** More 'Pool Rudeness' - I received a survey from DVC..**

[wheeler]

(GraceDVC's thread reminded me of this....)
After I returned from my first trip "home" (stayed 2 nights at WLV and 3 nights at Poly in Dec.) I received a "srvey" in the mail in the form of a postcard, asking me to log onto such and such website and type the "code" provided and I would be prompted to complete a (VERY LENGTHY!) survey about my visit. It requested SPECIFIC details about virtually every aspect of the trip. When I got to the question about anything I was unhappy about, I did bring up a pool situation.......it's too long to go into detail here, but suffice it to say people who admitted to me via conversation that neither they, nor any member of their party was a DVC member or even staying at WL or VWL, were constantly at the pool and jacuzzi. Most had never heard of "DVC" , they just heard it had a "cool pool". I suggested in the survey that maybe it would be possible, to just set up some kind of a "gate" in front of the pool area, that required a valid room card to be slid in to gain entry. They wouldn't need to pay someone to "police" the pools for "crashers" asking for I.D. This may have a few minor inconveniences, and of course there would be people who would "weasel" around it by sneaking in behind someone who opened the gate, etc - there always is, but I think the benefits of putting a stop to all the endless and varied abuse of WDW resort pools would far outweigh what I assume to be reasonably inexpensive to implement, and not involve anyone on the payroll. Sure, the initial expense of "gating" the pools tastefully and within the theme (hopefully) of the resorts, and setting up the "card scanners" like the ones on the doors of the resort rooms, but over time, wouldn't that be far less money to just be able to wash their hands of all the complaints and all the staff required (especially in the peak seasons) to check resort ID's, etc? I mean, once you check out of your resort, you lose access to its amenities, right? So why should someone who never checked *IN* have free and easy access? I'm sorry, but I do not think this is unreasonable, or "un-Disneylike". Disney should look to the extravagant resorts of Las Vegas, which ALL do this. At Mandalay Bay, you can't even "look at" the pool (well it's really a water park) without a room card.....it has a TEN FOOT fence around it! (which I'm obviously not advocating!) And at Bellagio, Mirage, Venetian, Aladdin, and I think, Caesar's Palace, you need a room card to get to the pool area. It's no big deal. No one makes a stink about it. Let's be honest folks, we all know you're not "just going out for a peek and we'll come right back - promise!".....if that were true, they never would have started doing this card-entry only in the first place! I mean, Las Vegas looked to Disney for local transportation, and actually bought WDW's old monorails (I've been on them, and a hotel industry friend told me they were from WDW), so why can't Disney look to Las Vegas and their economical, simple, pool-crashing solution? No card, no pool. Period.
.........okay, let the flaming commence!
I truly want opinions here.....anyone?

 

[jmatias]

We haven't been to Disneyworld yet...going in May and staying at OKW but for Xmas 2001 we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and they did have a gate around the pool that required your room card key to enter.

No complaints and thought it was tastefully done.

Jen

 

[kidzmom3]

I don't belong to the DVC but I think this is a reasonable solution. I was dismayed to see how crowded the pool was on a summer afternoon at the Beach Club, so now I wonder how many people weren't even staying there. I honestly never even thought about going to another hotels pool. Except in the context of , someday when we stay there, it will be fun to go in that pool.

 

[wheeler]

see............???????????

no big deal, was it?

I'm telling you........I've seen this more and more in the past 3 years or so, and no one thinks anything of it. I think in trying to keep everything "magical" Disney has found itself victim to people who take advantage of the "magic". Personally, I think it's more distasteful and unpleasant to have to watch/listen as a CM grills a family at poolside and upon discovering that they are not staying at that resort, it is embarassing to watch the family looking embarassed as they gather their things and get "kicked out". Everybody stares. It definately (for me anyway) detracts from the "magic" to watch this happen to a family, and I've seen it happen more than once. The poor kids don't understand what's going on, and the parents look embarassed/angry and the whole thing just seems so unnecessary and time-consuming. Plus when resort pools get crowded/rowdy, most people probably can't help themselves from "assuming" that a portion of this crowd doesn't "belong here", which causes resentment, and whether or not it is true doesn't even matter at that point (it's their own decision to let it bother them).
With a gated entry, no one would probably feel that way....they would just accept that the pool was crowded that day, as they can clearly watch people using their cards to get it (if one is so inclined to do so on vacation!) I really think this would end ALL the pool problems.......from overcrowding by people not staying there (or not staying at DISNEY for that matter! - which REALLY takes NERVE), to "greedy chaise lounge-reserving", to lack of towels, etc etc.

