>> Using Pools at Other Resorts - FAQ and Questions Thread (No Debate) <<

[CanadianGuy]

Friends of ours will be staying at WL overlapping with our stay at POFQ for a couple of days the end of August. Will Disney permit us to visit them and swim in the WL pool or, alternatively, have them do the same at POFQ?

Also, could we bring our car and park it at the WL or will this be a difficulty as well?

Guests at a given resort who wish to invite friends (on property or off) to visit their resort pool for together usually isn't much of a problem. It all depends on occupancy levels at the resort, how busy the pool is and what mood you catch the lifeguard on duty in.. Why does that matter?

The advice is to ask the lifeguards on duty that day.

They have the final word and as long as you ask up front and aren't inviting 75 of your closest friends with spouses and family... you should be fine.

 

[KingRat]

So you CAN pool hop without getting the stink-eye?

 

[kaytieeldr]

No. Please reread anorman's question and Canadian Guy's response.

 

[MaryJaneP]

After being at CR for several years, when "senior night" was also held, I can say I am definitely glad the policy is against pool hopping.

 

[FlyingPegasus]

This past July my sister and I stayed at the Contemporary Club Level. We wanted to do something different for my birthday, so we rented a cabana at the Grand Floridian.

We rented the Cabana over the phone, at the same time we made some other reservations.

At no time did they tell us we could only rent the cabana if we were staying at the hotel. They knew we were at the Contemporary when we made the reservation.

The concierge at the CR even helped us with getting information about where to go when we got there, and whether or not the fridge was stocked with drinks.

So we were very surprised to be treated like second class citizens once we got to our reserved cabana, that we paid a hefty sum of money in advance for.

We did not consider this pool hopping as we were paying to use the cabana and pool for 4 hours. The lifeguard on duty finally agreed to let us stay.

When the waiter would bring our food and drinks, he kept wanting to charge it to our room and then kept telling us to leave. We told him to go talk to the head lifeguard, who was keeping track of all of our charges for us, but he still gave us a difficult time for being there.

They totally ruined my birthday.

We just feel that the people taking the reservations over the phone, should have been aware of this policy before accepting our reservation and payment.

Needless to say, we will never go back and stay at the GF after this not so magical experience.

So renting a cabana is considered pool hopping for those who did not realize it.

Fly

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

This past July my sister and I stayed at the Contemporary Club Level. We wanted to do something different for my birthday, so we rented a cabana at the Grand Floridian.

We rented the Cabana over the phone, at the same time we made some other reservations.

At no time did they tell us we could only rent the cabana if we were staying at the hotel. They knew we were at the Contemporary when we made the reservation.

The concierge at the CR even helped us with getting information about where to go when we got there, and whether or not the fridge was stocked with drinks.

So we were very surprised to be treated like second class citizens once we got to our reserved cabana, that we paid a hefty sum of money in advance for.

We did not consider this pool hopping as we were paying to use the cabana and pool for 4 hours. The lifeguard on duty finally agreed to let us stay.

When the waiter would bring our food and drinks, he kept wanting to charge it to our room and then kept telling us to leave. We told him to go talk to the head lifeguard, who was keeping track of all of our charges for us, but he still gave us a difficult time for being there.

They totally ruined my birthday.

We just feel that the people taking the reservations over the phone, should have been aware of this policy before accepting our reservation and payment.

Needless to say, we will never go back and stay at the GF after this not so magical experience.

So renting a cabana is considered pool hopping for those who did not realize it.

Fly

That just sounds horrible and I am sorry to hear the way you were treated.

Although if you ever stay at the Contemporary in the future just remember they have their own Cabana's located there and I am sure you won't have any problems renting them over there as Contemporary guests.

 

[Leebee1253]

The question I had was this:::: We are members of the DVC at Bay Lake Tower of the Contemporary Resort. Are we allowed to pool hop to any other resort on property of Disney?? Thanks in advance.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The question I had was this:::: We are members of the DVC at Bay Lake Tower of the Contemporary Resort. Are we allowed to pool hop to any other resort on property of Disney?? Thanks in advance.

