pool hopping, something I remembered

[CarolA]

My belief is that Disney will elimante pool hopping someday. I have NO facts to base this on, but they have gotten more restrictive each year. We will just have to wait and see (and duck for cover if they ever do! LOL!)

The problem is that it only takes a few people abusing the pool hopping to spoil it for everyone. I have heard of DVC members staying on cash at other resorts assuming that they have the right to pool hop. Plus the one time I saw a DVC member asked to leave a pool the member was so abusive to the CM that I was embarrassed. Kept announcing "I SPENT THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS FOR MY DVC AND I CAN DO WHAT I WANT" and told the CM that she was stupid. A manager was summoned and the guest was told to leave or be escorted out of the pool. All the way out, he and his wife cussed like sailors! (He also announced he was selling, I considered making him a low ball offer LOL!)If CMs get much treatment like this you know they are pushing to get us away!

 

[goldilocks_63]

Maybe you should just have taken some of those towels off the chairs that were being saved for hours and hours....


Just kidding, Goldi

 

[kathleena]

I can't understand when the topic is using towels at the pool, why it has to get twisted into a rant and rave about eliminating pool hopping and ensuing debate.

To the OP

Sorry that you had to have this situation. Every time we have pool-hopped we have been treated very well and never had a problem. I do think emailing MS is the right thing to do - but I would also suggest another time, to request to speak with the Manager. Probably the CM was new or something and just didn't know the routine.

And thank your husband for me also.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by rinkwide
I know.

More than a few people on these boards seem to get some sort of sadistic enjoyment predicting the elimination of such perks.

What's that all about?

Agreed, but OTOH, some people get upset when someone honestly suggests it might really happen. I remember when I posted a couple of years ago that PH was a dying benefit (IMO) one person got VERY upset and posted that if DVC did stop it, it was my fault for posting it. I don't want it to happen but feel it is inevitable and am surprised it's lasted this long. That doesn't mean it's not a salvageable perk but as long as Disney doesn't police pool crashers well, ther pressure will be there from the indivual resorts to stop this somewhat controlable group. AKL was not added to PH and BCV was removed, not just SAB but all BC/YC pools. CR may let you PH but frequently won't let you park. Sorry, but it's only a matter of time.

 

[jaysue]

I for one hope that Pool Hopping is kept - so does the family as well!

thanks
jaysue

 

[Desperado]

Originally posted by Pa@okw95
Pool hopping should come to an end when OKW has a slide. This perk is an intrustion on the guests that paid good money to use the pool at their resort. I think the practice makes all members in the eyes of cms at other resorts look bad. After all who would bust in an use a pool at another resort anyway. I am affraid that DVC members are looked at as "poor cousins" by some cms because of this whole pool hopping situation. Anyone staying at a resort does not want to see a lot of non-guests using the pool. There are other other reasons that give DVC members this reputation some of it probably deserved.

Nonsense, this is a valuable perk as a park of a substantial commitment and investment on DVC members part. It isn't members fault that CMs are mis behaving and poorly trained regarding this DVC perk.

Pool hopping may very well end with the completion of the OKW slide, but I don't agree that it should be, and I don't agree with any of the reasons you've listed.

 

[Desperado]

Originally posted by Horace Horsecollar
Huh?

DVC members don't "bust in" when they Pool Hop by the rules.

The resorts need to eject people from the resort pools who are neither resort guests at that resort nor DVC members staying on points. The few DVC members who might be at a resort pool at any given time are not a problem. Pool crashers are the problem.

I completely agree. Well said. I imagine DVC members are also spending some $$$ at the resorts they are visiting.

Pool crashers are the real problem, not legitimate DVC members.

 

[Sammie]

Originally posted by Dean
Agreed, but OTOH, some people get upset when someone honestly suggests it might really happen. I remember when I posted a couple of years ago that PH was a dying benefit (IMO) one person got VERY upset and posted that if DVC did stop it, it was my fault for posting it. I don't want it to happen but feel it is inevitable and am surprised it's lasted this long. That doesn't mean it's not a salvageable perk but as long as Disney doesn't police pool crashers well, ther pressure will be there from the indivual resorts to stop this somewhat controlable group. AKL was not added to PH and BCV was removed, not just SAB but all BC/YC pools. CR may let you PH but frequently won't let you park. Sorry, but it's only a matter of time.

I agree Dean. Also I think that Disney realizes it would be easier to enforce the rules for swimming only at a resort where you are a guest if only the guest there was using the pool. I think they see it as being too hard for the lifegaurds to tell someone from the Contemporary to leave the Polynesian pool, but allow someone from VWL to stay due to them being a DVC member.

I do know from friends that work at the Beach Club that before they stopped SAB from DVC pool hopping, the peak number on a given day in July was near 100 and this was based on those that actually checked in with the front desk, the guard at the front, or asked for towels and got a wristband. This was the main factor in deciding with the addition of BCV to the mix, the pool just could not handle the extras.

 

[Desperado]

I hope pool hopping doesn't end. But the reality is that there are now 5 DVC resorts at WDW with SSR being a large one. The number of potential pool hoppers has substantially grown over the years. That fact alone probably means it is realistic that pool hopping will end, that's just too many people trying to go to other resort pools.

As much as I want the perk to stay, I confess I've never used it.

 

[jade1]

When WDW stops building pools with MONEY FROM DVC MEMBERS, they can entertain the idea of stopping DVC pool hopping, and handing out towels.

