Grand Floridian Update

[castleri]

I am another who really likes the extra bathroom. It made my decision to stay at AKV Kidani a no brainer when we went last Oct. We had both bedrooms in use as well as the living room for our group of six with ages from 4 to 69. It made it so much easier to get ready in the morning and again at night after the parks before bed. We stayed at BLT two years ago in a one BR with 5 and the extra bath was really needed. I guess I am really spoiled because I don't really want to stay in a 1 BR without the extra bath now. We will do it depending on who is traveling with us but hopefully not often. Since I have no desire to stay the the VGF it will not be a concern for us one way or the other. We may stay there just to say we have stayed at all of the resorts but it won't be at the top of my list.

 

[hmillerbarilla]

The other component for GF is that space is at a premium. They've already ended up with less villas than originally advertised it appears, likely due to the 4 BR villas. As I noted before, I think the problem is that they did them twice, not that they are not there for GF. From a business and resort model I think it was a bad idea because I think it encourages people to stuff the villas which I feel is bad. To me 2 people is a studio, 3 a 1 BR and 4 with 3 teens/adults generally a 2 BR.

The loss of the 3rd bathroom is crazy. I think it is just silly that BLT has the 3 baths and VGF will only have 2.

We stuff the villas. We do 8 in a 2 bd, so when it is just my family of 5, we do a 1 bd.

We like the bathrooms.
Oh well.....

 

[Dean]

The loss of the 3rd bathroom is crazy. I think it is just silly that BLT has the 3 baths and VGF will only have 2.

We stuff the villas. We do 8 in a 2 bd, so when it is just my family of 5, we do a 1 bd.

We like the bathrooms.
Oh well.....

Then you likely wouldn't buy or stay at VGF I would assume. Everyone has to make their own decision about the various choices.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Methinks we all oughta see the actual models at SSR before jumping to conclusions. I don't know. Maybe it's just me.

 

[Mickey'sApprentice]

Methinks we all oughta see the actual models at SSR before jumping to conclusions. I don't know. Maybe it's just me.

 

[corpcomp]

Methinks we all oughta see the actual models at SSR before jumping to conclusions. I don't know. Maybe it's just me.

What? Are you some kind of radical who thinks logically? Gad!

But I agree with you.

 

[DebbieB]

I hope the studio is bigger than BLT. I thought it was really tight.

 

[WilsonFlyer]

What? Are you some kind of radical who thinks logically? Gad!

But I agree with you.

The voice of reason. I ain't usually seen as that around here.

 

[LisaS]

Methinks we all oughta see the actual models at SSR before jumping to conclusions. I don't know. Maybe it's just me.

Jumping to conclusions about what?

 

[WilsonFlyer]

Jumping to conclusions about what?

Anything.

 

[LisaS]

Anything.

But that's the great thing about all the information that is filed with the county. We don't have to wait for the model rooms, we can find out a lot about the resort from the plans that were filed.

It was through the floor plans for AKV that we learned about the Concierge rooms and the Value rooms. By the time the model rooms opened, there were folks here who knew more about AKV than some of the sales guides did.

I'm grateful that so many people here are willing to dig through the documents and share what they've learned.

 

[CarolMN]

...(snip).......I'm grateful that so many people here are willing to dig through the documents and share what they've learned.

Me, too. I really appreciate their time and willingness to share. I've learned so much from the DIS community.

AS LisaS already knows, after you spend some time on the DIS DVC Boards and figure out the various personalities of the "regulars", you can pretty much tell who is usually "helpful", who is always "negative", who knows a lot about "xxx", who is "making stuff up", who is "sweet", who is "blunt", who belongs to the "sky is always falling" club, who likes to "stir the pot" and etc., etc.

 

[DenLo]

But that's the great thing about all the information that is filed with the county. We don't have to wait for the model rooms, we can find out a lot about the resort from the plans that were filed.

It was through the floor plans for AKV that we learned about the Concierge rooms and the Value rooms. By the time the model rooms opened, there were folks here who knew more about AKV than some of the sales guides did.

I'm grateful that so many people here are willing to dig through the documents and share what they've learned.

I agree. I have always enjoyed jigsaw puzzles and maps and a floor plan is like a combination of the two. And when we joined the DVC and found people on the DISbiards with similar inquiring minds that enjoying learning about all the details, it just clicked.

 

[LisaS]

I hope the studio is bigger than BLT. I thought it was really tight.

I don't have a BLT floor plan handy so I did a comparison with a Jambo House studio. They are almost identical in size, each is about 12 feet wide and about 30 feet long. The published size of an AKV studio is around 365 feet if I remember correctly so the VGF studio should be similar. (I measured from the JH studio entry door. It's a bit longer when measured from the back edge of the bathtub.)

The length of the bedroom portion of the JH studio is about 19 feet. The larger bathroom area in the VGF studio takes about 4 feet away from the bedroom, making it about 15 feet long.