DVC members may only pool hop if they are staying on a reservation made through MS (points or cash) and their KTTW says DVC Member. If you made a reservation through the regular Disney booking, you may not pool hop. BLT, SAB, BCV, AKV pools are never allowed for pool hopping, as are the Swan/Dolphin pools. There are times when pool hopping is blacked out for the holiday.

From the member website:

Pool Hopping Information
Whenever you are staying on your Membership at Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort, Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas, Disney's Beach Club Villas, Disney's BoardWalk Villas, Disney's Old Key West Resort, Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, Disney's Vero Beach Resort, or The Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge, you and any Guests staying with you, are permitted to use most of the other Disney Vacation Club and Walt Disney World® Resort hotel pools (in addition to the pool at the resort hotel at which you are staying) if they are not at capacity. If the pool you are visiting reaches capacity, you may be asked to leave in order to accommodate Guests of that resort hotel. Please check with a Host or Hostess at the Front Desk of the resort hotel you wish to visit before you go to find out about pool-access availability. You must present your current "Key to the World" card with your "DVC Member" designation on it to use the other resort hotel pools.

Pool hopping is not available at Bay Cove Pool at Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort, Uzima Pool and Samawati Springs Pool at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge, Stormalong Bay at Disney's Yacht & Beach Club Resorts, and the leisure pool at Disney's Beach Club Villas. There are no exceptions to this policy. As a reminder, during times of high occupancy, please be mindful of the limited number of pool chairs available, and refrain from leaving towels or personal items on unoccupied pool chairs.

Resort hotel pools may become unavailable from time to time due to capacity limitations. Due to the high occupancy that is expected, Disney Vacation Club Members and any Guests staying with them may not pool hop during the following dates*:

•February 14-20, 2010 (Sun – Sat)
•March 27 – April 10, 2010 (Sun – Sat)
•May 28 – 31, 2010 (Fri – Mon)
•June 27 – July 5 (Sun – Mon)
•Sept 3 – 6, 2010 (Fri – Mon)
•Nov 22 – 28, 2010 (Mon – Sun)
•Dec 12, 2010 – Jan 2, 2011 (Sun – Mon)

*Other restricted dates may be added based on projected pool capacity

 

[Mindy5767]

Guests at a given resort who wish to invite friends (on property or off) to visit their resort pool for together usually isn't much of a problem. It all depends on occupancy levels at the resort, how busy the pool is and what mood you catch the lifeguard on duty in.. Why does that matter?

The advice is to ask the lifeguards on duty that day.

They have the final word and as long as you ask up front and aren't inviting 75 of your closest friends with spouses and family... you should be fine.

So you CAN pool hop without getting the stink-eye?

We were just at Disney in mid August and friends of ours were staying at CBR before their cruise. We had no trouble joining them at CBR's pool nor any trouble parking in CBR's parking lot. The pool was not crowded at all. The only problem we did have was the pool got closed twice for lightning and everyone had to leave. We ended up hanging out at the food court in hopes of more pool time soon. However, we were 2 people there visiting 3 people on a very UN-busy day. We did not just pop in by ourselves.

After being at CR for several years, when "senior night" was also held, I can say I am definitely glad the policy is against pool hopping.

Why? What happened?

The question I had was this:::: We are members of the DVC at Bay Lake Tower of the Contemporary Resort. Are we allowed to pool hop to any other resort on property of Disney?? Thanks in advance.

So members staying at BLT can pool hop to my resort SSR but I cannot pool hop to their resort? That's not fair! Why do you think Disney has chosen to disallow pool hopping to the newest resorts? I know BC is not new and pool hopping has never been allowed here, but I could understand that because its a very unique pool and not really that big, so I could see how that wouldn't work because it would be swamped with non-BC members... but BLT? Uzimo? Why?

