Will DVC resorts accept a shipment?

[gopherit]

On the budget and family boards, folks often seem to report having shipped stuff down to WDW in advance. I never thought much about it b/c we always have our car and prices at Orlando's grocery stores and WalMart always seemed very comparable to ours -- didn't see the savings.

HOWEVER -- I have planned some fun for the 7 kids in our group, which included a bunch of goodies I bought at Disney Store over the past several months at a HUGE discount. Most of these items aren't heavy, many are small -- but when multiplied it begins to add up. Would prefer that our car not be stuffed to the gills during the 15 hr drive! THought about strapping dh to roof rack, but Toyota says he's over the weight limit. Sigh.

So -- thought about shipping part of the load. Considering some of this stuff I got at a 80% discount (and it's all lightweight) I can ship it priority even and still come out wayyyy ahead! Some folks reported being charged a fee for holding the stuff for them til they arrived -- would BCV or BWV do that? Wonder if BWV is a better bet since it has the convention center and is used to perhaps receiving stuff in advance? And if I send a shipment right before we leave, with the expectation that it would arrive in a week, about a day after we check in -- would they charge us, since they didn't have to hold it, we were already there? And if they do charge -- how much?

 

[rocketriter]

Call the hotel desk and ask. However, especially if the package arrives after you do, a charge is highly unlikely. I suspect that you can even have it arrive before you with "Please hold for check-in on [date]" marked on the package, but you should confirm this with the hotel desk. And take the name of the person who gives you an answer.

 

[minniestheone]

We shipped a large box to BWV when we stayed in June. There is no charge to hold it and it arrived two days prior ot our arrival. It goes to the business center and if you call guest services, someone will retrieve it and bring it to your room. We addressed it to the resort and put our name and check-in date on all sides of it.

 

[pattys1231]

We had no problem shipping our box of supplies directly to BCV prior to our vacation. I had phoned the hotel earlier, and they asked to make sure that the box was labeled: Hold for "guest name" and your arrival date.

I had checked with shipping a few days before to make sure that the package arrived. At checkin, they told us that we had a package waiting, and honestly the only cost was our tip to the bellman who delivered it to our room.

 

[wdwa1]

We have had packages sent to us at many WDW resorts, including the DVC resorts. We have never had a problem receiving a package at any WDW resort,

 

[BigTigger]

My daughter's new laptop for college was to be shipped to OKW during our stay the first half of August and the front desk said "no problem - just have them note you are a guest on the label". I just found out today that HP shipped the printer and wireless keyboard early and they will arrive Tuesday, a full week ahead of us. A quick call to the front desk confirmed that they will accept the items and store them until our arrival.

 

[Happy Birthday Cat]

Shipping packages to meet you at the resort is very common for those who stay over Christmas. It beats carting all the gifts along.

HBC

 

[StormalongKay]

We've also shipped to BCV, OKW and the Contemporary and never had a problem. Mostly I ship snack foods like peanut butter crackers and smaller items that we carry with us to the parks. I also ship some breakfast items, because we don't use the kitchen for much else on any stays 5 days or under. That way we skip the grocery trip!

 

[Laurabearz]

Has anyone shipped items home.... For example, if one does go over Christmas and you ship ahead gifts... how then do you cart all the stuff home???
Ship an extra suitcase?

 

[rocketriter]

You've got several different ways to ship things home. With a car, of course, you can drive to a shipping store in a mall--but that's not necessary. The hotel desk will direct you to someone who can package and ship things home for you (I've done it from WL, where it's taken care of at the Mercantile). And you can also ship things directly from any WDW store at the moment you buy it. Just pay the extra for shipping on the spot, and walk out of the store with nothing to carry but your receipt.

 

[rinkwide]

Originally posted by rocketriter
And you can also ship things directly from any WDW store at the moment you buy it. Just pay the extra for shipping on the spot, and walk out of the store with nothing to carry but your receipt.

Direct delivery is certainly convenient but if your buying fragile items I'd suggest discussing the importance of proper packaging with the CM at time of purchase. We bought about $600 worth of African art at AK and had it shipped back home. When it arrived we found it hadn't been packed well and 5 out of the 6 items we bought were destroyed.

Disney took care of it by reimbursing us but the items lost were unique and we've never been able to find replacements.

 

[PHILCT]

I found myself with too many Disney Souveniers and Collectibles for myself, there was no way the suit case was going to shut, or the airlines allowing me to take in 2 extra large bags.

I got a box from the general store at OKW, and then packed it up and the front desk shipped it out UPS for me.

They simply added the UPS charges to my revised bill when I got home, and it was just added to my other Disney Charges.

Oddly, I still was carrying home too much on the plane.