I mean, when I stayed at the Poly, I thought it was a rude way to treat guests when I was in the pool, and I had forgotten to get towels before getting in the water, and my two girls wanted to get a snack, so I told them to go get 3 towels. Imagine my shock, when they came back to me 5 minutes later, dripping and shivering, saying, "they won't give them to us. They said you need to go or give us the room card". I was like, "WHAT??!!" I thought there must be some misunderstanding here! So I, dripping wet mind you, walk around to the rental shack and see a crowd of about 10 people, mostly dripping wet like me, but some in clothes renting the water mice, and I realize I am expected to wait in LINE to get a darn TOWEL???? HOW much am I paying to stay here again??????? Well, I kept my cool, showed the card, got the towels, and as I was walking back I thought to myself, "Well, obviously, they had to institute this policy because others were using the pool and towels and there were none left for paying guests." Then I thought to myself, "WAIT A MINUTE!!!!! HOW COME THE PAYING GUEST IS THE INCONVENIENCED ONE???? What's going to stop people from coming and just bringing their own towels? which is what I, myself did, so I wouldn't have to wait in "line" if I forgot again! " HELL-OOOOOO???? What's wrong with this picture?!
BOTTOM LINE:
If they've already gone so far as to staff a "towel stand" to ensure that only paying guests get a towel, then how is that so different than ensuring only paying guests should get to use the pool? Isn't it sending the same message????!!!!!!!
No card, no towel.
Then why not:
No card, no pool.
Somebody please give me a valid argument against this. I'm not an unreasonable/unkind person, and like I've said.....I've already seen this approach used in several resorts elsewhere and no one is upset over it. (sorry I'm ranting......it just seems like the obvious solution to so many guests' complaints)

 

[PamOKW]

They already have this set-up at Vero. It's true that people can still sneak in when the gate is open but it does cut down on pool crashers. You also have to show your ID to use the pool snack bar or to get towels. It helps the lifeguards pick out the crashers. I don't understand why they can't do the same thing at the WDW pools.

Just like being in a casino where I've spent a lot of money doesn't entitle me to use the pool unless I am also a guest at the hotel, paying a lot of money to get into the Disney theme parks doesn't justify using the pools.

 

[wheeler]

So if Vero and the Disneyland Hotel are already doing this successfully..................

 

[TIdoublegaER]

At HH there is key entry at the main pool, but the gate was always unlocked. But at the Beach House, if you didn't have your room key, you weren't getting in either from the beach or the parking lot. Since the resorts at WDW require a room key to get into most parking areas, I don't see why it would be that big of a deal to add them to the pool areas. I think this would definately get rid of the locals and the others staying off property from using the resort pools (DVC and non-DVC).

 

[Terry S]

I think this would be a good solution!

 

[ErinC]

I think the gate idea is a great one, but I was wondering about DVC members poolhopping. Would the gates only work with cards from that particular resort, or would they work with, Key to the world cards? Since we are allowed to poolhop, to other resorts that we are not staying at, how would we get in? (Just a thought, maybe a dumb one, but a thought!) Erin

 

[Olaf]

I like this idea, but I'm wondering just how much "gate" it would take to fence in the pools? Could it be done without messing up the beauty of the pools? I've never seen the gates at Las Vegas, so I'm having trouble visualizing everything.

I, too, have heard people at the VWL pool sit and talk about how they are staying at one of the bargin resorts. I wish I had had the nerve to interject something like, "How clever of you!"

 

[trishy]

Vegas has the pool issue tastefully handled. The gates are in keeping with the beauty of the landscape (especially the pool at the Mirage). When we pool hopped from BWV to Beach Club, we were carded by the towel guy and had our hand stamped. Is this no longer done? It seemed to me at the time that it was a flawed system since anyone could wait for the right moment to sneak in. I like the idea of some type of guarded arrangement - landscaping around fencing would keep it beautiful.

