2009 DVC Annual Meeting Report

[lugnut33]

At the 1:00 pm DVC event in the Yacht Club Convention Center it was mentioned that the 2000 point limit is now 4000 points.

Some very significant holiday discounts offered to those in attendance depending on how many points purchased ranging from $17 to $23 per point. Sales must be very slow.

With the resort side offering large discounts it has to cut into sales.

 

[hakepb]

the $17-$23 /point discounts sound exactly he same as the webcast discounts for AKV/GCV. Now a $23/point discount on BLT would be huge.

That said, these "discounts" still result in higher net sales prices than 2-3 years ago because DVC keeps raising the base price per point (Currently 112 for AKV or 120 for BLT)

...much like most store "going out of business sales", a closeout company will buy all of the store inventory, then markup all the prices 40% and the public goes mad buying "closeout sales" at 33% off when the everyday prices were always lower at Walmart

 

[disney1474]

After the meeting, I had a chance to talk to Kimberly Marinaccio, General Manager of Animal Kingdom Lodge. She mentioned that Disney is looking at the possibility of adding some QS offerings to the Kidani pool area. She also liked the idea of a more diverse offering of warm food in the Jambo Concierge Lounge.

Bill

I remember Kim when we were there when Kidani opened and she was very friendly. Some more QS options at the pool would be a good start. We will be staying concierge in May and hope they have some good offerings then. Thanks for the update!

 

[RobDoc]

First, thanks to Doc & Mike for the reports!



Does that mean (practically) no tax component for BLT or VGC owners from 2009 dues? And am I correct in assuming the announced 2010 dues [$3.7756 and $3.9388] are the "base" ones and therefore get reduced by those prorated amounts for those of us who owned (and paid) in '09?

TIA!

No - owners at BLT and VGC will still have property taxes in those amounts included in their 2010 dues. There will be a credit applied equal to the prorated amount you actually paid in 2009. If you had paid a full year's dues, you would have a credit of the amount reported, but since those owners paid only a partial year of dues based on either opening date or purchase date, the property tax component of dues will be adjusted by that amount and most of the projected property tax will still be owed for 2010.

I hope that makes sense. It is a little difficult to understand and explain when only part of the year was included in the dues for 2009.

 

[dburg30]

Thanks for the info, being very new in the DVC thing, I appreciate those of you that are vets and also to those that report on items like this meeting for those that cant attend on their own.

 

[DVCGeek]

I hope that makes sense. It is a little difficult to understand and explain when only part of the year was included in the dues for 2009.

I think I followed and I probably worded my question poorly. What I was really driving at is- are almost all the 2009 taxes paid for those resorts being credited back? The amounts mentioned for the non-prated credits seemed surprisingly high to me...

 

[ArtieMcD]

First, thanks to Doc & Mike for the reports!



Does that mean (practically) no tax component for BLT or VGC owners from 2009 dues? And am I correct in assuming the announced 2010 dues [$3.7756 and $3.9388] are the "base" ones and therefore get reduced by those prorated amounts for those of us who owned (and paid) in '09?

TIA!

Actually, the $.73 is a refund of our 2009 dues, which we have already paid. And as mentioned by others in the thread... If you paid partial dues due to prorating (which we all did for BLT this year) that amount is prorated by the same factor our due payment was.

Effetively, all this means is the actual dues for BLT in 2009 was $2.94($3.67 - $.73) increasing to $3.77 in 2010... Of course, the 2010 number will be adjusted next December once we know the final 2010 property tax figures (but it's likely the adjustment will be tiny compared to this years).

 

[ArtieMcD]

I think I followed and I probably worded my question poorly. What I was really driving at is- are almost all the 2009 taxes paid for those resorts being credited back? The amounts mentioned for the non-prated credits seemed surprisingly high to me...

The property tax roll that was due in November 2009, is based on property values as of Jan 1st, 2009. Since BLT was still under contruction on 1-1-09 (no certificate of occupancy has been issued yet) it's likely the assessed value for BLT in 2009 only includes the land value and very minor amount for improvments on the property. Hence why we are getting such a large portion of the taxes back in 2009.

The BLT budget for 2009 and 2010 estimated the property taxes assesment based on full property values... Of course since on Jan 1st, 2010 the resort is complete the Orange county property appraiser will reasses BLT next year based on what the propery is worth on New Years day.

