Resort Survey ... on Resort Fees

[manning]

Yellowstone's looking more and more attractive... I can see a REAL geyser there...

You can say that again!

 

[manning]

I agree, my once carefree, fantasy vacation has turned into work. The older I get, the harder it is to deal with. When I purchased DVC (not every trip is covered by my DVC points) I stopped being a park commando, but recent changes have caused me stress. You can't just decide that today you will go to whatever park, or today I feel like sleeping in and hanging by the pool. Dining reservations made months in advance and secured with $10 per person on my credit card, and fast passes made 60 days ago have taken that opportunity away. I mean, I still love the place, but I'm having a stressful time with planning, which I used to love. I've endured considerable teasing about the amount of planning I always did for my Disney vacation, but I took it in stride, now even I'm stressing about it.

When are we going to have to book advanced rest room stops

Barnaby (Disney ) may want to charge for rest rom use. No pay, no go.

 

[jade1]

So glad I own DVC.... We pay a yearly due. No bill at end of our
Trip, no 13% room tax, no charge for each adult over 2 staying in your room.

Same. $350 for POLY seems low, but its only $90 a night in dues and no tax.

All of our phones and pads are 4G so wifi's not even relevant anymore.

 

[jade1]

I agree, my once carefree, fantasy vacation has turned into work. The older I get, the harder it is to deal with. When I purchased DVC (not every trip is covered by my DVC points) I stopped being a park commando, but recent changes have caused me stress. You can't just decide that today you will go to whatever park, or today I feel like sleeping in and hanging by the pool. Dining reservations made months in advance and secured with $10 per person on my credit card, and fast passes made 60 days ago have taken that opportunity away. I mean, I still love the place, but I'm having a stressful time with planning, which I used to love. I've endured considerable teasing about the amount of planning I always did for my Disney vacation, but I took it in stride, now even I'm stressing about it.

Exact same, yet exact opposite for us.

We have FP+ scheduled for each evening, that way every morning into the afternoon is wide open for whatever we want to do with a clean slate.

Rope Drop a park without FP+ still works great-any park we decide on.

Sleep in and not miss out on headliner FP.

Fish, golf, beach, US-its all available with no stress anymore.

And by the way-we never reserve FP+ at 60 or even 30 days, have always gotten plenty the week of, night before or even day of.

Dining I can see, but we never reserve that either, seem to get plenty of choices during the week.

 

[manning]

I just booked a 3 night stay at a local casino. The room was $600 not too bad since a days inn was the same price, and then I book the room and bam it's 25% more due to resort fees and tax. I felt ripped off truthfully., why not just charge it in the room rate...like my airline ticket I just bought. Jet blue had 102 one way....the ticket was 76 and the rest tax and fee. But at least I know that $102 is my final price not $300 once I pressed buy.

Then I come on here and see Disney might do the same thing.

So glad I own DVC.... We pay a yearly due. No bill at end of our
Trip, no 13% room tax, no charge for each adult over 2 staying in your room.....we get a full kitchen which saves us tons on their overpriced food.

But look at what convenience does. The DDP has RUINED the restaurants and made the cost of food sky rocket. Ate at flame tree BBQ...$14 for 1/2 chicken and they wouldn't sub ff for baked beans...really?? And the chicken was tiny and over cooked......and took an 1/2 hour to get it. Total rip off, but hey, nobody cares because they paid for the DDP and don't have to deal with the prices when it only cost a lunch or TS credit.

Just got back and with all the ride rehabs, it's really sad...2 out of 3 of the best rides in Epcot closed. Ak and studios a half day park now......MK so over crowded....

Again DVC is looking like a great purchase..I can make $2440 a year off it after paying my dues renting my points and NOT going to the most overpriced place in the world.

Now would WALT be happy with how prices are so out of control.

We can't even buy non expiration since ticket anymore, and no the tickets have to be used by end of the next year. There is no way to hedge your cost. But hey charge it and they will come.

Barnum has got us figured out. Put more money into your retirement fund. You'll end up happier.

 

[JohnDaleswife]

I would be really irrate if I owned DVC and had this thrown on me.

 

[DoingDisney]

Exact same, yet exact opposite for us.

We have FP+ scheduled for each evening, that way every morning into the afternoon is wide open for whatever we want to do with a clean slate.

Rope Drop a park without FP+ still works great-any park we decide on.

Sleep in and not miss out on headliner FP.

Fish, golf, beach, US-its all available with no stress anymore.

And by the way-we never reserve FP+ at 60 or even 30 days, have always gotten plenty the week of, night before or even day of.

