Blue NBA fence at GF looks horrible!

[kaytieeldr]

They're only guests because the normal guests were kicked out.

The property not being open to the general public isn't the same as guests being kicked out. If all the other Deluxe guests were removed from all the other Deluxe resorts because of the NBA, it might be a valid point. But none of the Deluxe resorts is open to the public, and seven out of the nine will remain 100% empty until further notice.

 

[JM23457]

The NBA finishing their season at Disney World is providing an enormous amount of much needed revenue that will be used to build future projects and maintain beloved attractions that we can all enjoy.

We need to keep perspective as the parks reopen. This won’t be the last unexpected surprise like this I’m sure.

We actually don't know how that money will be spent. Executive bonuses, stock buybacks, etc. Counting on them reinvesting it all into the parks is a bit optimistic imo.

 

[OfCourseTheresAlwaysMyWay]

We actually don't know how that money will be spent. Executive bonuses, stockholder dividends, etc. Counting on them reinvesting it all into the parks is a bit optimistic imo.

Of course. But the bottom line is that it's helping keep the company afloat during very uncertain times and therefore seems like pretty small potatoes.

 

[Callie]

It’s helping keep people employed including cms. It’s helping provide revenue for the company. They have to have a fence go protect players from Covid. It’s no different than when they block off things for construction. I’ll be staying there soon and enjoying it. The players don’t wish to be in a fenced off area they’d rather be at home in their spacious houses with family playing in front of fans.

 

[Steph01002]

Yacht Club getting some fencing today, too. These don’t feel like “pardon our dust walls”, they stand out much more.Yacht isn’t as bad as GF.

 

[Lisann]

Yacht Club getting some fencing today, too. These don’t feel like “pardon our dust walls”, they stand out much more.Yacht isn’t as bad as GF.

I would assume that's because Stormalong Bay is closed? Which, I really don't understand.

 

[dvc lover 1970]

Is the purpose to seclude the NBA? That is aweful if that is the case. Imo no one cares about star gazing when in disney. We are more interested in our own vacations. We have seen the Shack on the boardwalk, Sophia Carlson from descendents and a couple football NFL players there with their families. Noone bothers them from what I have seen. Everyone is too hot and busy themselves.

 

[kaytieeldr]

I would assume that's because Stormalong Bay is closed? Which, I really don't understand.

IMO, Stormalong Bay is not yet reopening to the general public because (A) it's expensive to operate and requires many, many more CMs than any other pool; and (B) the. Stormalong. Bay. Resorts. are. not. yet. open. to the general public.

DVC Members/guests are not the general public.

Is the purpose to seclude the NBA? That is aweful if that is the case. Imo no one cares about star gazing when in disney. We are more interested in our own vacations.

That's you. Not everybody is you.

 

[Steph01002]

I would assume that's because Stormalong Bay is closed? Which, I really don't understand.

I could still walk to the entrance area of Stormalong Bay near the building. They have it blocked off with fencing in preparation for the NBA at Yacht Club.

 

[RabFlmom]

Some sites have images of what the blue divider fence at the GF looks like and it destroys the ambience of the resort. You can’t even see the castle or marina from Gasparilla’s now. I would not be happy if I were staying at the GF or VGF while the NBA is there.

My thoughts..........complaining about a fence.......it may be too early for you to return to the park. There will be many,many things you could see or do last year on property that just won't be available for a while. I think we just have to expect that they are doing the best they can do under the circumstances and if that is too much to handle for some of us than perhaps Disney is not where we need to be yet.

 

[chasgoose]

They're only guests because the normal guests were kicked out.

The GF (aside from the VGF and the Main Building and a pool because of DVC contract obligations) likely wouldn't have opened until the scheduled reopening date anyways. Those guests would have been "kicked out" of the GF regardless of when the NBA was staying there or not. It's no different than guests booked at the YC/BC, Poly, WL, AKL, or BWI who are being moved until mid-August at the soonest (for the Poly) or October 1 at the latest scheduled reopening (for BWI) or, even worse, TBA (for AKL/WL). Those guests were paying close to as much as, if not more (depending on view), as GF guests and it shouldn't matter whether they were being moved because of Disney's scaled re-opening or because of the NBA.

