Anyone concerned about the current pool situation at the resorts?

[mommy2allyandaveri]

People reporting hours of waiting to be able to use the pool.

Seems like they need to increase capacity, or decrease hotel capacity. Waiting hours seems a bit unreasonable.

 

[Joe Brig]

Many people are doing resort only stays now. Even with the Beach Club closed the pool was full. I don't think this will change until the parks open back up all the restaurants, shows and fireworks.

 

[westie55]

Ugh. I really want to go this summer or fall but I have small kids and they can't handle long waits for rides with no fastpass or similar option AND the pool. Something's gotta give. Yes, this is very concerning to me.

 

[MomOTwins]

I lf pools are a big deal, I would go to a deluxe resort with fewer rooms sharing a pool than a moderate or value. Among the deluxes, Choose the ones where pools are not a big deal. Boardwalk, AKL, WL etc. Stormalong bay and the Poly are always going to be a zoo because people book there specifically for the pool.

 

[Dave006]

Each resort has more than one pool. So far there have been a few reports of issues at "Feature" pools this month during Spring Break.

The "one" that seems to be driving the panic was a single report of a 3 hour wait for the feature pool at CRS. The multiple quite pools at CSR were fine during this one afternoon "issue".

Dave

 

[kylenne]

I lf pools are a big deal, I would go to a deluxe resort with fewer rooms sharing a pool than a moderate or value. Among the deluxes, Choose the ones where pools are not a big deal. Boardwalk, AKL, WL etc. Stormalong bay and the Poly are always going to be a zoo because people book there specifically for the pool.

The Oasis pool at the Poly is almost always considerably less busy than the Lava pool. We never had a problem finding chairs there even when the Lava pool was "people soup" levels of crowded (though this was pre-covid). People really don't realize the quiet pools at deluxes exist most of the time.

 

[txelle05]

Yes, I was wondering about the people soup situation at Poly - is that mostly in the summertime or what season would you say that begins? We are looking at staying there next April (last week of April, so after Easter) and were assuming that things would be more normal then, operationally speaking, and also knowing that Poly is opening up for regular bookings again this summer anyway. We have a planned pool day built in to our schedule so I was just wondering what to expect. We'd initially been looking at Beach Club and maybe renting a cabana, so I'm wondering if that would work better?

 

[kylenne]

Yes, I was wondering about the people soup situation at Poly - is that mostly in the summertime or what season would you say that begins? We are looking at staying there next April (last week of April, so after Easter) and were assuming that things would be more normal then, operationally speaking, and also knowing that Poly is opening up for regular bookings again this summer anyway. We have a planned pool day built in to our schedule so I was just wondering what to expect. We'd initially been looking at Beach Club and maybe renting a cabana, so I'm wondering if that would work better?

After Easter but before Memorial Day is one of the quieter warm times to go down and honestly my favorite time. You won't have a problem.

 

[MomOTwins]

The Oasis pool at the Poly is almost always considerably less busy than the Lava pool. We never had a problem finding chairs there even when the Lava pool was "people soup" levels of crowded (though this was pre-covid). People really don't realize the quiet pools at deluxes exist most of the time.

That's true, and that should really be a caveat to everything on this thread. Quiet pools are night and day compared to the main one. We were at GF last fall and left the main pool because we just didn't feel we could safely distance--wayyy too crowded in the pool and every lounger was full. Went to the quiet pool and we were one of two families there.

I do get that sometimes you really do want the feature pool though because kids really want to go on the slides or you want to be part of the activities like trivia etc.

 

[Dave006]

The biggest challenge with resort pool capacity is the limited guest capacity at the parks.

As park capacity increases you will see a decrease in guests spending time at the resorts in general. Also March is spring break month so everyone want's to enjoy the warm weather in Orlando.

Dave

 

[wilkydelts]

Any one experience capacity issues for Stormalong Bay this week since it is so busy? If so how long were people waiting to get in?

 

[Cheburashka]

People reporting hours of waiting to be able to use the pool.

Seems like they need to increase capacity, or decrease hotel capacity. Waiting hours seems a bit unreasonable.

I am at Kidani right now and the pool has not been crowded at all.

ETA: It's a few days later and I'm now at the Grand Floridian, where the pools are also not crowded.