Dining I can see, but we never reserve that either, seem to get plenty of choices during the week.

Lol back to this again "clean slate" even though we have stuff planned for the day that we locked into potentially weeks before.

It's fair that you see things this way, but its totally counter intuitive.

A clean slate is a day when you don't have anything planned, when you can wake up in the morning, any morning, and have the exact same chances of getting what rides/FPs/ADRs/Plans you want as anyone else that day.

This does not exist at WDW anymore.

Even if YOU haven't made those plans yourself, other people have, other people have already penned themselves in on the things you might want to do that day.

I mean its an over statement to say you can't decide what park you want to go into that day, but its also an over statement to say its a "clean slate"

 

[McKelly]

Yellowstone's looking more and more attractive... I can see a REAL geyser there...

Grand Canyon for us this summer!!!

 

[McKelly]

It seems to me that the room only discounts have gotten smaller over the years. For this summer, PIN codes have gone out with bigger room discounts again - up to 35% off. Maybe it's a marketing tactic. We like BIGGER discounts, and will book because we feel like we are getting a deal. The resort fee will be a way of recouping that, because the resort fee will NOT be discounted, and will eventually probably go up, as others have stated.

 

[MiaSRN62]

I'm sure they have Imagineers working on this, as there are just so many possibilities. A few I thought up:

1. A "Holiday Decorations Fee" added from November through New Years.

2. A "Transportation Fee" that is tiered based on the transportation options available at your resort. ($ for bus-only; $$ for bus & boat; $$$ for bus, boat and monorail.

2. A required, prepaid "gratuity" for DME that it turns out isn't really a gratuity that goes to the driver.

I could do this for hours. Maybe I should apply for a "Fee Generator" position at Disney. If there isn't such a position now, there likely will be soon, at least until the job gets outsourced to India.

Have to say, if they started charging for those perks separately per day, i'd go and stay over at universal. We nearly booked Cabana Bay for this years trip as it was almost half the price of Disney but last minute changed

My daughter just stayed at Cabana Bay----very nice with indoor bowling alley Lee!
This was funny Shanti! How about a new fee to walk the pathway from the MK to the Contemporary. I love being able to avoid busses/trams/monorails when the MK closes and just do the 9+ min stroll on the walkway back to my room. I can see them charging for that privilege too! And while they're at it with all the tack'd on fees, how about tacking on about 100 extra GOOD TV channels!!! On our most recent trip to WDW (Feb), we all got sick. Laying in bed and watching TV was all we could do for 2 days. The options for TV channels at the $99/night Howard Johnson motel on 192 far surpass Disney's channel options. I've complained about this for YEARS. Their TV viewing lineup stinks. Hey WDW, let's UPGRADE the cable channels to offset all these fees, K?!!!

 

[jade1]

Lol back to this again "clean slate" even though we have stuff planned for the day that we locked into potentially weeks before.

It's fair that you see things this way, but its totally counter intuitive.

A clean slate is a day when you don't have anything planned, when you can wake up in the morning, any morning, and have the exact same chances of getting what rides/FPs/ADRs/Plans you want as anyone else that day.

This does not exist at WDW anymore.

Even if YOU haven't made those plans yourself, other people have, other people have already penned themselves in on the things you might want to do that day.

I mean its an over statement to say you can't decide what park you want to go into that day, but its also an over statement to say its a "clean slate"

Well that's why I bolded "You can't just decide that today you will go to whatever park, or today I feel like sleeping in and hanging by the pool.".

We absolutely do exactly that-every day.

We start every day with a clean slate, not every evening-although we can change those evenings on the fly now as well and often do. Throughout the mornings no matter where we are, the app often has great availability at the parks for that evening. Have done that from the boat, the beach, US and the golf course.

 

[capegirl]

My daughter just stayed at Cabana Bay----very nice with indoor bowling alley Lee!
This was funny Shanti! How about a new fee to walk the pathway from the MK to the Contemporary. I love being able to avoid busses/trams/monorails when the MK closes and just do the 9+ min stroll on the walkway back to my room. I can see them charging for that privilege too! And while they're at it with all the tack'd on fees, how about tacking on about 100 extra GOOD TV channels!!! On our most recent trip to WDW (Feb), we all got sick. Laying in bed and watching TV was all we could do for 2 days. The options for TV channels at the $99/night Howard Johnson motel on 192 far surpass Disney's channel options. I've complained about this for YEARS. Their TV viewing lineup stinks. Hey WDW, let's UPGRADE the cable channels to offset all these fees, K?!!!

