Not All Movie Rewards Programs Are Created Equal (1 Viewer)

[BobO'Link]

After weeks of either nothing or simple restocks of prior BR titles I gave up waiting on anything truly new with media and burned off my remaining points on the "3 Mystery BR titles from DMC" option. I went with that option as I already have any of the Marvel/Pixar titles I care to own so have a slightly better chance of getting something decent I don't own but really figure it'll be titles I'd never "purchase" or something I already own but at least I can consider myself done with them.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I checked today on the off chance that Disney might have added new rewards. They have restocked a bunch of Blu-rays that went out of stock a couple months ago. So if you missed anything, it might be worth another look. I don't think any of the additions are actually being offered for the first time, though. A lot of them are Movie Club exclusive variants with different slipcovers or the addition of a DVD.

 

[BobO'Link]

That's pretty much what I saw when I caved and just ordered that 3 disc mystery BR option. It's shipped so I'll know in a few days if it was a total waste of time...

 

[Jake Lipson]

The most difficult-to-find things on offer right now are probably 101 Dalmatians 2: Patch's London Adventure and Return to Never Land because those were Disney Movie Club exclusives that did not have general releases. But, of course, we're talking about garbage cheapquels here. I remember going to Return to Never Land in theaters because my DVD purchase of Peter Pan around the same time included a free ticket, and I still felt ripped off by it. Man, that was terrible.

On the other hand, there is something sort of unique about Pocahontas. The general release of that is a 2-Movie Collection that puts the original film and its awful cheapquel Journey to a New World on the same disc. The Blu-ray currently being offered as a Disney reward is a club exclusive variant which features only the original film, stripping away the cheapquel. I was very happy to get that because I was never interested in admitting the cheapquel into my collection.

 

[Todd Erwin]

I ended up spending my remaining 1546 points on Herbie Rides Again (1000) and A Christmas Carol (500). The latter I already own on 3D Blu-ray, but I figure it might make a good white elephant gift this holiday season.

 

[Chip_HT]

Based on answers that some folks have gotten from DMI chat, it sounds like any "new" items added to DMI over the remaining weeks are just restocks of items previously available. But some of the discs added this week have insanely high quantities available.

I redeemed for a $100 gift card a few days ago, but was unable to actually activate it until today. Unfortunately, it was after the latest deals at the Disney Store expired that could have knocked down a $200+ Lego set down to either $40 or $80 out of pocket depending on how the deals would stack. Oh well, I'll keep watching, there's always some new deal cycling through over there.

A little over 4500 points left. I'm thinking of holding back for one of the mystery bundles as a last ditch effort. Probably the Marvel bundle, taking a chance on getting a 4K that I don't already own (which would be anything prior to Captain Marvel except for Thor 2-3 and Cap 3).

 

[Jake Lipson]

I'm thinking of holding back for one of the mystery bundles as a last ditch effort. Probably the Marvel bundle, taking a chance on getting a 4K that I don't already own (which would be anything prior to Captain Marvel except for Thor 2-3 and Cap 3).

Do they give 4Ks with those? It is marked asa "Blu-ray bundle," not a "4K bundle."

 

[Chip_HT]

I've seen people posting on the other site and reddit showing 4Ks in their mystery packs.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I just got an email from Disney about the closure of the program and reminding me to use points by December 3. There wasn't really any new information in it. The odd thing is that they promoted the 2023 holiday ornaments, which I hadn't seen in stock in a while. When I followed the links in the email, the product pages just said they were out of stock. This is neither a surprise nor a problem because they haven't been listed among available rewards for some time. However, I'm not sure what the point of highlighting them in the email was if they don't have any in stock. This feels like the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.

 

[Chip_HT]

I just got an email from Disney about the closure of the program and reminding me to use points by December 3. There wasn't really any new information in it. The odd thing is that they promoted the 2023 holiday ornaments, which I hadn't seen in stock in a while. When I followed the links in the email, the product pages just said they were out of stock. This is neither a surprise nor a problem because they haven't been listed among available rewards for some time. However, I'm not sure what the point of highlighting them in the email was if they don't have any in stock. This feels like the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing.

