New Pool Entry Requirement? Share Wristband Experiences by Resort!

[MyDogTink]

Quick question, we thought one of the DVC perks, even for resale members, was the ability to go to any DVC pool even if not staying at that resort? Is that not the case any longer? Or did I get it wrong to begin with? Thanks!

Pool hopping was suspended with the pandemic and never returned. I believe pool hopping was never allowed at SAB.

 

[Best Aunt]

Quick question, we thought one of the DVC perks, even for resale members, was the ability to go to any DVC pool even if not staying at that resort? Is that not the case any longer? Or did I get it wrong to begin with? Thanks!

I think DVC pool hopping was suspended during COVID and never came back. Somebody else might know for sure.

Edit: ha ha somebody else posted while I was typing that.

 

[MyDogTink]

I think DVC pool hopping was suspended during COVID and never came back. Somebody else might know for sure.

Edit: ha ha somebody else posted while I was typing that.

Glad you posted as well! I always like a sanity check when I’m posting info.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I would love pool hopping for DVC to come back as a special perk but not pool hopping for the general public. Although I never experienced a pool when hopping was allowed so I could be wanting something that would make things worse.

 

[Sandisw]

I would love pool hopping for DVC to come back as a special perk but not pool hopping for the general public. Although I never experienced a pool when hopping was allowed so I could be wanting something that would make things worse.

Even when it did exist, they restricted many of the pools anyway.

I just read a report that Grand Floridian continues to scan bands for resort guests so I think this is something that is likely to become standard practice.

The other thing is that when DVC started the whole pool hopping perk the membership was not the size it is today.

 

[muppets3d]

It seems like they wanted to get rid of pool hopping for years but just couldn't sell it to the membership. Another covid cop-out it seems. Oh well.

 

[VGCgroupie]

It seems like they wanted to get rid of pool hopping for years but just couldn't sell it to the membership. Another covid cop-out it seems. Oh well.

Probably. Lots of Covid cop outs and they left so many in place

 

[JackosinDIS]

Probably. Lots of Covid cop outs and they left so many in place

RIP spa at Saratoga

 

[muppets3d]

RIP spa at Saratoga

Jambo used to have massages etc in the gym as well. All that stuff at Saratoga springs and Jambo is still there abandoned.

 

[cruisehopeful]

Wrist band required VDH on 7/7/2025.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

It seems like they wanted to get rid of pool hopping for years but just couldn't sell it to the membership. Another covid cop-out it seems. Oh well.

Actually, the pool hopping blackouts started a couple years before Covid. Most of the DVC pools were already being blocked from pool hopping in 2018/2019 during peak usage times for the pool. They did eventually just extend the no-hopping policy to include all days, not just peak days. I think they just kept selling DVC points/memberships, and after while there were just too many members to allow them to head to resort pools they weren't staying at. Once the hopping was obviously taking away space and chairs for guests at the resorts, it was time to change the perk. Just based on the fact we're discussing wrist bands and checking guest reservations for potential 'squatters' at pools today (when there is no pool hopping), the change was a no-brainer. They didn't need to sell anything. As a member, I welcome the change.

 

[kgou]

thanks for all the great reports over the last week! I was on (a non WDW) vacation last week, so I'll get the first post in this thread updated soon with all the recent info. Keep the reports coming!!

 

[MyDogTink]

I was at my local, private swim club yesterday. Saw three teenage girls walk in. When asked if they were members or guests they said they were guests of a fictitious person. They proceeded to the pool, removed their cover-ups and headed to the pool. A board member escorted them out. I was laughing as I thought that pool crashers don’t just exist at Disney,

 

[muppets3d]

I was at my local, private swim club yesterday. Saw three teenage girls walk in. When asked if they were members or guests they said they were guests of a fictitious person. They proceeded to the pool, removed their cover-ups and headed to the pool. A board member escorted them out. I was laughing as I thought that pool crashers don’t just exist at Disney,

“Act like you belong” works often but not always.

 

[sndral]

It seems like they wanted to get rid of pool hopping for years but just couldn't sell it to the membership. Another covid cop-out it seems. Oh well.

