Resort Change by Disney

[HopperFan]

ESPN confirmed 3 resorts will be for NBA players only with strict screenings for the virus and they won't be allowed at the resorts. I wonder if AKL is one of them.

Not really. Two "sports conversation" guys called them three resorts. NBA reporters are reporting only CSR - which they still wouldn't come close to filling. It would make no sense on their part or Disney's to split them up. Of course never say never but that would be a dumb move.

If they house NBA at CSR no none-NBA person is setting foot in that Tower until the last player leaves.

They have stated they are staying in the Disney bubble + Disney will provide kids activities once families arrive. 100% under Disney control. Definitely goodbye Four Seasons, Waldorf Astoria and any other non-Disney owned properties.

I concur the next couple weeks will get us more clarity on NBA and possible MLS hotels. But I see zero hope for GDT stays until the NBA is gone

THIS^

They are in a bubble, they will be regularly tested, they have been told that later as some leave and families come they can not go to the parks, they will not let anyone else in a secured bubble.

It has been further confused that two ESPN conversation guys called it multiple hotels ... likely the guys only ramble and don't research. Probably saw GranDestino, Ranchos, Casitas, Cabana and assumed they were mulitple hotels. You can't control a bubble in multiple hotels. So if they do put them in multiple hotels then you have negated the entire process of protecting them and creating a bubble. I am going with the more credible NBA guys who say just CSR.

MLS will be interesting as they will overlap, but given they will play in the same complex they could decide to share the same hotel. I think CSR is large enough but will NBA share?

They could calm a lot of nervous but saying if you have a reservation and do not change it we will guarantee you a room but we are changing them on a rolling basis

Disney has never done those type of blanket announcements when they are trying to deal with an issue. And what if they are not guaranteeing? The fine print right now doesn't even guarantee you anything but a room, and that is good times.

Sorry if the "I don't agree" sounded aggressive; wasn't my intent. And, you're right, a lot of disagreement on these boards. I think that everyone is holding on to hope, thus the massive swings for the fences as it were. The number of people booking more than a week on a cash stay are probably very few, I would venture less than 5%, making those guests bridging the opening of all parks a real non-issue for Disney. Once the parks are open, Disney has no incentive to move people unless DVC bookings are down significantly. If that happens, then I can see Disney playing the "let's see who's paying the most for their deluxe/moderate, value" in that order so as to maximize revenue. I do think that the attached hotels (BWI, Beach/Yacht, Poly, GF, Contemporary, WL, etc.) which all command top dollar will be the next phase to open, as that would make both fiscal and operational sense. I just don't see Disney "giving away" vacations. It would be awesome if everyone who booked was able to go, but it is just not realistic.✌

AGREE. And "if" Disney is looking at each reservation to make "a decision" on what to do, we can be sure that potential spending might be considered as a check point.

AFAIK FL is not limiting capacity at Timeshares so Disney doesn't have to if they don't want to...

Correct. Guidelines are addressing cleaning, human interaction and some having units empty 24 hours between guests in some situations. I have seen nothing reported that rooms/units are being limited in how many you can rent.

 

[soniam]

Yes it would be nice if Disney would communicate with us. Disney always has me waiting

They are still figuring stuff out. People were all mad before they announced the park opening and reservation system. People were clamoring for any info. Then, they made that announcement, and people were angry that they didn't announce enough. Disney is figuring this out as they go along. They seem to be telling us stuff when they figure it out. They aren't doing this to be mean. Everyone is just going to have to be patient or cancel.

 

[JBeaty0507]

So I haven’t read the last few pages and I’m trying to catch up. However, I got the email about a stay I have that starts July 3 at Pop Century. I’m just too curious about where I would get moved to to full on cancel it at this point. Is the thinking that if they put me somewhere else and I decided we didn’t want to go without the parks, that we could just cancel? We were still hoping that we might get an AP preview early that next week and would be there for it. But we will probably cancel if not unless we got in a resort we just couldn’t resist. I just want to be sure we would still be able to cancel our reservation if we wanted to.

