Home resort for direct add-on

[KAT4DISNEY]

Very interesting about the numerous others that where on the Oct BLT waitlist longer than I was.

I love BCV, but we have 200 points there already, that should totally cover our Epcot area stays.

We've (supposedly) been in the VGC waitlist since last July, and my guide told me he needed to go up the chain a couple levels to get me on it. He assures me that I'm still on it. I could see it opening up a bit with the new use year rules, despite it's size.

Lastly, I was very clear in my questioning with my guide on the dues (as I had the same suspicion). My guide assured me 2018 was dues free, and I get those since that's the use year we're currently in. I would start paying prorated dues on the 2019 points in April--so 9 months worth of dues for the full 2019 allocation. I'll follow up here if that is not the case!

Your dues will be prorated from the date you sign and based on the 2019 amounts.

To get a little technical dues are paid on an annual basis but UY's start at different times which means that technically the "points" that are being paid for is different. A Feb UY is paying for 1 month of 2018 "points" and 11 months of 2019 "points" with what is considered the 2019 dues. An October UY is paying for 9 months that are in their 2018 UY and 3 months in their 2019 UY.

 

[crvetter]

Very interesting about the numerous others that where on the Oct BLT waitlist longer than I was.

I love BCV, but we have 200 points there already, that should totally cover our Epcot area stays.

We've (supposedly) been in the VGC waitlist since last July, and my guide told me he needed to go up the chain a couple levels to get me on it. He assures me that I'm still on it. I could see it opening up a bit with the new use year rules, despite it's size.

Lastly, I was very clear in my questioning with my guide on the dues (as I had the same suspicion). My guide assured me 2018 was dues free, and I get those since that's the use year we're currently in. I would start paying prorated dues on the 2019 points in April--so 9 months worth of dues for the full 2019 allocation. I'll follow up here if that is not the case!

Yeah that seems right since dues are based on a calendar year, not related to Use Year. So because we are in calendar year 2019 those are dues to be paid by you (prorated for when you owened the points). And if your Use Year hasn’t occurred yes you get 2018’s point since that’s the Use Year. Also in a December Use Year, for example, you could purchase in November than pay no dues for 2018 and 1-2 months for 2019 points only when buying direct.

It gets confusing because resales treats dues very differently than buying direct. Resale sellers typically want the dues reimbursed for the current Use Year for the % of points available to be used. But direct works as described above.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

What is the use year? We .Recently bought and paid pro rated dues for 2018, and full dues for 2019 . Sounds like it is a December use year, so you are still in 2018 until 12-01-2019, so it sound like you are paying pro rated 2018 dues, and full 2019 dues. You may ant to call them.

If you bought direct in 2019 the dues should have been prorated from the date you signed.

 

[lovin'fl]

I thought it would be they pay prorated 2019 meaning from March to Dec...10 months. They get 2018 free. That's what I thought we did when we bought direct 4 times. Our last buy was CCV Aug UY and we bought in July 2018. We paid 6/12 of 2018 dues. But got 2017 points forward.

Edited to change to 6/12.

Edited to show what we paid...$224.24 in Aug 2018 after we bought in July. 70 points. Should have been $508.20 for full 2018 year. So we got 2017 for no dues and paid half of 2018.

 

[ray3127]

Pulled the trigger on 75 BLT Oct UY direct points today. Having mild second thoughts about (1) Riviera, or (2) waiting for Grand Floridian points.

1. Reading the Riviera threads, I'm thinking 'this actually doesn't look half bad'. Looked into Skyliner a bit more, and I'm convinced that it HAS to work. If it does, that's incredible access to Epcot & Hollywood Studios, our two favorite parks. The buy-in is lower, and while the dues are higher I believe the speculation that the other resorts will catch up soon enough. And in general the place looks like somewhere we would like to stay.

2. We are more than happy with studios, and it seems like the only shot we'll have at VGF studios is to own there. 1-bedrooms are pretty available, but they are awfully expensive. The studios are expensive enough. I'd really like the ability to book at VGF during our travel windows. If these points were available today, I think I would lean that way, though I can't say for sure. But they aren't, and I'm looking at buying an AP within 3 weeks, and really our #1 issue when we bought in was walkability, so BLT is probably the safe bet... I keep talking myself in circles.

Of course, we can use our BLT points to stay at both VGF & DRR, and having BLT as a 'back-up' isn't a bad deal. We do love it there. I'm just a little hesitant now, thinking we should spread our points around a bit more and not be so heavily invested in BLT.

 

[lovin'fl]

Pulled the trigger on 75 BLT Oct UY direct points today. Having mild second thoughts about (1) Riviera, or (2) waiting for Grand Floridian points.

1. Reading the Riviera threads, I'm thinking 'this actually doesn't look half bad'. Looked into Skyliner a bit more, and I'm convinced that it HAS to work. If it does, that's incredible access to Epcot & Hollywood Studios, our two favorite parks. The buy-in is lower, and while the dues are higher I believe the speculation that the other resorts will catch up soon enough. And in general the place looks like somewhere we would like to stay.