Was it really that big a deal to the membership?
Maybe I have tunnel vision, but how many DVC members actually pool hopped, we never did even when it was allowed, but I don’t visit during the summer when pools are likely to be jammed. As a member I’d far prefer to have a less crowded pool where I’m staying than a pool hopping perk I never used .
I think my first visit to WDW they allowed any resort guest to hop, but there were far fewer resorts then. By the time of my second visit cash resort guest pool hopping was no longer allowed.
I don’t think it’s masses of DVC members crashing pools that are a big problem, I think it’s non resort guests of all types crashing certain pools & now that all of the pools are fenced they can more easily control access so they’ve decided to do something about the situation & the easiest something for CMs to enforce is to limit pool usage to guests staying at the resort.
Carving out an exception for DVC members currently staying on points at another WDW DVC resort is likely just too hard to verify for the CM handing out wrist bands & by leaving one exception they’ve left open the floodgates & SM ‘influencers’ will coach their followers to ‘just tell the CM you’re DVC’ if you want to take a break from the parks & swim at a nearby resort pool.

 

[muppets3d]

Was it really that big a deal to the membership?
Maybe I have tunnel vision, but how many DVC members actually pool hopped, we never did even when it was allowed, but I don’t visit during the summer when pools are likely to be jammed. As a member I’d far prefer to have a less crowded pool where I’m staying than a pool hopping perk I never used .
I think my first visit to WDW they allowed any resort guest to hop, but there were far fewer resorts then. By the time of my second visit cash resort guest pool hopping was no longer allowed.
I don’t think it’s masses of DVC members crashing pools that are a big problem, I think it’s non resort guests of all types crashing certain pools & now that all of the pools are fenced they can more easily control access so they’ve decided to do something about the situation & the easiest something for CMs to enforce is to limit pool usage to guests staying at the resort.
Carving out an exception for DVC members currently staying on points at another WDW DVC resort is likely just too hard to verify for the CM handing out wrist bands & by leaving one exception they’ve left open the floodgates & SM ‘influencers’ will coach their followers to ‘just tell the CM you’re DVC’ if you want to take a break from the parks & swim at a nearby resort pool.

With other timeshare systems it is a big benefit.

 

[Leight19]

I was at Disney for two weeks doing split stay. Week of 15Jun I was at BWV and we only used pool few times but was never asked to give information and don’t recall seeing any bands. Week of 22Jun I was at GFV and every day they checked for reservation and used bands.

One intersting thing is I did see a girl about college age who interacted with them; I couldn’t hear conversation but they made her leave so I presume she wasnt a guest. She then returned later with her parents and I heard them have conversation with cast member. I didn’t catch details but cast member was saying “yeah we used to have that but not anymore”. I presumed they were taking pool hopping for dvc but cast member said policy just changed previous week which doesnt fit dvc pool hopping since that has been gone for years and GFV wasn’t part of it when present so it made me wonder if another program existed that did allow pool hopping.

Either way after the second conversation the cast members said they could stay another hour and would have to leave but gave them bands and they were still there when I left (granted not full hour later but close). It made me interested what they could have said that got them bands to stay even for hour when they weren’t guests of hotel.

 

[Leight19]

Also one intersting thing I found is if I go online to the dvc site then go to My Dvc -> My Profile, click memberhsip information, then membership card/identification, view temporary card, and then click print it shows me a card that shows my name, id, date about month out and says “with this identification you can enjoy: pool hopping”. It made me want to give a shot to using it to see if I could pool hop or at least ask about why card says it but this trip had no need to pool hop (only time really is when friends/family staying at different resort) and ran out of time.

Figured I would mention in case others wanted to see what they saw and maybe someone with more time can give it a go.

 

[achinforsomebacon]

SSR has wristbands but it's only for the holiday - 7/3-7/5.

As a follow-up, I can confirm SSR went back to no wristbands on 7/6.

 

[nerdboyrockstar]

No wristbands but they were checking for room keys around the pool randomly at Vero Beach on Saturday 7/5 only from what I saw (was there from July 3-6).