DVC Shop presents a live webinar on the special DVC member rules that have been put in place recently hosted by Joe Wolfers followed by a Q&A section featuring Bee Thaxton. In this video, we help you understand traditional banking / borrowing rules + cancellations, then walk you through the updated COVID-19 rules for DVC members. The first 14 minutes of the video is our presentation, and the rest of the video is our Q & A section with Bee Thaxton and Joe Wolfers.
Timestamps
1:17 – Explaining Normal Holding Account Rules
2:00 – Explaining Normal Banking Deadlines
2:59 – Beginning of Updated COVID-19 Rules Section
3:20 – Temporary Updates to Cancellations
6:00 – Special Exceptions for Cancellations Using Points Near Expiration
8:04 – Future Reservations That Include Borrowing – 50% Restriction
10:50 – Recap of COVID-19 Special DVC Member Rules 12:30 – Discount Code WOLFERS to get $50 off until 5/21/20
13:08 – Featured DVC Resale Listings from resales.DVCshop.com
14:00 – Q&A Section Beginning – Bee’s Introduction
14:21 – “If I have a December use here for 2018 what happens to those points? I was using those points for a trip that was supposed to be early May.”
17:30 – “I have a September 2019 use here, and was told that I had to use them by August 31st we had an April 2020 trip?”
19:48 – “When Does the 50% Cap on Borrowing End?”
20:45 – “Do you know if / when the parks open will the pools be open at the Disney resorts?”
22:30 – Are you (DVC SHOP) planning on raising your point rental rates for future trips?”
23:39 – “Is ROFR for being slowed down? I have a personal interest.”
25:03 – “So if I don’t use my 2018 points by 11/30 I lose them?” (December Use Year)
26:06 – “Any Word on Vero Beach Beach or Hilton Head Opening Dates?”
27:05 – “We’re in an unfortunate situation where we didn’t even have the opportunity to use bank points that don’t expire until February 28th of 2021!”
28:44 – “Can you rent points that are set to expire if there are no or little resort availability?”
31:14 – “Do you anticipate DVC resale prices to drop?”
33:08 – “If Disney operates at a lower park capacity if you had a hotel reservation is there a chance that you cannot get into the park?”
37:58 – “I’m wanting to buy direct into the DVC, but I’m worried about not getting any availability, are there any rooms available?”
38:52 – “What do you think will happen to magical express and other park transportation?”
40:58- “Another October use year – so may banking deadline scheduled trip for mid-July to Aulani and DL. Thoughts on canceling and banking versus holding on?”
42:20 – “What is the Disney collection? Is that just using DVC points on Disney regular Disney hotel rooms?”
44:05 – “If was June trip doesn’t get canceled we will drive ourselves to every park.”
45:22 – “I have an August use year, my May trip was cancelled. So, not only will I lose those points. I can only borrow 50% from next year’s points!”
46:30 – “The new 50% borrowing restrictions is per home resort right? Each home is a contract?”
48:20 – “Is EPCOT opening with the other parks?”
50:29 – “When will Hilton Head and Vero Beach open?”
51:47 – “We’re confused about the additional extension for banked points?”
50:40 – “Will they stop letting people book rooms if there’s a capacity issue at parks?”
52:46 – “Do you think Disney will make children wear masks upon reopening?”
54:09 – “So since we had a reservation at the end of April. Which we cancelled prior to 31 days cancellation policy do we fall into the extension of banked points? Please explain why or why not?”
54:45 – “If I cancel a July trip myself, without calling member services ,will my borrowed points go back to the use here they were borrowed from?”
55:32 – “How will you eat with a mask?”
Written Version of COVID-19 DVC Member Rules
Understanding Traditional Banking and Borrowing Rules + Cancellations
DVC Banking Deadlines
It is important for every DVC member to know their Use Year in order to know the date of their annual banking deadline. Every DVC owner has the option to “bank” their points into the following Use Year if they feel they will not or can not use their points during the current Use Year. The banking deadline is 8 months from your Use Year date (4 months before the start of your next Use Year). However there is an exception to this rule for transferred points. See the Benefits Of Owning Multiple Use Years section below for more details. You can learn more about how banking and borrowing works with Disney Vacation Club by reading our article. 
DVC Holding Accounts
When owners cancel or change reservations between 30 days and 1 day before their check-in date, the reservation’s points are placed into a holding account. The points in a holding account can only be used to book new reservations within 60 days of check-in. Points in a holding account will expire at the end of their Use Year. You can learn more about how holding accounts work with Disney Vacation Club by reading the Short-Term Cancellation Policy section of our article. 
Updated COVID-19 Booking / Borrowing / Cancellation Rules
All updated DVC member rules can be found at the following link: https://disneyvacationclub.disney.go.com/travel-information/.