2. We are more than happy with studios, and it seems like the only shot we'll have at VGF studios is to own there. 1-bedrooms are pretty available, but they are awfully expensive. The studios are expensive enough. I'd really like the ability to book at VGF during our travel windows. If these points were available today, I think I would lean that way, though I can't say for sure. But they aren't, and I'm looking at buying an AP within 3 weeks, and really our #1 issue when we bought in was walkability, so BLT is probably the safe bet... I keep talking myself in circles.

Of course, we can use our BLT points to stay at both VGF & DRR, and having BLT as a 'back-up' isn't a bad deal. We do love it there. I'm just a little hesitant now, thinking we should spread our points around a bit more and not be so heavily invested in BLT.

Congrats! I think it's a good choice and you have a nice spread. This big chunk at BLT will get you decent stays there. We too like to have walk-ability, but solely to Epcot pretty much. So I'd never consider Riviera. Not so sure the gondola is going to move a lot of people quickly (I just keep thinking about Spaceship Earth or People Mover which have been long slow lines last couple times we've been on. People are just so slow to get on and have lots of crap they need to maneuver (including scooters, strollers and wagons now....Oh, and dogs). They have to take some part off line to get scooters on??? That will be often (more so than other places that have gondolas). You just don't know. Walking, though, is in your own control. Plus, like you mentioned, those dues are so high.

 

[ray3127]

Congrats! I think it's a good choice and you have a nice spread. This big chunk at BLT will get you decent stays there. We too like to have walk-ability, but solely to Epcot pretty much. So I'd never consider Riviera. Not so sure the gondola is going to move a lot of people quickly (I just keep thinking about Spaceship Earth or People Mover which have been long slow lines last couple times we've been on. People are just so slow to get on and have lots of crap they need to maneuver (including scooters, strollers and wagons now....Oh, and dogs). They have to take some part off line to get scooters on??? That will be often (more so than other places that have gondolas). You just don't know. Walking, though, is in your own control. Plus, like you mentioned, those dues are so high.

All great points, I really appreciate it and think you are right. We are big on walking (BLT, BCV, and VGC) for all those reasons. The loading process will be very interesting to see. Having the big chunk at one place will make life easy, and we will have enough for 1-BRs elsewhere when needed.

We should be good until that Epcot main gate DVC opens up!

 

[Katie L]

Congrats! I think it's a good choice and you have a nice spread. This big chunk at BLT will get you decent stays there. We too like to have walk-ability, but solely to Epcot pretty much. So I'd never consider Riviera. Not so sure the gondola is going to move a lot of people quickly (I just keep thinking about Spaceship Earth or People Mover which have been long slow lines last couple times we've been on. People are just so slow to get on and have lots of crap they need to maneuver (including scooters, strollers and wagons now....Oh, and dogs). They have to take some part off line to get scooters on??? That will be often (more so than other places that have gondolas). You just don't know. Walking, though, is in your own control. Plus, like you mentioned, those dues are so high.

Have you seen them? It actually seems pretty efficient... There's essentially an outer loop for limited mobility folks that runs slower than the "regular" gondolas...

 

[lovin'fl]

Have you seen them? It actually seems pretty efficient... There's essentially an outer loop for limited mobility folks that runs slower than the "regular" gondolas...

Just saw them first week of March. They have no people with all their crap in them yet. So it's easy to move them efficiently now. Once the gobs of people hauling all their stuff line up to get on....that'll be the true test.

 

[Katie L]

Just saw them first week of March. They have no people with all their crap in them yet. So it's easy to move them efficiently now. Once the gobs of people hauling all their stuff line up to get on....that'll be the true test.

Yea, I do wonder how they'll separate folks - my theory is anyone with ANYTHING with wheels will go to the slower line. It'd be awesome if they did bag check there and you could skip at entrance - but that's probably a pipe dream.

 

[ray3127]

Have you seen them? It actually seems pretty efficient... There's essentially an outer loop for limited mobility folks that runs slower than the "regular" gondolas...

Just saw them first week of March. They have no people with all their crap in them yet. So it's easy to move them efficiently now. Once the gobs of people hauling all their stuff line up to get on....that'll be the true test.

I really feel like this is the massive wildcard. If they work flawlessly and wait times are minimal (under 5 minutes), then I would likely be sold.

We were in Colorado last week and rode a similar gondola system in Breckenridge, and while it moves quickly once it's going, the loading process is my major concern. They do have to slow down quite a bit to load/unload, especially when considering all of the stuff people have with them (not to mention the wheeled items you guys brought up). And considering the sheer number of people it will have to carry, I'm not convinced it won't be a monorail-type wait at times.

We LOVE Epcot & HS, even more so with SWGE, so a long-term resort over there is very attractive. But I don't think I can commit without seeing the Skyliner truly work yet.

 

[crvetter]

I really feel like this is the massive wildcard. If they work flawlessly and wait times are minimal (under 5 minutes), then I would likely be sold.

