when did the free valet parking end @ bwv?

[jcodespoti]

I missed something because its now $12 a day to valet your car...even for dvc members.

 

[JimMIA]

It happened at the stroke of midnight, one dark, fall night a couple of years ago. And with NO warning.

Some DVC owners literally parked their cars at night with free valet and woke up the next morning to find they owed $10.

Smooth DVC implemenation of an "...enhancement to improve the ownership experience in response to member feedback."

This particular fiasco gave new meaning to "Disney's Best-Kept Secret!"

 

[DebbieB]

I missed something because its now $12 a day to valet your car...even for dvc members.

I think it was October 2009

 

[palhockeymomof2]

I think it was October 2009

your right ...we were there the end of October 2009 and I read about the change before leaving for disney

 

[Tarheel Tink]

It happened at the stroke of midnight, one dark, fall night a couple of years ago. And with NO warning.

Some DVC owners literally parked their cars at night with free valet and woke up the next morning to find they owed $10.

Smooth DVC implemenation of an "...enhancement to improve the ownership experience in response to member feedback."

This particular fiasco gave new meaning to "Disney's Best-Kept Secret!"

 

[jekjones1558]

Just to clarify--free valet is gone at all DVC resorts.

 

[Dean]

I missed something because its now $12 a day to valet your car...even for dvc members.

The vendor had included DVC free valet as part of their bid process and when the contract was up, were not willing to cont it. DVC had to make a decision of either to pay full price for everyone that used the perk or allow those who used it to pay for their own costs. clearly the appropriate decision was to go pay to play. However, it was literally done without warning. Whether DVC knew ahead and delayed notification for whatever reason or didn't know until last minute, it was quite a shock. IMO, they should have noticed it, say for 2 weeks, then cut it off rather than so abruptly.

 

[palaemon]

Is there self parking? Is that free?

 

[jekjones1558]

Is there self parking? Is that free?

Yes, free self parking at any DVC for guests staying at that resort.

 

[LIFERBABE]

It happened at the stroke of midnight, one dark, fall night a couple of years ago. And with NO warning.

Some DVC owners literally parked their cars at night with free valet and woke up the next morning to find they owed $10.

Smooth DVC implemenation of an "...enhancement to improve the ownership experience in response to member feedback."

This particular fiasco gave new meaning to "Disney's Best-Kept Secret!"

You jest, but this is sadly accurate!

We parked for dinner at the Wave and it was free, came back out after dinner and it was $12!! I had enough cash for a tip, but had to use it to pay for the parking and borrow the rest from our guests!

Haven't stayed at BWV since either, as we often have a car.

 

[gmboy95]

this was my favorite perk....and as far as i am concerned, super cheap on the part of disney....they give you a discount on the annual pass and they take it away somewhere else!!!

 

[tjkraz]

this was my favorite perk....and as far as i am concerned, super cheap on the part of disney....they give you a discount on the annual pass and they take it away somewhere else!!!

Unfortunately Disney does not provide valet parking so it isn't their perk to give or take away.

As Dean stated a few posts ago, valet parking services are provided by an outside vendor. It was originally their choice to give members free parking and then their choice to discontinue.

Off the record I've heard that the parking service originally hoped tips from DVC members would help improve their employees' total wages, and that they could manage the volume from DVC members without adding staff. In the end, neither happened--DVC members proved to be pretty poor tippers (with many thinking that "free" parking also meant no gratuities were required), and the traffic volume was so high that staffing had to be increased.

DVC looked at rolling the costs into member dues to get a more favorable rate but ultimately decided it was better suited as a pay-for-play option. They couldn't justify making all owners share the cost when only a fraction actually use the fairly expensive perk.

 

[Dean]

this was my favorite perk....and as far as i am concerned, super cheap on the part of disney....they give you a discount on the annual pass and they take it away somewhere else!!!

Given that it was an increase somewhere without a discount, it would have been unreasonable to pass this charge along to members. Realize that this would have been a majority of members at the applicable resorts paying for the minority. It was not an issue where a significant volume discount was currently applicable nor was it a cost that could have been spread evenly over the membership.