Pool hopping privilege in depth in Vacation Magic

[PKS44]

Anyone care to explain the answer given about no pool hopping to the AKL:

Due to swimming area capacity, pool hopping has never been available at DAKL.

Swimmming area capacity?
At the AKL pool?
Is a problem more so than at the following pools where poolhopping has been allowed?
PO-FQ?
PO-R?
OKW?
WL?

Isn't the AKL pool much bigger than all of those pools?

Explanations like this do not encourage trust and confidence.

Also what was the reference to Florida law about?

Pool Hopping is an incidental benefit under Florida law, extended to DVC Members by WDW.

Paul

 

[Deb & Bill]

Well, there isn't any quiet pool that I am aware of, so all the guests use the one pool. It really isn't that big, especially for such a large resort. Kind of like WL where there is a quiet pool near the villas.

All the other resorts you mention have more than one pool and may even have three or four pools.

Just my guess.

 

[SimbaNoodle]

I always thought DVC members could only pool hop among DVC resorts, excluding BCV. Is this not so?

 

[PKS44]

Originally posted by SimbaNoodle
I always thought DVC members could only pool hop among DVC resorts, excluding BCV. Is this not so?

no this is not so...DVC members were allowed to hop to SAB before BCV was built and have always been allowed (capacity allowing) to hop to any WDW resort pool, DVC or not.

 

[Dean]

Previous explanations for AKL have discussed pool capacity and also the animals. I think they don't want extra people over there viewing the animals more so than truly PH.

Just some history on PH. When WDW first opened, all guests could PH. When DVC came along, one could PH to any resort at any time without calling ahead. Then the evolution of blocked times, blocked resorts, capacity issues and call ahead. It's only a matter of time before PH is stopped altogether and I think SSR will put us over that limit in the next few years.

 

[HookdonWDW]

Okay... this is just my opinion, but having stayed at AKL, I can't see why anyone would really want to hop to the pool there anyway. It's not even close to being our favorite pool on property, and during busy times of the year, it gets too crowded to really swim.

And I don't even want to comment on what the people in the hot tub were up to when dh went to use it ... let's just say we didn't hang out at the hot tub for the rest of that trip

 

[Granny]

Also what was the reference to Florida law about?



quote:
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Pool Hopping is an incidental benefit under Florida law, extended to DVC Members by WDW.
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I think that's pretty straightforward, though I'm no lawyer. I believe it means that pool hopping is a privilege, not a contractual right. So they can modify it or stop it any time they like.

My opinion is that it exists solely to provide the sales staff an emotional perk to talk about during their sales talk. And that it will go away if Disney stops building DVC resorts, or comes to the conclusion that they can sell them without the perk.

 

[timC]

For DVC to dedicate so much space in VM to this topics, tells me they must be concerned about the abuse, and are trying to get everyone to comply. I'm sure the more people continue to disregard WDW policy, the tighter the restrictions will become.

Please folks. For the benefit of all of us, if you plan to pool hop, review the rules before you travel.

 

[kathleena]

I would think that the rest of WDW needs to be concerned about telling the rest of the guests that they can't pool hop - more than they should be concerned about DVCers. Reference the recent post about the Swan and Dolphin guests at the BoardWalk. Maybe more wristband/card entries at favorite resort pools would be in order soon.

And for the AKL, I think it was eliminated for two reasons 1) the pool is fairly small and 2) there are probably more frequent visitors to the resort because of Boma and the animals. But, they didn't institute any wristband procedure there, so it must not be as much of an issue as SAB.

I think the calling ahead was instituted as a courtesy to the resorts in case they are at peak during an off-peak time (i.e. Riverside when French Q is closed) and it gets us all trained to do it as a matter of habit so we won't forget during peak times.

 

[Dean]

Originally posted by timC
For DVC to dedicate so much space in VM to this topics, tells me they must be concerned about the abuse, and are trying to get everyone to comply. I'm sure the more people continue to disregard WDW policy, the tighter the restrictions will become.

Please folks. For the benefit of all of us, if you plan to pool hop, review the rules before you travel.

Unfortunately, I suspect it's a planned step toward elmination of the PH perk. I see no way it can survive long term with that many more people in the system.

 

[Sammie]

I would think that meant due to the fact that AKL is such a large room capacity resort that if it was booked heavily the pool would be near or at capacity.

 

[palmtreegirl]

Isn't the AKL pool much bigger than all of those pools?

It's pretty big but there isn't a quiet pool there. I would imagine it would get way too crowded if people could pool hop with just 1 pool available.

Am I the only one that has no desire to pool hop? The thought of having to drag our stuff and ourselves over to another pool and then back all wet.........way too effort required.

 

[jaysue]

Dean, I agree with your view on this - it is only a matter of time before this perk is gone.

thanks
jaysue