VWL Groupies & Lovers Thread (Special Collectors Edition 2.0) updated 21 June 2023

[twinklebug]

Applauding the Disney corporation for doing the responsible and financially hard thing here. While our healthy, young population may see minimal impact, we need to protect our elderly and those with conditions that would make it that much harder to survive. Everyone has value.

I heard from mom that they shut down all visitors to the nursing homes in our area. She's upset as she wants to see dad, but I reassured her that as long as they're still permitting hospice to come in he will be well taken care of.

Of course I feel for those who've been planning their trips forever and especially those who have an even harder time figuring out the logistics of change, but it is for the best. Disney will bounce back strong.

 

[sleepydog25]

My family did encounter a typical human response to all of this. A lady was clearing off the shelf of hand sanitizer, about 16 big bottles in all, and bragged that she was going to put it on E-Bay at triple the price. In every perceived crisis, there will always be those hoarders and those to take advantage of others in the crowd. They just don't know how much the act of generosity, especially in the face of real human concerns, can fill the soul and uplift you in general.

Greed of heart, greed of soul--the very basis for most evils, large and small, created in this world.

Luv's job as a nurse consultant for a pharmaceutical company in the area means she has to visit many nursing homes and rehab centers. She routinely uses hand sanitizer in addition to washing her hands. She could find none in stops at six stores stretching over 50 miles along the interstate. For the record, the most effective means to sanitize is what our parents taught us: wash your hands with soap and water. Next best? Disinfectant wipes. Finally, hand sanitizer is good but not as good as the first two.

Since I typed the paragraph above, things got wacky in Virginia. First, all spring sports competitions were postponed for two weeks. An hour or so later, the governor released an executive order to suspend all VA schools for two weeks starting Monday. . .and not even practices allowed. So, now we've joined MD, OH, and I think one other in closing schools. There aren't a ton of cases in our state, but they're acting now to hopefully ensure it remains that way.

While I understand that many think the reactions are a bit hysterical (and they are in some cases), I prefer to take the ethical stance that was stated in a letter sent home to parents of Bates College students of which my daughter is one. They are shutting down in-person classes as of today, and for the remainder of the semester will strictly do online learning. In the explanation, the president says that while their students are in the "lowest risk" category and not truly in harm's way, they are also "highly efficient carriers" of the virus due to their social habits and the very nature of college life. As such, they pose a greater threat to those potential victims who are in the high risk categories. As the president goes on to say, they have a moral and ethical obligation to be the best citizens they can, to reduce the risk of infecting others who aren't young and healthy. I believe if we keep that selflessness in mind, then we can roll with the punches better, can realize that we are but a small part of a larger world, and that we can deal with minor inconveniences knowing things will get better.

Time for a nice glass of wine. Have a good weekend, Groupies!

 

[ErinC]

Alabama will join the list of school closings. The whole state is closing schools on Thursday of this week, for the next 2.5 weeks. One of those weeks was our scheduled spring break. I'm assuming high school sports will follow those same policies as well, but I haven't seen much yet. Sleepy, DD's college sent out a very similar letter to us. Even though she was abroad, the main campus in Arkansas is also closing. They said they would reassess in a few weeks, but my gut feeling is that they will end up not going back. They are in a small town, but they have students from all over the country. Germs in a dorm and on a small college campus would be a disaster. As a teacher, I can't help but wonder what happens to all those that are in the midst of student teaching? DD23 has a friend who was finishing her last speech pathology clinical in a hospital setting. The hospital has removed all students. She is supposed to graduate in May. These are just crazy times.
Every website that I've seen has said to not call regarding cancellations unless it is in the next 7 days. I didn't even try to call Disneyland Paris yet. I'm going to give it a few more days and then I will try again. Still have 4 airlines, DLP, and Expedia yet to go to finish cancellations. All this is making me rethink my dream retirement job of being a travel agent!
Sorry to those of you that are going to miss out on your Disney trips. I hope you get to reschedule soon!

