MotherofaPrincessLover
Well-Known Member
I completely missed that
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Cabins at FW sales thread
- Thread starter nickys
- Start date
I’m thinking the designers could have squeezed in a stackable washer/dryer combo unit in somewhere. Although the laundry facilities in the bath house are super clean, they can be quite a distance away from your cabin. And if you decide to rent a golf cart, that’s an extra $65 a day.
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
Some things make sense to sell as a timeshare. A trailer that doesn't have washer and dryer that forces you to maybe rent a golf cart to get to them ain't one of them. That said, I am intrigued by these things and might try to book one at some point for a trip, but the fees and what it is make buying in prohibitive. I really think they should have had a lower buy in per point if they wanted to wrangle in more sales.
Last edited:
Honestly I think the maintenance fees are responsible for killing sales.
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
I guess what I am thinking, is do they required such high maintenance fees(and maybe it's because the way they are built etc), the buy in per point should have been lower, to at least get buyers. I know when I bought in I hadn't given a ton of thought to maintenance fees, and AKL had some pretty high ones comparatively but these cabin ones are ridiculous.
The high maintenance fees are because the cabins will need to be replaced half way through the contracts expire. And that’s going to cost a lot more than a typical hard goods room refurb.
The problem with a lower buy-in cost is that at 7 months all points are equal.
But yes, it’s the only thing that might have tipped the scales.
Another issue though is that the 150 points minimum buy-in compared to the points charts is too high. Even with a lower cost per point. And existing owners would probably have still said no to an add-on because of the maintenance fees.
All in all I think the concept was dead in the water the minute they announced the maintenance fees.
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
I'm not well versed in the timeshare game, but do you know what happens if the sales never materialize and the buy in group is limited? Do they then have to pay maybe even more in fees(like a condo building with empty units) to cover for the unsold points or because Disney rents cash rooms that covers it?
Fees can only be used for running costs, including some for the capital reserves. And they can only increase by a certain amount each year.
If sales don’t materialise then I assume Disney keeps ownership of the undeclared units. But I’m not sure either.
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
I know this, they are being booked like hot cakes though. I was booking for November and they were gone as soon as the booking window was open. The buy in value is not great, but for us other owners it's appealing, especially of doing a shorter stay where laundry is not a concern.
They’re going to be very popular for booking. Both on points and on cash through Disney.
Not sure what that has to do with what I posted though.
The cabins will all be replaced anyway. So at some point Disney will likely own more new cabins than the number declared.
That means it takes way longer for Disney to recoup the cost of replacing them.
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
It was just something, I was thinking about and was trying to be conversational, did not mean to make you think I was in some way going against what you wrote.
Last edited:
Yes, the same as other resorts with undeclared units. The benefit to Disney is keeping 100% cash vs sharing with the association for breakage. Disney's been gaming breakage for at least a decade The rooms will still make Disney a lot of money as opened and rented through prime seasons at cash rates. As rooms are new Disney does best renting rooms for cash, and that works great if occupancy is high enough. As newness wears off and cash demand begins waning then ideal for Disney is a higher percentage declared and people using points.
So Disney won't seriously fret low sales if cash occupancy is high, and Fort occupancy should remain high for the foreseeable future for three reasons: (1) newness, (2) upcoming prime season, (3) low volume of rooms as they come online through Spring 2025.
As newness wears off and cash demand begins waning then ideal for Disney is a higher percentage declared and people using points. So while sales have still been abysmal it's a problem to worry about another day.
Thinking ahead because I have a cabinreservation in the next two weeks, I wonder what the plan is for any storm that forces the resort to close. On a cash reservation I think guests in the past could be moved to a deluxe resort that's as good or a better cash value, but paying with points I think people would expect another one bedroom villa. Probably not a problem right now with so few rooms in point inventory but when the resort is humming and there's a need to move to 200+ rooms? I guess we'll see.
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
Does the resort close a lot due to storms? I would imagine if it was a busy time you get what you can get room wise as inventory is limited, and perhaps not even something on property.
There are occasional reports where people get moved from a 1-bed to a regular resort room. They usually end up getting some kind of compensation.
So it’s not guaranteed what you’d be given in that eventuality.
Fingers crossed you’ll be fine.
Club Cooloholic
Well-Known Member
Yes, reading about past situations, people that paid cash for cabin were placed in values(I imagine they might give someone 2 rooms if one could not handle the parties capacity.
