And The Beat Goes On!

[disneychik21]

I will be extremely irritated if this applies to DVC members. I don't think this is right for anyone, however I already pay so much each year for my DVC dues. There still has to be some perk about owning the membership and staying on property (anyone staying on property).

 

[ArielRae]

Honestly, on my last trip to Pop Century . .the cost of that hotel (after discounts .. during value season (late August) was cheaper than what I spent on the hotel on the way TO Disney (Quality Inn & Suites in Georgia), so I felt I got quite a deal for all the extras provided. The theming of the hotel itself was fun and just being surrounded by hundreds of people on the same vacation as you was fun, but at its core, Pop Century was the quality of a Days Inn/Super 8 (size of room, linens, outside facing rooms, etc.) ..but MUCH >> MUCH >> MUCH cleaner than you'd ever find any Days Inn. Perfect for a vacation where you just need a place to lay your head for 10 hours a night for a few days. and have fun themed pool during the day with activities for the kids.

I have to disagree with Pop Century rooms being cleaner then a Days Inn/Super 8. Just our last trip we had a room that could have been from one of those chains.

Link to my post over in the Pop Century thread
Disney's POP CENTURY RESORT Information & Questions

 

[BuckeyeBama]

If they implement this "resort fee", I will be one of those few people who uses almost none of the "extras" who suddenly has to pay extra for them. We have APs, so don't need the free parking. We never take advantage of EMH. We never use ME. We only use the smaller pools. We only book FP+ a day or so in advance. The only thing that we have used is the Magic Bands, and I only have 3 sets when I could have 11.

This new fee would be a slap in the face to families like mine because we are not interested in these things.

 

[ArwenMarie]

It's funny, the reason they came up with Magical Express was not out of the goodness of their hearts but to keep people on property for their entire time in Orlando. Now they are going to charge for it, on top of other things? That resort fee especially over a week's stay could easily go to supplement more car rentals. And once you get over the barrier of renting a car, staying and eating offsite becomes appealing.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

That's just for parking, I thought. I didn't think there was a resort fee.

BTW, I love the Universal hotels. They are great quality, especially for the price. They beat out Disney on everything, except for maybe Victoria & Albert's

The $20 fee when staying onsite at the Universal Hotels is for parking. If you don't park a car, you don't pay.

 

[cabanafrau]

I will be extremely irritated if this applies to DVC members. I don't think this is right for anyone, however I already pay so much each year for my DVC dues. There still has to be some perk about owning the membership and staying on property (anyone staying on property).

I have no idea how far down the path this idea has gone, but I have read suggestions that there have been discussions about DVC yearly fees in light of an uptick in members using their DVC solely as a hotel room, yet not spending any time($$$$) in the Disney parks, restaurants or shops.

I'm starting to get curious about how the data collection functions of MM+ might be influencing goings on.

 

[dfb]

Would you pay extra for flowing water in your room? How about a mattress on your bed? This cracks me up. How can you make most of these listed optional? You can't without creating haves and have-nots within the same resort community, and policing that would cost more than the additional charge. So any increase would be universal - so it is a rate increase, pure and simple.

If Disney wants to raise rates, raise them. But don't ask your customers if they want you to raise your rates - what fool would answer yes to that question?

It all depends on how they ask the questions. When Disney does a survey most times the decision has already been made. For example in 2009 I bought a specific number of DVC points to cover my vacation for a certain room & specific time. DVC guide said "Points required doesn't change". the next year points for that vacation went up 6 points. When I asked what the heck the guide said it was a points re allocation and the total amount of points for the entire chart do not change. The guide also told me the reason that particular change happened was because people in a survey said they did not like the weekend s costing so many points. In other words Disney saw a lot of people using their DVC points Sun - Thurs. They want to disperse this so they up the room rates during the week and cut points in a couple of less attractive times. They just used the survey to be able to say we 're just doing what you wanted. So they know everyone will say no we don't want to pay for the resort fees so they can apply what ever alternative they want. Either way the survey question just means you're getting a substantial charge coming soon to resort near you!!

 

[mom2rtk]

I've stayed in hotels with resort fees. They can change them anytime they want. I think if you booked the Dolphin when their fee was $23 per night and between the booking and the time you checked in, it changed to $25, you'd pay the $25. I haven't experienced them changing in mid-stay, but I'd assume it might work the same because that's the whole point of having a separate fee. Unless you paid all the resort fees for each day when you checked in, and not when you checked out. They might actually charge it nightly to your bill, it's been awhile since I stayed at the Swolphin.

Also, you don't pay the resort fee until you are actually present at the hotel. I've never experienced one that worked any differently. No telling how Disney will work this with packages.

I recently checked the Swan via Orbitz and when you clicked through to the booking page it did say "does not include $25 per night resort fee charged by the hotel" when it gave you your total...but you didn't see that until you checked on the total. However, once you book and then complain that you didn't see the resort fee, they can say "you just didn't see it, it was right there on the booking page, so you had notice."

That's easier to swallow when your room isn't crazy overpriced to begin with.

 

[freediverdude]

I am in 100% agreement with what so many of you have stated. At some point, the greed just grates on my nerves. A Disney Vacation is fast becoming on par with costs for vacationing in Tahiti.

Hence the bungalows in front of the Polynesian.

