Refrigerators in Studios?

[Deb & Bill]

Back home and here is the small refrigerator that was in our studio

View attachment 605518

I thought I remember someone getting a really small refrigerator in their studio at maybe Kidani because it was HCA and the counter was lowered. So the standard one didn't fit.

 

[s.r.disney nut]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say in Florida's extreme heat and humidity, they are getting fridge freezers frozen over and defrosting all over flooring on a semi-regular basis. Take a mini fridge and crank it to 10 with 90% humidity and that freezer is a solid block of ice in no time. Put a beverage cooler in there with no freezer compartment and the problem of freezing over is gone.

But that's not the temperature/humidity in the rooms. Outside conditions really shouldn't matter.

 

[DonMacGregor]

But that's not the temperature/humidity in the rooms. Outside conditions really shouldn't matter.

It depends on whether doors are shut, and if the room AC is on to dehumidify the air. Lots of DVC villas also have exterior hallways and plenty of decks and balconies, and it's been my experience that hotel guests aren't always too concerned when it's not their electric bill. Plus, many hotels have their housekeeping staff turn t-stats down in unoccupied rooms, particularly in slow periods. I know I've entered more than a few hotel rooms in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida and been hit with a sauna blast.

We actually had to stop our employees from bringing small fridges into their offices because they would freeze over every now and then. Not often, but often enough to cause some decent flooring damage, and that's inside airconditioned offices.

But yes, a fridge inside conditioned space should be both more efficient, and less likely to freeze up, but they still do.

 

[s.r.disney nut]

It depends on whether doors are shut, and if the room AC is on to dehumidify the air. Lots of DVC villas also have exterior hallways and plenty of decks and balconies, and it's been my experience that hotel guests aren't always too concerned when it's not their electric bill. Plus, many hotels have their housekeeping staff turn t-stats down in unoccupied rooms, particularly in slow periods. I know I've entered more than a few hotel rooms in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida and been hit with a sauna blast.

We actually had to stop our employees from bringing small fridges into their offices because they would freeze over every now and then. Not often, but often enough to cause some decent flooring damage, and that's inside airconditioned offices.

But yes, a fridge inside conditioned space should be both more efficient, and less likely to freeze up, but they still do.

When I was still working I had a mini fridge in my office in a school building that was not air conditioned. I never had a problem in the warmer months with it freezing up.

 

[DebbieB]

I just got home from a week in a studio at BWV, our refrigerator had a freezer. There was an ice tray and the ice was solid. It looked new, the seal was tight.

 

[TinkB278]

This is coming from the recent poly refurbs. From the pictures...

Poly Studio Hotel Pictures:

Poly Studio DVC Pictures (from DIS Poly Thread):

The DVC rooms went through a different type of refurb and still have full fridge with the tiny freezer section. The cash hotel side is now beverage chillers. It would be my guess that it'll stay that way.

My recent trips, BLT, BCV, BLT all had actual fridges. Open house tours of VGF also had actual mini fridges.

My fridge in PVB a couple weeks ago did not have the freezer section.

 

[RoseGold]

Wait, this is a safety issue? I’m just trying to reheat some pizza a day or two later. I’m sure the “beverage cooler” will suffice for that, right?

 

[Marionnette]

Wait, this is a safety issue? I’m just trying to reheat some pizza a day or two later. I’m sure the “beverage cooler” will suffice for that, right?

Day-old pizza won't be a problem. Dairy, baby formula & breast milk, certain medications, raw meat and fish, etc are likely to go bad quickly in a beverage cooler. Much more quickly than if stored in a refrigerator.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Day-old pizza won't be a problem. Dairy, baby formula & breast milk, certain medications, raw meat and fish, etc are likely to go bad quickly in a beverage cooler. Much more quickly than if stored in a refrigerator.

Not such great news. I'm so disappointed DVC is doing this.

 

[Yinn]

My fridge in PVB a couple weeks ago did not have the freezer section.

Well that's a disappointment. How much are we saving on dues for this? $0.01 per contract?

 

[DVCPAT]

Well that's a disappointment. How much are we saving on dues for this? $0.01 per contract?

It’s a race to the bottom. Disney wants to reduce costs and have you spend money on disney food. Mini fridges are used everywhere (florida included) and operate perfectly fine when maintained.

 

[Yinn]

It’s a race to the bottom. Disney wants to reduce costs and have you spend money on disney food. Mini fridges are used everywhere (florida included) and operate perfectly fine when maintained.