 

[drusba]

I just noticed a difference in the VGF documents from other resorts that is actually of significance. It is in section 3.3 of the Disney Vacation Club Membership Agreement, one of the exhibits to the Declarations that are filed for each resort.

It is the provision that covers when DVC can reallocate points based on changing demand by raising them for some rooms or times and lowering them for other rooms or times, while maintaining the total points applicable per unit. The possible change is limited to 20% a year per any given day (up or down). The other resorts made an exception to that 20% limit only for allocations related to declared special seasons (like the lottery system DVC had in the 1990s for Christmas) but no others. The VGF agreement makes the same exception but adds a new one: DVD can change the points applicable to studios and 1BRs that are part of lock-offs (which is all of VGF's studios and 1BRs) by more than 20% per year and there is no stated percentage limit.

 

[Dean]

The VGF agreement makes the same exception but adds a new one: DVD can change the points applicable to studios and 1BRs that are part of lock-offs (which is all of VGF's studios and 1BRs) by more than 20% per year and there is no stated percentage limit.

I don't think that's really a change. In reality there was no protection for the lockoff portions of a given resort unless that resort also had dedicated smaller units. To me this is simply a clarification. SSR had lockoff components that did change more than 20% in a given year with the recent reallocations.

 

[drusba]

I don't think that's really a change. In reality there was no protection for the lockoff portions of a given resort unless that resort also had dedicated smaller units. To me this is simply a clarification. SSR had lockoff components that did change more than 20% in a given year with the recent reallocations.

Possibly, but I did not construe the prior rule for the other resorts as allowing DVD to change the points needed for any studio or 1BR by more than 20% in any given year with or without having dedicated studios. Also, I do not recall there being any change at SSR (or any resort) that was more than 20% in one year for any room category. When they raised the THV's starting this year about 15%, the decrease for the studios and 1BRs were a lot less than 10%. Likewise, the weekend to weekday shifts made in 2010-11 were under 20% annually. As far as I can recall there has never been a greater than 20% change in one year for any night in any room category. This seems to be something new created for VGF to allow it to make drastic changes in one year if it feels either too few or too many are trying to reserve studios and 1BRs.

 

[Dean]

Possibly, but I did not construe the prior rule for the other resorts as allowing DVD to change the points needed for any studio or 1BR by more than 20% in any given year with or without having dedicated studios. Also, I do not recall there being any change at SSR (or any resort) that was more than 20% in one year for any room category. When they raised the THV's starting this year about 15%, the decrease for the studios and 1BRs were a lot less than 10%. Likewise, the weekend to weekday shifts made in 2010-11 were under 20% annually. As far as I can recall there has never been a greater than 20% change in one year for any night in any room category. This seems to be something new created for VGF to allow it to make drastic changes in one year if it feels either too few or too many are trying to reserve studios and 1BRs.

If you have the time, go back through the reallocation thread's from the time or the before after for SSR should be enough. While the weeks didn't change that much there were individual nights that changed more than 20% for SSR for some of the time. I've read through the POS several times trying to ascertain this issue and IMO the protections there do not apply to lockoff portions directly and thus not at all to resorts without dedicated smaller units.

 

[drusba]

If you have the time, go back through the reallocation thread's from the time or the before after for SSR should be enough. While the weeks didn't change that much there were individual nights that changed more than 20% for SSR for some of the time. I've read through the POS several times trying to ascertain this issue and IMO the protections there do not apply to lockoff portions directly and thus not at all to resorts without dedicated smaller units.

Still not finding any change that was greater than 20% for any given night in any one year. The SSR 2010-2011 changes combined for the two years were significantly more than 20% down for the weekend and up for the weekday, the same as the other resorts, but I am not seeing any change for any night that was greater than 20% in any one year. The highest percentage change I see anywhere is a change for SSR studios in choice season for weekends which went from 20 in 2010 to 16 in 2011 which is exactly a 20% change. Thus, to me it looks like even DVD thought the 20% limit applied to points for studios and 1BRs even if part of a lock-off.

 

[Dean]

Still not finding any change that was greater than 20% for any given night in any one year. The SSR 2010-2011 changes combined for the two years were significantly more than 20% down for the weekend and up for the weekday, the same as the other resorts, but I am not seeing any change for any night that was greater than 20% in any one year. The highest percentage change I see anywhere is a change for SSR studios in choice season for weekends which went from 20 in 2010 to 16 in 2011 which is exactly a 20% change. Thus, to me it looks like even DVD thought the 20% limit applied to points for studios and 1BRs even if part of a lock-off.

Maybe you're right, I don't see it either when I look. I'm just having flashbacks of Marina complaining that there was a violation in this area and I was thinking it was SSR lower season studios or 1 BR units. BTW, haven't seen her in a while and don't find anything from her when I search, I'm assuming she must have been banned for some reason.