DVC and Florida residents annual pass

[disneychic]

I read in the Unnoficial Guide that DVC members are eligable for the Florida residents annual pass, if you show your deed as proof, you are able to obtain the Florida residents annual pass. Has anyone tried this? It makes sense if you think about it, it is a second home, so why shouldn't we get the discount? It's less than $200 a year if you do it this way! Any advice?




inkbounc

 

[Jaypd]

This would be better off on the DVC Board So I am moving it there

 

[PamOKW]

Unfortunately, the Unofficial Guide is wrong on this one. Disney is very careful to explain that DVC members are not Florida residents and we aren't entitled to FL resident passes. Should we be? Of course. But for now, we aren't.

 

[Dennis the WDW Menace]

The best way to explain this problem is the requirements that Disney uses for Florida Resident status. They need a Photo ID with your Florida address (Drivers license or Florida State ID) and either voters registration, utility bill, or property tax bill with your address on it. We have a house on the west coast of Florida that I have had for over 30 years and we live there about 7 months of the year so we qualified. They are great rates for the AP but specificaly the ownership in DVC does state that it does not qualify for Florida residence.
I personaly think that Disney is missing out on a great opportunity to have extra revenue because DVC members will spend more time at the parks and buy more Disney items. It would be a great item to get new people to buy into DVC and keep the old ones. DVC has said that if you allow one group to use this all of them have to be included, like the timeshare places offsite. But why not make it Florida residents and DVC owners AP.

 

[SueM in MN]

It says right in the DVC paperwork that DVC membership can't be used as proof of Florida residence. It's been that way since the begining of DVC. I don't know why the Unofficial Guide still says this because there have been posters who have said they wrote and let the publishers know the info was in error.

 

[Caskbill]

I don't think any State in the Union would recognize residency for simply staying in a condiminum in their State for a couple of weeks a year. Buying Disney does not allow you to qualify for a Florida driver's license, voter registration, etc. Simply put, you are not a Florida resident.

Thus Disney will not recognize you as one for purposes of obtaining a Florida Resident Pass.

Many people however, feel that as DVC members, it would be smart on Disney's move to also offer the discounted pass to members. Would probably have to call it something different, such as a DVC annual pass rate. (PamOKW, I think this is what you actually meant, and not that owning Disney constitutes Florida Residency).

As a business practice, however, Disney recognizes that someone living in Florida really has no incentive to go to WDW parks, unless there is something like their discounted annual pass. DVC owners, on the other hand, make a trip specifically to stay at WDW. What additional incentive is needed to get members to go to the parks. Most will do that anyway. How many would go and stay in a DVC resort and never go to the park. By this I don't mean fewer days in the parks, or not go to the parks on one trip. How many would not go to the park, ever, year after year? There are many Florida residents who would never go to Disney without the AP incentive.

 

[PamOKW]

Yes, Caskbill. I meant DVC owners should be entitled to discounts equivalent to FL resident discounts. I don't think DVC ownership should grant actual FL residency status.

SueMN, this misinformation will continue to circulate as long as the original copies of the Unofficial Guide are still around. Which could be years.

 

[AF Brenda]

I agree that there should be some type of a pass discount for DVC members, even though I'm not one!! However, as to their proof of residency, you do need some type of Florida ID. I have a Florida driver's license with my Alabama address, but I still qualify for the FL resident pass for myself and my kids. I have never had a problem using it, and CM's have even commented on the AL address. I'm in the military, and my state of legal residence is FL, even though I don't actually live there anymore. Hubby, on the other hand, is a legal resident of Michigan, so no discount for him (LOL!!)

 

[caveat lector]

Everybody has made a good point. However, I think we should address real estate taxes. We pay them. There could be a case made that this entitles us to some residency status.

I'm sure there will arguments against this, but I gave it a shot.

 

[JonHM]

Regarding incentive to go into the parks. 5 years ago, I probably would have agreed with you. But with the presence of all of the different theme park options now available to people visiting Orlando, I'm not so sure. I think there are certain days (from what I have read on this board over the past few months) that many DVC members choose, if not to go to Universal or Sea World, simply not to go into the parks at all that day. I think the argument is that a day here or a day there doesn't sound like much, but the money that would be spent by DVC members in the parks, on food, souvenirs, etc., when you add up all of those 'lost' days, is significant.

I do think that *some* of this is just wishful thinking and perhaps rationalizing on our part, but I DO feel that it would pay off Disney in many respects, financial and otherwise, to create a special annual pass for DVC members that cost around the same as a Florida residents' pass.

Oh, well. Here's hoping!

 

[SleepyatDVC]

caveat,

I think FL residency also requires a FL address (not P.O. Box) where you can receive mail - no forwarding.

 

[Granny]

To JonHM's point, we do not plan on spending every day at a Disney park during our next 8 day stay at VWL. That's why we buy a park hopper pass. Length of stay passes are just too expensive so we plan on our 4 days in the parks and know that we will go off-property for excitement the other days.

If we could get a good deal on an AP (like the FL residents), we'd probably go that route. We still would visit Sea World and Busch Gardens, but we would probably spend some time in the Disney parks on those days...like in the evening for a few hours. So Disney would have a chance to get more of our dollars that way.

Granny

 

[Caskbill]

Caveat Lecter: One might try to make a suggestion that paying real estate taxes somewhere might qualify, but by definition, Residency means where you live, not where you vacation. If someone owns a timeshare in 6 different states (all paying property taxes), would they be considered a resident of each?

We've lived in 4 different States, and in all, residency required a local address and proof that we lived there at least 6-months out of the year. (This proof is normally done by getting a driver's license, registering your autos there, and registering voter registration.

If paying DVC property taxes would allow me to put Florida plates on my car (MUCH cheaper than paying Indiana plate fees), etc, then I'd do it.

It would be nice if somehow it would allow us to claim residency status for Disney tickets. If residency were that simple, imagine having to file State income tax forms for every State you owned a Condo in. (Of course Florida has no State income tax, another benefit to actually living there. On the other hand, if we all could have voted in Florida also, .....hmmmm. Wouldn't the politicians have had fun with that one. (Kind of like the University of Wisconsin students who got to vote both in Madison, and in their home towns and states....but let's leave that for the debate board)

JonHM, I agree completely, but only for those who do not currently purchase AP's. Since we do, and so do many other DVC'ers, the $60 we would save per year per ticket would be a benefit to ourselves, but would probably not change our park attendence pattern any since it would be the same pass, only cheaper. We also have AP's for SW/BG and USF/IoA. In my opinion, dollar for dollar, the SW/BG pass has the best 'value' of any of them. Due to some special incentives (specifically for NON-Florida residents), we basically got 3 year passes for $180. That's only $60/year for two parks. Disney is 6 times that for 4 parks.

 

[RobDoc]

However, I think we should address real estate taxes. We pay them.

If you receive a property tax bill from the state of FL in your name- that might qualify as proof of residency in Disney's eyes.

However, DVC is the entity which actually recieves the bill and pays it. We merely get an accounting from DVC showing the amount of our maintenance which was applied to the property tax bill.

We do not get any form of receipt from FL indicating the payment of property taxes (at least I never have).

I do deduct the tax amount from my federal taxes and am willing to try to defend that amount for the IRS if needed, but I have no receipt from Orange County, FL to prove the tax was directly paid by me.

The Unofficial Guide is just that.........unofficial.
DVC has pretty well covered the non-residency issue in our documents. Unless you have some other means of proving FL residency, DVC membership won't cut it !

Enjoy!