Yea but realistically, how much were people saving on food because of the fridge? If you're in a bedroom dvc, you have a full fridge. If you're in a studio...are we really cooking full meals with the microwave and eating on the bed? Maybe it's because I have a younger family but all I see is an inconvenience for storing baby items

If they really wanted to make some money off of this, get rid of the coffee makers. That's a guaranteed way to piss me off and get me grumbling as I have to walk over to the nearest QS to pay an extra $10-$20/day for crap coffee..

 

[DVCPAT]

Yea but realistically, how much were people saving on food because of the fridge? If you're in a bedroom dvc, you have a full fridge. If you're in a studio...are we really cooking full meals with the microwave and eating on the bed? Maybe it's because I have a younger family but all I see is an inconvenience for storing baby items

If they really wanted to make some money off of this, get rid of the coffee makers. That's a guaranteed way to piss me off and get me grumbling as I have to walk over to the nearest QS to pay an extra $10-$20/day for crap coffee..

Disney is in full cost cutting mode while raising prices. Why should Disney spend more on an appliance that reduces your on site spending? A CM once told me WDW stands for “we drain wallets” and I believe him.

 

[Yinn]

Disney is in full cost cutting mode while raising prices. Why should Disney spend more on an appliance that reduces your on site spending? A CM once told me WDW stands for “we drain wallets” and I believe him.

That's kind of the point. The highest profit margins are on beverages. A beverage chiller doesn't prevent people from buying a case of water, sodas and juices and shoving it in there to avoid the $3 markup. The profits from a day's worth of drinks could easily be more than the cost of microwaving a breakfast sandwich to go. On top of that they spent money to replace these. So if that was their true intention, they missed horribly. If cutting cost and increasing spending (in this case) was their true motive they could have just instead removed the coffee makers and cited the pandemic as a (BS) concern. That would have cost them nothing, saved them on coffee costs, creamer costs, sugar cost, etc. and driven people to buy their coffees.

While I don't disagree that they want to increase spending, this one just isn't well thought enough to be one. Instead I think it's a combination of surveys that determined most only use the fridge for beverages, design wise it looks nice to have a clear glass front, and maybe there's less issues with freezer melt/defrosting should a room be unoccupied. In the meantime there's the oversight of things like gee where do I store my medication?

 

[DonMacGregor]

Disney is in full cost cutting mode while raising prices. Why should Disney spend more on an appliance that reduces your on site spending? A CM once told me WDW stands for “we drain wallets” and I believe him.

Glass-doored beverage coolers are, on average, significantly more expensive than a basic brown or black dorm mini fridge.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Haven’t heard of this. We had your standard small fridge when we were at BV in a studio in September (also note we are not DVC we just booked before the hotel side reopened)

 

[DVCPAT]

Glass-doored beverage coolers are, on average, significantly more expensive than a basic brown or black dorm mini fridge.

I checked prices and glass door coolers are priced very close to a mini fridge. Quality will be the determining price factor.. I would bet quality would be on par with DVC toilet paper

 

[DVCPAT]

While I don't disagree that they want to increase spending, this one just isn't well thought enough to be one. Instead I think it's a combination of surveys that determined most only use the fridge for beverages, design wise it looks nice to have a clear glass front, and maybe there's less issues with freezer melt/defrosting should a room be unoccupied. In the meantime there's the oversight of things like gee where do I store my medication?

Have you received a survey related to refrigerator use? I believe every decision related to DVC is based on increasing profit. Maybe I’m wrong, removing freezers might improve some people’s vacation experience?

 

[Mai Ku Tiki]

IF it's true, replacing mini-fridges/freezers with beverage coolers caters more to the wine/beer guest experience than the guests with kids &/or healthcare needs.

IF this is a trend, DVC guests need to be permitted to request (DEMAND) a mini-fridge/freezer.

 

[DonMacGregor]

I checked prices and glass door coolers are priced very close to a mini fridge. Quality will be the determining price factor.. I would bet quality would be on par with DVC toilet paper

But, in order to support your argument, they’d need to be priced LESS than a mini fridge (and they are $40-$50 more). Also, quality isn’t an issue if you’re comparing like-kind quality between the two. If you’re going to pick a dirt-cheap cooler, then compare it to a dirt-cheap fridge. It will still cost more. Lastly, if it’s about being cheap, then just leaving what was there wouldn’t cost anything.