 

[PamOKW]

I'm not sure if this will work but if you zoom in on the 360 Vero pool picture at www.disneyvacationclub.com you can see the fence. The gate is obscured by the gazebo. It's very attractive.

Trying to Show the Vero Gate

 

[Zimbubba]

""I think it's more distasteful and unpleasant to have to watch/listen as a CM grills a family at poolside and upon discovering that they are not staying at that resort, it is embarassing to watch the family looking embarassed as they gather their things and get "kicked out".""

GOOD! They should be embarrassed! They deserve more than a grilling. Maybe if a few examples would be made, less of this would go on.

 

[Johnny]

I am an owner of a condo in Ocean City Md which the building we own in of course has a big pool [2 in fact] they were always very crowded.
Being a member of the board I decided one summer several years ago to just watch where people came from to use the pools.
I dicovered alot of people were comming from the beach.a trailer park and off the street. Over the winter the board decided to put a "tastefull" fence around both pools with only one entrance and we had simple ID"s made for each owner which would allow 6 persons per unit to use the pools. A volenteer would "guard " the gate and check ID's and PROBLEM SOLVED. No ID no entry no exception. We probably cut down on visitors to the pools 50%.
Now people that pay the condo dues and their guests use the pools, and it is much more enjoyable.
So this idea of the hotel pass will work!!!

 

[TIdoublegaER]

For the issue of DVC members pool hopping, our room keys could be coded to allow access to the other resorts pools. If they can allow us to use the magnetic strip on the back to charge to our room, I know they could allow DVC members into the different pools! It could also be used to restrict access to DVC members during high capacity or non-pool hopping dates.

 

[KNWVIKING]

I agree that something needs to be done,especially when it comes to the local parasites. But when we stayed at VWL in Dec we noticed a couple thingss. 1) Our pool never had more then 6 people in it at any one time. 2) The spa in the evening was never over crowded. 3) People who were staying at WL and using our spa had a vague or no idea what DVC was. 4) None seemed aware that this was "our" pool and spa and not open to all guests staying at WL. 5) We didn't see any signage that clearly stated this was a DVC only area. 6) We fellow DVC'ers at the spa had a great time bragging about DVC.

One thing to reember about the Vegas resorts was that they were designed & built with every intention to keep non-paying guests out of the pool area, Disney resorts were not. To try and up-fit them with fences and gates may be more of an inconvienance then we think.

I would have no problem showing my ID card to a CM who was politely checking and I hope the parasites are embarrassed to death when they are TOLD to leave.

Rather then spending $$ on fences and gates,I'd rather see all the resorts - including OKW :0 - upgraded to SAB standards, then all paying guests would stay at their own resort. But I don't think this will EVER happen.

 

[Olaf]

I didn't know that the quiet pool and spa were for DVC only at VWL. Is that something new? Is that the case at all DVC resorts?

 

[ohiominnie]

I had always heard that the VWL pool was open for WL guests and vice versa.

 

[Granny]

I have been told that the quiet pool at VWL is for VWL and WL guests alike.

I had thought my guide told me differently, but several folks on this board provided this information.

Can't speak for the other DVC homes, but I would assume that the BC guests could go over to the quiet pool at BCV as well.

 

[eva]

I think that this is a great idea! We've been to Vero and thought that the gated fence was an ideal solution. I did turn a couple in at OKW who were not staying at the resort. I probably wouldn't have except they were in the sauna just bragging about that they always stay off-site and use the buses to travel to a number of the resorts during the day to use their pools and facilities. It just burned me that they were bragging to another couple about it and that I was paying the dues to up-keep that pool for their pleasure. I went and found a CM and the CM went immediately over to them and asked for an ID. They were then asked to leave. I'm sure that they knew who turned them in, but I was so mad that it really didn't bug me that much. The one thing that I kept thinking was if it happens at OKW it must be happening on a wider scale at a lot of the other resorts. The fence with a gate is an ideal soution IMHO.