A couple questions before I join.....

[agape722]

First of all, I'm happy about all the questions I have had answered by this bulletin board. But there are a few things I'd like to be sure about before I join.

1) A lot of the films will give you two options online, for example:

Oliver & Company

Oliver & Company-Widescreen

Did they really make different versions? I thought they just made one (either full or wide for a given film).

2) And, will that movie (or any other) also be the Special Edition even if it doesn't mention it when you make your selection. (For example, if I wanted to buy Oliver & Co. in a store it would be the Special Edition, will DMC send me a standard issue by any chance?)

3) Also, do ALL DVD's bought through the club come in their original casing? (NO SLEEVES!) (I understand the issue with the hit-and-miss chapter inserts though.)

4) Out of curiousity, how long does it usually take for them to add new titles? I think I read 4 mos. on one of the posts.....

5) Lastly, is there anything to watch out for when joining this club, besides the Feature Title DVD's?

Sorry for so many questions, but maybe they could help anybody else who's wondering as well. Thanks for your time...........

[Quasimodo]

I don't have definitive answers for all of these questions, but hopefully this will be of some help.

1. I suspect either link will give you the same DVD in cases where multiple listings exist. I checked out the "add to cart" URL's for a few of the movies with multiple entries, and the add links for both dvd versions pointed to the same URL (for example, the DVD link for both versions of Oliver & Company have the item number of 2504703). I'm not sure why they do this. Maybe they're emphasizing the fact that the VHS versions are not in a widescreen ratio, but you'd think they'd just have separate entries for the DVD and VHS versions.

2. I've found that this is the case with the DVDs that I've ordered, but if you want to verify this before ordering, you can click the title link to open up a window with specs, as well as a shot of the cover.

3. Again, I can't say for sure, but the DVDs I've ordered have come in the original cases.

4. They seem to be getting a little better in terms of adding new titles, but it seems like their mailings (which you receive about every 4 weeks or so) seem to be more up to date than the website. For example, I received a mailing listing the Wave 3 Treasures about 1-2 weeks after their release, but I didn't see them on the website until about a week ago. Unfortunately, I'd estimate that 2-4 months is probably about right based on my experience. Because of this, I'd say that the club probably isn't very useful to people that already own most or all Disney DVDs that are currently available. It's more useful to those people that still need a fair number of movies to round out their collection. Unfortunately, out-of-print titles are not available for the most part (Waves 1 and 2 of the treasures being an exception).

5. I'm not aware of anything else to look out for, but someone that has been a long-time member may be of more help here. Personally, I don't think the featured title is much of headache, since you can accept or decline the featured title online. I just check the site once every week or two to see if the featured title has changed, and then choose to accept or decline it. I haven't accepted one yet, since I've already purchased the titles elsewhere by the time the club adds them, but we've already covered that.

Sorry for the long-winded post!

[AwallaceUNC]

Quasi covered it all pretty well. I can't offer an iron-clad guarantee, either, but everything he said looks right to me.

Also, you might want to be mindful of the fact that the DMC's online service isn't the best... you already mentioned a few of the confusing aspects of their site, and there seems to be a lot of technical snags here and there throughout your interactions with the club... they're pretty slow with the emails, too (oh, and never wait 'till the last minute to decline your featured title- the site conveniently goes down).

Of course, you can always resort to calling them- their phone department is very kind and helpful, though their hours aren't always convenient.

I hope this helps... aside from the occasional technical frustration, I've been very pleased with the club. Welcome to the forum, I hope you decide to stick around.

-Aaron

[MickeyMousePal]

Please remember new members don't edit POLLS!!!!!

[agape722]

Thanks for your long-winded post quasimodo. It was very helpful and clear; as well, thanks awallaceunc for the additional info. I think I'm ready to join.

Does anybody have any promo codes for DMC, the current offer online is 5 in 1 year, but I wanted to get Lilo & Stitch Masterpiece in 2005. I'm mainly looking at any new releases, especially platinums. Does anyone know a two year code?

And MickeyMousePal, about my confusing poll, I edited something in my post, but when I submitted the edited post, my poll was gone, so I edited it again and added the poll, but it just added to the original poll and posted that. I was pretty frustrated with that. Oh well, I hope people still vote but just choose the one that others already chose. (Such if one person votes for Tower of Terror, the following people that pick Tower of Terror will choose the Tower of Terror that's being voted on and not the empty one..........or if Luke could edit it taking out the extras?)


Thanks guys for your help, I've enjoyed the Ultimate Disney website since I first found it about a week ago.