Temporary Updates to Cancellations
- DVC is cancelling week by week one week in advance of check in date
- Members do not need to cancel, member services will handle it
- No holding restrictions
- Borrowed points returned aka “un-borrowing”
- 15 days to process any manual adjustments due to cancellation
Special Exceptions for Cancellations Using Points Near Expiration
- Only applies to trips cancelled by DVC between 3/12 and the end of the closure period and cancellation must have occurred after 2/29
- Only applies to April/June Use Years
- 2019 get one year extension from current expiration date
- This is basically banking past the deadline
- 2018 get 6 month extension from current expiration
Future Reservations That Include Borrowing
- 50% PER CONTRACT maximfor all future reservations, existing reservations are safe
- Modifying an existing reservation with more than 50% borrowed is safe
- Cancelling an existing reservation with more than 50% borrowed returns the borrowed to their original use year and then is subject to the 50% limit
- Explain why this is necessary to protect future inventory issues
Use Discount Code WOLFERS to Get $50 off DVC Rentals or Resale Closing Costs – Expires 5/21/20
You can shop our DVC resale listings or DVC confirmed reservations and mention discount code WOLFERS to get $50 off if you contact us by 5/21/20! 
Featured DVC Resale Listings – As of 5/11/20
Listings subject to change. Listings are sold on a first-come-first-served basis, please act quickly to lock in your preferred property.
Q&A Section w/ Bee Thaxton
If I have a December use here for 2018 what happens to those points? I was using those points for a trip that was supposed to be early May.
14:21
Joe Wolfers
Good question actually I literally just got off the phone with DVC to double check this question out and make sure we were good to go so far right now as far as 2018 points that have already been banked they’re only granting exceptions and special you know rules to April and June users those are the only two users that have been affected that they are granting special exceptions for seeing as you have a December use here you have until 11 30 to use those points so I don’t really think an exception really would make a difference because it was pretty much the same thing so you just need to make sure that if you had a trip that was canceled get in and try to rebook it I don’t see them right now as of right now it doesn’t look like they’re going to be extending them anymore so don’t plan on them being there for like early 2021 I wouldn’t. Bee do you have any thoughts on that?
Bee Thaxton
I agree I think once everything is back opened up it may take a month or two months I believe everything’s going to go back to the way the rules that we’ve had in the past with banking and borrowing and and back to our 100 borrowing yeah I think that they’re going to as soon as they can get the rules back to as close as possible they will I think you’re going to get them back to the holding accounts will come back into play and all that type of stuff they’ll try to get back to that and then you give them a few months to start sorting out how many points have been borrowed in and if they’re able to start balancing the scale I like to use the example of its old it’s an old legal like scale if you see them like where you put weight on one side and then it falls yeah exactly that’s all they’re trying to do right now is make sure that scale stays nice and level as best they can so as they remember guys they didn’t have to do any of this I know a lot of people aren’t happy with some of it they didn’t have to do anything they could have just taken those points and says too bad you lost them they’re gone they are doing something to accommodate they’re doing more than some of the other timeshare companies so we need to remember that and and be thankful that we do have somebody that they are looking out for us
Joe Wolfers
Yep, and I think a lot of it comes back to I mean you got to think Florida law and and some of these laws that require Disney to have certain amount of points because that allows Disney to buffer some of this loss we’re very lucky that they just opened riviera and there’s something like 70 percent undeclared inventory which I mean that’s millions and millions of points that they have available to sit there and kind of help people out and move things yeah they still have a few and then all on he’s still got I something like 20 undeclared so there’s there’s definitely some flexibility there and thankfully there was yeah if this could have if this would have happened shoot just a year ago before riviera started went for it for sale we wouldn’t had all those points to play with which means that they would have had a little bit of Aulani and then a tiny bit of Copper Creek and then that’s the two percent they wouldn’t have had nearly as much flexibility so we got a little lucky there
I have a September 2019 use here, and was told that I had to use them by August 31st we had an April 2020 trip?
17:30
Joe Wolfers
Okay, so normally your points would have been valid let’s see September 2019 yeah they were good from 9 1 of 19 to August 31st of 20. you’re going to be in that tough window so I have a feeling that once we get a firm date of when things are about to open up and they’re going to get things going they may slip in August September users into that special exceptions window just because I mean you might end up only having a month to use your points type of thing if they you know end up canceling a trip on you so it may be it may be close but you’re just gonna have to wait and see that could be tricky the issue is you need to deposit into RCI by let’s say August 31st minus 45 days you’re looking at the middle of July
So I would set it yeah I would set a date of like probably July 12th or 13th that you just need to make a decision on RCI or nothing hopefully we’ll have an answer by then and you’ll know if you’re going to get some extension help but until until then just kind of have to wait and see because that’s kind of those there’s a few use here that are just kind of in limbo but I would I would set maybe like as I said July 12th July 13th as that kind of cutoff date that if you don’t have an answer from DVC yet then you got to start looking at RCI just because and you could look at renting your points too if there’s availability and you can slip somebody in get with DVC shop and talk to them about that those options as well because that’s important to have that backup but the nice thing is you do have RCI as a backup as well too I mean it’s not DVC it’s not the system but at least you have something where you’re not losing them all together and it gives you an additional year so basically a third year yep and then you can actually I’ve never actually done it so I don’t know exactly but suppose you can pay an extra fee to even get in another year on top of that for two years into RCI so you can you got some time and and we were just goofing around the other day just for fun just because we knew we have a trip coming up and I’m like well if we can’t use it what do we do for vacation this summer and there’s actually some decent RCI stuff in there that you can you know drive a couple hours and hang out and not have to worry about paying for a hotel room so it’s kind of nice let’s see here I’m gonna make sure I’m covering everybody’s points.
