What if VGF is delayed unexpectedly, like hurricane or material shortage?

[MoreTravels]

With the other resorts, you still get a chance to go and stay indoor as needed. But the construction workers won't stay on scaffold or in a crane to work if there is a hurricane... So Oct 23 date is not guaranteed, right? Now they are fully booked, hmmm.

Also, most developers get delayed one way or the other way in a real condo sale, even without any major reason. So it is very ambitious to start booking without finishing it first or have a soft opening. I guess the first few guests are their beta testers, except they also pay full rate for being the guinea pigs.

I hope Disney have a contingency plan because they only have 4 months left. I hope all the ordered furniture and linen are in stock. Or this board will be full of angry messages in just a few months.

 

[DebbieB]

With the other resorts, you still get a chance to go and stay indoor as needed. But the construction workers won't stay on scaffold or in a crane to work if there is a hurricane... So Oct 23 date is not guaranteed, right? Now they are fully booked, hmmm.

Also, most developers get delayed one way or the other way in a real condo sale, even without any major reason. So it is very ambitious to start booking without finishing it first or have a soft opening. I guess the first few guests are their beta testers, except they also pay full rate for being the guinea pigs.

I hope Disney have a contingency plan because they only have 4 months left. I hope all the ordered furniture and linen are in stock. Or this board will be full of angry messages in just a few months.

I'm sure they took that into consideration. I don't think there's every been a DVC delayed after reservations started. The outside is almost done now. They typically have castmembers stay in the resort for a "trial run" before it's open to the public so no guests are "guinea pigs".

 

[AmyB2006]

I seriously doubt that will happen.

 

[disneynutz]

It's a long and involved process finishing a building. The interiors have been siting in warehouses for awhile now and the construction workers are working double shifts. There are time lines and daily meetings and they are not locked into the items that you see in the model, that can and has already changed.

Bill

 

[DenLo]

With the other resorts, you still get a chance to go and stay indoor as needed. But the construction workers won't stay on scaffold or in a crane to work if there is a hurricane... So Oct 23 date is not guaranteed, right? Now they are fully booked, hmmm.

Also, most developers get delayed one way or the other way in a real condo sale, even without any major reason. So it is very ambitious to start booking without finishing it first or have a soft opening. I guess the first few guests are their beta testers, except they also pay full rate for being the guinea pigs.

I hope Disney have a contingency plan because they only have 4 months left. I hope all the ordered furniture and linen are in stock. Or this board will be full of angry messages in just a few months.

Actually the DVC has employees stay at a resort during the week before opening doing the testing of everything in a room including checking outlets.

When BLT opened they actually opened weeks earlier than planned. When it was realized they opened the earlier dates after the Beta testing period to reservations. A lot of people were unhappy because as owners they had planned to the first ones to stay at the resort but with their airfare already purchased it wasn't feasible to change reservations. A lot of non-members and cash guests stayed at BLT for those extra weeks. But BLT was different than VGF, a higher percentage of rooms have been declared for VGF so more members can reserve the rooms. Whereas at BLT more of the resort was still owned by DVD versus what was declared for members at opening.

But yes, it is a risk making a reservation for opening day or that week at a resort. The employees are still getting use to working there and they are still in the shake down mode--perfecting the operations of the resort. Since there aren't any shops or even a community hall, there will be less items to work the bugs out.

I am curious to see if they will have eventually have a check in counter at VGF. With the circular driveway and the Common element space on the floor plans it appears they have room for Bell Services. But I can't tell how big the lobby will be either, there might not be room for a check in counter. But it is a very small resort with a maximum of 147 units or 141 2BRs plus 6 GVs, so it might not be practical for them to have such a set up. Not to mention the added expense.

And if mother nature steps in and affects construction there is nothing you can do about it. So I wouldn't worry about it. I would think Disney would cancel the reservations. They might try to get you into other resorts, but there is no guarantee.

 

[PrincessMer]

I am curious to see if they will have eventually have a check in counter at VGF. With the circular driveway and the Common element space on the floor plans it appears they have room for Bell Services. But I can't tell how big the lobby will be either, there might not be room for a check in counter. But it is a very small resort with a maximum of 147 units or 141 2BRs plus 6 GVs, so it might not be practical for them to have such a set up. Not to mention the added.

I have heard that there will be a check in counter at VGF.

 

[Airb330]

I'm sure there are liquid damages specified in the contract that if the construction company does not finish by a certain deadline they must pay X amount of dollars per day. Those damages are likely to be quite substantial. Now, there may be a clause that an Act of God negates these payments. In that case, there is probably a substantial insurance policy on the project. The money will be there, in either case.

That money would then pay for rooms in GF or other resorts at minimum if VGF is not ready on 10-23.

 

[rlovew]

I am scheduled to be there on opening day but if it was delayed and they couldn't book me another room at GFV for a similar time period and points then I would expect them to allow me to put the points I borrowed for the stay back into my 2013 use year and use them for my next stay. If they ended up having to do that I would be satisfied. At the same point if they end up deciding to open early as a member at VGF I would want the opportunity to change my stay to the new opening day once it was announced. Since we only live 1.5 hours away and always drive as well as having flexible work schedules we can easily change and our only planning that particular trip to stay on opening day, although we will enjoy the food and wine festival as long as we are at Disney.

 

[drusba]

If it is like prior resorts, DVD did not provide an opening date until it was fairly certain that the place would actually be finished and through the required local government occupancy approval process more than a month before that date, even allowing for construction delays. Both BLT and AKV ended up opening more than a month before the original scheduled time. The things DVD likely does not factor in are disasters such as fire, explosion or a destructive hurricane, which would be a very rare event in mid-Florida, and if those actually occurred there would be a delay.