Things I Love: The Mouse

Say what you will about Disney, but I have never had anything but fabulous experiences when involved with them. Case in point: the Disney Movie Club. After we had two kids, we began talking about building up our Disney movie collection. The problem was that they're just so darn expensive! The new ones are rarely on sale outside of the first week after release, and even the old ones are still fairly pricey compared to other DVDs. For example, a newer, more popular Disney movie at Costco will cost $19. An older movie will run about $13. So for someone hoping to build up a little collection for the kids to choose from, it was simply too pricey. Then one day I received an offer in the mail to join the Disney Movie Club. It seemed a bit too good to be true, so I researched extensively and found almost exclusively positive reviews. So I decided to give it a shot. Two years later, I've amassed quite the collection at a fraction of the cost and I am thoroughly pleased. So here's how the math works out. Your initial offer includes 5 movies for $5 with free shipping if you include your credit card. If you accept this offer, you are on the hook to purchase 4 more movies at full price over the course of a two year period. However, you are offered two bonus movies in your initial order: one for $11.95 and one for $8.95. The $11.95 movie counts towards your commitment, which leaves you to purchase 3 more full price movies. This is what your out of pocket spending looks like so far: 5 movies: $5.00 Bonus #1: $11.94 Bonus #2: $8.95 Shipping: Free Total cost: $25.90 for 7 movies. Ah, you say, now here's the catch. You now have to pay FULL PRICE for the other 3 movies. That's where they'll get you. Not really. If you don't take advantage of any special offers (which is a big if, but we'll pretend), each movie is usually $21.95 with $3.95 shipping. So here's what the rest of the math looks like: Commitment #1: $21.95 with $3.95 shipping Commitment #2: $21.95 with $3.95 shipping Commitment #3: $21.95 with $3.95 shipping Total for commitment movies: $77.70 So your total cost up to the point when you're able to cancel: $103.60 Total cost per movie: $10.36 GREAT!!!! But it gets even better. They're constantly offering deals like, "Buy one, get all others 50% off!" or "Special combo price when you buy these two movies and free shipping on your entire order!" So your cost per movie could be even lower. And once you fulfill your membership, you become a VIP member and get "Buy one, get all others 60% off." Pretty sweet. You can choose Blu-rays as well (but not for the initial super cheap movies). It's slightly more, but not ridiculously so. You do have to know that you will be responding to movies about every 4 weeks. If you do not respond, you're automatically sent the movie. But they make it really easy to respond. You get an email when your feature selection is available, you click on the link and sign in, and then you decline. They then send a decline confirmation. Easy. You can also decline by phone or mail. But what happens if something goes wrong and you get a movie you thought you declined? This happened to me today. I just called up the number (which is on all information you're sent by DMC), told the operator that something must have happened because I got a movie I thought I declined and that we already owned. He cheerfully told me that he was sorry and that he would send me a prepaid postage label this week. As soon as they got the movie, they would credit the account. It took about 3 minutes start to finish. Talk about good customer service. So here's the breakdown: Pros: Cheap Disney movies, including new releases Only a 3 movie commitment Excellent customer service Cons: Have to constantly decline offers if you don't want to be surprised in the mail If this seems like this would be good for your family (and it's been great for ours), let me know. I can send you a referral (the offer for free movies is usually better if you've been referred) and then I'll also get a free movie. No pressure at all, though! Do you guys have any questions? I've been through most scenarios, so I'm sure I could help you out.