During the December 2024 Condo Meeeting for The Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, the board fielded questions from owners about monorail passenger capacity, lobby crowds, beverage coolers vs mini-fridges and other topics unique to the resort.
Editor's Note: Beginning in 2024, Florida condo associations are required to hold quarterly meetings, rather than the annual meeting previously permitted under state guidelines. These smaller meetings are can only be attended by owners of the resort. DVCNews will be present at several of these meetings and will report back with some brief recaps.
Approximately 40 owners of Grand Floridian were present for the meeting held on Wednesday, December 11, 2024.
Board members in attendance: Yvonne Chang, Bill Diercksen, Shannon Sakaske, Alison Armor, Steve Whittington. Also present were Tylana Hill (Treasurer) and Karen Grip (Member Rep). Also present was resort General Manager Kristin Lindsay. The meeting began by approving the minutes from the September meeting.
The floor was opened for questions from members in present. Questions were spread over two separate Q&A periods, but have been grouped together for simplicty. Note that questions and answers listed below are paraphrased unless direct quotes are attributed.
Q: The main bank of elevators is marked for concierge guests only. Can something be done to address long waits for the "birdcage elevators", especially for guests with mobility scooters who cannot use stairs?
A: Resort GM Kristin Lindsay will discuss with staff, but said guests are welcome to use both sets of elevators during periods of peak demand.
Q: Are any steps being taken to address monorail capacity, particularly with the Polynesian's Island Tower opening?
A: Monorail capacity was carefully analyzed before committing to add the new rooms. They do have the ability to add more monorail trains to the line if needed. Alison Armor stated that "we do feel confident that we will be OK on service levels with this add." Also pointed out recent addition of walkway connecting resort to Magic Kingdom.
Q: Can anything be done to reduce crowding and clutter in the resort lobby?
A: This is the first holiday season with all resort restaurants open, including 1900 Park Fare, in 5 years. Agree that the volume of guests and strollers has been significant. Kristin Lindsay will discuss with staff and see if there is a better solution for stroller parking and guest management during peak periods.
Q: Can anything be done about "walking" reservations by members or (apparent) commercial renting activity by large-point owners?
A: (See our detailed write up regarding board comments on walking reservations and commercial point renting.)
Q: Are there any plans to replace the "beverage coolers" in Resort Studio rooms with standard mini refrigerators?
A: DVC did hear the feedback and as a result, rooms in Big Pine Key were upgraded to mini-fridges back in March 2024.
Q: Are there any plans to bring back the afternoon tea at Garden View Tea Room?
A: It is on the radar but there is nothing to announce at this time. The space is currently open to resort guests, to help alleviate lobby crowding.
Q: Can you explain about policies regarding 2025 dues payments? If someone cancels the monthly payment option, are there interest or fees applied?
A: Systems were changed to not allow gift card payments if on autopay. If a member drops off the autopay option, the full balance is immediately due or it will be subject to late fees and interested. (Additional details can be found in our 2025 annual dues write-up.)
Q: Will there be a time when the Capital Reserves balance is unnecessarily high, and could be used to defray the cost of member dues?
A: Per Tylana Hill, that could happen but "we are not at that point" now. It would most likely occur near the end of the contract term, if collected reserves exceed what is needed to maintain the property. In that case, a credit would be issued to owners.
Q: What is Disney doing to help manage property insurance costs?
A: Disney has the benefit of working with The Walt Disney Company's insurance team to manage those costs. To date, there has been very little change in insurance rates for DVC resorts.
Also during the meeting, the 2025 budget was approved by the board. The new Annual Dues rate is $7.93 per point, an increase of $0.36 or 4.7%.
The meeting adjourned after approximately 45 minutes.