When Does the 50% Cap on Borrowing End?
19:48
Bee Thaxton
I think we just mentioned that we don’t have an end it yet all right it’ll it’s just going to have to wait and see I hope it’s not long I hope it’s not one of these things where it’s a year or two years where we’re stuck with the 50 cap but in the end DVC’s got to manage future inventory and if they feel that applying that cap and holding on to it for a while will help then they may do that people I was going to go pull out the actual public offering statement DVC has the ability to suspend banking and borrowing completely if they weren’t and force you to stay within your use year that the points were originally allowed at least they didn’t go that far that would not have been fun where you’re stuck with just the points you got because so many people buy DVC as we know with the intent to bank and borrow and use a few different years at a time so hopefully it won’t be long tests I think within a couple months we’ll have some more clarity on that on whether it’s going to stick around or not.
Do you know if / when the parks open will the pools be open at the Disney resorts?
20:45
I would assume so but the governor has not opened any of the public pools yet although he has opened the hotels and the beaches and they are working those beaches very very strict for that six foot rule from what I understand I don’t see them I don’t see them just restricting pools all together when the resorts finally open because they’re I mean that’s that’s a huge amenity that you’re just taking away some kind of restriction yeah they’ll probably put some rules I don’t see them being just like no pools are still closed exactly but so I’m sure available conversations are being happy there’s been no announcement as far as what it’s going to look like let’s hope it’s not too bad luckily Disney pools are really big for the most part a lot of the water parks here are are asking questions got they’re yeah you know and not even just typhoon lagoon and blizzard beach but Margaritaville’s got a huge water park now and so does universal and they can’t be opened yet either yeah it’ll be interesting and if the with Disney Disney’s phased openings I’m interested to see how the water parks play into that is that going to be something because you’re coming into their prime season summer and you know are they going to try to get those involved right away are they just going to say scrap this we’re just not going to make money with them this year we’re already hitting 90 degree temperatures yeah same here we need this gold.
Are you (DVC SHOP) planning on raising your point rental rates for future trips?
22:30
Bee Thaxton
Actually we have done some discounts and some specials. You can check our website we have ran been running several different specials we’ve run some two dollars off specials, we run some $16 per points specials, that we’re offering with this show promotion is $50 off a rental or resale closing costs so, no, it’s going the other way.Joe Wolfers
…And I think and this is not to bad mouth any of the other rental agencies but I think some of them have had some very fiscal ish big fiscal issues with this whole thing and thankfully seth at DVC shop and everybody there they’ve done really good with their with the way they’ve processed things and done things so you may be seeing some of those rental rates jump up because some of those rental companies are in a bad financial spot and they’re trying to make up some ground that just may be an assumption but thankfully seth would be seth and bee and everybody at DVC Shop have been doing really well so I don’t see that coming and there’s anything just you know get your rentals in and take the discount while you can.
Is ROFR for being slowed down? I have a personal interest.
23:39
Bee Thaxton
Yes she has a personal interest she just put in a new contract like she can use it she’s in Spain in the military but anyway some the ROFR doesn’t seem to be slowed down what is slowing down is transferring of the points when it closes they’re not getting the points there’s one department that closes that contract and takes the points out and then it’s another department that takes those points and opens a new contract for the buyer and new dashboard and puts those points in and it’s slow they’re taking up to four weeks I mean just yeah I think that a lot of them aren’t working full hours and they’re they’re only working salary people so most of these people are hourly people yeah it’s the managers that don’t work that that are having to do their work right now yeah they’re the ones that are salaried so it is slowing things down but they are still buying back things at a regular rate they’re still not playing with the points a whole lot with the price a whole lot so none of that is really changing but it is slowing down on the transferSo if I don’t use my 2018 points by 11/30 I lose them? (December Use Year)
25:03
Joe Wolfers
So, I take it obviously you’ve got a December use year, 2018 points would have normally been valid for 12 1 of 18 to 12 to 11 30 19. if you bank them they’re going 19 to 20. yeah I mean at this stage of the game that’s where that’s where it’s at they’re they’re not offering an extension for anybody except for the April and June users like we mentioned I as I said August September could get pulled into this just because we’re starting it’s we’re compressing a little bit there but I really don’t see them granting extensions to to December use years or even October honestly I just don’t see it happening so you need to make sure you get something booked and get out there get them and as I said this is another great plug for DVC shop if you can’t go rent rent them out and get them you let them you know make you some money so you can use them for another vacation or pay down some bills or whatever you want to do so just keep that in mind
Any Word on Vero Beach Beach or Hilton Head Opening Dates?