 

[Deb & Bill]

...So members staying at BLT can pool hop to my resort SSR but I cannot pool hop to their resort? That's not fair! Why do you think Disney has chosen to disallow pool hopping to the newest resorts? I know BC is not new and pool hopping has never been allowed here, but I could understand that because its a very unique pool and not really that big, so I could see how that wouldn't work because it would be swamped with non-BC members... but BLT? Uzimo? Why?

The BLT pool is very small, as is the Kidani Village pool. AKL only had the one pool before they built Kidani Village. So for that huge area, there are only two pools, one that is rather small.

SSR has multiple pools and they are pretty large.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

So members staying at BLT can pool hop to my resort SSR but I cannot pool hop to their resort? That's not fair! Why do you think Disney has chosen to disallow pool hopping to the newest resorts? I know BC is not new and pool hopping has never been allowed here, but I could understand that because its a very unique pool and not really that big, so I could see how that wouldn't work because it would be swamped with non-BC members... but BLT? Uzimo? Why?

This bother me anymore but not even Contemporary guests can swim at the Bay Lake Tower pool, however anyone staying at Bay Lake Tower is allowed to swim at the Contemporary if they want to. Before Bay Lake Tower even opened I thought they would have the same rules as the Wilderness Lodge and Villas at the Wilderness Lodge, where their pools would be shared for all guests staying there. So when I found out that was not true I was surprised.

 

[daisyduck123]

So members staying at BLT can pool hop to my resort SSR but I cannot pool hop to their resort?

Please check-out your Portable Perks booklet the next time you check-in at a DVC resort. The pool-hopping rules are clearly stated, as are other interesting tidbits of info.

 

[Mindy5767]

The BLT pool is very small, as is the Kidani Village pool. AKL only had the one pool before they built Kidani Village. So for that huge area, there are only two pools, one that is rather small.

SSR has multiple pools and they are pretty large.

The artists concept drawing of Uzima pool that we were all treated to.. with the water dump buckets and such, didn't look small. I wonder why they made it small?

I would not even be interested in pool hopping to CR or BLT, their pools just don't catch my eye. I actually LOVE SSR's Grandstand "quiet" pool and rarely hop anywhere else. I rarely even go to the big feature pool. However, this new feature pool they're going to build in the Paddock area sounds interesting. Although, I don't know if it would entice me away from Grandstand.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

Since the pool at Bay Lake Tower, Stormalong Bay and the pool at the Animal Kingdom Lodge are three of the pools which not even DVC members can pool hopp to, should the Contemporary pool be added to that list? My reasons for adding it are as follows. Since any guests staying at Bay Lake Tower are allowed to swim there if they want to and the fact that their whole pool area doesn't have a lot of pool chairs, I feel the Contemporary pool should be on that list. For example let's say some DVC members tried to swim at Bay Lake Tower but didn't realize they couldn't swim there, well they might say let's go swim at the Contemporary pool since it's within walking distance. Well because they already let Bay Lake Tower guests swim there and the fact they don't have a lot of pool chairs, what if one day there is no room for any Contemporary guests? I am sure that would not be fair to anyone staying there. So what do you all think?

 

[Mindy5767]

Since the pool at Bay Lake Tower, Stormalong Bay and the pool at the Animal Kingdom Lodge are three of the pools which not even DVC members can pool hopp to, should the Contemporary pool be added to that list? My reasons for adding it are as follows. Since any guests staying at Bay Lake Tower are allowed to swim there if they want to and the fact that their whole pool area doesn't have a lot of pool chairs, I feel the Contemporary pool should be on that list. For example let's say some DVC members tried to swim at Bay Lake Tower but didn't realize they couldn't swim there, well they might say let's go swim at the Contemporary pool since it's within walking distance. Well because they already let Bay Lake Tower guests swim there and the fact they don't have a lot of pool chairs, what if one day there is no room for any Contemporary guests? I am sure that would not be fair to anyone staying there. So what do you all think?

