

The Original Logo

Interesting, Disney Vacation Club introduced a new logo this summer, initially debuting the design in the members-only magazine Disney Files. The original logo meant to encourage vacationers to consider trips beyond the parks.  Mickey Mouse, mountains, palm trees, waves – DVC wanted everyone to know that members could travel anywhere.

New Logo - Which do you like better?

When the new logo – a more simple Mouse-eared blue globe of the world - was discussed on a Disney Parks blog entry , many members expressed disappointment in the new design. Various websites criticized the look for replacing the whimsy of a truly Disney design with a sleeker, indistinct corporate logo.

As DVC continues to expand and seek a market beyond the theme park vacationer, the company faces an interesting challenge – how can they focus on capturing the interest (and dollars) of travelers who aren’t traditionally Disney fans without abandoning the pixie dust that has made them successful in the industry? For many families – ours included – DVC allows Deluxe DISNEY accommodations to be affordable.

The key word? DISNEY.

Though the opportunity is present and the process is not overly cumbersome, trading into other types of vacations isn’t typically a great value. Many families use their DVC points exclusively for stays at Disney World, where the dollar per point value does make it a good deal. There is some resistance to letting go of that attachment to the Magic Kingdom and focusing on a world to explore.

It’s not only the logo that has changed, however – Disney has auditioned various taglines, some of which I have already quoted: “If you believe in magic, you belong.” “Discover Disney’s Best Kept Secret.” “Discover a Magical Way to Vacation.”

DVC has also introduced a spokes-character by the name of Deevy Cee, the self-proclaimed “First Lady of Disney Vacation Club”, the details of whom I’ll be covering in a forthcoming blog. Deevy, like the new logo, has endured her share of criticism, though for the opposite reason – many proud members believe her over-the-top personality cheapens the DVC brand. Check out the video below for just a sampling of what an afternoon with Deevy can be like as she introduces the most recent addition to the Walt Disney World family of DVC resorts.

Changes to the DVC brand have definitely come about in response to the planned expansion of the company, but they are also working hard to maintain the legacy of quality that is the foundation of any venture with the Disney name attached to it. Though detractors will complain about a new logo or mock Deevy, members are fiercely protective of “their” DVC and ultimately act as ambassadors for the brand.

Like I said - members really like being in on the secret.
But we're really just not all that good at keeping it secret. 

Go ahead, ask me something. Except don't ask if I'm allowed back here because technically....no.