26:06
Joe Wolfers
I haven’t heard anything other than they’re just in line with the rest of the resorts I don’t think they’re on anything different schedule as of now I don’t know if they’re going the state schedule or if they’re going Disney scheduled because they’re in different states hilton is in a different state and aulani also I know that their beaches are all open the bureaus are open Hilton Heads are open from the state level in county level but the the resorts themselves have are still in kind of limbo so I if there’s any resorts that we’re going to open first those would be the two because they’re not tied to a park they’re they’re you know people aren’t people go there just to go to Vero Beach and they just go to Hilton Head to go to Hilton Head there’s no other time and they’re in the sun where this is where the sun’s killing all this yep so I if anything they’re the ones that could open early but we don’t know anything yet
We’re in an unfortunate situation where we didn’t even have the opportunity to use bank points that don’t expire until February 28th of 2021!
27:05
Bee Thaxton
Carolyn, if you can’t I am very very very very sorry if there’s a lot of people in that situation we will try to rent your points out for us if you would like to contact us and at least help you recoup some of your money so that you can possibly go somewhere else or what other trips or family issues that you need to take care of but rooms are scarce they are they’re they’re very tight all the way through the end of the year and February is a crazy month too, always is.
Joe Wolfers
Yep, I think it’s one of those things that it’s tough we really want to get into this mindset of oh Disney’s got to take care of everything but there’s only so much they can do I mean I there’s only so many there’s going in school we can’t go in January there’s only so many days in the year there’s only so many rooms they have built I mean there’s there’s limitations to everything and it stinks and it’s one of those things that’s trying to figure out you know when you can reuse them the whole like for me it was the borrowing thing that came into play I was considering taking two trips next year one for for race weekend with you you lost me because I need it for June so it’s one of those things that we’re all kind of have to make some adjustments but luckily you have some resources DVC shop can help in terms of getting something
Bee Thaxton
But, you chose your family trip over a trip with me my wife and kids will be happy I chose chosen yeah I tell Courtney I love her too
Can you rent points that are set to expire if there are no or little resort availability?
28:44
Joe Wolfers
You can rent any point you have you can find a room if you can find a room keep in mind so I and this was another avenue that I was going to mention to people as as inventory gets compressed for those of you that are eligible you have the Disney collection so if you’re in a situation where you’re like I need to go by February of next year but you can’t find a DVC room but you bought direct or you bought resale prior to the restrictions in 2011 you have the Disney collection yes I know it’s a normal hotel room it’s not a fancy DVC you know one bedroom or anything like that but you have that resource to dump points and use points that way so you know outside of renting if you can’t rent them maybe you look into that type of situation.
Bee Thaxton
That would be a good question for DVC if they would allow us to take our points that were expiring or take some of our points for a year or nine months or whatever and use them in the regular resorts, that would be…
Joe Wolfers
…And I had presented that so I said I mean when this all started I was trying to figure out in my my math brain was trying to figure out what DVC could do and so I was sitting there saying they have all these points right that they can buffer with their developer inventory but the other thing that they can do is there’s a lot of points tied up that can’t get into the DVC Disney collection right now because of being resale if they just loosen those rules for a year or two years so they’ve got to look at the numbers and see if it’s plausible but that was another potential avenue for them to funnel people just to try to help buffer some of the loss so last minute 30 days if it’s not rented not sold out cash let us use it with our points yep something like that so hopefully they’re watching maybe and then and a lot of the stuff we’re saying they probably already thought about but just maybe to reiterate that there that is an option for everyone if you’ve bought direct or you have that keep that in mind and remember on rental we don’t have a different inventory than what you can see it’s the same points it’s the same system we do have some confirmed reservations that members have given us to rent out because they can’t go and they didn’t want to cancel and they’re renting their reservation instead but it’s the same thing but we have points we have points to rent if we can find a room for the time you want to go especially eight nine months from now we have points it’s not just the confirmed reservations we can help you let’s see here somebody
Do you anticipate DVC resale prices to drop?
