VGF2 Big Pine Key Bldg Resort Studio - No Microwave email Campaign

[Sandisw]

Who knows what they would have to give up in order to build a kitchenette

I’d rather keep the room space as is vs having the Microwave. eveyrthing about the new room appeals to me

2 queen beds, no wasted space on kitchenette. I don’t understand why we have to force every room to be the same then throw hissy fits when they are not. If you don’t like the room why throw a hissy fit, just don’t stay there and go somewhere else

the notion of being so entitled so as to email dvc about the lack of a microwave is laughable.

pick another room type, pick another resort but this entire thread is another version of do you know who I am.

Adding a microwave doesn’t have to mean a redesign to a kitchenette.

Pretty sure it can be strategically placed so not to take away much space from current plans.

Looks like their will be a counter over the beverage cooler with just the coffee pot that it would fit in nicely, which won’t take away any real space for other guests like you.

 

[nuhusky123]

I’m out… Keep writing those letters

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Sad that a “flagship” resort can’t even have a microwave and mini fridge in the room. No microwave or mini fridge barely fits the “deluxe” status. I let them know that in my reply. I also asked her to email me again once a decision has been made.

 

[purrenh1]

$40 will get you a brand new microwave from Walmart. Free shipping over $35. Have it delivered to the resort, use it for the week you are there (effective cost $5.71 per day), and then pass it along to another guest staying there the following week the way we used to pass along the Christmas Trees...

It would be great if this worked out (assuming the new build doesn't have microwaves, which sounds like it's still unknown) so that via Facebook Group (I would call it "That One Microwave at Grand Floridian II" group), one microwave was used 365 days a year by 60, 70 different families who just keep passing the microwave along.

 

[mamaofsix]

Is there a link to the plans for the new villas? I saw the first artist renderings, but didn't realize there were floor plans / amenity lists out there already.

 

[havoc315]

Nope, even the Riviera Tower Studios have microwave ovens. It is sort of the difference between a DVC and a regular resort room.

And thus, why these are being called "resort studios."

For the last 20 years, DVC has been moving away from the "timeshare condo" model towards the "pre-pay your hotel room" model.
For every person who believes a microwave is the critical addition, there is another who will believe it's a sink apart from the bathroom, or it's a freezer.

Fact is, many current DVC buyers are looking solely for a pre-paid/discounted hotel room. For these buyers, there is no reason to give them anything more than they want. They want a Grand Floridian resort room, that's what they are getting.

 

[havoc315]

Who knows what they would have to give up in order to build a kitchenette

I’d rather keep the room space as is vs having the Microwave. eveyrthing about the new room appeals to me

2 queen beds, no wasted space on kitchenette. I don’t understand why we have to force every room to be the same then throw hissy fits when they are not. If you don’t like the room why throw a hissy fit, just don’t stay there and go somewhere else

the notion of being so entitled so as to email dvc about the lack of a microwave is laughable.

pick another room type, pick another resort but this entire thread is another version of do you know who I am.

The bolded points are very valid.
Personally, I'm saddened to see this general direction from DVC. That said, there are thousands of rooms with microwaves, with full kitchenettes.
As DVC does make changes, they can't please everyone all the time. One group of people may see the loss of the microwave as the critical change. For me personally, I'm more upset about not being able to fold away the second bed. To me, that's the critical difference between a regular resort room and a DVC studio -- Being able to fold away that second bed to get more living space.
But I'm not going to petition DVC to change the GFV beds.

In the end, vote with your wallets. If you don't like these changes to DVC, then don't buy GFVII. If they have significant trouble selling GFVII, they might make changes. Or, at least, they won't follow a similar model in future resorts.
Sadly, I suspect GFVII will be pretty successful, and Disney will more likely expand "Resort Villa Studios" in other resorts in the future. Regular hotel guests are quite used to going without a microwave, and these are the people to whom DVC is mostly marketing.

 

[The Jackal]

And thus, why these are being called "resort studios."

For the last 20 years, DVC has been moving away from the "timeshare condo" model towards the "pre-pay your hotel room" model.
For every person who believes a microwave is the critical addition, there is another who will believe it's a sink apart from the bathroom, or it's a freezer.

Fact is, many current DVC buyers are looking solely for a pre-paid/discounted hotel room. For these buyers, there is no reason to give them anything more than they want. They want a Grand Floridian resort room, that's what they are getting.