 

[twinklebug]

My son reports that the entire state of Louisiana has put off school for a month. Last time he and I spoke a few days back LA had zero cases. He and his wife work in a hospital. Said the hospital is trying to figure out the logistics not just if this hits, but right now staffing is low as many folks are home with their kids. It just adds yet another layer to an already complicated equation.

I went out shopping yesterday as we actually had the flu in the household this last week and were running low on basics. Big old "Wow. What are you doing?" to the TP hoarders out there. Thankfully I was already stocked up from our Amazon order. Meat case was cleared out. Cooking oil was cleared out too. Odd stuff. The young adults in my household need to learn self control though. Everything I brought home was broken into within hours. You'd have thought we didn't have food in the house for weeks.

Hoping everyone here is healthy, keep scrubbing those hands when you go out and be very aware of those near your bubble! (turning the world into introverts, welcome to the quiet side)

 

[rkstocke5609]

Minnesota now joins the school closing crowd. Effective Wednesday, all schools to close through March 27th (I actually expect it to be extended through all of April). Fortunately, my daughter’s school is way ahead technology wise and online school will be seamless if not a bit boring for her.
I hope all the Groupies stay safe and well during this unprecedented situation. I am more concerned about bored groups of high schoolers that start roaming in groups — that is an unintended potential consequence as they are mostly not at risk it seems. With no school, no activities, etc my Spidey sense is on alert.
As many of you recall, I’ve delivered pizzas part time for 34 years. It makes no sense (from a spreading the virus sense), but both Wednesday and Saturday were really busy. Friday was slow (sales down 25%). It’s very strange. Hard to predict. We are encouraging credit card orders to speed interactions (people pre-tip on card). Some folks will have us put their order on the steps and ring the bell. But, many people are just not really concerned. I am focused on being really careful around old folks (wait a minute, I’m 55 now and get senior discounts at some places.... )
Anyways, please all of you be cautious and well!

 

[sleepydog25]

Thanks for checking in, Ron. I feel confident that all states will eventually postpone in-person classes; frankly, I think they should. The quickest and easiest path for a virus would be in schools, colleges, and universities, and failing a vaccine (which we don't have), postponing/ending huge gatherings should help. Like you, I also believe this initial two-week period is just a way to ease us into a month-long hiatus. . .if not longer. I figure we'll be out at least through Easter. And then they'll evaluate after that. Same with Disney.

We don't live in a high-risk area--in fact, no cases in southwest Virginia yet--but I believe being cautious is a great course of action. Disruptive? Yes. A huge sacrifice? I don't believe so. As you suggest, Ron, parts of our population are high risk of both catching the virus and ultimately being critically ill from it. I'm willing to dial back my activities to aid them.

Luv and I got out today just to enjoy getting out after staying home yesterday. We did take and use antiseptic wipes at a Kroger about an hour's drive from us, and we visited a local farmers' coop that has an "honesty" cooler where we bought duck eggs, black radishes, arugula, etc. Yep, we wiped down the handles and our hands after. All this hubbub led me to recall all the historical events that I've witnessed in my years on this rock. I won't go into detail so as to keep my actual age a secret, lol, but it was rather eye-opening to realize that many other well-known moments have passed, some very somber, and we've managed to forge ahead despite their occurrences.

I do hope everyone remains relatively unaffected by C-19. Oh, and in case you haven't heard, FROZEN 2 is now on Disney+ three months earlier than originally planned. We already watched it.

 

[jimmytammy]

Up until now, I had nothing to report where DVC ressies for upcoming trip were concerned. Now, We are finally in the que on the DVC member phone. Its taken this long just to get to the point of not hearing a busy signal. over the last several days. Even the online chat has been swamped. I feel for the poor CMs having to deal with all this mess, and Im sure there are some prima donna callers expecting DVC MS to bow to their every whim. I will stay in touch as I hope to know something soon for those in similar boat.