31:14
Bee Thaxton
Amanda Hohf, I hate you right now, haha, she’s one of my friends so it’s okay… I don’t know…
Joe Wolfers
I’m in that same spot it’s if DVC’s using a ROFR to to prop prices to a certain extent that’s going to hold things up the only reason I think you see them just fall is if all of a sudden people panic and there’s a bunch of contracts listed and it’s just a glut it’s just like the housing market right we talk about when people just start dumping houses you know the prices fall that’d be the only thing I could see happening
Bee Thaxton
…And if it falls DVC is going to take it back because they’re going to want that additional inventory they’ll take back that contract at 50 and sell it at 186 because somebody will buy it there’s people still trying to get a hold of them now while they’re closed even though we tell them hey they’re closed you can make you can save a lot of money coming in the resale market they’re not yeah it is what it is but amanda I don’t know honey I just it’s a toss-up it just depends it depends on what the consumer does
Joe Wolfers
I think you got to watch that for another you know you got to watch where the economy goes and we we were talking about this in our call the other day how there’s really only been one major time in in instance the word prices really tanked and that was the recession in ’08-’09 and so you know do we have another one of those and maybe prices do fall but right now I think there’s a lot of optimism that there’s going to be somewhat of a modestly quick recovery I don’t think it’s going to be a v-shape recovery but I think we’re going to be in a situation where things are going to start to come back and so and then a lot of the jobs that were lost were a lot of service jobs and such so I’m sure there’s a lot of well-paying jobs that still allow people to buy DVC so I think that you’re going to see prices probably hold unless the market and the broader markets collapse on us
If Disney operates at a lower park capacity if you had a hotel reservation is there a chance that you cannot get into the park?
33:08
Joe Wolfers
In the ticket reservation system similar to shanghai these are different do they allow 100 reservations and how many of those 100 rooms fill up the park yep so we’ve talked about this in general if if you maxed out all the rooms on property cash and DVC you’re looking about 25 to 30 percent of what the parks can handle on a full capacity scale all four parks max amount they’ve already said that shanghai was an intentional 30 percent below and that was below what the even the authorities were in the government
so they could do so they’re clearly starting really low I have a feeling that they’re not going to alienate any cash reservations that now i’ll take this this is a personal assumptions thoughts these are just my guesses these I mean none of this is official but I really do think that they’re going to lump all all on-site reservations into the same boat and they’re not going to give anybody an advantage there I think that grouping is going to be the same now do they limit a certain amount of rooms to try to keep that number lower very good chance DVC they’ll probably fill it up as best they can because they kind of have to at this point they need to fill rooms as much as they can but the cash side they can try to start limiting and keeping that down to keep the numbers down.
But because they need that cash they need the revenue they need the revenue but I think I think that they they’ve got to look at it as they need that revenue but they can’t afford any more losses with DVC I don’t think that they can sit there and cover too much so I think that they’re going to probably try to fill those up as best they can but in but in the end I think that they’re going to treat all on-site reservations the same the question will be what does it look like we don’t know if it’s going to be a reservation system like shanghai is it going to be one of those things that you have an on-site reservation you’re automatically get a chance to get in oh you have to have fast passes booked to get in I mean who knows so but I think that we’re probably I think you’re probably safe if you have a reservation parks are open I think you’re gonna have a pretty good chance getting in the park I don’t I don’t see them saying hey welcome to Disney you’re in our bubble but you can’t enjoy it.
Bee Thaxton
Let me ask you this, Seth and I have disagreed on this, are they going to open up the resorts and let the people in or are they going to open it up to Florida residents and let them in to test out whatever system they’ve put in place before they start putting people in rooms?
Joe Wolfers
You know, that’s a that’s a tough one so I know that they’re the the various like the orange county task force has already said hey let’s let’s target Florida residents first from both an economic standpoint it’s easier to get Florida residents to drive a few hours to come to the park versus somebody that’s like me that’s got to drive 15 or get a flight get on a flight they also know that flights are going to be extremely limited initially on so I mean people flying in are going to have a hard time even getting there I would not be surprised if they do kind of a not even a soft opening but like a like a test opening kind of like they did in shanghai where they they bring in 10 000 locals and say hey give us your feedback and thoughts before they do anything before they open anything else and I wouldn’t even call that even opening that’s more just like hey we’re just making sure everything’s working in the and you know all these rides have been sitting for months are all operating right now the lands are going to rise
I wouldn’t be surprised that would that would not surprise me at all although they probably could do that to a certain extent which is DVC if they wanted to they could open up some DVC inventory for say June 1st to June 15th and allow all those people to come test it out too before they open up cash or allow cash in, I don’t know.
Bee Thaxton
We’re getting close because I have been told by a management at DVC that once they bring staff back it’s going to be three weeks minimbefore they can open a park.
