If ever there were a year to attend the annual meetings,

[CarolMN]

THIS IS IT!!

Wishing I could go and ask at least one of the following questions:

1. How is DVC coming with the "online" project? Hoping to at least be able to view availability, account balances, and current reservations incl my requests online. Eventually want to be able to make reservations online, too.

2. How is DVC coming with the rumored "Dining Plan"?

3. Dues, dues, dues! Why is the increase so large again this year?

4. Any plans to discontinue the wonderful discount on APs/PAPs? Anything in the works to qualify DVC members for the DDE?

5. BWV Specific! Why does transportation cost more for BWV owners than for BCV members? Is the BWI paying its full share?

6. Is there any kind of system for granting requests? If those are important to me, am I better off checking in at the crack of dawn, booking at the 11 month window or taking Magical Express?

How about you? What questions would YOU like to ask?


Best wishes -

 

[cobbler]

I can tell you number 1. They told us at the Chicago meeting that starting in Dec/Jan we would be able to bank points online and view up to 2 years worth of history.

4. I am pretty sure it isn't going anywhere. They put in a pretty decent plug for it at the Chicago event and it would seem unlikely to put such a plug into something they are going to get rid of.

I do like the idea of having DDE for DVC owners whether or not they have an AP. That would be pretty cool.

 

[CarolA]

As for transport costs.. Isn't BWV much bigger then BCV. If so it would make sense that the fees are higher. I would imagine it's based on capacity or something. (I know it can't be based on actual bodies LOL!)

Also, BWI does not have to "pay it's share" DVC is a seperate entity and has to pay for these services. That may not be true for the Disney hotels.

 

[CarolMN]

As for transport costs.. Isn't BWV much bigger then BCV. If so it would make sense that the fees are higher. I would imagine it's based on capacity or something. (I know it can't be based on actual bodies LOL!)

IMHO, it should be based on number of rooms or perhaps maximum capacity of the rooms. If so, the "per point" cost should be about the same, shouldn't it? Also, the BC & YC should be paying for a portion of the bus and boat costs, as should the Swan & Dolphin!

Also, BWI does not have to "pay it's share" DVC is a seperate entity and has to pay for these services. That may not be true for the Disney hotels.

Sure it does - all the resorts are assesed for resort to park transportation. A BWV guest sholudnt have to pay more for bus transportation than one at the BWI! I often wonder if the BW merchants & Parks itself division pay for some of the transportation as well. IMHO, they should if they are not! Not everyone using the bus transportation is a guest of the BWI/BWV and some of the people using the boats are going from MGM to EPCOT.

Anyway, I'd love to see the "formula" Disney uses to apportion the transportation costs.

Best wishes -

 

[BCV23]

The BWI is quite a bit smaller than BWV, isn't it? On the other hand, Y&BC has many more rooms than BCV.

So whether the assessment is by rooms, beds or even history of actual number of people in those rooms, it makes sense to me that BCV would pay a smaller portion of the total Y&BC assessment than BWV does for the BWI/BWV bus service.

 

[zulaya]

Just FYI...I don't think BWV/BWI are sharing with Y&B/BCV anymore so sharing the cost of busses anyway shouldn't be an issue.

When I was in the world Oct 26-Nov 2, Y&B was a separate bus from S&D AND BWI/BWV.

Do you think that because there is that split points structure at BWV that that might be why there is a difference? Just thinking out loud here...

 

[PKS44]

The costs of transporation are divided up as follows--or they have been:

YC BC BCV and BWI and BWV split the cost evenly then BCV which is 19% of the YCBCBCV complex is assessed 19% of the 50/50 split....

BWV is assessed 58% of the BWIBWV 50/50 split....

So of the whole BWV pays 29% of the whole egg, while BCV pays 9.5%-

but WAIT...SURE bwv IS BIGGER SO IT SHOULD PAY MORE THAN bcv but
YC BC BCV is almost twice as big as BWV BWI complex (and has twice as many bus stops 2 compared to 1) --and Swan and Dolphin are also much bigger too...so why is the BWV/BWI splittlng the costs equally with these two behemoths...either size does not matter in which case why is BWV paying more than half the costs at the BW bus stop--or size does matter so why is the cost split equally...it is wrong wrong wrong.

Paul

 

[JandD Mom]

If it is true that BWV no longer shares buses with S/D and Y/B, then it is also true (or should be) that more buses will be needed, hence the increased cost. Folks have complained for years how lousy BW bus service was, so they finally got dedicated buses. But if BW has a dedicated bus and the cost is higher than sharing, that means the BWV will pay more of the cost than the BWI will.

