Question About Boat and Bike Plan

[Liz]

Is this plan open to anyone staying at any Disney resort or only DVC members? Or perhaps only guests of the deluxe resorts?

Are there any AP discounts?

Where can I see a picture of the pontoon boat? We LOVED the water mice last time we rented but don't remember seeing a pontoon!

Thanks!

 

[Granny]

Originally posted by Liz
Is this plan open to anyone staying at any Disney resort or only DVC members? Or perhaps only guests of the deluxe resorts?

Are there any AP discounts?

Where can I see a picture of the pontoon boat? We LOVED the water mice last time we rented but don't remember seeing a pontoon!

Thanks!

Any guest can use this plan...it's not restricted to DVC. And you don't have to stay at a resort to use it there....but you can only buy it from one resort. For example, if you buy the plan at Wilderness Lodge, all your unlimited rentals have to be from that rental place.

There is no AP or DVC discount...the CM explained that the plan is already discounted (she's right....it doesn't take long to break even with the hourly rental rates).

I don't have a picture of the pontoon boat...but it does seat about 8-10 people as I recall.

 

[Sammie]

The Polynesian and the Grand Floridian only offer this plan to their registered guests. You have to be staying there to use the plan at the Polynesian or Grand Floridian.

I think Wilderness Lodge has it open to any Disney resort guest, I am not sure about the Contemporary or Yacht/Beach. I think each resort has their own restrictions.

 

[Regina]

DvcDave, do you have the hiccups???

For those of you going over Christmas, I don't know if you'll want to be out on the water. It can get pretty chilly in Mickey World at that time of year.

Granny was right. The bikes can be taken at 9:00am, boats at 10:00.

We had such a nice bike ride over to Trails End for breakfast one morning. (Mind you, I hadn't been on a bike for probably 25 years.) Once DH stopped laughing at the thought of me riding a bike, it was fine. They never said anything about time restrictions.

If you're going in the hotter months, it's terrific. I credit it with making a late July trip very enjoyable. It was great to take a boat out instead of being among the sweaty masses in the parks.

 

[ehagerty]

We used this package (8/02) for the length of our stay and were prepared to do so again this year. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the WLV portion of our trip, but we thought we would still get used out of it from other resorts, if we could spread out use over the length of our stay.

During our first day, Aurea from the WL marina took our paperwork and told us to call about the Length of Stay issue, since she knew it was under review. When we called, the following two new conditions had been implemented (8/9/03):
1. Package was limited to consecutive 7 days, not length of stay
2. Users had to return every half hour (instead of every hour) to see if anyone else wanted the boat (probably less of an issue during less busy times)

It can still be a good value if you do the math relative to your planned consumption, but it is NOT the math you might be expecting if you use length of stay in the equation!

 

[Liz]

Thanks for all the info!

Wow, every half hour. That seems like it could be a real pain. I know when we rented last time and had them out for an hour it went by so fast.

 

[lat]

Originally posted by dvcreg
For those of you going over Christmas, I don't know if you'll want to be out on the water. It can get pretty chilly in Mickey World at that time of year.

Regina,

I think you are right. Not sure end of December is the best time to do the boat plan. DH tried to rent the watermouse every afternoon during last week and pretty much everytime he could do it, the lake was closed due to the storm. Maybe he will try when we go in October. Thanks

 

[Granny]

Originally posted by ehagerty

During our first day, Aurea from the WL marina took our paperwork and told us to call about the Length of Stay issue, since she knew it was under review. When we called, the following two new conditions had been implemented (8/9/03):
1. Package was limited to consecutive 7 days, not length of stay
2. Users had to return every half hour (instead of every hour) to see if anyone else wanted the boat (probably less of an issue during less busy times)

It can still be a good value if you do the math relative to your planned consumption, but it is NOT the math you might be expecting if you use length of stay in the equation!

I guess these rules changed sometime after our stay this summer. We were there for 9 nights and it was definitely LOS then...I remember talking about it with Aurea and remarking that I was surprised it was not based on a set number of days.

Half hour returns would be a real pain. For bikes, that's barely time to peddle down to Fort Wilderness and back at a pretty brisk pace. I guess they need to do that at the very peak times, but we checked back hourly during our stay (their guideline at the time) and never had to turn a bike or boat in.


By the way, isn't Aurea one of the nicest CM's you'll ever want to meet?