 

[Tomh]

We hit that wall a long time ago and stay off-site with a rental car. Better rooms, less money and more flexibility. I've found I can drive to WDW, park and get into the parks in less time than it takes to wait for an overcrowded bus.

Exactly. We hit that point this year. We've stayed onsite every summer since 2008. This year, the prices were just too much for me. I found a house offsite for less than it would have cost me to stay at a moderate. and since I now won't have the dining plan, we will be eating breakfast at the house most mornings, and carrying sandwiches with us for lunch, so Disney not only loses out on the hotel stay, but also on dining, because for the most part, we will be having just one meal a day, instead of 2, and sometimes 3.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Either way the survey question just means you're getting a substantial charge coming soon to resort near you!!

Agreed - this survey is not meant to actually gauge interest. It is to help WDW wordsmith their announcement when the next price hike comes.

 

[nilla]

In defense of Disney...

Itemized billing and pay-per-service billing is quite in fashion right now. You're already paying to the service, it's just included in the all-in price you pay. Each year, the price of this service goes up, it just gets buried in with all-in price increase.

If you're someone that does not use these services or amenities, do you like subsidizing everyone else? Of course not.

I, for one, appreciate that everyone else subsidizes my Magic Express transportation.

The fact is, the resorts are packed, the parks are packed and it is the responsibility of Disney management to maximize shareholder value. Now and into the future. How that happens is up for debate.

(Now I'll go hide)

Yep. We see it full-force with the airlines now.

However, I don't care about subsidizing others for those things. Also, did the question specify if the fee would be optional?

 

[focusondisney]

I wish I had thought to take a screenshot of my survey!! I got one about the a la carte pricing. It listed the nightly rate at $350 and then listed "Optional Add-Ons" of $5 per person for Magic bands, $20 per person for "Priority FastPass Selection at 60 Days", Extra Magic Hours fee, a per person cost for MDE, etc. The prices for Magic Bands and Fast Passes are the only prices I can remember, but it had 5 or 6 different items - all of which are currently included as the perks of staying onsite.

The only that really got me was charging for Extra Magic Hours. So you want me to pay your high ticket prices + your ridiculous hotel price AND even more to be able to stay an extra hour or two and ultimately end up spending more money on food, drinks, etc.??? No, thank you.

So if they start charging extra for EMH, will they clear the park of those who are from offsite & onsite guests who didn't pay?? Coz we know how good they've been about clearing the parks for the $100 a person parties.

 

[JimmyV]

Really? Disney's proposed fee is $15, not $25.

First, we don't know what the fee will be (or if there will be one.) Second, it doesn't matter what the fee is. As long as there is any fee, it widens the gap since the other fees are already in place. So anyone doing a comparison today will look at the current rate at the Swan + $25 and compare that to the current rate of, say, the Beach Club. In the future, the comparison will be the price of the Swan + $25 versus the price of the Beach Club + $15. Any way you slice it, the gap has widened. Now: ($216+$25) versus ($589). In the future, ($216+25) versus ($589+$15). Will this make people flock to stay "off site" (to the extent that anyone considers the S&D to be "off site")? In a vacuum maybe not. But when every facet of your vacation creeps up in price, it is normal to look for ways to shave off some of that increase. The single easiest place to do that is to move a couple hundred yards from the Beach Club to the S&D since it is difficult to eek out savings on tickets and food.

 

[soniam]

... And the band played on. So, round and around and around we go. Where the world's headed, nobody knows

 

[nilla]

This cracks me up. How can you make most of these listed optional? You can't without creating haves and have-nots within the same resort community, and policing that would cost more than the additional charge. So any increase would be universal - so it is a rate increase, pure and simple.

Could you see them telling kids at the pool that they can't participate in the dance party unless their parents paid the $15 surcharge?

 

[ellie05]

Charging a fee all of sudden for existing services and amenities is ridiculous! They either had to do it from the beginning or not at all.

 

[PrincessV]

I've been going offsite more and more over the past few years, getting MUCH better accommodations at a lower price. Occasionally, onsite will win out, though, when I'm looking at prices within a few dollars of each other onsite vs. off, but the offsite option has an added resort/parking fee. Add that on to the onsite pricing and there's no reason for me not to go offsite for all stays. This definitely wouldn't work in Disney's favor in my case... but I suspect, as usual, I'm not who they're after in the first place.

 

[shakes]

And once you have a car, don't those more reasonably priced offsite restaurants start looking appealing? And if you have a car, why not try out a couple days at that other theme park down the road.......

Two words: Texas Roadhouse

Since moving and being three hours away, we now always drive. Besides LTT and Ohana, everything else is offsite/in room eating.

 

[ellie05]

Did anyone agree to the tiered ticket pricing? Probably not many, if anyone. Disney went to tiered ticket pricing anyway. These surveys are a cover for what their intentions already are. They help to shift the blame to the people taking the survey. "Surveys show guests wouldn't be bothered by implementing a $15/night resort fee..." I agree with so many of you. Raise the room rates like always and don't tell me I'm now paying a resort fee for special perks that have always been included with my Disney resort stay. And while I'm whining, I'll offer my opinion about opting out of new MagicBands. If I got a $12/person discount by opting out of new MagicBands, I wouldn't get them with every trip. I'm paying for them either way, so I'm going to keep getting new ones.

I am thinking the questions was more like do you think is reasonable if we charge a $15 for *list of amenities in the picture. Or would you still stay at a Disney resort if there was a $15 fee for this amenities.