UPDATE
On phone with MS still. They are allowing us to put all borrowed points from Aug 2020 use year back into same use year, which is great! We had 62 points from Aug 2019 use year that were used for the upcoming trip. MS put those back in and were were able to bank them. So all worked out well.

 

[twinklebug]

Up until now, I had nothing to report where DVC ressies for upcoming trip were concerned. Now, We are finally in the que on the DVC member phone. Its taken this long just to get to the point of not hearing a busy signal. over the last several days. Even the online chat has been swamped. I feel for the poor CMs having to deal with all this mess, and Im sure there are some prima donna callers expecting DVC MS to bow to their every whim. I will stay in touch as I hope to know something soon for those in similar boat.

UPDATE
On phone with MS still. They are allowing us to put all borrowed points from Aug 2020 use year back into same use year, which is great! We had 62 points from Aug 2019 use year that were used for the upcoming trip. MS put those back in and were were able to bank them. So all worked out well.

Disney really does the best they can. I'm happy to hear they permitted you to bank the current use year points. Thanks for sharing!

I'm curious what they're doing for those with banked points being used. I doubt they'd leave them high and dry.

 

[Granny]

Up until now, I had nothing to report where DVC ressies for upcoming trip were concerned. Now, We are finally in the que on the DVC member phone. Its taken this long just to get to the point of not hearing a busy signal. over the last several days. Even the online chat has been swamped. I feel for the poor CMs having to deal with all this mess, and Im sure there are some prima donna callers expecting DVC MS to bow to their every whim. I will stay in touch as I hope to know something soon for those in similar boat.

UPDATE
On phone with MS still. They are allowing us to put all borrowed points from Aug 2020 use year back into same use year, which is great! We had 62 points from Aug 2019 use year that were used for the upcoming trip. MS put those back in and were were able to bank them. So all worked out well.

Disney really does the best they can. I'm happy to hear they permitted you to bank the current use year points. Thanks for sharing!

I'm curious what they're doing for those with banked points being used. I doubt they'd leave them high and dry.

By all accounts, Disney is bending over backwards to help members out. It is very kind of them, and in keeping with their history of rising to the occasion during emergencies.

But they are digging a hole that may very well have an impact on members for the future. Basically, by restoring points and allowing future reservations, they have more points than they will have space for reservations since points that should have expired will again be "live".

If this were just a day or so of such kindness, Disney could absorb the excess points with their developers points (as they did during the hurricane "refunds"). But if this goes on for a couple of weeks or more, they will definitely be throwing the system out of balance, and they will have to institute something to ease the imbalance down the path. I think a great solution would be to make the Concierge Collection a lot more reasonable in points per night...but giving resort space away for "free" to Members would be a big financial burden all on Disney.

I am not a Disney legalese expert, but Disney's "breaking the rules" in members' favor at this point may lead to some harsh realities in the future. It will be interesting for sure to see how Disney digs out of this mess.

I am truly glad they are working with members at this point, and that folks like Jimmy are getting the good news. I think it is the right thing for Disney to do during these unprecedented times. However, somebody will have to pay for the fact that we will have many more points than available space going forward. Stay tuned, for it may involve some very unhappy people.

 

[twinklebug]

By all accounts, Disney is bending over backwards to help members out. It is very kind of them, and in keeping with their history of rising to the occasion during emergencies.

But they are digging a hole that may very well have an impact on members for the future. Basically, by restoring points and allowing future reservations, they have more points than they will have space for reservations since points that should have expired will again be "live".

If this were just a day or so of such kindness, Disney could absorb the excess points with their developers points (as they did during the hurricane "refunds"). But if this goes on for a couple of weeks or more, they will definitely be throwing the system out of balance, and they will have to institute something to ease the imbalance down the path. I think a great solution would be to make the Concierge Collection a lot more reasonable in points per night...but giving resort space away for "free" to Members would be a big financial burden all on Disney.

I am not a Disney legalese expert, but Disney's "breaking the rules" in members' favor at this point may lead to some harsh realities in the future. It will be interesting for sure to see how Disney digs out of this mess.