Well even the moderates at WDW have microwaves and mini fridges. They are making a deluxe into a value. The extra space in these studios is due to the width of the room, not the length.
DVC studios up to the closet (tower) studios at RIV all have a kitchenette. They even put a microwave in the tower studios. Even the tiny AKV value, BLT and CCV studios have kitchenettes.

 

[havoc315]

Well even the moderates at WDW have microwaves and mini fridges. They are making a deluxe into a value. The extra space in these studios is due to the width of the room, not the length.
DVC studios up to the closet (tower) studios at RIV all have a kitchenette. They even put a microwave in the tower studios. Even the tiny AKV value, BLT and CCV studios have kitchenettes.

I’m not aware of any deluxe or moderate regular rooms that have microwaves:
https://plandisney.disney.go.com/qu...rs-microwaves-refrigerators-roomsalso-462057/
I do believe microwaves might be available upon request in regular resort rooms, and same might be true of VGF2.

It’s not about room size, it’s about category.

Tower Studios are designed to be small deluxe villas so have the same amenities.

A RESORT studio is designed to be a regular resort room. Regular resort rooms don't have microwaves, deluxe villas do.

 

[PsycProfPlum]

...For these buyers, there is no reason to give them anything more than they want. They want a Grand Floridian resort room, that's what they are getting.

There IS a reason not to give them anything more than they want. The reason is that the points for the new release will be interchangeable with those of current VGF owners. If design choices in the new resort studios pushes new owners towards the older VGF studios, there will be a large negative impact to the original VGF owners such that it could be difficult to reserve a studio in the older villas. This happened already with DVC at least twice.... Poly bungalows and Copper Creek cabins. A bunch of points were sold against these bungalows and cabins without corresponding demand for them thus making it very difficult to reserve studios in those resorts.

 

[havoc315]

There IS a reason not to give them anything more than they want. The reason is that the points for the new release will be interchangeable with those of current VGF owners. If design choices in the new resort studios pushes new owners towards the older VGF studios, there will be a large negative impact to the original VGF owners such that it could be difficult to reserve a studio in the older villas. This happened already with DVC at least twice.... Poly bungalows and Copper Creek cabins. A bunch of points were sold against these bungalows and cabins without corresponding demand for them thus making it very difficult to reserve studios in those resorts.

There is no way, at this time, to predict the effect on current VGF owners.
If Resort Studio Villas and Deluxe Studio Villas were the same point values, then they would be "interchangeable." But even then, what would be the effect? You are assuming that people will gravitate to the original studios in order to get a kitchenette. Maybe the effect will be the exact opposite -- Maybe the older studios will sit mostly empty, as the majority of current VGF owners start to gravitate towards the newer rooms for the additional square footage and real second bed.
But that still ignores the reality -- The point cost of the "Resort Studios" likely will not be the same as "Deluxe Studios."
The regular resort rooms have microwaves available upon request. Deluxe studios already have one.
If a deluxe studio is 30 points per night, or 210 points for a week, and a resort studio is 26 points per night or 182 points per week.... Is there going to be an overwhelming crush of people who want to spend the extra 28 points, in order to get a smaller room, just so they have a microwave without having to request one?

This really brings us to the big unknown and the difficult calculation Disney has to make. The point charts for the new rooms will greatly affect the demand between the old units and the new units. This point chart, not whether there is a microwave, will be what determines whether it becomes easier or harder to rent the older villas. If the new resort studios are priced very high for what you get, then the older villas will face increasing demand. If the newer studios are priced as more of a bargain, then there will be reduced demand for the older villas.

 

[PsycProfPlum]

There is no way, at this time, to predict the effect on current VGF owners.
If Resort Studio Villas and Deluxe Studio Villas were the same point values, then they would be "interchangeable." But even then, what would be the effect? You are assuming that people will gravitate to the original studios in order to get a kitchenette. Maybe the effect will be the exact opposite -- Maybe the older studios will sit mostly empty, as the majority of current VGF owners start to gravitate towards the newer rooms for the additional square footage and real second bed.
But that still ignores the reality -- The point cost of the "Resort Studios" likely will not be the same as "Deluxe Studios."
The regular resort rooms have microwaves available upon request. Deluxe studios already have one.
If a deluxe studio is 30 points per night, or 210 points for a week, and a resort studio is 26 points per night or 182 points per week.... Is there going to be an overwhelming crush of people who want to spend the extra 28 points, in order to get a smaller room, just so they have a microwave without having to request one?

