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Fees for DVC exchanges

ronandjoan

ronandjoan

TUG Review Crew: Elite
TUG Member
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Location
Seattle area
Resorts Owned
Telemark, Townhouses at St Augustine Beach and Tennis Club, Stoneridge Resort (ID)
The Interval website says the following for Disney resorts. What does it mean? Amt?
"A resort services fee is required prior to check-in."

Thanks
 
The fee is $95 for the week. No discount if you plan to stay less than a full week.

Don't expect anything additional for the fee. That's what it costs to stay there!
 
Here's the wording from the confirmation:

"A pre-paid, non-refundable USD 95 resort services fee, per unit is required. This fee covers the use of DVC Member Services for making advance dining reservations, golf tee times and other vacation planning. For PAYMENT and inquires about other Disney programs, such as Disney’s Dining Plan and the Magical Express airport transportation service,which must be reserved prior to arrival, call 800-800-9800 or 407-566-3800 and select option 3 for Member Services.

PAYMENT OF RESORT SERVICES FEE MUST BE RECEIVED NO LESS THAN 72 HOURS PRIOR TO THE UNIT’S SCHEDULED CHECK-IN DATE."
 
Transportation fee...

That $95 fee used to be called a "transportation fee" to use their bus/boat system between the resort and the parks.

Noone ever checked who was getting on/off the buses so it was actually a fee for a "free included services" and it was charged even if you had your own transportation.
 
If you have your own car, parking will be free. All you have to do is show your parking pass. :) I don't know how much it costs to park these days but 7 days used to save $70 in parking fees for the week.

We liked taking the boat from Old Key West to Downtown Disney. No parking hassles and we enjoyed dinner at Captain Jack's. ;)
 
It is $10-15 a day to park. But check with AAA if your a member they have a diamond parking card or something along those lines that can get you up close to the beginning of the parking lots.
 
WOW! thanks everyone!
 
rickandcindy23 said:
If you have your own car, parking will be free. All you have to do is show your parking pass. :) I don't know how much it costs to park these days but 7 days used to save $70 in parking fees for the week.

We liked taking the boat from Old Key West to Downtown Disney. No parking hassles and we enjoyed dinner at Captain Jack's. ;)
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Not from the bogus $95 fee. That does not cover parking nor does it cover transportation which is given to anyone that has a Disney ticket (they usually don't even check to see if you have any) - even an expired one. Why anyone would want to deal with the slow, time consuming (read wasting park time you pay dearly for) transportation system is beyond me. It is one of the better things about Universal that they built the parking garages close to the parks and you can easily walk in quickly. The Disney system, while quite an accomplishment, is space wasting (all that spread out paved parking area) and frustratingly slow. Plus you have to deal in most cases with changing from a tram to another type of transport - all time they are keeping you out of the parks which appears to be the real goal of the unnecessarily convoluted system. It is OK at the parks themselves but the trams and buses are a nightmare.

But back to the $95 exchange penalty. Thats all it is and it is a bogus as they come.
 
timeos2 said:
Why anyone would want to deal with the slow, time consuming (read wasting park time you pay dearly for) transportation system is beyond me.
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As it turns out, we've come to love the transportation system starting with Magical Express providing ground transfers between the airport and resort. Not having a rental car is fine with me -- and made even better with airline check-in conducted right at the resort. Well worth the fee to me. ;)
 
timeos2 said:
But back to the $95 exchange penalty. Thats all it is and it is a bogus as they come.
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I don't know whether exchanger should pay $95.00 but I love the Disney Transportation. I like the buses and boat ride. I don't need to worry about parking and going from the car to the entry of the park. It is so easy to take a bus and magic express. I don't need to wait for my luggage at the airport (save at least 30 minutes). I never need to wait more than 10 minutes for a bus.
 
timeos2 said:
It is one of the better things about Universal that they built the parking garages close to the parks and you can easily walk in quickly.
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We do not find the Universal parking to be convenient at all. We couldn't believe how long the walk was! I am not a huge fan of Disney's parking/tram system, but we generally have no issues with the buses.
 