Based on the teams staying there and the anticipated reopening date of September 21, it appears that Disney is anticipating they will be able to consolidate the NBA bubble as the playoffs continue and that when the GF fully reopens the fencing will be gone. The only people affected by this are VGF guests, and honestly, aside from the inability to use the whole complex (something I think people staying at BCV can commiserate with) the fencing itself shouldn't affect things too much.

 

[The Expert]

Is the purpose to seclude the NBA? That is aweful if that is the case. Imo no one cares about star gazing when in disney. We are more interested in our own vacations. We have seen the Shack on the boardwalk, Sophia Carlson from descendents and a couple football NFL players there with their families. Noone bothers them from what I have seen. Everyone is too hot and busy themselves.

If you've ever seen paparazzi in action, you'd understand. They will do ANYTHING to get a picture. We get throngs of them here in Utah during Sundance and it's miserable to be caught up in their antics. They would definitely cause a lot of issues for regular guests. Disney doesn't want any chance of that headache, so rather than try and figure out who might be there for those reasons, they're limiting access to the already limited public who will be there during this time.

 

[chasgoose]

We actually don't know how that money will be spent. Executive bonuses, stock buybacks, etc. Counting on them reinvesting it all into the parks is a bit optimistic imo.

Fair, but that's the case regardless of whether Disney makes its money from the NBA or normal guests (which there clearly weren't going to be enough of for the next few months). I agree with you that bonuses and stock buybacks are extremely problematic and should be regulated more heavily, but if they could make similar revenue from guest stays right now, it's not like that would prevent them from engaging in the same shady practices. The NBA is not only a chance to bring in much needed revenue to the resorts and allow Disney to call back a lot of CMs to work, but perhaps more importantly, it will provide new content for ESPN which has had nothing new except The Last Dance since all sports were called off.

At the end of the day, Disney is a business and it can't operate without revenue. The NBA is not only paying directly for its use of the property, but it's also going to massively benefit ESPN, which has to have been hemorrhaging money for awhile now. Unfortunately, Disney knows that once things are back to normal, people will come back and the relatively small group of people this might turn off from the parks forever won't make a difference.

 

[DurangoJim]

My thoughts..........complaining about a fence.......it may be too early for you to return to the park. There will be many,many things you could see or do last year on property that just won't be available for a while. I think we just have to expect that they are doing the best they can do under the circumstances and if that is too much to handle for some of us than perhaps Disney is not where we need to be yet.

Not really when you figure they knocked out the main resort and pool. Not sure that it's too much for me to handle since we'll be over at the CR looking at the castle. So no, I'm not one of those people who will take whatever Disney gives them and be grateful, especially since I had a trip planned for over a year at in a beautiful room at a great resort. This post may be too much for you to handle but if you enjoy the appearance of a blue cyclone fence running through a normally gorgeous resort, good for you.

 

[chasgoose]

If you've ever seen paparazzi in action, you'd understand. They will do ANYTHING to get a picture. We get throngs of them here in Utah during Sundance and it's miserable to be caught up in their antics. They would definitely cause a lot of issues for regular guests. Disney doesn't want any chance of that headache, so rather than try and figure out who might be there for those reasons, they're limiting access to the already limited public who will be there during this time.

Also, it isn't just the paparazzi or curious guests. The only reason the players agreed to come back is that a strict bubble would be enforced with enhanced testing and monitoring. It would be impossible to maintain that bubble without physical barriers that limited access to the properties hosting those required to stay in the NBA bubble.

That's likely why the 3 resorts were chosen as they are the easiest Deluxe-ish resorts to create such a bubble. GDT for obvious reasons, YC because the DVC wing is on the other side of the YC/BC campus, and GF because its relatively easy to cordon off the VGF and Main Building area while still giving them a pool and food options. Also, all three have attached conference centers for training and other team operations. It's harder to isolate the rest of the Deluxe resorts because of the way DVC is set up at them. CCR is in the main WL building (and unlike AKL where Jambo and Kidani are part of the same condo association, CCR is a separate condo association from BRV , BWV and BWI share a building that would make separation nigh impossible, BLT relies on the CR for almost all food and potentially transportation if the monorail reopens, and the Poly is similarly cut-off, with the added problem that they wouldn't have access to a pool. I guess Jambo House would have been easy to isolate as well since they probably could accommodate all DVC AKV owners at Kidani, but I imagine they didn't want to risk violating the terms of their contract if that wasn't possible (also AKL doesn't have conference facilities like the three NBA resorts).

