My I suggest an experiment. Next time on property go pay the Contemporary (or Poly, GF, WL or what ever) a visit. When you get to the front gate explain to the guard you are staying outside but since you have driven onto property, that makes you a "Disney Resort guest" and you want/demand to use the pool. See what he/she says. I am sure they will be more then happy to give you an official definition of the phrase "Disney Resort guest".
The first time we went to WDW, we stayed at a value resort - on our departure day, we went to CBR and told the gate guard that we planned to come back in a couple of years and wondered if it would be worthwhile to upgrade to a moderate and we asked if it would be okay to have lunch at the CBR foodcourt. They let us pass right through and we did walk all over the grounds and eat at the foodcourt. We didn't use the pool or anything like that but we also weren't told to go back to our value-resort guest of the fence.
Several years later, I became a
travel agent & I've tried to visit all of the Disney resorts firsthand so that I can provide good information to my clients. There have been lots and lots of times that I've gone to the gate guard, presented my Travel Agent ID, and told them just that and they've always told me where to park, given me a map, and told me a bit about the resort amenities. I've never been told that I couldn't visit the resort. Of course, I am there in a travel-related professional capacity and suppose that could be a factor.
We've stayed at a value resort which doesn't have a marina so we've used our sea-racer coupons at Wilderness Lodge and at Beach Club. They never said that those marinas were only for the guests of those resorts.
We've gone to POR to hear Bob Jackson and POFQ to hear Elliot Dyson, even when we weren't staying at those resorts and it was never an issue. We always purchased beverages at the bar and have tipped the performers.
We've also driven to FW for the campfire sing-along many times and they've always given us permission to pass through. We wouldn't use the resort pools, of course. But it was our understanding that certain things - like the riding stables, the restaurants, and the movie were open to everyone; not just guests of the campground. We once rented a canoe at the campground and that seemed fine, even though we were at another WDW resort.
There have also been times when I've gone to resort restaurants, even though I wasn't visiting any Disney parks or staying at a resort. We took a
Royal Caribbean cruise and my flight was out of Orlando so we had lunch at Whispering Canyon (over at the Wilderness Lodge). Disney asked, when I booked the reservation, if I was staying at a Disney resort and I told them that I wasn't - they didn't prohibit the reservation. There have also been times when we stayed off-property and purchased park tickets but have still used Disney transportation to get to restaurants at resorts (ie - gone by Monorail from the Magic Kingdom to the Polynesian to dine at Ohana) - again, they knew we were staying off-property when we booked the reservation but didn't offer any prohibitions against using resort transportation.
In Maui, I've paid to attend a Luau at a resort, even though I wasn't staying there. I've eaten brunch in the Empress Hotel in Victoria, BC even thought the hotel is way out of my price range. I just got back from Yellowstone and was able to take the free tour of the Old Faithful Inn, even though we were staying at a campground. A lot of golf resorts allow non-guests to use the golf course, though the pricing is sometimes different for non-guests. Other times, the prices for these activities is the same whether you stay there or not - the proximity to these activities is the primary benefit provided by staying at that hotel. Or the hotels contract services to outside vendors and those vendors set the prices.
It's hard to know where to draw the line. Is it okay for the person with a Boma reservation to visit the Animal Kingdom gift shop? What if the restaurant cannot seat them on time, is it okay for the guest to sit in the lobby while they wait for a table? Is the lobby okay but the savannah's are off limits? Where do you draw the line? And yet, you do have to acknowledge that the person staying at a deluxe resort is paying for deluxe amenities. As a travel agent, I feel that it is the responsibility of the resort to clearly spell out the policies concerning non-resort guest use of fascilities - which areas are "public" and which are "for guests of this resort only". If they don't, people just end up in raging debates on forums - hard to believe, but true.