John, parking is included. Our resort parking pass gets us in FREE. What other resort in the Disney area provides free parking in the parks? NONE! So I consider the $95 an okay value.
 
Disney. Profits up? Good. Raise the prices!

rickandcindy23 said:
John, parking is included. Our resort parking pass gets us in FREE. What other resort in the Disney area provides free parking in the parks? NONE! So I consider the $95 an okay value.
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Cindy - The $95 would be a deal if that's what it was getting you. But it's not. The parking pass, like the transportation, is in the package for the resort - paid for by the RTU fees just like you pay for the water at your home resort. Does your home resort charge exchange guests a $45/week water fee? Or a $95 parking fee? Of course not, that would fly in the face of the very idea of exchange.

The $95 is greed pure and simple. It gets you nothing that you didn't already have coming as part of the trade. RCI of the 90's (today they would probably add it themselves!) recognized that and wouldn't allow DVC to tack it on. Needless to say the name dropping II was more than happy to break their own rules and let DVC charge it.
 
timeos2 said:
Cindy - The $95 would be a deal if that's what it was getting you. But it's not. The parking pass, like the transportation, is in the package for the resort - paid for by the RTU fees just like you pay for the water at your home resort.
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Wrong. There is no provision in the DVC budget for parking.
Free parking is a perk.
 
Carl D said:
Wrong. There is no provision in the DVC budget for parking.
Free parking is a perk.
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But its a perk that comes with the resort stay - nothing to do with the $95 penalty fee. Not even Disney is petty enough to charge their own resorts for parking. (Or maybe they just haven't thought of it yet - now that you brought it up you may see it next budget!)

The poorly planned parking situation leads to these crazy results. They planned the parking booths to charge everyone that drives through then they built features behind those booths that need to offer free parking (resorts, restaurants, etc). So they have to hand out passes which are good at any entrance as the old honor system broke down a decade ago.

Of course anyone that wants to beat the whole system just parks at Downtown Disney and uses the free transportation to get where they want to go on site. If it wasn't so slow it would be a good plan. Usually it's not worth the long wait and round about routes the buses take and then you have to change to a monorail or boat or something else to kill even more time. Even worse than just driving in, paying the fee and only dealing with two or three different queues into packed quarters.

Best of all you can skip it all and enjoy the magic of open spaces, free access and reasonable prices. In other words you stay away from Di$ney. Thats the magic we really enjoy.
 
timeos2 said:
But its a perk that comes with the resort stay
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But a perk can be given to whoever they want. They choose to give it to guests that actually give money to stay at a Disney Resort.
 
Neither Disney nor II is forcing anyone to trade into Disney and thus pay the $95 fee. It seems like a lot of people want to. Including me. I own DVC but I also trade into it twice a year, paying the $95.

And I am sure you are going to say again that anyone trading out of DVC should have to pay a $95 fee also. That would be fine with me because I will never trade my DVC.
 
timeos2 said:
The poorly planned parking situation leads to these crazy results. They planned the parking booths to charge everyone that drives through then they built features behind those booths that need to offer free parking (resorts, restaurants, etc). So they have to hand out passes which are good at any entrance as the old honor system broke down a decade ago.
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I don't think it's quite so simple. The toll attendant will wave you through, but you need a specific parking pass from the resort you are visiting. These have a time limit, and are not good at any other gate.
Of course anyone that wants to beat the whole system just parks at Downtown Disney and uses the free transportation to get where they want to go on site. If it wasn't so slow it would be a good plan. Usually it's not worth the long wait and round about routes the buses take and then you have to change to a monorail or boat or something else to kill even more time.
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True. Years ago the busses ran from Downtown directly to the parks. They stoped that practice for the reason you described.
Best of all you can skip it all and enjoy the magic of open spaces, free access and reasonable prices. In other words you stay away from Di$ney. Thats the magic we really enjoy.
Click to expand...
If that's what makes you happy while vacationing in Orlando, than go for it.
For others it may be well worth the addmission, parking, and resort costs to visit WDW.
 
