Maybe a stupid question about parking at WDW

[KAT4DISNEY]

That's not true.

I would hope not, I'm just going by what I read on here. It doesn't make sense to me that Disney would go after the member if the renter didn't pay their room charges.

There has been one, maybe two reports of this that I've seen and in the one I definitely recall it was a relative and just a case of a CC issue. IMO it's something to know but really a non-factor. And recent reports are that Disney is doing charges to CC's sometimes daily now for the room charges. That makes what was a slim to no chance of it happening even less. But yes, owners are responsible for their guests in the end, even if that guest was a renter.

 

[Lynne M]

That's not true.[/QUOTE

I would hope not, I'm just going by what I read on here. It doesn't make sense to me that Disney would go after the member if the renter didn't pay their room charges.

It is true. When an owner makes a reservation for a guest, whether it's a friend, relative, or renter, they are responsible for that guest. If the guest destroys property in the room, or runs up a bill and leaves a bad credit card, Disney will first attempt to recover damages/charges from the guest. If they cannot, Disney is entirely within their rights to go after the owner, and they have done so in the past.

That said, like KAT4DISNEY, I only remember a couple of instances of this in the 15 years I've been on the DVC boards. If I'm remembering correctly, in both cases Disney eventually did get the money from the guest, and the owner wasn't penalized.

 

[com_op_2000]

IMHO, cancel two of days at SSR. Book a hotel room at one of the onsite US properties, then you can get free FOTL passes for the US/IoA parks for both the check-in and check-out days.

 

[mcorbo]

Front of the line access is only for guests and Portofino, Hard Rock and Royal Pacific, Cabana Bay and Sapphire falls do not get it.

 

[MammaMoe48]

IMHO, cancel two of days at SSR. Book a hotel room at one of the onsite US properties, then you can get free FOTL passes for the US/IoA parks for both the check-in and check-out days.

I may be misunderstanding you. I can only get FOTL passes on my check in
and check out days? Aren't they good the length of stay?

Front of the line access is only for guests and Portofino, Hard Rock and Royal Pacific, Cabana Bay and Sapphire falls do not get it.

If we did do on site, we would probably do Portofino or Hard Rock anyway but it's good to know.

 

[com_op_2000]

I may be misunderstanding you. I can only get FOTL passes on my check in
and check out days? Aren't they good the length of stay?

Yes, they are good the entire length of stay. I ment to say that the FOTL passes are good on both check-in and checkout days. That is why people will book just one night and be in the two parks one each day of check-in and checkout.

 

[gabriellyn]

We did exactly that - stayed at SSR during the President's Day holiday and did US - it was an easy drive and I would do it again. It was a last minute thing for us and it worked out perfectly. There was plenty of parking near our villa at SSR.

 

[MammaMoe48]

We did exactly that - stayed at SSR during the President's Day holiday and did US - it was an easy drive and I would do it again. It was a last minute thing for us and it worked out perfectly. There was plenty of parking near our villa at SSR.

So if we left SSR around 8 am, would we get to Uni by 9 when it opens? I know it's only about a 15 minute drive but I don't know what the traffic is like down there.

 

[gabriellyn]

So if we left SSR around 8 am, would we get to Uni by 9 when it opens? I know it's only about a 15 minute drive but I don't know what the traffic is like down there.

Yes, for us it really was just a fifteen minute drive back and forth, and it was really easy to get there from SS. We used the Waze app to navigate, so it was even easier. Also, we did pay for the premium parking at US - soooooo worth it.

 

[goofy4tink]

I forgot that I posted on the DVC board.

I don't know if Uni has on site transportation to take you from your hotel to the parks or if it's walkable from hotel to parks. I'm assuming they do so if we stayed on-site, we wouldn't need a car. We would only have needed the car if we were staying at WDW and driving to US. That said, staying on site at Universal vs. staying at WDW and driving is something to think about.

On the plus side, it gives me the opportunity to do some planning and make up some spreadsheets! Woo Hoo!!!! (I love me my spreadsheets)

US/IoA has boat transportation between RPR, HRH and Portofino. There are pedi cabs as well. Portofino is a hike from the parks!!! There are no buses. There is a daily parking fee at the resorts though.
I'm staying at SSR for three nights in Dec. I'll be heading over to US/IoA for 2 days/1 night if my friend decides to stay there vs at WDW. I'll just take the Mears shuttle back and forth.

I would hope not, I'm just going by what I read on here. It doesn't make sense to me that Disney would go after the member if the renter didn't pay their room charges.

You can rent your points out through a company, such as David's DVC, there are others as well. That takes away any non-payment issues. I've done it and it works out very well. The renter has to pay up front, you get 50% at the start, then the other 50% when they trip starts.

 

[Hopefully]

I would hope not, I'm just going by what I read on here. It doesn't make sense to me that Disney would go after the member if the renter didn't pay their room charges.

It makes perfect sense to me. You, as the owner, are the person Disney has the contract with, not the renter.
Good Luck

 

[supersnoop]

It makes perfect sense to me. You, as the owner, are the person Disney has the contract with, not the renter.
Good Luck

Disney is the one who extends credit in the form of allowing room charges. That is not the owner's responsibility.

 

[Hopefully]

Disney is the one who extends credit in the form of allowing room charges. That is not the owner's responsibility.

I don't agree. I believe, that I as the owner extending access to another person - be it relative, guest or renter, am responsible for their behavior and their charges. I have a contract with the renter, and I would work to collect from them - not Disney.
Maybe I am incorrect, but that is how I have always approached it.