YC and GF still require a fence (and likely some way to sever the connection between the BC and the YC internally), but logistically that's a lot easier to set-up and maintain than it would have been at the other Deluxes.

 

[chasgoose]

Not really when you figure they knocked out the main resort and pool. Not sure that it's too much for me to handle since we'll be over at the CR looking at the castle. So no, I'm not one of those people who will take whatever Disney gives them and be grateful, especially since I had a trip planned for over a year at in a beautiful room at a great resort. This post may be too much for you to handle but if you enjoy the appearance of a blue cyclone fence running through a normally gorgeous resort, good for you.

But you are presenting it as though Disney would have opened the non-DVC GF to guests if the NBA weren't coming. Given that Disney seems to be in no rush to fully reopen and it doesn't appear as though they have been unable to accommodate all guests that still want to come, it seems more likely than not that the non-DVC GF portions would have remained closed regardless of whether the NBA deal happened and you probably would have been moved to the CR anyways. If Disney were legally allowed to keep the VGF closed, they probably would have done that too (and maybe they wouldn't have had a fence, but I doubt they would have opened the main pool either. The VGF is a much smaller portion of the full resort when compared to the BWV or the Poly for two examples. I doubt many DVC owners at VGF would have been happy to see their maintenance fees skyrocket when they absorbed the full costs of running both pools and the full suite of shared amenities while the non-DVC was empty, especially if they weren't going to WDW during that time.

 

[Marthasor]

They're only guests because the normal guests were kicked out.

No, they are guests because the NBA is paying tens of millions of dollars for them to stay there. You have zero knowledge these resorts were going to open if the NBA did not book them. Plenty of other resorts are also not opening to regular guests and those guests are being moved. Speculating that GF, YC and GDT/CSR would have opened otherwise is pure speculation on your part. None of the All Star resorts are opening, CBR isn't opening, POR/POFQ isn't opening, neither is the resort-side of AKL or WL - are you blaming the NBA for those resorts staying closed as well? Disney is a for-profit company. They had the opportunity to rent out facilities, long term, to the tune of tens of millions of dollars which will then bring in billions of dollars via ESPN/ABC. Which do you think they will choose? With covid numbers rising and people canceling trips left and right, Disney made the right business move to sign a multi-million dollar contract to have thousands of NBA players and staff rent out facilities for 3 months. You really need to decide if you would like WDW to survive or not. They are not going to survive on tourist dollars alone right now - there aren't enough tourist dollars headed to Orlando at the moment and the company really should not be putting any more debt on their books to try to weather this crisis that certainly is NOT getting any better in FL. It's. a. temporary. fence.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Not really when you figure they knocked out the main resort and pool. Not sure that it's too much for me to handle since we'll be over at the CR looking at the castle. So no, I'm not one of those people who will take whatever Disney gives them and be grateful, especially since I had a trip planned for over a year at in a beautiful room at a great resort. This post may be too much for you to handle but if you enjoy the appearance of a blue cyclone fence running through a normally gorgeous resort, good for you.

"They're not opening X yet" isn't the same as"...they knocked out the main X... ".
Disney.
Is.
Not.
Yet.
Opening.
Deluxe.
Resorts.

 

[JM_97]

Is the purpose to seclude the NBA? That is aweful if that is the case. Imo no one cares about star gazing when in disney. We are more interested in our own vacations. We have seen the Shack on the boardwalk, Sophia Carlson from descendents and a couple football NFL players there with their families. Noone bothers them from what I have seen. Everyone is too hot and busy themselves.

They are being seperated to mitigate the spread of the virus as much as possible. They are basically in their own bubble while they are there and the best way to do that is to block off resorts. Plus I promise you fans would freak out and do whatever it took to get a selfie with Lebron James if they saw him on the Boardwalk or going to a park. It's annoying for some vacationers sure but there's no way around it. These players are gonna stay at the high end resorts because of $. And like I said above, Disney and the NBA have a thriving media and business relationship, so this is just good PR and it makes sense financially. It might suck, but if the worst thing to happen is that there is a fence at the Grand Floridian and Yacht Club, then I think it will be okay lol

 

[robinb]

an attempt at creating a map based on the pictures I've seen ...
View attachment 505113

Thanks! I was wondering where the fence was.