I am truly glad they are working with members at this point, and that folks like Jimmy are getting the good news. I think it is the right thing for Disney to do during these unprecedented times. However, somebody will have to pay for the fact that we will have many more points than available space going forward. Stay tuned, for it may involve some very unhappy people.

I was curious how many developer points Disney had to use. For some reason I was under the impression they owned enough inventory to cover a month. I know, ridiculous.

Good idea in regards to the Concierge collection. Maybe they can do something to encourage use of points on cruises such as a sale as I've never seen those as a good value..

 

[Starwind]

We're glad we got to visit CCV and AKL and a little bit in the parks in December, bookending a B2B2B DCL cruise on the Disney Dream. Our next "Disney" is planned as a DCL Alaska cruise in 2021. We're hopeful things will have settled down by then and life back to some semblance of normal. At least we can plan for the trip in the interim.

Here in Ontario K-12 schools are closed for 3 weeks and Universities have gone to online learning. The federal government has urged all Canadians who are outside the country to come back while they still can [and they then have to self-isolate for 14 days].

In our household we have been dealing with (what we hope are just normal) colds.

And it is now the start of allergy season, with the snow finally melting all the snow mold has come out !! But that is going to make it interesting because allergy season = coughing and asthma. At my workplace if you have a cough you are not allowed to come to work and are treated as if you have covid. While you're paid while at home, I am afraid it could end up in a lot of missed work :-(

 

[sleepydog25]

We're glad we got to visit CCV and AKL and a little bit in the parks in December, bookending a B2B2B DCL cruise on the Disney Dream. Our next "Disney" is planned as a DCL Alaska cruise in 2021. We're hopeful things will have settled down by then and life back to some semblance of normal. At least we can plan for the trip in the interim.

Here in Ontario K-12 schools are closed for 3 weeks and Universities have gone to online learning. The federal government has urged all Canadians who are outside the country to come back while they still can [and they then have to self-isolate for 14 days].

In our household we have been dealing with (what we hope are just normal) colds.

And it is now the start of allergy season, with the snow finally melting all the snow mold has come out !! But that is going to make it interesting because allergy season = coughing and asthma. At my workplace if you have a cough you are not allowed to come to work and are treated as if you have covid. While you're paid while at home, I am afraid it could end up in a lot of missed work :-(

Good to hear from you, Star. We are all a big family here, and I like to keep in touch with how folks are handling this very unusual time. While we are only shut down (public schools) for two weeks, I'd be shocked if we came back until after Easter at the earliest. The two weeks is simply a way to postpone and begin thinking about more long-term plans. Same with Disney. In the end, I believe they'll say "sorry, but we're having to push back the opening another two weeks," and they'll continue to do that until the crisis is past.

As for giving back points, it is the decent thing to do, and hopefully they'll come up with a plan that will allow those affected to use their points without overpowering the whole system and making reservations nearly impossible. I suspect they have a huge crisis management team working that very issue. In the military, we had such groups, and we had basic plans in place which we could then use and tweak as needed. I'm confident Disney has such fall back plans, as well.

Well, Groupies, keep checking in and updating us!

 

[rkstocke5609]

By all accounts, Disney is bending over backwards to help members out. It is very kind of them, and in keeping with their history of rising to the occasion during emergencies.

But they are digging a hole that may very well have an impact on members for the future. Basically, by restoring points and allowing future reservations, they have more points than they will have space for reservations since points that should have expired will again be "live".

If this were just a day or so of such kindness, Disney could absorb the excess points with their developers points (as they did during the hurricane "refunds"). But if this goes on for a couple of weeks or more, they will definitely be throwing the system out of balance, and they will have to institute something to ease the imbalance down the path. I think a great solution would be to make the Concierge Collection a lot more reasonable in points per night...but giving resort space away for "free" to Members would be a big financial burden all on Disney.