 

[cakebaker]

"What's the point of going to Disney if you're not going to Disney?"

That's what we all said too- we are definitely not resort only vacationers during normal conditions and to be at a resort when the parks are shuttered just seems depressing to me. But...there are those who may have vacations that start 7/4 or earlier that extend into the opening or the previews. While we aren't in that category, our case is similar. I cancelled everything some time ago, once the dates were announced, but kept our Riviera stay for July 8-11. My intention was to cancel that as well at some point, but we're considering doing it if the preview dates work for us. I'm not particularly interested in going opening day, but I might consider the previews.

 

[Rosanne]

I clicked the Modify button and it sent me to a regular reservation call center where I waited for a while and entered info then got an agent who said they had special agents to assist those who had non DVC reservations before July 4 and she said she'd send me over there. The next area said the call wait time was expected to be over two hours. I waited about five minutes and am just going to try back later.

 

[runningstitch]

July 9-14 All Star Movies. Military room deluxe dining. He also made a comment about me being military and that guest services are adjusting rooms one by one. He didn’t sound too hopeful and reiterated that I should not make a payment.

This is upsetting to hear. Did you have tickets linked to your reservation already?

 

[SJSloan]

So I haven’t read the last few pages and I’m trying to catch up. However, I got the email about a stay I have that starts July 3 at Pop Century. I’m just too curious about where I would get moved to to full on cancel it at this point. Is the thinking that if they put me somewhere else and I decided we didn’t want to go without the parks, that we could just cancel? We were still hoping that we might get an AP preview early that next week and would be there for it. But we will probably cancel if not unless we got in a resort we just couldn’t resist. I just want to be sure we would still be able to cancel our reservation if we wanted to.

Yes, if you don't like the resort they are offering to move you to you will still be able to cancel. And if the CM says you can't then call back. They are waiving any cancellation fees up until the day you check-in until October.

 

[Doingitagain]

ESPN confirmed 3 resorts will be for NBA players only with strict screenings for the virus and they won't be allowed at the resorts. I wonder if AKL is one of them.

I don’t think they could keep them in a bubble at Jambo because of shared grounds with Kidani. And Kidani is DVC and they couldn’t take that over.

All speculation, but the three resorts might not be at the same time, it could be changing them from CSR to smaller resorts as the NBA guest number goes down during playoffs.

 

[WatchandLearn33]

This is upsetting to hear. Did you have tickets linked to your reservation already?

Yes. I have military tickets linked to my account. Guess I’ll just wait and see what updates Disney throws out. I don’t trust all CM knowledge though so I’ll hold out hope.

 

[maryj11]

They are still figuring stuff out. People were all mad before they announced the park opening and reservation system. People were clamoring for any info. Then, they made that announcement, and people were angry that they didn't announce enough. Disney is figuring this out as they go along. They seem to be telling us stuff when they figure it out. They aren't doing this to be mean. Everyone is just going to have to be patient or cancel.

I know Disney is figuring this out as they go I guess? I just would like to know if we will be cancelled or not so I can plan a stay at Universal. Surely they have some idea on what they are doing with reservation.

 

[SarahC97]

I know Disney is figuring this out as they go I guess? I just would like to know if we will be cancelled or not so I can plan a stay at Universal. Surely they have some idea on what they are doing with reservation.

This is exactly how I feel. I'd like to have some concrete plans for a vacation this summer.

 

[reliev]

I don’t think they could keep them in a bubble at Jambo because of shared grounds with Kidani. And Kidani is DVC and they couldn’t take that over.

All speculation, but the three resorts might not be at the same time, it could be changing them from CSR to smaller resorts as the NBA guest number goes down during playoffs.

yeah I saw the same article clicked on 2 of them this could be right @HopperFan but I would assume they would stay again all speculation. I am more interested in what's going to happen with my reservation then where they are staying TBH

 

[bclittle]

I am booked at BC July 9-13, haven't heard anything from Disney yet. But from my understanding, we will have to modify and pay rack rate??? I booked with Sun and Fun.