 

[VeronicaZS]

Very concerned. We rationalized going to Disney with all the limited offerings, especially shorter hours, by expecting to spend more time at the hotel and pool. I got a great PIN code deal at the BC months ago and it would be expensive to change hotels at this point. The quiet pool would be plan B but I would be pissed to be paying for a deluxe resort, even with a relatively great rate, and not be able to use their main ammenity.

 

[Dave006]

I would be pissed to be paying for a deluxe resort, even with a relatively great rate, and not be able to use their main amenity.

Simple answer is be there when it opens at 10 AM and not at 2 PM during Spring break or a Holiday week like Easter.

Again we have only heard a report about a single afternoon issue at the CSR Feature pool on 1 day so far this month.

Dave

 

[MomOTwins]

Again we have only heard a report about a single afternoon issue at the CSR Feature pool on 1 day so far this month.

Actually, I don't think that is true. I've seen at least one report of a long wait at a value hotel (Pop) and two reports of waits to get into Stormalong Bay at YC/BC.

It is certainly not every resort all the time, but it is not just a single report at CSR (although I agree that seemed to be the most extreme example to date).

 

[Cheburashka]

Simple answer is be there when it opens at 10 AM and not at 2 PM during Spring break or a Holiday week like Easter.

Again we have only heard a report about a single afternoon issue at the CSR Feature pool on 1 day so far this month.

I totally agree about not freaking out over one pool's one day issue. As mentioned above, I've been at the Kidani pool the past two days (and it's spring break right now, with perfect pool weather, too) at 1pm, and it's not been the least bit crowded. Perhaps one WDW resort pool was having a bad day, but it doesn't mean that all of the Disney resort pools are having problems. The Kidani feature pool certainly hasn't been problematic at all.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Can report from GF Sunday (arrived 1:30ish) and Monday. Sunday is what I would describe as a regular weekend day pre COVID. Pretty full at both pools, had to hover a slight bit (a lap around) to get a spot at the main pool. Happened to get a table where someone was leaving. Note that pool isn’t the biggest in terms of pool area or deck space. Personally, I was totally fine with what we encountered and was as expected, in my opinion.

They may have closed briefly after that as we saw some CMs shuffling around the gates, but if it did it wasn’t very long.

Monday was wide open all day with usual ebbs and flows of folks.

Walked over to Poly both afternoons and no closures there either from what I saw going on.

I think the details of each resort, its room count, and pool deck size are big factors in this topic.

 

[Brett Wyman]

I lf pools are a big deal, I would go to a deluxe resort with fewer rooms sharing a pool than a moderate or value. Among the deluxes, Choose the ones where pools are not a big deal. Boardwalk, AKL, WL etc. Stormalong bay and the Poly are always going to be a zoo because people book there specifically for the pool.

Yup exactly. We did a pool only stay at Saratoga Springs this last December. Now obviously pools aren't quite as crowded in December but we were always able to find a safe spot at one of the four pools there.

 

[Summer Starr]

I lf pools are a big deal, I would go to a deluxe resort with fewer rooms sharing a pool than a moderate or value. Among the deluxes, Choose the ones where pools are not a big deal. Boardwalk, AKL, WL etc. Stormalong bay and the Poly are always going to be a zoo because people book there specifically for the pool.

Wow didn't even know they were doing this. Good to know as I plan for our September visit.

 

[boltjames]

Can report from GF Sunday (arrived 1:30ish) and Monday. Sunday is what I would describe as a regular weekend day pre COVID. Pretty full at both pools, had to hover a slight bit (a lap around) to get a spot at the main pool. Happened to get a table where someone was leaving. Note that pool isn’t the biggest in terms of pool area or deck space. Personally, I was totally fine with what we encountered and was as expected, in my opinion.

They may have closed briefly after that as we saw some CMs shuffling around the gates, but if it did it wasn’t very long.

Monday was wide open all day with usual ebbs and flows of folks.

Walked over to Poly both afternoons and no closures there either from what I saw going on.

I think the details of each resort, its room count, and pool deck size are big factors in this topic.

I was just on the phone for almost 2 hours and got through to the recreation department, got one of the very last Pool Patios at the GF the week of March 27 for our designated pool day. Quite relieved. Almost no inventory left. I'm preparing for lounge chair wars for the other days. At a deluxe. Unthinkable.