I really don't think its necessary unless this suddenly becomes a real problem. I can't see say, Beach Club, Boardwalk or Saratoga members even wanting to pool hop over to CR. Their pool is a bit boring Our own pools are better. If I were that guest that is already over there... I'd instead hop on the monorail and hit the Poly pool. At least its a fun pool.

 

[daisyduck123]

I really don't think its necessary unless this suddenly becomes a real problem. I can't see say, Beach Club, Boardwalk or Saratoga members even wanting to pool hop over to CR. Their pool is a bit boring Our own pools are better. If I were that guest that is already over there... I'd instead hop on the monorail and hit the Poly pool. At least its a fun pool.

ITA with this!

We stayed right at BLT this summer and had no desire to pool hop to CR. If we had wanted to hop somewhere, we would've headed over to the Poly.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Since the pool at Bay Lake Tower, Stormalong Bay and the pool at the Animal Kingdom Lodge are three of the pools which not even DVC members can pool hopp to, should the Contemporary pool be added to that list? My reasons for adding it are as follows. Since any guests staying at Bay Lake Tower are allowed to swim there if they want to and the fact that their whole pool area doesn't have a lot of pool chairs, I feel the Contemporary pool should be on that list. For example let's say some DVC members tried to swim at Bay Lake Tower but didn't realize they couldn't swim there, well they might say let's go swim at the Contemporary pool since it's within walking distance. Well because they already let Bay Lake Tower guests swim there and the fact they don't have a lot of pool chairs, what if one day there is no room for any Contemporary guests? I am sure that would not be fair to anyone staying there. So what do you all think?

CR has two rather large pools - one themed, the other not. This is very similar to all the other resorts that DVC members can hop to.

As long as it remains a perk for DVC members, the guests at the resorts where members can pool hop to will just have to let it go. DVC members are supposed to get approval to swim, they are supposed to leave if the lifeguard asks them to because the pool is too congested with guests from that resort.

During the busier holiday times, pool hopping is blacked out for DVC members anyway.

I don't think you are going to have to worry about DVC members taking over the CR pools to the detriment of CR guests.

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

CR has two rather large pools - one themed, the other not. This is very similar to all the other resorts that DVC members can hop to.

As long as it remains a perk for DVC members, the guests at the resorts where members can pool hop to will just have to let it go. DVC members are supposed to get approval to swim, they are supposed to leave if the lifeguard asks them to because the pool is too congested with guests from that resort.

During the busier holiday times, pool hopping is blacked out for DVC members anyway.

I don't think you are going to have to worry about DVC members taking over the CR pools to the detriment of CR guests.

While their main pool maybe big they still don't have enough pool chairs for the size of the Contemporary, which I think others seem to forget. Plus if they blocked pool hopping for DVC members to the Bay Lake Tower pool, I think it should also be done for the Contemporary pool.

 

[Deb & Bill]

While their main pool maybe big they still don't have enough pool chairs for the size of the Contemporary, which I think others seem to forget. Plus if they blocked pool hopping for DVC members to the Bay Lake Tower pool, I think it should also be done for the Contemporary pool.

Well, I guess unless your name is Jim Lewis, you don't get to decide. Sorry.

 

[Mindy5767]

While their main pool maybe big they still don't have enough pool chairs for the size of the Contemporary, which I think others seem to forget. Plus if they blocked pool hopping for DVC members to the Bay Lake Tower pool, I think it should also be done for the Contemporary pool.

Well, why won't they just buy more pool chairs? duh... press the easy button!

Exactly WHAT is the THEME for the Contemporary themed pool and how is it that the other one isn't themed. I know that the Grandstand pool at Saratoga is one of the quiet pools, not the "Feature" pool, and it is very well themed. So I wouldn't say that only the main Feature pool at all resorts is themed.