Those ornaments did get restocked yesterday but with very very limited quantities.

New (or rather, restocked) items have been posted at noon ET most weekdays, and in many cases, the supplies are so limited that if you're not on the site right then, you'll miss some items.

Some folks at the other site believe that the e-mail was a sign that DMI won't be adding any more items that aren't gift cards.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

The most useful item I found from the Disney Rewards closeout was the free 3 months of the Disney+ / Hulu / ESPN+ bundle, which cost zero points. It's the version with ads for Disney and Hulu, but I redeemed it just for ESPN+. I was going to re-subscribe to that service anyway for the regular season NHL games, so I basically got half the hockey season for free. I have only watched one thing on Disney+ so far -- the first episode of the Agatha Harkness series. The commercials were so intrusive that I will not be watching any more episodes.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Do they still offer some useful gift cards at all?

I just haven't gotten around to redeeming anything ever since it became clear they were shutting down...

_Man_

 

[BobO'Link]

Ten days after receiving shipping notification on my final DMI order it *finally* actually shipped and is on the way. I should know early next week if it was a waste of time...

 

[Chip_HT]

Do they still offer some useful gift cards at all?

Yes, but apparently it's only during certain hours during weekdays.

Next time I see them posted, I need to redeem for as many as I can get without hesitating.

 

[Jake Lipson]

I just haven't gotten around to redeeming anything ever since it became clear they were shutting down...

Just a reminder that December 3 is the last day to redeem points. Accounts will be closed and any remaining points will be forfeited after that. So you might want to go check if there's anything you want left.

 

[BobO'Link]

My 3 mystery titles arrived:

Planet of the Apes (Tim Burton)
Mulan and Mulan II 2-movie collection
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - The Lost Missions (in a O-ring cover)

Nothing "great" but not too bad either. Certainly better than I expected.

I already own a copy of that lesser PotA film (it's not "bad" but also not all that good) and have never seen Mulan, Mulan II, or that Star Wars limited series (I own a copy of the original Clone Wars animated series - it's OK but I'm not a fan of the animation style. This one is newer CGI type animation which is marginally better and I *do* generally like stuff in that universe).

 

[Jake Lipson]

Planet of the Apes (Tim Burton)

This is a surprise only because Disney never offered this title as a reward on its own.

have never seen Mulan, Mulan II

I love Mulan. That is absolutely worth seeing and owning. But you shouldn't want to see Mulan II. It's so bad. I had the 2-movie collection at one point because at the time of its release it was the only way to get the original film in HD. The cheapquel is so bad that I repurchased the next release in 2020 just because it dropped the cheapquel. I would recommend pretending that the second movie doesn't exist and just using that disc as if Mulan is the only film on it.

 

[Chip_HT]

I swear they're only putting gift cards up for about 15 minutes each day at noon. Not enough time to deal with it while at work.

 

[Jake Lipson]

And we're done.

My total remaining point balance when they shut down was 346. I'm okay with having that amount forfeited. I got everything I wanted from them that was still in stock before the end.

It was a good program that lasted a long time and gave me lots of good stuff. While of course I wish it would continue indefinitely, I know I will still think of it fondly in the future. It's going to take a while to get used to opening new Disney titles and not going to the site to redeem codes immediately. I still have rewards that I will continue to use and appreciate going forward. It was fun while it lasted.

 

[Chip_HT]

I took a gamble on the Mystery 3-Pack, the full Disney version.

Swing and a miss. In a vacuum, it's not a bad selection of movies at all.
Indiana Jones 5 blu-ray/digital
Frozen blu-ray/dvd/digital with the special slipcover
Home Alone blu-ray/dvd/digital

The problem is I already own all three. In fact, this is the third time I've gotten both the Home Alone blu-ray and DVD -- one DVD on my initial purchase way back when, the blu-ray from the 2-movie set, and then another blu-ray and DVD from the DMC 4 Christmas movie collection.