 

[supersnoop]

I don't agree. I believe, that I as the owner extending access to another person - be it relative, guest or renter, am responsible for their behavior and their charges. I have a contract with the renter, and I would work to collect from them - not Disney.
Maybe I am incorrect, but that is how I have always approached it.

Then I would simply tell Disney to not extend room charging privileges to my renters. But that's Disney's decision, not mine.

 

[CarolMN]

Disney is the one who extends credit in the form of allowing room charges. That is not the owner's responsibility.

While I personally tend to agree with you, Disney has all of the power in these cases.

In the case I recall, DVC froze the owner's account until the issue was resolved. As I remember it, the owner contacted the guest (who happened to be a relative) and the guest paid up. Believe the original misunderstanding re the credit card was Disney's fault too, since the guest had a zero bill when he checked out. Again as I recall, DVC didn't even notify the owner before freezing his/her DVC Account. Owner only found out when he/she tried to make another reservation.

My take away is that there is risk for the owner in this area and very little control (other than choosing renters wisely).

 

[DMKEDM]

First, it is most definitely true that Disney will go to you for unpaid charges incurred by guests who stay on points you rented to them. It doesn't seem to happen often, but it does happen. And it isn't always "nefarious"--someone trying to scam you. Sometimes it happens "by accident" (a wrongly-entered card number, for example, and after Disney put a freeze on the owner's points and the owner contacted the renter, the renter quickly and immediately paid the person from whom he rented points--but Disney didn't "chase" the renter (despite it turning out the unpaid charges were due to a Disney error); they put a hold on the owner's points until the situation was sorted out.) Similarly, Disney will come to you for payment if there are damages (or fees for smoking in the room, for example) done by your renters. Again, the reports of this kind of thing happening are few and far between--they haven't stopped me from renting when I run short of points. But it does happen. You do have to be careful about choosing the people you rent to, if you choose to rent.

Second, it's a bit of a trip from WDW to US/IoA...but unless you go during rush hour it's a pretty easy drive. We've rented a car and driven it; taken a cab; and called an Uber. By far the best (for us) was calling the Uber...the one-day car rental (thru the Dolphin car rental station) was just shy of $40 (this was in late August of last year)...round-trip cab fare (2 years ago) was about $100. The Uber was $34 round trip, just 3 weeks ago. Plus, the Uber/cab drop-off spot is a LOT closer to the park entrances than the parking garages. So if you're trying to save your walking for inside the park(s), that's an advantage.

Third, I own and stay at SSR a lot and I've never ever encountered "full" (or "no") parking...but you do have to be staying there to park there. I don't know that SSR polices unauthorized parking a lot, but they do check your magic band (or reservations) when you drive in, and they do some policing (I've seen Resort Security checking cars) of their parking lots, too...

And last: we're in the camp of stay at WDW and do a day-trip (or two) to US/IoA...I just like WDW a whole lot more, both in terms of overnighting there (we've also stayed overnight at a US resort) and in terms of the parks themselves. I'm a HUGE fan of Harry Potter Land (I know, that's not its "real name," but I can't ever remember the actual real name...something like Wonderful Wizarding World?) and love-love-love a morning spent there, but that's enough US/IoA for me. I'm always very happy to return to WDW. There can be (of course) really long lines at US/IoA (as there can be at WDW), so the early entry from staying overnight can be valuable if you're going at a very busy time...but for our late August and early May trips we did not encounter any "line problems" (except due to ride shut-downs at the US Gingrotts ride this past May...the ride shut down 3 times within an hour, causing an hour-long line wait) at any of the Harry Potter Land attractions. And express pass doesn't work for the Harry Potter Land attractions...

Hope this helps and whatever you do, have fun!

 

[supersnoop]

First, it is most definitely true that Disney will go to you for unpaid charges incurred by guests who stay on points you rented to them

Any actual evidence of this? I've seen ONE report of Disney going after an owner, but they quickly recanted once they realized their mistake. Maybe I just haven't read the other reports, but I see no evidence that they'll pursue an owner in this case.

 

[MammaMoe48]

US/IoA has boat transportation between RPR, HRH and Portofino. There are pedi cabs as well. Portofino is a hike from the parks!!! There are no buses. There is a daily parking fee at the resorts though.
I'm staying at SSR for three nights in Dec. I'll be heading over to US/IoA for 2 days/1 night if my friend decides to stay there vs at WDW. I'll just take the Mears shuttle back and forth.


You can rent your points out through a company, such as David's DVC, there are others as well. That takes away any non-payment issues. I've done it and it works out very well. The renter has to pay up front, you get 50% at the start, then the other 50% when they trip starts.

Thanks for the info. I have heard of David's, can you tell me how I can rent out my points through them?

 

[Lynne M]

Thanks for the info. I have heard of David's, can you tell me how I can rent out my points through them?

Their website, dvcbyrequest.com, explains the process really well. Essentially, you tell them how many points you want to rent out, home resort, etc. When they get a rental request that your points would be suitable for, they contact you, and you make the reservation for the renter. David's provides all the renter's info that you would need to make the reservation (addresses, ages, etc). They send you half of the money via paypal up front, and the other half on the day the reservation begins. There's an agreement for the renter and one for the owner that spells out the terms and each party's responsibilities.

I've used them 3 times now with no complaints at all. They're very professional and efficient, and it took very little of my time. Just a few minutes to fill out the initial info, and a few more to make the reservation.

 

[chalee94]

That's not true.

haven't heard of anything happening in several years but it has been an issue in the past:

http://www.disboards.com/threads/points-rented-now-i-am-stuck-with-the-bill.2053297/