Joe Wolfers
Yeah, I believe that.Bee Thaxton
..And that’s not even the rooms. yeah we’re getting close we’re getting close to that that June first date
Joe Wolfers
Yep for sure and and when I was looking back it was like I’ve been kind of calling for June 1 but I mean that didn’t include parks I mean parks were anomaly that could happen I mean they they could drag out for a while I think they can get the resorts open pretty quick restaurants they can get to their you know capacity limits that they need to do by shuffling tables and whatnot but the parks are their own unique animal it’ll be interesting to see
Bee Thaxton
I am going to go to Disney springs on may 20th and see what that looks like there’s no Disney stores open right only third party stores and restaurants but I’m gonna go check it out see what it looks like see what security looks like see what they’re doing as far as cleaning and see if I can get us an idea at least I know a big wig walking around that I can talk to all right yeah see you never know
I’m wanting to buy direct into the DVC, but I’m worried about not getting any availability, are there any rooms available?
37:58
Joe Wolfers
So here’s the thing, I always tell people how you buy DVC does not change your ability to book your rooms in terms of the DVC system understand that you can buy resale you can buy direct your ability to book at your home resorts 11 months and that doesn’t change and your ability to book a non-home resort seven months that doesn’t change the only thing that changes in terms of if you buy a riviera resell those those kind of little quirky things so I wouldn’t look at it as a grand scheme of availability buying direct versus you know resale you got to buy direct if you if there’s certain perks that you absolutely have to have if you’d rather save a bunch of money talk to Bee. She’s the one she’ll save you a lot of money, I’m talking like 40 percent off.
Bee Thaxton
I saved three people money today!
What do you think will happen to magical express and other park transportation?
38:52
Bee Thaxton
They’re going to have to make something change because you can’t have those buses packed and everybody’s standing up and everything else. They’ve got to do something they’re going to have to limit it somehow which means but also if there’s not as many people in the park there’s not going to be as great a need for transportation
Joe Wolfers
Yeah, I always tell people I’m like a lot of people that have started with Disney in the last few years and they’ve seen Disney as busy it’s been the last few years they’ve never seen it light I went to the parks after 9/11. I went to the parks after the 08 recession and you know when you’re looking at 20 30 capacity like they’re not even close to what their numbers can hold you get on a bus and half the time you’re the only person on the bus so you know and then even and even at park close they can make it work and they can try to separate people out so I think it’s one of those things that yes they’re going to have to make some adjustments whether that be cleaning on a regular you know more frequently and separating people out maybe no standing room you have to be able to sit down on a bus but I think they’re going to make some changes you know with the skyliner maybe doesn’t like the skyliner but maybe they go every other one and so that allows them to chance to clean as they go you know and they kind of have cleaning stations as they work through it stuff like that
Bee Thaxton
…And at the end of the park when everybody gets off and then they go back again.
Joe Wolfers
Yeah, the the big one the tough one’s gonna be the the monorail because that’s crammed as it is and real tight they’re gonna have to work on that one a lot but you know they’re gonna have to make some adjustments I don’t think they’re gonna drop it I saw this crazy idea that maybe they just dropped transportation for a while and you have to be able to drive yourself to the park you can’t drive yourself you can’t go I was like I don’t know if that’s gonna work so there’ll be some changes but I think it’ll all be flexible we just guess what we all complained about a lot of people complained about waiting for buses don’t complain just understand that it’s just gonna be part of the game you’re at Disney be happy.Another October use year – so may banking deadline scheduled trip for mid-July to Aulani and DL. Thoughts on canceling and banking versus holding on?
40:58
Joe Wolfers
So, Aulani and Disneyland… Disneyland, I think you’re you’re done I don’t think there’s a chance Disneyland opens before the end of the summer it is just not happening aulani could but the problem is hawaii sounds like they’re making it pretty strict in terms of travel coming in right now so I’m just going to give you a personal opinion if I was in your shoes I would cancel and bank that’s what I would do and it sucks because that’s a big trip you’ve probably planned it’s probably like 9-10 nights you know fancy ocean views I get it those are those are hard trips to replan but in the end I think that your dl portion is scrapped altogether and then your aulani portions a big toss-up because of flights and getting there so I would that’s personally what I would do but again you know you you got to make a decision for yourself
Bee Thaxton
I agree.
Who is the guy with the headphones on?
42:05
Bee Thaxton
This is Joe!
Joe Wolfers
I normally wouldn’t have these in but we were having technical difficulties so I had to use a different headset today luckily we got on we were a little worried there.
What is the Disney collection? Is that just using DVC points on Disney regular Disney hotel rooms?