 

[RobDoc]

The property tax roll that was due in November 2009, is based on property values as of Jan 1st, 2009. Since BLT was still under contruction on 1-1-09 (no certificate of occupancy has been issued yet) it's likely the assessed value for BLT in 2009 only includes the land value and very minor amount for improvments on the property. Hence why we are getting such a large portion of the taxes back in 2009.

The BLT budget for 2009 and 2010 estimated the property taxes assesment based on full property values... Of course since on Jan 1st, 2010 the resort is complete the Orange county property appraiser will reasses BLT next year based on what the propery is worth on New Years day.

Thanks! That's a much better explanation than I provided.

 

[DVCGeek]

The property tax roll that was due in November 2009, is based on property values as of Jan 1st, 2009. Since BLT was still under contruction on 1-1-09 (no certificate of occupancy has been issued yet) it's likely the assessed value for BLT in 2009 only includes the land value and very minor amount for improvments on the property.

Makes perfect sense; thanks a lot for the explanation!

 

[Chuck S]

I'm actually a little surprised if Disney is really thinking of adding channels from competing media companies, other than the local broadcasters. While Fox News isn't one I'd watch, I'd hope it would also mean expanded entertainment programming like SyFy, History, etc.

But again, I don't really see the need to offer any of those at a resort, considering they'd need to pay for them like any other cable company. And we can get a lot of programming for free directly through our computers using the free internet connections.

The offsite DVCs, of course, have whatever their local cable company includes in their package.

 

[hakepb]

While I actually prefer watching Fox News at home, I've also heard that Fox is very proud of their news station (due to it's relatively great ratings vs the competition) and Fox News is actually one of the most expensive non-sports (ESPN) or non-premium(HBO) channels. For cost alone, I do not think it is necessary to expand the lineup.

I do think there is a legitimate reason to expand the non-ESPN sports offerings as there seems to be too many (where can I watch...) type threads.. and a live sporting event can mean more than a series show that you can DVR at home..
And there are a few Disney shows on the Discovery and HGTV type networks so they may be a decent tie-in to an expanded lineup.

 

[speakupjc]

Thanks for posting!

 

[JimMIA]

Many of the responses from DVC management seem to be nothing more than lip service, or blowing off legitimate issues to get the meeting over with.

However, the one bright point for me is that they actually listened and are at least working on an online reservations system to bring DVC technology into the 20th century...eleven years late. Oh well, at least they are doing it -- although I'm sure they are doing it because it will reduce headcount in MS, not because it will give us better service.

I'm still concerned about the longterm trend, which I perceive as squeezing every penny of profit out of DVC to the detriment of the owners. I think the delay in publishing (or discussing) 2011 points is probably the percursor of another round of squeezing DVC owners.

It's not that one particular change is overwhelmingly horrible -- it's the Chinese water torture and the overall direction things are headed that cause me to recommend against buying DVC nowadays. The "Best Kept Secret" ain't what she used to be!

 

[Doug7856]

I think DVC should post minutes from the meetings on the member web site. Complete with pictures and any hand outs.

 

[Chuck S]

I think DVC should post minutes from the meetings on the member web site. Complete with pictures and any hand outs.

A webcast would have been nice, I wonder what it would have cost? I guess it would depend upon how much bandwidth was needed, and how many people would be logged in.

 

[CarolMN]

Just FYI - I moved the last several posts that were discussing valet parking/parking at BWV to the Valet thread to keep this thread on topic.

NO MORE free valet parking for DVC members

 

[Alan_BLT_2009]

Thanks for the information. I am also in favor of a Webcast Option for the Annual Meeting. Again Thanks....

 

[georgeat]

It seems that Disney is always a bit behind in the technology area when it comes to computing, the Internet and reservations. The reports by Doc and DVCmike are very good and timely. Thank you both of you.

Seeing the world 12/27/09 at BWV

 

[MarriedAtDisney]

if webcasting it is too expensive... at least videotape it and post it on YouTube or dvcmember.com for us to watch after the fact.


ps.
1. count me another one very happy about a bigger pool at SSR.

2. someone that thinks they need to address transportation - it feels like it's getting worse every trip.