Kinda of funny that RCI would not let DVC add a $95 fee, when Smugglers Notch adds a significant fee (I think it is over $200) and I also think I have read recently where Summer Bay charges a $50 housekeeping fee.

If people want to stay at these places, then they will pay it. I don't think it is right or fair, but it seems to be the way the industry is going.

I personally feel that it is worth paying the extra $95 to stay in rooms that Disney usually rents for one night at an amount close to an average timeshares maintenance fees.

Lisa
 
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ronandjoan said:
How and when do you exchange INTO DVC - when is best time?
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I have traded every month except June thru Sept. and that was by choice. My next exchange is into a 1BR at OKW the last of Jan. 2008. Jan. is a fairly easy trade as is a 1 BR at OKW or SSR. I have also gotten 2 BR at both of these resorts.

It is harder to get anything but a studio at the other resorts but it can be done.
 
The idea of an exchange says you owe nothing

SOS8260456 said:
Kinda of funny that RCI would not let DVC add a $95 fee, when Smugglers Notch adds a significant fee (I think it is over $200) and I also think I have read recently where Summer Bay charges a $50 housekeeping fee.

If people want to stay at these places, then they will pay it. I don't think it is right or fair, but it seems to be the way the industry is going.

I personally feel that it is worth paying the extra $95 a night to stay in rooms that Disney usually rents for one night at an amount close to an average timeshares maintenance fees.

Lisa
Click to expand...

While I don't think any timeshare exchange should have a fee attached (the owner who gave it up already paid for the costs just as you do at your resort) but at least in the case of Smugglers Notch you get something for your money. DVC has never provided any service that wasn't already paid for by the long term renters whose time you are using.

At Smugglers Notch, last time I checked, if you didn't want to use the features covered by the fee you could avoid it. Not so with DVC and now Manhattan Club where you trade in you pay.

It's not a problem - just don't go to those resorts. That only hurts the owners there as their trade value should be negatively impacted if enough people avoid them. Actually it is one of many reasons the whole idea of trading timeshares now appears to be headed toward extinction as either owner use or rentals will be the primary method of occupancy within the next decade. II and RCI as week for week exchange companies are on borrowed time even now.
 
SOS8260456 said:
I personally feel that it is worth paying the extra $95 a night to stay in rooms that Disney usually rents for one night at an amount close to an average timeshares maintenance fees.
Click to expand...

That's how I look at it (though it's $95 for the week - not per night). While I am not a Disney fan, I am going to stay onsite this fall specifically to go to the Epcot food & wine festival, and the Cirque du Soleil show (which we can walk to from DSS). The total for my exchange for a week into the 1BR there cost me less than $500 (that includes my the portion of my MF associated with my deposited week, the II exchange fee, and the $95 fee). If I had used an AC to trade in, which I actually snagged the DSS unit with initially, it would have cost even less - $249 plus Florida tax plus the $95.

So - while you don't have to pay the $95 fee if you stay in one of the onsite hotels, or rent at one of the ts directly from Disney, I doubt that you could stay for a 1BR for a week in any of those for the $400-$500 that exchanging in costs.
 
Have they started charging Florida tax when using an accomodation certificate? My last use of an A/C was 2 months ago for a week this coming Jan. and no tax was charged.
 
sandcastles said:
Have they started charging Florida tax when using an accomodation certificate? My last use of an A/C was 2 months ago for a week this coming Jan. and no tax was charged.
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Yes, they now charge tax on ACs - that was news to me too. I thought only Getaways were charged tax in the past. The amount varies according to the location.
 
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