I am not a Disney legalese expert, but Disney's "breaking the rules" in members' favor at this point may lead to some harsh realities in the future. It will be interesting for sure to see how Disney digs out of this mess.

I am truly glad they are working with members at this point, and that folks like Jimmy are getting the good news. I think it is the right thing for Disney to do during these unprecedented times. However, somebody will have to pay for the fact that we will have many more points than available space going forward. Stay tuned, for it may involve some very unhappy people.

Is it possible that there would be enough unsold points at Riviera to absorb these extra points that would flood the system? It is likely that Riviera sales will be depressed for the next year when the economic ramifications are better understood. Just speculating...

 

[Lakegirl]

Is it possible that there would be enough unsold points at Riviera to absorb these extra points that would flood the system? It is likely that Riviera sales will be depressed for the next year when the economic ramifications are better understood. Just speculating...

Hopeful thinking!!! I like it!!

 

[Lakegirl]

Mass just closed all restaurants for dine-in till April 6th and with the recommendations from the CDC to not be in a gathering of more than 50 people for 8 weeks, I think we will be calling to figure out what can be done to reschedule our April trip. I have been so looking forward to this. sometimes it has been what has gotten me through the day. The only other time we can reschedule to is August and I vowed this past August would be our last due to the heat and humidity. I hope and pray we are able to slow this thing down to help the healthcare system catch up.

 

[Granny]

I was curious how many developer points Disney had to use. For some reason I was under the impression they owned enough inventory to cover a month. I know, ridiculous.

Good idea in regards to the Concierge collection. Maybe they can do something to encourage use of points on cruises such as a sale as I've never seen those as a good value..

Cindy...my understanding is that developer points are in the 1-2% range. 2% would cover one week of refunded bookings if the resorts were at full capacity. Even assuming a lower capacity, they will definitely be digging a hole before the end of the month. Every day will be adding a significant strain on the system going forward.

As for giving back points, it is the decent thing to do, and hopefully they'll come up with a plan that will allow those affected to use their points without overpowering the whole system and making reservations nearly impossible. I suspect they have a huge crisis management team working that very issue. In the military, we had such groups, and we had basic plans in place which we could then use and tweak as needed. I'm confident Disney has such fall back plans, as well.

Sleepy...I'm not sure that Disney ever anticipated this situation. Even hurricanes and such have only closed WDW for a couple of days.

One thing Disney could do is keep the resorts open even if the parks are closed. That would fulfill their end of our contract, which only gives us the right to book resort reservations and makes no promises about the parks. It would not be very popular, but at some point they might say that they can no longer return points on late cancellations.

The problem is that there is nothing Disney can do to increase the total amount of reservations and points available. My initial thought was to make other non-DVC options readily available to members. But the issue there is that DVD has to negotiate "point charts" for the non-DVC Concierge Collection resorts. Each of those has its own profits to worry about, and giving away "cheaper" accommodations may not necessarily be appealing to the Coronado Springs resort manager, as an example.

I agree that they are meeting feverishly to come up with crisis management plans. I'm just not sure what their options are if they are "being nice" today at the expense of some pretty big headaches down the road.

Just food for thought as I continue my social distancing.

Is it possible that there would be enough unsold points at Riviera to absorb these extra points that would flood the system? It is likely that Riviera sales will be depressed for the next year when the economic ramifications are better understood. Just speculating...

Ron...That's a very interesting idea regarding Riviera. I don't know how it would work, but the unsold points that have been declared could ostensibly be used for reservations since they would represent inventory still owned by Disney. I have a feeling though that even that amount is a drop in the bucket compared to the points being refunded every day for all the other resorts for multiple weeks.

Some people have suggested "double banking" allowance, so that point refunds that include banked points don't expire on the owners. But again, that just pushes the issue down the road. My guess is that Disney will have to get a little creative on the whole thing....or they could just come down on the side of establishing some guidelines within the rules and then riding out the storm of owner protest in the future.