Maybe that is why BWV pays more?

 

[Aneille]

If it is true that BWV no longer shares buses with S/D and Y/B, then it is also true (or should be) that more buses will be needed, hence the increased cost. Folks have complained for years how lousy BW bus service was, so they finally got dedicated buses. But if BW has a dedicated bus and the cost is higher than sharing, that means the BWV will pay more of the cost than the BWI will.

Maybe that is why BWV pays more?

When did BW get dedicated buses? I was there in May and we stopped at the BC/YC.

I would love it if they did get dedicated buses.

 

[JandD Mom]

When did BW get dedicated buses? I was there in May and we stopped at the BC/YC.

I would love it if they did get dedicated buses.

I agree. The buses are so bad we don't bother anymore. We drive everywhere.

I was just repeating what Zulaya said above. The dedicated buses have been rumored for a while, and in fact there are CMs who have posted here who swear they exist. The thing is, I can't find anyone who has actually seen them.

 

[zulaya]

We normally drive as well. We took the bus once from MK to BCV after we had been at Epcot and did the monorail over to GF for the DVC brunch.

Our bus stop was labelled Yacht and Beach Club. It also only went to the Yacht and Beach Club. So at the very least, Y&B are not on the BWV/BWI route any longer. But I want to say that S&D had their own separate route...but as I didn't ride that route or take a picture to prove it, that part is just hearsay I guess.

 

[BCV23]

I don't ride the buses much either but can attest to there being seperate Y&B Club buses at least some of the time. I took one from the MK last Feb.

I thought Tyler who used to be a bus driver said it depended on the time of day and the park as to whether the buses were dedicated or not.

But I'm not sure that matters with regards to dues. Since folks who aren't staying at the resorts also use the buses, I imagine there are many factors that go into assessing particular resort areas. For instance the MK resort monorails probably carry many people not staying there. How do you assess that?

Wouldn't the Swan/Dolphin situation be a whole different animal?

 

[Blue&Gold]

As of Mid-October, BWV buses all stopped at Swan & Dolphin. No stops at the Yacht/Beach Club complex.

 

[CarolA]

I have seen them. My trip in Oct leaving the MK there were TWO bus stops with buses at them. One for BW and one for the others.

 

[Aneille]

As of Mid-October, BWV buses all stopped at Swan & Dolphin. No stops at the Yacht/Beach Club complex.

I stand corrected. In May we stopped at the Swan & Dolphin on the way to MK in the morning from the BW. I do not remember stopping at the BC/YC. We stopped at the BC/YC the trip before. We had a rental car both trips so we didn't bus it that often.

 

[littlestar]

We own points at both BWV and BCV. I just figured the higher transportation costs were because BWV has to move a lot more people than BCV.

 

[PKS44]

We own points at both BWV and BCV. I just figured the higher transportation costs were because BWV has to move a lot more people than BCV.

More people but also more people to spread the cost over so the per point costs should be close....but they are not...the BWV per points costs are about 3 x higher than the BCV per point cost....

If indeed the BWV has special buses assigned only to it..then sure the cost will have gone up...but that means the cost of the YCBCBCV bus should also have gone up since presumably they are no longer sharing the cost with BWV like they were before BWV got it's own bus (which appears to be in question anyway.)

Paul

 

[DisFlan]

BW buses definately weren't BW-only when we were there 3 weeks ago. We had S/D stops coming AND going to MK. The wait was awful - 30 to 40 min.

BW buses probably move more people because of non-quests using the BW as a portal to both the Boardwalk, the boats and the International Gateway. Are our dues pro-rated in some way for this non-BW guest usage? How do they handle this?

DisFlan

 

[The Prophet]

DVC must know that all members are not going to make it down there to attend the meetings.
As owners, we have the right to know what is being discussed and to be able to ask questions.

A web cast of the meeting, shown on the DVC members site, seems like a reasonable alternative to me.
However, this may be too technical for DVC's crack IT staff.


The Prophet

 

[bongo59]

I agree. The buses are so bad we don't bother anymore. We drive everywhere.

I was just repeating what Zulaya said above. The dedicated buses have been rumored for a while, and in fact there are CMs who have posted here who swear they exist. The thing is, I can't find anyone who has actually seen them.

bingo.................we drive too...........if you rely on the bus system you waste alot of vacation time...............we rent a car all the time