This really brings us to the big unknown and the difficult calculation Disney has to make. The point charts for the new rooms will greatly affect the demand between the old units and the new units. This point chart, not whether there is a microwave, will be what determines whether it becomes easier or harder to rent the older villas. If the new resort studios are priced very high for what you get, then the older villas will face increasing demand. If the newer studios are priced as more of a bargain, then there will be reduced demand for the older villas.

I fully agree with you. There is no way to know the effect and the point charts will be key. I'm not assuming anything... I'm simply explaining why current VGF owners might be worried about the proposed Resort Studios. If I had to bet, the new rooms will be costly in terms of points as the more points per night, the more points available to sell. Hopefully Disney will get it right, but I can understand why current owners might worry that they will not.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

So the argument is that a microwave in a room will stop people from booking these rooms? Or buying for the new addition? My bet is that nobody would even think of not having it if it hadn't been excluded from mention in the original statement.

 

[PsycProfPlum]

So the argument is that a microwave in a room will stop people from booking these rooms? Or buying for the new addition? My bet is that nobody would even think of not having it if it hadn't been excluded from mention in the original statement.

my argument is that if new buyers see the new rooms as less attractive than the old ones, demand goes up for the old ones. a microwave could be part of that for some people, like the OP. A microwave is a small part of the math owners will take into consideration in making their choice of what to book.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

my argument is that if new buyers see the new rooms as less attractive than the old ones, demand goes up for the old ones. a microwave could be part of that for some people, like the OP. A microwave is a small part of the math owners will take into consideration in making their choice of what to book.

I do understand what you're staying but I'll stick with my bet that if they had been mentioned in the release nobody would have given it a second thought. I'm not moving in so don't give a lot of consideration to things a room has that I don't use but I care a lot if it has things I would like to use.

 

[La2kw]

my argument is that if new buyers see the new rooms as less attractive than the old ones, demand goes up for the old ones. a microwave could be part of that for some people, like the OP. A microwave is a small part of the math owners will take into consideration in making their choice of what to book.

Its not just a microwave missing. It’s the entire kitchenette. A beverage cooler is not a refrigerator, so there will be no fridge I doubt the toaster will be in it either. Perhaps the points should be restricted to only be used for those types of rooms since it a very different product than what DVC has traditionally sold.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

There is no way, at this time, to predict the effect on current VGF owners.
If Resort Studio Villas and Deluxe Studio Villas were the same point values, then they would be "interchangeable." But even then, what would be the effect? You are assuming that people will gravitate to the original studios in order to get a kitchenette. Maybe the effect will be the exact opposite -- Maybe the older studios will sit mostly empty, as the majority of current VGF owners start to gravitate towards the newer rooms for the additional square footage and real second bed.
But that still ignores the reality -- The point cost of the "Resort Studios" likely will not be the same as "Deluxe Studios."
The regular resort rooms have microwaves available upon request. Deluxe studios already have one.
If a deluxe studio is 30 points per night, or 210 points for a week, and a resort studio is 26 points per night or 182 points per week.... Is there going to be an overwhelming crush of people who want to spend the extra 28 points, in order to get a smaller room, just so they have a microwave without having to request one?

This really brings us to the big unknown and the difficult calculation Disney has to make. The point charts for the new rooms will greatly affect the demand between the old units and the new units. This point chart, not whether there is a microwave, will be what determines whether it becomes easier or harder to rent the older villas. If the new resort studios are priced very high for what you get, then the older villas will face increasing demand. If the newer studios are priced as more of a bargain, then there will be reduced demand for the older villas.

If the new resort rooms are to be part of the same association they should “all” have the same amenities included.

 

[RoseGold]

I’ve stayed at poly a ton and had to look up whether poly even has microwaves. Apparently, it does.

Im sure they can throw a microwave in the laundry room. Problem solved.

If VGF2 has no kitchenette, seems obvious they’re going to make new categories. The chart is what matters.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I’ve stayed at poly a ton and had to look up whether poly even has microwaves. Apparently, it does.

Im sure they can throw a microwave in the laundry room. Problem solved.

If VGF2 has no kitchenette, seems obvious they’re going to make new categories. The chart is what matters.

A community Kitchen! Maybe just a map over to Gasparilla Grill.

 

[The Jackal]

You are right. I thought there was one in our room when we stayed at POR. All I can see that it has is a mini fridge and a coffee maker.