This is not meant to offend just inform and educate please take this with a grain of salt!
I write this as a person who has not worked at WDW that long, but a person who loves being a guest and loves the Magic, and I love providing the magic. That is why I feel compelled to write this article so that you DVC members can see how self destructive you are to that which you love.
I recently transferred resorts so I am no longer at a DVC resort and I THANK GOD FOR THAT! I was at a split hotel, part DVC part Hotel. Now I am not going to say which one i was at just that it was half and half. Frankly it doesnt matter which one I was at because as far as I am concerned there are two kinds of members, the good and the [B ]naughty[/B]. The good members are few and far between. These are the people who either bought into DVC at the very beginning when only people of culture and class could buy in, or they are the ones that just are good wholesome middle class families that want to spend quality time together and enjoy WDW (a lot of you might thing you fall into this category but just wait your probably dont). The naughty members are ever increasing as Disney makes the mortgage terms easier to meet and makes loans easier to qualify for. Or they are the people just hell bent on having a miserable time and want to just make everyone else feel a cruddy as they do.
Let me start off by saying I would love DVC if a vast majority were good members and you had your few naughty members here or there but this is not true. As a Front Desk Manager I learned this was not true. I am about to give you a list for success. If you want to get the room category you want or the view you want or you want to have a FANTASIC and MAGICAL time take this to heart and do the dos and dont the donts.
First off most DVC resorts are full service hotels! Just because you get free valet does not mean that you do not have to tip!! Those guys work HARD and their base hourly wage is $3.00 hr. so when they help you get your luggage out of your car or put our trash bags full of clothes away for you in storage and you dont tip that just embitters them towards other DVC members. If you are not going to tip and out then DO NOT VALET PARK! Social courtesy. The BoardWalk, Beach Club, and Wilderness Lodge are full service resorts! Meaning that they have Bell Services and that you are expected to conduct your attitude and manner at a higher level (on this note it is the result of many DVC members conduct in the lobby, communal guest areas that caused the BoardWalk to loose a Diamond, a prime example of how self destructive DVC members can be). Remember Cast Members are people too! We love what we do, and we dont get paid especially well so please remember that when you yell at us! If we look down trodden, beaten down, depressed, you spend your day trying to be Magical, trying to express your love for a company only to be screamed at by some jerk from New Jersey, New York, Penn, about how their view is not perfect and how they will go how ever high above your head to get what they want. It gets old! You might say to this, then get another job. Well true if you dont like you job the leave, well that is what many Fantastic Cast Members do. They move to different hotels, different areas where they dont have to deal with DVC members (it worked for me and countless friends). Read your contract. Many issues you create that need to exists had you read your contract and have a basic understanding of what your rights are as a DVC member! Remember savings come at a cost. You cant have a late Check out and there is a $25.00 room change fee. Managers are not people to verbally abuse. They have families too and your verbal abuse can cause some to not sleep at night, cry in their offices, and hold a deep rooted hatred. Compensation is something that is for real problems not made up ones. If you ever complain about high prices just think of all the DVC Members who fight for points, back, demand a free $150.00 meal due to a minor inconvenience, demand comp tickets. We know when we have a problem guest and we know to prepare for the onslaught of verbal abuse, and how we are going to take them on. This is not how things are supposed to be. At non DVC resorts they dont have a list of guests who cause hell for all their Cast Members. But at DVC properties everyone knows these problem guests by name and try to avoid helping them.
I can go on all day about DVC members. So how do you get what you want? How do you do all this without being a naughty member. First, dont care as much. It is one week in Florida, you do not always have to have the same view! Try something new you might like it! A parking lot view of the BoardWalk is not that bad, I have had one I found it enchanting. Know how to book and dont lie about it. Be understanding. It is a hotel, things will go wrong other naughty guests will inconvenience anyone to get what they want, (a guest once demanded that I kick another guest out a room so that they could have the room that they wanted). Be kind to the Front Desk Cast Members, most of them will try to hook up guest that they like. If you are charming and pleasant to us we will treat you like Gold and the Disney Magic will flow! Remember you go to Disney to have fun and to be happy, if you dont go else where. We all want to experience the Disney of our Dreams to help create it and preserve it instead of destroying it!
I could go on all day, but I would love to hear your rebuttals and feedback.
