Curious AKL more difficult after....

[DVCMinnie2532]

Curious .... do members anticipate AKL to become much more difficult to get at the seven month mark after Pandora opens?

 

[CarolMN]

Good question and my answer is total speculation - I doubt it will have a noticeable impact. I'm excited about Pandora and looking forward to its opening, but it won't change my resort preference. Might change how often I get on the bus to go to AK, though.

That said, if they figure out a way for AKV guests to walk (or boat) to AK, my answer changes to "depends how much I like Pandora and ROL".

 

[DenLo]

If it does at all it will be short lived IMO. Members that do not like the location of AKV now will still not like it just because DAK becomes more than a half-day park.

 

[disneynutz]

IMO all DVC rooms are now and will become even more difficult to book as Disney adds additional events, specials, hours, and other changes that increase attendance. I was recently told that 25% of DVC bookings are with cash.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Oh, my-I hadn't thought of that! I love AKV, yet when we were in a position to buy more points, we chose BCV over AKV. Now I'm having second thoughts.

 

[richmo]

Maybe if AK and AKL/V were more connected, like the MK resorts are to MK. But since AK is accessible only by bus from all the resorts, including AKL/V, I don't see a big impact.

 

[drusba]

In the past, new rides or lands at any park have not had a skewed impact on a particular resort. When something new comes, you can get some boost at all resorts regardeless of the location but just because a resort is closer than others to the affected park has meant little. If, as noted above, there were easy, non-bus access to AK from AKL, such as walking or a boat, that would likely have an impact on demand, but that would occur regardless of adding anything new to the park.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I would doubt that will happen.

Unless they add travel to and from AKL to AK via some of those blue flying dragons.

 

[wdrl]

Similar questions were raised in 2011 about the impact of the New Fantasyland expansion on demand at Bay Lake Tower, and today people are asking how the renovations at Disney Springs will impact demand at Saratoga Springs. In the case of the New Fantasyland and BLT, I doubt that it had any impact on BLT. As for Disney Springs and SSR, I haven't heard any reports of increased demand.

 

[BillPA]

IMO all DVC rooms are now and will become even more difficult to book as Disney adds additional events, specials, hours, and other changes that increase attendance. I was recently told that 25% of DVC bookings are with cash.

If that were true, I would expect dues to go down, that's a lot of extra breakage income. Why would our dues be going up so much?

 

[wdrl]

If that were true, I would expect dues to go down, that's a lot of extra breakage income. Why would our dues be going up so much?

There is no corroborating evidence from other sources to support disneynutz' statement that 25% of DVC bookings are cash. Not to say the statement can't be true, but I'd want to know the source before I give it any weight.

Having said that, the mere fact that X percent of DVC bookings are cash reservations has little bearing on breakage income. Breakage income is derived from DVC member inventory villas that are booked by cash guests within 60 days of check-in. But that is only a small subset of all the cash reservations that can occur. Whenever Disney rents out its own points, these reservations become cash reservations. Whenever a DVC member exchanges their points for the Disney Collection, the Concierge Club, or Club Cordial, the underlying points are rented out by DVC as cash reservations.

I have never seen any data on the percentage of points that are exchanged by DVC members and I know that, at a minimum, Disney is legally obligated to keep at least 2 percent of a resort's total points. But that 2 percent is inflated by points Disney reacquires through foreclosures and exercising its Right of First Refusal.

If a cash reservation qualifies as true breakage inventory, then the DVC condominium association is entitled to receive, as breakage income, the proceeds of such rentals not to exceed 2.5 percent of the aggregate of the Condominium Operating Budget (total operating expenses less the sum of interest income and Member late fees and interest) and Capital Reserve Budget in each calendar year. However, the condominium association is not entitled to any income from cash reservations underwritten by Disney's own points or exchanges.

 

[tjkraz]

I was recently told that 25% of DVC bookings are with cash.

What exactly does that mean?

 

[PetePanMan]

I think the AK changes are significant that will increase both park attendance and demand at AKL.

 

[tjkraz]

All opinion but I can't see ALK benefitting from changes to DAK theme park in any measurable way. Like others said, it's still a bus ride away.

If DAK was easy walking distance--like Beach Club to Epcot--then I could see there being some link between appeal of DAK and increased demand for AKL. But as things stand, I don't think there's any noteworthy difference in the bus rides from any resort to that park.

The idea that I might be able to reach DAK 10 minutes faster coming from AKL compared to BoardWalk or Poly isn't enough to sway my hotel choices.

 

[T00dles]

Similar questions were raised in 2011 about the impact of the New Fantasyland expansion on demand at Bay Lake Tower, and today people are asking how the renovations at Disney Springs will impact demand at Saratoga Springs. In the case of the New Fantasyland and BLT, I doubt that it had any impact on BLT. As for Disney Springs and SSR, I haven't heard any reports of increased demand.

While I do not think Pandora or ROL will result in increased booking difficulty, I disagree about SSR. Why would they have created the preferred booking category for additional points if not due to increased demand? And the preferred area is closest to DS.

 

[wdrl]

Regardless of the reason DVC created the Preferred and Standard categories at SSR, demand is still relatively weak for studios at SSR. For Standard View studios beginning March 1 through mid November 2017, all nights are available except for six nights in early to mid March 2017. For Preferred View Studios, all nights are available beginning March 1, 2017 except for four nights in March.

Its still too early to tell if demand for SSR is picking up due to its proximity to Disney Springs.

 

[Dean]

While I do not think Pandora or ROL will result in increased booking difficulty, I disagree about SSR. Why would they have created the preferred booking category for additional points if not due to increased demand? And the preferred area is closest to DS.

I doubt Disney springs will have much impact on SSR but we'll see. The reason for the changes was to facilitate villa locations due to the frequency of certain requests. They didn't make any real changes in terms of the overall cost of SSR. Likewise for AK unless they create some type of express admission or physical connection.

To the big picture, I doubt we'll see any dramatic changes going forward but we've seen a lot of changes in the past 10 years largely due to SSR IMO and the trickle down effect. The 11 month and 7 month windows should be fairly saturated at this time. We may see some minor movement as people become more and more savvy at booking. Certainly there could be changes either with the reservation process or with events that could shift the demand and the economy could play a role.

 

[tjkraz]

While I do not think Pandora or ROL will result in increased booking difficulty, I disagree about SSR. Why would they have created the preferred booking category for additional points if not due to increased demand? And the preferred area is closest to DS.

High demand for a specific area of the resort and increased overall demand are two different things.

It's worth noting that the two areas with the "Preferred" designation are Congress Park and The Springs. Much of CP is close to Disney Springs...although a couple buildings in The Paddock are closer. And The Springs isn't particularly close.

Congress Park and Springs have long been popular among guests, albeit for different reasons. I suspect this is a move DVC could have made 5 years ago for same reasons as today--not just because Disney Springs has changed the dynamic.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

The SSR split is likely to make things easier on the desk. "But I requested..."

The two most common requests are now Preferred.

 

[tjkraz]

The SSR split is likely to make things easier on the desk. "But I requested..."

The two most common requests are now Preferred.

Now they just have to deal with people who book Standard, requesting Grandstand but are assigned to Carousel.