 

[Best Aunt]

I don’t think they could keep them in a bubble at Jambo because of shared grounds with Kidani. And Kidani is DVC and they couldn’t take that over.

Not sure about this. I think you can have Kidani open to the public and Jambo closed or restricted to sports team people only. They might have to add extra dining at Kidani but other than that I don’t see why they couldn’t do it. But I’m not familiar enough to know if anything at Jambo could not physically be blocked off.

I have seen people here thinking that those with Jambo resies on DVC points could be moved to Kidani.

 

[AngelsAmongUs]

It was very clear by my phone call that the CM was quite confused on what the options were. He put me on hold at least 4 times to talk to Guest Services. I feel bad for them! Yes, call back tomorrow and see if you can do it.

I did call back, I hadn't really planned to keep checking and checking, but I got up early this morning so....

I was able to move our trip back 3 weeks, had to shift to 7 nights at DVC at Poly from GF -- and it is rack rate. (We had a really nice AP discount at GF.) I'll keep an eye on our if/when I can do that online, but we're happy with the outcome for now. It took being extremely flexible (I told the CM to propose any date, any length, any rate, any deluxe resort that was available) to make it work. Based on that (basically "anything goes") the CM gave me two options and this is the one we chose.

 

[Wakey]

They can secure any room not booked by members 60 days out To sell for cash to be out toward member dues, capped at a certain lebel. They have their own points to book rooms in advance of 60 days.

In reality, they only need DVC rooms solely until they open their deluxe, But, as of today, all rooms in DVc inventory through Aug 7th can be pulled without Disney needing to do anything special.

I was kind of hoping they would not be taking points from breakage from members over the Covid period. I was thinking exactly as you, but thought I would pose the question to see what people thought without it being loaded.

 

[SarahC97]

I am booked at BC July 9-13, haven't heard anything from Disney yet. But from my understanding, we will have to modify and pay rack rate??? I booked with Sun and Fun.

No one knows anything for after July 4 at this time, but if you want to modify your dates, then yes you'd have to pay rack rates based on what they're doing for guests up to July 4. If you don't modify your dates, then it seems as if they'll move you. But again, no one knows for sure right now.

 

[Bozni]

I clicked the Modify button and it sent me to a regular reservation call center where I waited for a while and entered info then got an agent who said they had special agents to assist those who had non DVC reservations before July 4 and she said she'd send me over there. The next area said the call wait time was expected to be over two hours. I waited about five minutes and am just going to try back later.

I also called to modify a pre July 4 Pop reservation, and was transferred to a “special team” for these dates. I’ve been on hold for 2 hours thus far, so hopefully someone will pick up soon!

ETA: are there reports of people actually being moved to a DVC from a value like Pop? I haven’t read through this entire thread, but I didn’t see any reports in the last few pages.

 

[maryj11]

This is exactly how I feel. I'd like to have some concrete plans for a vacation this summer.

Me too! I went ahead booked a room at Universal with just putting down a deposit as a back up. I don’t want to wait to long to get our plans in place. We fly down the beginning of August.

 

[soniam]

I know Disney is figuring this out as they go I guess? I just would like to know if we will be cancelled or not so I can plan a stay at Universal. Surely they have some idea on what they are doing with reservation.

You can book a Universal hotel, only pay one night, and cancel it pretty late. That's pretty much all the planning you need to do for Universal. You can even buy tickets at the park/hotel or do e-tickets from Undercover Tourist. There's a boat load of logistics for WDW on hotel reservations. Plus, if your stay is after July 4th and they tell you what they are going to do, you are going to want to call in immediately and get it handled. They don't have the staff to deal with everyone at once. That's another reason to miter out info. Look, I understand. I have a UO trip for 7/8-12, WDW DVC rented points for 7/12-18, and WDW non-DVC at BW for 7/18-21. I don't know what's happening with my BW stay, but I just have to wait or cancel. I also have November WDW DVC rented points trip for Thanksgiving, and I am the only one with tickets. So, yeah, there are a lot of questions. Plus, my DVC stays are non-refundable. Disney will tell us when they are ready.