42:20
Joe Wolfers
Essentially, yes, the cruises are also in the Disney competition your points are expensive that way I tell people back 20 years ago when I first joined you could actually swap into the Disney collection like and go to port orleans and it really was pretty affordable but that was because cash rates were affordable as cash rates climb so does the conversion cost for points that DVC has to accommodate so they keep creeping up and creeping up so that’s where you get a value you know a moderate room that costs twice as many points as a DVC studio but in the end is it better to do that and not lose your points maybe you have to I would not recommend doing it on a regular basis but when your hands are tied like this this may be maybe a way to go it’s either that or you’re looking at RCI and I personally for me i’d much rather just use it in the Disney collection than rci because at least I get to go to Disney so that’s but that’s just a personal opinion but but look into it it’s there’s some handy ways to do it it’s a good chance to go check out some resorts that you normally wouldn’t get to use you know port orleans riverside poor orleans french quarter are a a great resort if I paid cash for rooms that’s where I would be
Bee Thaxton
And you get to go see Yehaa Bob and have beignets that’s right then yeah.
Joe Wolfers
Yeah, and you’re and you’re short you’re a short walk over to old key west to go to Olivia’s so not a bad deal either let’s see here
If was June trip doesn’t get canceled we will drive ourselves to every park.
44:05
Joe Wolfers
There you go. I would do it we were so I had I joked on the page a couple I don’t know a month ago that I got some really cheap flights on spirit everybody was giving me a hard time I’m like yeah well well like literally two days later they canceled all flights for like up through like July 4th so all y’all were right in that sense but at least I didn’t like get stranded anywhere so we’re stuck driving in June if we have to you know if if we end up going
Bee Thaxton
Oh, that’s wonderful with a brand new baby.
Joe Wolfers
Yeah 15 hours each way!
I have an August use year, my May trip was cancelled. So, not only will I lose those points. I can only borrow 50% from next year’s points!
45:22
Joe Wolfers
Yeah, so in your situation I have an August use here let’s pray let’s hope that you get lumped into that kind of they they maybe increase these exceptions from the April June use years to August maybe September I’m hopeful that’s going to happen I did ask them today and they said I don’t know for sure and I think that’s just because they’re not sure exactly when things are going to reopen
Bee Thaxton
I think it’s a day by day thing…
Joe Wolfers
It is it is so let’s hope that you get lumped in there and you get a chance to get some of those points back and yes with the 50% borrowing stuff and they’ve done a very good job in making things right there are going to be some people that lose and it sucks when you’re one of the ones that loses but there’s no way they’re going to be able to solve I think we’re at 500 000 members now something like that in terms of DVC or upwards of that there’s going to be a few people that are going to get stuck and it stinks but that’s what it is but let’s hope that they extend that those exceptions for you and you’ll be okay
The new 50% borrowing restrictions is per home resort right? Each home is a contract?
46:30
Bee Thaxton
Each home is a contract and you could have multiple contracts at one home
Joe Wolfers
Exactly so so say you’ve got say you’ve you bought beach club back 20 years ago and then you’ve added a couple 50 pointers since then you have 200 and then you added a couple 50 pointers well it’s per contract so if you had a 200 you’re gonna you’re stuck with 100 borrowing on that contract and then you’re stuck with another out of the 50 you can only borrow 25 and you can only borrow 25 of the next one so it’s per contract the reason they’re basing out for contracts they can’t base it by home resort they’re not going to base it by membership number necessarily it’s easier to break it down per contract to keep keep the best track of it all.
Bee Thaxton
So, basically your total overall points divided by half.
Joe Wolfers
Yep, pretty much.
Is EPCOT opening with the other parks?
48:20
Bee Thaxton
I think it’ll be all four at once I don’t I don’t think they’ll do just just do one.
Joe Wolfers
I don’t know, I don’t know there’s so much the reason I thought about that and there’s so much down right now at epcot it’s so beat up I it wouldn’t surprise me if they’re in a situation where staff wise they need to prioritize epcot is probably going to be the last that they prioritize if they have to the only and the other issue too is how much is world showcase covered by the international group pretty pretty heavily right yeah they said it’s going to take them months potentially months to get them back due to travel restrictions so it may be and and maybe epcot opens and they open up future world and they leave world showcase closed until they can staff it I don’t know I just when I had projected back a couple months ago I said if they’re going to phase openings and they have to prioritize epcot’s gonna be the last one that they prioritize for because they’re not going to the magic kingdom’s going to be the first we know that that’s just kind of an obvious one hollywood studios is going to be right there with it between everything they packed into there and then animal kingdom is is shoot animal kingdom’s operating on a pretty normal capacity right now because they got to take care of all those animals either way so a lot of that stuff okay yeah
Bee Thaxton
There’s a new baby zebra I want to go see!
Joe Wolfers
So, if they have to cut one park initially it would I would think it
would be epcot but again that’s just speculation that’s just I don’t look at their budget I don’t
know what their budgets look like I don’t know what the staffing situation looks like but you gotta think that it’s gotta be pretty hard to get a lot of those people back from all those various nation countries other than canada and mexico
Bee Thaxton
I do understand, all of the construction they’re doing at EPCOT and magic kindgom, painting the castle and everything for the anniversary that they are like three or four months ahead of schedule because they’ve been able to work around the clock
Joe Wolfers
Well, I know so they shut down they shutdown a lot of a lot of the construction stuff but a lot some of it still win it kind of depends on who’s running it so hopefully they get up and running and now that they can work maybe they can use this next month or so before the park two months before the parks open they need a lot done.