We were in Colorado last week and rode a similar gondola system in Breckenridge, and while it moves quickly once it's going, the loading process is my major concern. They do have to slow down quite a bit to load/unload, especially when considering all of the stuff people have with them (not to mention the wheeled items you guys brought up). And considering the sheer number of people it will have to carry, I'm not convinced it won't be a monorail-type wait at times.

We LOVE Epcot & HS, even more so with SWGE, so a long-term resort over there is very attractive. But I don't think I can commit without seeing the Skyliner truly work yet.

As for capacity I believe it is 4,000-5,000 pph which is fairly significant and will be a constant capacity throughout the day. Since the system is bidirectional that means it can carry 4,000-5,000 pph into a station and 4,000-5,000 pph out of a station. Though while they slow down in the station it doesn't actually slow down the gondolas on the haul rope, since those in the station are removed from the haul rope and stacked on top of each other in the station, which allows for the slow down. Plus you'll only ride that slowly through half the station because one side should be for unload then the other load. The secondary loop from my understanding is pretty unique to Disney and should allow for them to be removed and re-entered seamlessly (allowing for the ECV loading).

I'm personally really interested in how they will work too. Looking forward to trying them on my next trip if open in November.

 

[ray3127]

As for capacity I believe it is 4,000-5,000 pph which is fairly significant and will be a constant capacity throughout the day. Since the system is bidirectional that means it can carry 4,000-5,000 pph into a station and 4,000-5,000 pph out of a station.

I'm personally really interested in how they will work too. Looking forward to trying them on my next trip if open in November.

Let's say somebody loads at AoA en route to either park. It appears that the DRR/CB station is a 'stop' along the way. Will there be dedicated lines so DRR guests can get right on? Or is it possible they have to wait for empty cars?

Is this not even a concern at all? Am I missing something?

 

[ljmiii]

It appears that the DRR/CB station is a 'stop' along the way. Will there be dedicated lines so DRR guests can get right on? Or is it possible they have to wait for empty cars?

Is this not even a concern at all? Am I missing something?

No...it's definitely a concern. For guests to get on at DRR and go to EPCOT there will have to be empty seats to accommodate them. It is conjectured that CB station may send some gondolas along the line empty...but in the morning Pop, Animation, and CB guests will all be queuing in the line to go to EPCOT.

Also, there doesn't appear to be a 2nd loop at DRR. So maybe they plan on a small number of buses to ferry disabled guests from DRR to EPCOT and HS?

 

[crvetter]

Let's say somebody loads at AoA en route to either park. It appears that the DRR/CB station is a 'stop' along the way. Will there be dedicated lines so DRR guests can get right on? Or is it possible they have to wait for empty cars?

Is this not even a concern at all? Am I missing something?

CBR never has to change lines (since they are the hub), Pop/AoA have to change lines for HS and Epcot, and Riviera only needs to change lines for HS. So you are correct the Riviera station is an "online" station meaning that they exist on the continuous cable run between CBR and Epcot. As of right now that is the big unknown on how Disney will handle that station, will they leave every X car empty for loading at Riviera, will Riviera fill the empty space in the cabins that were left at CBR. Unfortunately for us DVC people it is the most important station.

Riviera's station is about a 1/2 mile from the hub at CBR I believe.

 

[crvetter]

Also, there doesn't appear to be a 2nd loop at DRR. So maybe they plan on a small number of buses to ferry disabled guests from DRR to EPCOT and HS?

I've wondered if they ferry them to the main station only and have them hop on the Gondola there. Would be much cheaper for Disney to run a bus 1 mile round trip.

 

[ray3127]

For guests to get on at DRR and go to EPCOT there will have to be empty seats to accommodate them. It is conjectured that CB station may send some gondolas along the line empty...but in the morning Pop, Animation, and CB guests will all be queuing in the line to go to EPCOT.

They're going to have to send empty gondolas, that's the only way to manage the flow.

Part of me wants to assume they have this all figured out and it will run flawlessly.

But then part of me remembers why I don't trust the monorail anymore. Although that was conceived long before the gondolas... Yet, they still "sell" the monorail as a great feature, even though it is often more trouble than it's worth.

 

[lovin'fl]

Yep ^^ my thoughts exactly.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

They're going to have to send empty gondolas, that's the only way to manage the flow.

Part of me wants to assume they have this all figured out and it will run flawlessly.

But then part of me remembers why I don't trust the monorail anymore. Although that was conceived long before the gondolas... Yet, they still "sell" the monorail as a great feature, even though it is often more trouble than it's worth.

Just consider when you head to a bus stop currently. Have you ever seen people streaming along to wait for a bus like they stream to load a Doom Buggy or something similar? If buses run every 20 minutes so 3 times an hour - and capacity? Can you even get 60 people on a bus? I'm really unaware although I do know they can hold a lot. Let's just use 100ppl every 20 minutes to 300 per resort. Or there are the double length buses for some of the Values. So double it to 600 which I think is an over estimate. And then multiply by the number of resorts. Itt's still far less than a 4-5K number/hour. And much of the day it's nowhere near full buses either going to or from the parks. They'll end up with empty cars even without having to choose to do it.

Oh - and of course guests going to 2 parks. Still, leaves you under 4-5k per hour.