Respectfully,
Mr. Not at a DVC Resort Anymore
I write this as a person who has not worked at WDW that long, but a person who loves being a guest and loves the Magic, and I love providing the magic. That is why I feel compelled to write this article so that you DVC members can see how self destructive you are to that which you love.
I recently transferred resorts so I am no longer at a DVC resort and I THANK GOD FOR THAT! I was at a split hotel, part DVC part Hotel. Now I am not going to say which one i was at just that it was half and half. Frankly it doesnt matter which one I was at because as far as I am concerned there are two kinds of members, the good and the [B ]naughty[/B]. The good members are few and far between. These are the people who either bought into DVC at the very beginning when only people of culture and class could buy in, or they are the ones that just are good wholesome middle class families that want to spend quality time together and enjoy WDW (a lot of you might thing you fall into this category but just wait your probably dont). The naughty members are ever increasing as Disney makes the mortgage terms easier to meet and makes loans easier to qualify for. Or they are the people just hell bent on having a miserable time and want to just make everyone else feel a cruddy as they do.
Let me start off by saying I would love DVC if a vast majority were good members and you had your few naughty members here or there but this is not true. As a Front Desk Manager I learned this was not true. I am about to give you a list for success. If you want to get the room category you want or the view you want or you want to have a FANTASIC and MAGICAL time take this to heart and do the dos and dont the donts.
First off most DVC resorts are full service hotels! Just because you get free valet does not mean that you do not have to tip!! Those guys work HARD and their base hourly wage is $3.00 hr. so when they help you get your luggage out of your car or put our trash bags full of clothes away for you in storage and you dont tip that just embitters them towards other DVC members. If you are not going to tip and out then DO NOT VALET PARK! Social courtesy. The BoardWalk, Beach Club, and Wilderness Lodge are full service resorts! Meaning that they have Bell Services and that you are expected to conduct your attitude and manner at a higher level (on this note it is the result of many DVC members conduct in the lobby, communal guest areas that caused the BoardWalk to loose a Diamond, a prime example of how self destructive DVC members can be). Remember Cast Members are people too! We love what we do, and we dont get paid especially well so please remember that when you yell at us! If we look down trodden, beaten down, depressed, you spend your day trying to be Magical, trying to express your love for a company only to be screamed at by some jerk from New Jersey, New York, Penn, about how their view is not perfect and how they will go how ever high above your head to get what they want. It gets old! You might say to this, then get another job. Well true if you dont like you job the leave, well that is what many Fantastic Cast Members do. They move to different hotels, different areas where they dont have to deal with DVC members (it worked for me and countless friends). Read your contract. Many issues you create that need to exists had you read your contract and have a basic understanding of what your rights are as a DVC member! Remember savings come at a cost. You cant have a late Check out and there is a $25.00 room change fee. Managers are not people to verbally abuse. They have families too and your verbal abuse can cause some to not sleep at night, cry in their offices, and hold a deep rooted hatred. Compensation is something that is for real problems not made up ones. If you ever complain about high prices just think of all the DVC Members who fight for points, back, demand a free $150.00 meal due to a minor inconvenience, demand comp tickets. We know when we have a problem guest and we know to prepare for the onslaught of verbal abuse, and how we are going to take them on. This is not how things are supposed to be. At non DVC resorts they dont have a list of guests who cause hell for all their Cast Members. But at DVC properties everyone knows these problem guests by name and try to avoid helping them.
I can go on all day about DVC members. So how do you get what you want? How do you do all this without being a naughty member. First, dont care as much. It is one week in Florida, you do not always have to have the same view! Try something new you might like it! A parking lot view of the BoardWalk is not that bad, I have had one I found it enchanting. Know how to book and dont lie about it. Be understanding. It is a hotel, things will go wrong other naughty guests will inconvenience anyone to get what they want, (a guest once demanded that I kick another guest out a room so that they could have the room that they wanted). Be kind to the Front Desk Cast Members, most of them will try to hook up guest that they like. If you are charming and pleasant to us we will treat you like Gold and the Disney Magic will flow! Remember you go to Disney to have fun and to be happy, if you dont go else where. We all want to experience the Disney of our Dreams to help create it and preserve it instead of destroying it!
I could go on all day, but I would love to hear your rebuttals and feedback.
Respectfully,
Mr. Not at a DVC Resort Anymore