 

[rkstocke5609]

Mass just closed all restaurants for dine-in till April 6th and with the recommendations from the CDC to not be in a gathering of more than 50 people for 8 weeks, I think we will be calling to figure out what can be done to reschedule our April trip. I have been so looking forward to this. sometimes it has been what has gotten me through the day. The only other time we can reschedule to is August and I vowed this past August would be our last due to the heat and humidity. I hope and pray we are able to slow this thing down to help the healthcare system catch up.

Well, if it’s 8 weeks then that is 1/6 of a years worth of DVC was points (that assumes parks could open after 8 weeks which might be pushing it given these new guidelines). Good grief, this is really going to be bad.

 

[Granny]

Well, if it’s 8 weeks then that is 1/6 of a years worth of DVC was points (that assumes parks could open after 8 weeks which might be pushing it given these new guidelines). Good grief, this is really going to be bad.

Yes...I'm hearing July 1 being bandied about as the earliest that pro sports could continue.

At some point Disney is going to have to stop the DVC generosity train. In fact, it might be slowing down already. I received this from Disney today as part of a longer email message:

Regarding your reservations, I would like to take this opportunity to clarify a few important points in order to make the change process as smooth as possible. As we have shared, Disney Vacation Club has lifted the close-in reservation cancellation restrictions and will return any of your points back as vacation points or reservation points without placing them into holding. In the meantime, all points banking rules remain in place. While we understand the banking policy might create some frustration, please realize that this is in place to ensure that the membership as a whole avoids future inventory constraints.​

Emphasis above was added by me. So I think Disney is moving into a "so sorry but can't help you" mode at some point.

 

[Crabby_Dan]

Fortunately we don’t have a March vacation this year. Having a June use year, there would be no banking available for us. But, realistically Disney is losing bushel baskets full of money and they‘re still paying their employees. In the scheme of things, the tragedy of people’s lost vacation points will start to look smaller and smaller in the rear view mirror as we head into summer with no abatement of the crisis.

Here in Michigan all bars, restaurants, movie theaters, gyms, etc are closed until further notice. Countless thousands of people are going without a paycheck, or with a minimal paycheck. Whining about lost vacation points isn’t gonna get a whole lot of attention.

I hope and pray all of you can avoid this nasty virus. I know a good percentage of us are in the “high risk” category.

 

[DVC Jen]

What a sad and anxious time this is for everyone. So glad DVC is being very understanding and generous with putting points back. I for one really hope they continue that as we may have to cancel our upcoming trip if the parks reopen (and I hope they do).

Our youngest is being impacted the most in our family. She is a dancer/choreographer with an indie band in Austin. She also works at a bakery/coffee shop. The band was so excited as they were invited to perform on one of the "bigger stages" at SXSW this year - then it was cancelled. They had to cancel all of their upcoming performances well really had them cancelled for them with the restrictions. They are having to cancel a tour they had scheduled for April and will more than likely have to cancel the one they have in May. Because as of this afternoon all restaurants and bars in Austin are having their dining rooms closed - we don't know what will happen with Emily's job. Our vacation fund is looking more and more like it will be the help Emily get through this crisis fund. I was going to order our tickets today since our FP day is April 2nd but we are holding off on that which means if we do get to go - chances are the good FP times and rides may not be available. That's OK though. Our daughter is much more important - but it certainly is a big disappointment.

Our oldest daughter is a special education teacher. The district has closed down for 3 weeks and will reassess on April 3rd. Teaching has been moved to online. Not sure how she will do that since she is a resource teacher but I am sure they will figure it out. At least she is still getting paid.

Ian (hubby) works for a defense contractor and so far it is business as usual for him. My Etsy shop has slowed down dramatically but that is too be expected with people not wanting to spend on things that are not necessities. My income has just been "mad money" for the most part anyway so we won't be hurt by not having it.

I hope my fellow groupies all OK and are not impacted too badly by the financial ramifications of this virus. We will all get through this one way or another.

Stay safe -and please everyone - stay healthy.