Disney will never give us better cable. They don't care if we are sick on vacation. They want us out of our rooms spending our money on overpriced food, drink, and souvenirs.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Disney will never give us better cable. They don't care if we are sick on vacation. They want us out of our rooms spending our money on overpriced food, drink, and souvenirs.

YUP....you are right capegirl and it's ridiculous.....there were SO MANY times over the years where my husband or I had to stay behind with one of the kids when they were sick or needed a nap and there was NOTHING to watch. It's crazy and so behind the times of what other resorts offer. they have like 30 stations and 15 of them are about Disney parks, resorts, DVC etc.......

 

[ChipnDale79]

As long as people keep going, the more greedy Bob Iger and company are going to get.

I would not be surprised if they started charging to use the bathroom one day.

 

[keishashadow]

I would be really irrate if I owned DVC and had this thrown on me.

I don't believe DVC members staying on points wlll be subject to a resort fee. We already pay our share of annual fees via dues. At worst, perhaps a fee for every vehicle exceeding the booked bedroom (i.e. studio & 1 BR = 1 car, 2 BR = 2, etc.)

While i'm not a fan of paying resort fees, I do expect to pay them for deluxe properties that offer many amenities. However, IMO disney has said fees already rolled into their rates. When you look at their moderate & deluxe properties...some of which, if they weren't located inside WDW would be hard-pressed to fairly be termed moderate or deluxe.

While we usually rent a car, I do feel it's more equitable to assess a parking fee as the Loews propertis do (for CRO reservations not DVC) vs resort fees for everybody. Perhaps it would even make it easier to find a space to self park at BWV.

 

[jade1]

I don't believe DVC members staying on points wlll be subject to a resort fee. We already pay our share of annual fees via dues. At worst, perhaps a fee for every vehicle exceeding the booked bedroom (i.e. studio & 1 BR = 1 car, 2 BR = 2, etc.)
.

Yep, and we (DVC) can "suddenly" stay at POLY and GF for about $100 a night, who cares about a fee.

 

[ChipnDale79]

I don't believe DVC members staying on points wlll be subject to a resort fee. We already pay our share of annual fees via dues. At worst, perhaps a fee for every vehicle exceeding the booked bedroom (i.e. studio & 1 BR = 1 car, 2 BR = 2, etc.)

While i'm not a fan of paying resort fees, I do expect to pay them for deluxe properties that offer many amenities. However, IMO disney has said fees already rolled into their rates. When you look at their moderate & deluxe properties...some of which, if they weren't located inside WDW would be hard-pressed to fairly be termed moderate or deluxe.

While we usually rent a car, I do feel it's more equitable to assess a parking fee as the Loews propertis do (for CRO reservations not DVC) vs resort fees for everybody. Perhaps it would even make it easier to find a space to self park at BWV.

"Resort Fees" should be illegal, if you're going to charge to use the "resort", then it should be included in the room rate, weather that means increasing the room rate or not.

We stopped at a hotel in Orlando on arrival night at like 130 am, booked the room through price line and were going to be out of the room by 630, so less than 5 hours in the room. We were hit with a $12 "resort" fee, when asked about it I was told so we could use the pool and other things. Keep in mind the pool was closed.

I told the front desk clerk I wasn't going to pay it, and was informed that I wasn't allowed to stay if i didnt pay it.

Its misleading and wrong.

 

[keishashadow]

Yep, and we can "suddenly" stay at POLY and GF for about $100 a night, who cares about a fee.

not sure what you mean

ChipnDale79 - oh, i don't like the fees one bit either. Rarely bid on Priceline, but when booking on most opague sites such as hotwire, the resort fees are clearly stated after subtotal, a separate line item (not rolled into taxes & fees). You have the chance to decline before you agree to the final purchase.

 

[ChipnDale79]

ChipnDale79 - oh, i don't like the fees one bit either. Rarely bid on Priceline, but when booking on most opague sites such as hotwire, the resort fees are clearly stated after subtotal, a separate line item (not rolled into taxes & fees). You have the chance to decline before you agree to the final purchase.

I believe that's a requirement by law now, and i believe that's relatively new. It's shady IMO.

 

[jade1]

not sure what you mean.

Oh sorry, I just meant DVC never had POLY or GF as an option until they decided to add those options to our program.

Many of us can get way more for our points today if we were to sell than we paid for them and also have them long paid off, so many of us consider our stays to be paid on "dues" only.

So $5 or $6 on 16 to 20 points a night and no tax.