A few days later my package arrived fine !


----

The think I always want to try to do, is to ship an aero-bed
queen size (inflatable mattress) to OKW. I would like the pullout couch in the living room to be a little nicer for our added large guests. I wish I could rent one at the front desk!
They have these lighter travel oriented versions, but I don't want to take it on the plane.
I may try shipping it down next time my "big friend(s)" come with us for our next vacation.

Phil

 

[bicker]

I was hit with the package handling fee once, very unexpectedly, at the BoardWalk. It is good to hear they are no longer charging it very often, if at all.

 

[gopherit]

Originally posted by bicker
I was hit with the package handling fee once, very unexpectedly, at the BoardWalk. It is good to hear they are no longer charging it very often, if at all.

How much was that fee, just so I know what the worst case scenario would be?

Also -- for thsoe who like to ship goodies home -- someone on another thread noted that if you buy something at a WDW store and want it shipped home, (and home is not in Florida) you don't pay sales tax. Anyone else have that experience? If so -- that might help nullify the cost of shipping.

As for me -- sounds like I'll be shipping a box to BWV! We're headed to BCV first, but no sense hauling the box to our main destination (BWV) so I'll just ship it there. I think I'll also insure it for value of contents -- it's nothing irreplaceable or sentimental, just lots of kid stuff bought at a really great price! Maybe I'll throw in some of our other lighter weight items too. It would be SO NICE to have the van lightly packed such that (a) the kids can actually recline their seats and (b) we don't all spillout of an overstuffed van like clowns from a volkswagon in front of the BCV valet when we arrive!

 

[bicker]

My wife reminds me now that we found out about the fee before we left (probably thanks to the good folks either here or in rec.arts.disney), and didn't ship the box. She remembers that the fee was $6 per box.

 

[Disney Doll]

I woould agree with the poster who said to call the resort directly and ask what the particulars are of shipping...what info do they need on the box, how long are they willing to store the box, what charge will there be from the hotel to store the box. I'd also get the first and last name of the person you speak with and record the date & time of the conversation. That way, should you run into a problem on arrival, you can say "I spoke with so-and-so on July 24th at 3PM and they said..." If they check the schedule for July 24th at 3PM and so-and-so was working, then you've got some pretty strong evidence there!

As far as packing the car, you know, I read somewhere (it may have been here on the DIS) about someone who travels by car and packs everything into the Rubbermaid containers. When you think about it, that's a good idea. They're lightweight when empty, hold a lot, are waterproof, have handles, are uniform in size, stack, nest inside each other when empty. These people had a family of 4 or 5, as I recall, and used 2 for their clothing, tolietries, pool/beach stuff and 1 or 2 for their non-perishable food items, then they also brought a cooler, I think. Quick and easy to pack, unload, and store. It just seemd like a GREAT idea to me! I often feel badly for the bell services folks when you see them unloading 15 bags of varying sizes and shapes from a car, hanging stuff off the side of the luggage cart etc.

Another plus of the Rubbermaid containers is that you can use one of them as a hamper while you're there!

 

[Cobra B.]

We have shipped to the resort ahead of time a couple of times. The only thing the resort required was you reservation number on the package ( along with your name and address, of course ). It worked out very well considering we had so much stuff to drag on the plane. We sent a box with diapers, wipes, dry foods, etc. We will do this again in the future when we go by plane. In fact we will be doing it in Sept. I only wish there was a way to ship ourselves whenever we just need to get away for a quick weekend!

 

[doc hog]

My family shipped a box down to BWV last Thanksgiving. It was excellent, BWV required name, address, reservation # and the arrival date on the box. We shipped the box via UPS and the box arrived two days before our arrival. Planning to send a box again this Thanksgiving.

 

[goofy4tink]

I just sent in my netgrocer order to be shipped to BWV in a few weeks. But I didn't think to have our reservation number on it. We arrive on the day before the groceries are to be delivered so I didn't think it would be an issue. I guess I'll just alert them to it when we check in. We did the same thing at the Polynesian last summer and our package of water and juice boxes got there before we did. They just held it in back for us.

 

[kathleena]

We have shipped to both BWV and OKW - Priority Mail both times and never charged a fee at the resort.

A previous poster mentioned that all BWV packages are at the Convention Center - that is not true, it depends on the shipping method. Our USPS Priority Mail package was in the hotel with Housekeeping. The front desk sent us to the CC and the CC said - nope, USPS goes to the hotel. Desk at the hotel first tried to send us pack to the CC and (I stamped my little feet and complained about getting the run around and said if that was true, they could send Bell Services over to get it!) so they called CC themselves to be convinced that they were wrong and then couldn't find the package at the desk and then finally called Housekeeping to locate it.