 

[lubyshell]

We were just home last week at SSR. MY DH and DS were going to boat at the Polynesian and I identified myself as a DVC member showed both my room card and DVC card and inquired if I only could use the pool. I was flat out told NO, these pools are for guest only and boy was she snotty. She also went on to say that pool hopping is not allowed at all.

 

[colleen costello]

Lubyshell, Poly is having issues. We stayed there in June, but we typically pool-hop there once when we stay elsewhere on points. This was the first time I saw a CM guarding the towels. I walked up in the middle of a growing argument between the towel woman and a guest who was getting angrier and angrier that they would not give her towels. She was giving her building and room number; claimed she didn't have her room key as hubby was meeting them a bit later and her building was far from the pool. She complained to me that no one told her about the policy at check-in and so her two little girls were dripping wet and chilly while she argued over towels. Yikes.

I told her guests had been griping about "pool crashers" and that is why they were checking, but there was no appeasing her. She thought a legitimate building and room # statment was enough. I see the problems this all causes -- no matter what they do, someone is mad. I agreed with this woman, however, that they should warn you at check-in about the room key policy. And regardless of all this, DVC members ARE at this time allowed to pool-hop and someone better tell the attendants that!

 

[Lisa P.]

When WDW stops building pools with MONEY FROM DVC MEMBERS, they can entertain the idea of stopping DVC pool hopping, and handing out towels.

Disney doesn't build their regular resorts/pools with money from DVC sales/maint fees. The closest you could get would be DVD (DVC's developer). Given that, and using this perspective, DVC would limit pool-hopping to include only the other DVC resorts during a DVC vacation stay on points, like an internal use benefit.

Pool hopping is a very nice privilege, not an entitlement. From the beginning, it has been presented as being subject to change without notice.

Besides the added workload on underpaid staff and multiple sets of rules for different people (guests vs. day visitors vs. DVCers) and intermittent crowding and the occasional disgruntled or obnoxious guest who identifies theirself as a DVC member, there may be other problems added by DVC pool hopping. For example, inventory of pool towels and facility staffing budgets are handled individually by the hotels, not collectively by all of WDW. When guests return to their rooms with pool towels, they may be readily returned to that hotel's inventory by housekeeping. But not with pool hoppers. It's easy to say that one family (our own, of course) creates a barely noticeable impact. But from the hotel manager's perspective, there's usually more involved with accommodating all kinds of guest benefits than most people realize.

It's a shame that the OP was not treated properly when she was following the rules. The more DVC grows, the more complex the rules seem to get. That may contribute to some here thinking that pool hopping won't last.

 

[OnTheRocks]

We were pool hoping at the CR last week while staying at the WLV. When I went to get towels for our group I was asked for our room card and said I didn't have it. She then asked for our room number and I said we were staying in the villas. She then gave me my 9 towels with no problem. It must have been that your CM didn't know the rules. We also pool hoped at BW and GF with no problems. I also overheard someone at the WL pool saying they were going back to their pool at the Country Inn. Don't know where that is but assumed there were pool hoping from off site.

 

[Chim Chiminy]

I didn't mean to start a debate with this thread.

I just wanted to relate our experience and give a head's up to those who pool hop.

 

[wtpclc]

Originally posted by Chim Chiminy
I didn't mean to start a debate with this thread.

Liz,

You've been on this board long enough to know that no topic's ever really safe.

Thanks for reporting on your pool hopping experience. And thanks to your husband for serving our country (and to you for supporting him in what can't be an easy lifestyle)!

Now can't we all just get along. Come on. One big DVC hug!!

 

[profdsny]

If CMs are not just wrong, but rude, I'd demand a supervisor or manger to straighten things out. Even if they are right, rudeness is uncalled for. Whether this is a right or a contract issue for us right now, it is still there, and until it is changed, we are within our 'rights' to use it, and be treated with respect. Don't let them push you around.

 

[Desperado]

Originally posted by lubyshell
....I was flat out told NO, these pools are for guest only and boy was she snotty. She also went on to say that pool hopping is not allowed at all.

Call a manager and get names all along the way. This CM needs to no longer be employed by Disney and to go be successful somewhere else. No excuse for rudeness.

 

[Disney Doll]

Several issues here:
1. The "legality" of pool hopping-you did everything right. You called, identified yourself as DVC, made sure the pool wasn't at capacity, had your DVC ID cards with you. As it stands now, pool-hopping is "legal" at most of the pools at WDW, so I will continue to pool-hop as I so desire, within the guidelines that Disney has set up. If DVC members are allowed to pool-hop, then the pool they hop to should supply towels.

2. Rude CM- should have gotten her boss right then and reported the rudeness. That's what I have done in the past very few occasions where I have encountered actual rudness from a CM. They have been very rare, in my case. I usually find the CMs to be very pleasant and helpful.

3. Poor cousins- having spent well over $25,000 in DVC points I don't consider myself to be a poor cousin. I have paid a premium, and made a long-term investment in the Disney company, and if that gets me a few perks along the way, good for me. Everyone has the same opportunity to purchase DVC as I do.

4. Caring what the CMs think of me- I don't. I would never be intentionally rude to a CM, but some kid who's standing inside a towel kiosk would not be giving me a whole lot of grief before I was speaking to someone with more authority than a minimum wage employee.

 

[Cris]

I get so sick of DVC members think they are entitled to everything because they paid 15,000 dollars. Well all I expect is a couple weeks at Disney in a clean spacious villa. This comment has nothing to do with pool hopping, but some of the members I have seen making fools out of themselves screaming at CM over them being DVC members and they should get this, that, and the other or they are selling their membership.

ok done with my rant now.

I think you should have asked for a recreation manager, but unlike others I don't think the cm should have been fired over that.