Which DVC properties provide luggage carts?

[MichaelColey]

Animal Kingdom Villas - Several threads report carts available near the elevators in the parking garages, but others haven't seen any.
Bay Lake - No carts available / must use bell services
Beach Club Villas - Has carts available for use?
Boardwalk Villas - ?
Old Key West - ?
Saratoga Springs - No carts available / must use bell services
Wilderness Lodge - They have carts, but won't let you use them / must use bell services

Aulani - ?
Grand Californian - ?
Hilton Head - has luggage wagons near the parking lots
Vero Beach - available in lobby and near the elevators in each building

[Let me know your experiences, and I'll update the master list above.]

We just arrived at Saratoga Springs and were surprised that we weren't able to use luggage carts to bring our own stuff up. We were driving, so we had quite a bit more than usual and a lot of it was "loose". I ended up calling Bell Services to see if they could bring me a cart. They came over (with a dolly instead of a cart), but insisted on doing it themselves. I would have rather done it myself, but it was nice to have a hand and well worth the tip.

We have a number of other DVC stays coming up, and I was wondering what to expect. I searched around, but couldn't find much. Let me know what your experience has been and I'll update the list above.

 

[rlovew]

I don't think any of the DVC resorts have carts available for guests to use. All of them have Bell Services to help out though.

I know the Bay Lake does not foir sure though. We never use anything as we don't normally have many bags.

 

[ToddyLu]

We have had two DVC trips so far, we used bell services for the luggage both times at AKV and I did not see an empty cart anywhere near the area which is what I expected. When we arrived at 10p.m. for our first night at Pop before the DVC stay--bell services was right there to help with luggage. We also had our luggage transferred since it was a split stay and it was nice. I just always get extra bills for our tips at WDW--I expect it. I like talking to the bellmen/women anyway.

 

[DVCconvert]

VB - lobby and near the elevators in each building.
Bell service available upon request.

 

[DebbieB]

I've never seen guests using a cart at Boardwalk.

 

[Deb & Bill]

The luggage carts all belong to Bell Services. If you want to use a cart, you'll have to let them do it and tip accordingly.

 

[jekjones1558]

HHI has luggage wagons near the parking lots.

 

[TreesyB]

Reason I like Disney is because of Bell Services. If I only have my wheeled luggage then I don't bother, but at SSR it's quite necessary if you don't have a car. The first time I ever stayed there the front desk didn't tell me you could get a ride to the villa from Bell Services. Me and my then 5 year old dragged our luggage to the room. I wasn't happy. Bell services does an important job, and I appreciate it, and one of the reasons I bought into DVC.

 

[Billary41]

The luggage carts all belong to Bell Services. If you want to use a cart, you'll have to let them do it and tip accordingly.

Not at AKL. I've used them there twice. I can't remember where I got it though..

 

[Dean]

To my knowledge, only HH and VB have had luggage carts for member use.

 

[MichaelColey]

We're currently at VWL. They have plenty of luggage carts but they are exclusively for the use of bell services and they won't let you use them.

 

[Sammie]

Only HHI and Vero Beach, any place else they belong to bell services and if they were left somewhere it was not for the purpose of guests using them on their own.

 

[pnyltwk]

The carts at Beach Club are for bell services and the parking lot can be a long walk with luggage. When I was there last month I was hassled by bell services for leaving our car unattended while taking our luggage to the room. I parked out front where everyone else was unloading. During one of the trips between the room and the car I was confronted by a bell hop demanding that I leave my car keys with him or I would have to remove my car. I was not feeling the magic. That may be our first and last Beach Club stay.

 

[DebbieB]

The carts at Beach Club are for bell services and the parking lot can be a long walk with luggage. When I was there last month I was hassled by bell services for leaving our car unattended while taking our luggage to the room. I parked out front where everyone else was unloading. During one of the trips between the room and the car I was confronted by a bell hop demanding that I leave my car keys with him or I would have to remove my car. I was not feeling the magic. That may be our first and last Beach Club stay.

You can't leave a car unattended in the valet area, that is true of any hotel. If you want to go back and forth and not use bell services, you should park in the lot. Or what I do is leave all the luggage with one person at the entrance and then park the car.

 

[rigsby25]

Once at AKV Jambo house, we got into our room before 4, but by 8:00 pm our luggage and groceries had not made it up. We told them we could bring it up ourselves - just let us use a cart. They told us no - for insurance reasons, they can't let guests use the carts. So we dragged all our luggage and groceries up ourselves without a cart. Manpower and many trips.

 

[dianeschlicht]

The carts at Beach Club are for bell services and the parking lot can be a long walk with luggage. When I was there last month I was hassled by bell services for leaving our car unattended while taking our luggage to the room. I parked out front where everyone else was unloading. During one of the trips between the room and the car I was confronted by a bell hop demanding that I leave my car keys with him or I would have to remove my car. I was not feeling the magic. That may be our first and last Beach Club stay.

You should NEVER leave your car unattended in the unloading area. We usually drive up and unload the car, and then one of us stays with the luggage while the other parks the car. Since we often only have a carry-on plus our Owner's Locker, it doesn't take us long to unload. If we are staying at SSR or OKW, we just drive to our building and unload there. We actually do the same at Kidani, but not at Jambo.

 

[myxdvz]

The carts at Beach Club are for bell services and the parking lot can be a long walk with luggage. When I was there last month I was hassled by bell services for leaving our car unattended while taking our luggage to the room. I parked out front where everyone else was unloading. During one of the trips between the room and the car I was confronted by a bell hop demanding that I leave my car keys with him or I would have to remove my car. I was not feeling the magic. That may be our first and last Beach Club stay.

Sorry, didn't you think it was rude to everyone else to park where everyone else is unloading and leave your car unattended (blocking everyone) and can't be moved if needed?

OKW have luggage carts (and golf carts) with Bell Services. We really needed them since we had 9 pieces of luggage and 2 strollers for our family of 8. Getting all those luggage with 4 kids in tow up the 3rd floor with no elevator!

 

[Dean]

Leaving the car unattended in the loading/unloading area or taking the bell carts without permission are both inappropriate actions. Even attended I don't think it's reasonable to leave it while one takes things to the room and back unless there are extenuating circumstances above just volume. I'm not sure asking to use the carts from bell services is all that great of an idea either.

 

[pnyltwk]

I was not parked where bell services is. I was not blocking anyone. I was pulled over to the left away from the entrance. There were other cars doing the same thing. I saw nothing wrong with what I was doing and only needed to make two trips to get everything. Did not see it as being a big deal.

 

[Dean]

I was not parked where bell services is. I was not blocking anyone. I was pulled over to the left away from the entrance. There were other cars doing the same thing. I saw nothing wrong with what I was doing and only needed to make two trips to get everything. Did not see it as being a big deal.

Obviously Bell Services and/or valet did and I would agree with them. There may be specific circumstances where it's reasonable to leave the car unattended in that area but I can't think of a single one at present based on unloading the car. In this situation one should either unload and move the car leaving the items off to the side, leave someone with the car who has a key, leave the key in the car and let the Valet know or ask Bell services if you can leave it there and offer to leave the key with them or some similar approach. That it did not seem in the way to you at a given moment is really beside the point, things can change pretty quickly in that area creating a problem, far more quickly than you can get to the room and back. I personally HATE using both valet and bell services (more I want to be in control of my things than the cost) but given those options, I would think using the services would be a better choice than the one chosen.