Contemporary Out of Disney Collection March 14

[wildernessDad]

The following is quoted material.

In related news, with Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort scheduled to open on Aug. 4, the original Disney's Contemporary Resort will leave The Disney Collection on March 14. Until then, Members may continue booking Disney's Contemporary Resort reservations through The Disney Collection for stays with check-out days on or before Dec. 31, 2009. All Disney Vacation Club Members may begin booking reservations for Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort beginning on Feb. 22. (Members with ownership interests in the new resort may begin booking on Feb. 8.)

 

[CarolAnnC]

I suppose the Grand Californian will be the next to go..sigh.

 

[erionm]

I suppose the Grand Californian will be the next to go..sigh.

The 2009 Disneyland Resort point chart already indicates that the Grand Californian is only available for stays through 12/31/09.

 

[CarolAnnC]

Haven't taken a look at the 2009 point chart for DL - don't all the resorts only show through 12/31/09 on that chart though?

 

[erionm]

The Grand Californian has a footnote that says: **Available for stays through December 31, 2009.

The same is true for the Contemporary Resort on the 2009 WDW Resorts point chart.

That to me indicated they would be removed from the Disney Collection by years end.

 

[TiszBear]

So now I have a dilemma. I am planning on going to DL in March 2010 and I was planning on staying at the Grand California. So stupid question.. will i still be able to make reservations at the Grand California or not?

This is the first time I am using my points at another Disney location.

 

[chalee94]

So now I have a dilemma. I am planning on going to DL in March 2010 and I was planning on staying at the Grand California. So stupid question.. will i still be able to make reservations at the Grand California or not?

as stated above the grand californian is gone. not an option.

if grand californian VILLAS has any availability, then yes, you can book a villa there (at 7 months assuming you don't own at GCV). there aren't that many villas in the DVC part, though, so i expect it'll be tough to book there.

 

[Chuck S]

You would still be able to book Paradise Pier and the original Disneyland Hotel, just not Grand Californian (except the villas).

 

[funatdisney]

I have not thought about a Paradise Pier and Disneyland hotel booking. I wonder if the $95 fee will be in effect in 2010? Probably so.

 

[catislander]

In the last two weeks I've had two stays at the GC totally four room nights and have not been charged a $95 fee. Is this because I'm using my DPs? I had thought the $95 was only for World Passport/RCI stays.

 

[Chuck S]

In the last two weeks I've had two stays at the GC totally four room nights and have not been charged a $95 fee. Is this because I'm using my DPs? I had thought the $95 was only for World Passport/RCI stays.

The $95 fee, at the moment, does not apply to Disneyland, but does apply to WDW. We are speculating that after a DVC resort is opened at Disneyland, they will also charge the $95 fee for the DL Hotel and Paradise Pier to uhhh..."simplify the booking process and meet member requests."

 

[catislander]

That's unfortunate. We're in Southern California right now and visit Disneyland a lot -- we'll be moving to Texas in a few years and planned to use some of our points for visits back "home," in addition to exploring WDW and our home resort of AKV. If demand is as high as anticipated at GCV, paying that $95 would stick in my craw a bit.

 

[JimC]

I believe they did the same thing with VWL / WL and BCV / BC and AKV / AKL. If I remember correctly BWV and BW were built contemporaneously so there was never an opportunity to transfer into the BW.

 

[artsvdo]

We have been DVC members since 2005 and live in California. We purchased membership solely for making reservations at the resorts at Disneyland. We have enjoyed using our points once for a villa at Saratoga Springs (our Home resort) in Florida in 2007.

Up to the beginning of this year, we really enjoyed our DVC membership.

Our membership simply worked for us and was great!

In February of this year, we tried to make a reservation at the Villas at Grand Californian for June 2010, which of course was booked (there is only 50 units available). We then tried to make a reservation at the Grand California, which we learned at the time, was no longer an option.

Of course we realize that we failed to read the fine print on last years point charts.

And worse, we can't even book a room at the Disneyland Hotel with Concierge anymore. Just Premium and Standard view rooms.

So like any good DVC member would do, we complained to our guide.

Our guide acted like he knew nothing of the changes. He asked us to email him our concerns so he could show them to his leaders. Our guide also referred us to a Quality Assurance Representative.

When the QAR called us back the next day, he mainly listened to our complaints.

Our main question to our reps was this:

How is our membership better today than it was when we purchased it in 2005?

So far they haven't answered this.

And we now know, thanks to this GREAT forum, that its going to get worse for us. We may or will be facing a $95 charge to stay at Disneyland Hotel and Paradise Pier.

So my questions to the Forum membership are this:

1. Even though our DVC Guide and the QAR acted like they knew nothing of these pending changes, did they?

2. Is selling our membership an option? We have a 300 points at SS and owe less than 25% on the loan we took out.

Well, thanks for listening!

 

[bwvBound]

Responded to your new thread on the Ops board.

 

[CarolAnnC]

This thread is over a year old so I am closing it here.