When will Hilton Head and Vero Beach open?
50:29
Joe Wolfers
Like we mentioned before I we’ll see I think they’re on the same schedule as the rest of DVC resorts unless they decide to you know accelerate them because they can
Will they stop letting people book rooms if there’s a capacity issue at parks?
50:40
Joe Wolfers
I would think that they’re going to prioritize their their their biggest customers and their biggest customers the most important group of people are on-site guests I mean that’s the way it is there’s a reason on-site guests get 60-day fast passes there’s a reason on-site guests get early magic hours and I think they’re going to follow that template but how they limit rooms from there who knows I mean do they start doing 25 rooms 50 I don’t know I think it depends on on demand too.We’re confused about the additional extension for banked points?
51:47
Joe Wolfers
Okay, so let me go back and recap if you have an April or June use here that’s the only ones that it applies to right now April or June use here and you had a trip booked late in the use here that you had expiring points if they were 2018 banked into 19 they’re giving you six extra months if they were 2019 and you just hadn’t banked them yet they’re just bad letting you bank them past the deadline is essentially what happened so understand that if you had 2018 points that you had banked from April of 2018 into April 2019 or June 2018 to June 2019 you don’t have much time to use them I mean you got to use like April they were expiring 331 so it means you need to use them by 9 31. not much time and there’s not much rooms left so Disney said that they’re gonna have they’re gonna manually make those adjustments the first week of June around June 5th the moment you see those points in your account go book something don’t wait umDo you think Disney will make children wear masks upon reopening?
52:46
Bee Thaxton
From what I have been told by four different cast members the information they have been given as cast members as cast members will be required to wear masks guests will not be required but it will be an option
Joe Wolfers
See what’s interesting did you see that Bob Chappie was speaking on NBC today, and he mentioned that guests will be wearing masks. yes so I think it’s gonna be interesting to see I don’t really don’t know I think they’re gonna have a hard time but in the end they’re gonna make the you know if they’re only trying to get 30% capacity I promise you it’s not that hard for them to get thirty percent
Bee Thaxton
They’ve got people wear bringing in wagons and strollers even though that’s against the rules how how are you going to enforce that
Joe Wolfers
I don’t know, we’ll have to see it’ll be interesting to see that and that’s and that’s a tough one for me like I was sitting there talking to Courtney before we were just like we’re going in June it’s already gonna be pretty warm and then I’m like I’ve got I’ve gotta keep a mask on my five-year-old and I mean I might be able to Braxton maybe hopefully hopefully don’t Brinley won’t have to have one because I can promise you a seven month old is not going to wear a mask so it’ll be interesting I think it’s just a toss-up I think these are all guesses right now
So since we had a reservation at the end of April. Which we cancelled prior to 31 days cancellation policy do we fall into the extension of banked points? Please explain why or why not?
54:09
Joe Wolfers
Yeah so they’ll extend them still whether you canceled at 31 days or less it doesn’t matter if you had a reservation that was impacted by the closure with an april or June use here that was using bank points they will take care of you you need to call them up and make sure they get it because some I mean there’s going to be people that slip through the cracks if you don’t call and make check on it but you need to call and just talk to them see what they can do in terms of getting you that extension getting on in the queue to get that done so you can book that book something in early June once a day once those points are available.
If I cancel a July trip myself, without calling member services, will my borrowed points go back to the use here they were borrowed from?
54:45
Joe Wolfers
Yes, they will. I’ve asked them and that applies to any trip going forward right now if you make a cancellation whether that be tomorrow or 11 months from now they will move those points back now it takes about 15 days you know it they said it can take a couple weeks for them to do it because it’s a manual process it doesn’t automatically happen the system’s not set up to automatically kick them back but they will they will do it if you don’t see it in a couple weeks call them up and see what’s going on but un-borrowing is a blanket free that’s that’s a rule applying to anybody who cancels no matter how it happens
How will you eat with a mask?
55:32
Joe Wolfers
So I’ve read that that masks are not required while you’re eating because they expect that the restaurants will have already applied necessary social distancing requirements so you don’t have to wear a mask while you eat or you could just yeah shove and drink water
Bee Thaxton
Sit down, take it off, and hide under a bush.
Joe Wolfers
We’re we’re hanging with some friends today and I was there ones that went with food and wine we were talking about I was like how would you go to food and wine with a mask on I said I’m going to invent some contraption that has a straw with one way and then like that I can I’ll figure it out.
Joe Wolfers
