Wrist Bands at the pools?

Oops, my bad. I spoke to some locals that happened to be staying at the Dolphin. They were pool hopping to Stormalong, and sitting in the hot tub while awaiting their friends that were arriving from their home. They seemed to think that those staying at the Dolphin had pool hopping rights
That surprises me. I've stayed at BC/YC many times and I've always had to scan my magicband to get into the pool area. They made every person scan, even kids. Maybe those folks thought they were going to get into stormalong bay, but it would really surprise me that there wouldn't be a CM there scanning magicbands. Just because they're locals doesn't mean they know everything! The last time I stayed at YC my friend who's a local passholder mentioned coming to swim with me, and I said I'd have to add her to the reservation (which was no issue for me) or they wouldn't let her in, and she had no idea that would be necessary.
 
Kind of sounds like what they did with parking, so I'm not entirely surprised. Free to park for the day to "check out" the resort (possibly swim in a pool you didn't pay for???) but guests staying there have to pay extra.
I still can't wrap my brain around why, why, why they separated the parking fee from the hotel fee, especially when the hotel costs rise substantially each year.
 
Because not everybody that stays at the hotel has a car?
Yes, however, day guests who use parking spots but are not already paying for overpriced hotel rooms pay nothing.

So not all cars are equal.

We don’t drive down to Florida, but we like to rent a car when in town because we do other things besides Disney.

We’ve already decided to try offsite and park onsite as day guests for our ADR at the resorts.
 
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I still can't wrap my brain around why, why, why they separated the parking fee from the hotel fee, especially when the hotel costs rise substantially each year.

They did it to increase revenue and "hide" the price increase and true cost a hotel stay. Many hotels have resort fees, parking fees, etc. all designed to give you the illusion you are paying less for a room than you are when searching for a hotel stay. They are also trying to get their prices to appear to be lower on internet searches.

Hotels aren't alone. Airlines are doing it too with all kinds of fees and charges.

They are trying to make it harder for customers to shop on price by hiding the true price.
 
Yes, however, day guests who use parking spots but are not already paying for overpriced hotel rooms pay nothing.

So not all cars are equal.

We don’t drive down to Florida, but we like to rent a car when in town because we do other things besides Disney.

We’ve already decided to try offsite and park onsite as day guests for our ADR at the resorts.

If Disney charged day guests for parking, many would take their restaurant business to the free parking available at off-site restaurants. Plus you'd have to spend a lot of money to enforce parking rules and collect the parking money. Adding it to the room bill is the easiest, most efficient way for Disney to maximize revenue.
 
Hotels aren't alone. Airlines are doing it too with all kinds of fees and charges.

They did crack down on it somewhat with airlines, now all of the mandatory taxes and fees (takeoff and landing fees, all that sort of BS) have to be included in the displayed price. They can still do separate bag fees because not everyone will check a bag. So I think if hotels did something similar they wouldn't be able to tack on resort fees above their advertised price (which everyone has to pay no matter what), but could still charge for parking separately (since not everyone would have a car).
 


Yeah probably depends on the pool. I know at All-Star Sports in March there was no restrictions. I never went out to the Bay Lake Tower pool in January because it was 40-50 degrees most of the trip lol.

Interesting. When I stayed there in Jan. 2017 there were closed gates and magic band requirements.
 
They did it to increase revenue and "hide" the price increase and true cost a hotel stay. Many hotels have resort fees, parking fees, etc. all designed to give you the illusion you are paying less for a room than you are when searching for a hotel stay. They are also trying to get their prices to appear to be lower on internet searches.

Hotels aren't alone. Airlines are doing it too with all kinds of fees and charges.

They are trying to make it harder for customers to shop on price by hiding the true price.
I get the business model. Some people like paying per product and this model works out great for them. Yay!!! I don't.

I have a set price that I am willing to pay for things and if I get to my cart/total and its significantly out of whack, I close out of whatever it is. We just went through this looking for a hotel room (not at Disney) that was listed at around $285 and after all fees it was $405. We said forget it. We stayed at the same place four months ago for $240 total.

If Disney charged day guests for parking, many would take their restaurant business to the free parking available at off-site restaurants. Plus you'd have to spend a lot of money to enforce parking rules and collect the parking money. Adding it to the room bill is the easiest, most efficient way for Disney to maximize revenue.

So now instead, some hotel guests who don't like being nickel and dimed will try staying offsite- like myself. The resort and parking fees are why I don't stay at Swalfin. If people want to eat at an onsite restaurant, versus the nearby restaurants, they will factor it into the price of dining, just like people do in many downtown areas where you pay to park.

How would collecting parking fees be harder or more difficult to enforce? That doesn't make sense. Florida is the toll booth state. They have a great system of charging and collecting fees. I think they could do it, but I believe that I read someplace that they decided to do this because it was the standard practice. So, there it is, they are a business just like all the rest- there to make money. The illusion of Magic is in our minds.
 
I get the business model. Some people like paying per product and this model works out great for them. Yay!!! I don't.

I have a set price that I am willing to pay for things and if I get to my cart/total and its significantly out of whack, I close out of whatever it is. We just went through this looking for a hotel room (not at Disney) that was listed at around $285 and after all fees it was $405. We said forget it. We stayed at the same place four months ago for $240 total.



So now instead, some hotel guests who don't like being nickel and dimed will try staying offsite- like myself. The resort and parking fees are why I don't stay at Swalfin. If people want to eat at an onsite restaurant, versus the nearby restaurants, they will factor it into the price of dining, just like people do in many downtown areas where you pay to park.

How would collecting parking fees be harder or more difficult to enforce? That doesn't make sense. Florida is the toll booth state. They have a great system of charging and collecting fees. I think they could do it, but I believe that I read someplace that they decided to do this because it was the standard practice. So, there it is, they are a business just like all the rest- there to make money. The illusion of Magic is in our minds.

Toll booth state.... lol. I thought that was Jersey-- I hate driving through Orlando. They should just put a trough all along 417 so you could continuously throw change in it while driving.
 
:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:So true. You need to pack your piggy bank change before leaving to Florida.

At least in Jersey you can manage to avoid I-95. If you're a tourist in Florida forget it, you're doomed.
 
I am writing this as I look at the Stormaway Bay Pool. The cast members at the pool gates are scanning people’s magic bands, and then giving them an additional tyvek bracelet, the kind of bracelet that would be given out at water parks. I asked the cast member why the extra bracelet?” The response, “this way we do not have to scan you each time you come and go from the pool.” Of interest, when we got back from Epcot yesterday around 3pm, the pool was very busy. All of the loungers were “taken.”I put “taken” in finger quotes because at least 25% of these loungers just had the Disney supplied white towels draped over the lounger. There were no personal effects to be found. Maybe the resort should just be more vigilant in removing these towels. The cruise line attendants are quite active in opening up loungers . I happily saw many other guests removing these towels themselves, after doing a quick surveillance with the neighboring lounged guests.
 
I am writing this as I look at the Stormaway Bay Pool. The cast members at the pool gates are scanning people’s magic bands, and then giving them an additional tyvek bracelet, the kind of bracelet that would be given out at water parks. I asked the cast member why the extra bracelet?” The response, “this way we do not have to scan you each time you come and go from the pool.” Of interest, when we got back from Epcot yesterday around 3pm, the pool was very busy. All of the loungers were “taken.”I put “taken” in finger quotes because at least 25% of these loungers just had the Disney supplied white towels draped over the lounger. There were no personal effects to be found. Maybe the resort should just be more vigilant in removing these towels. The cruise line attendants are quite active in opening up loungers . I happily saw many other guests removing these towels themselves, after doing a quick surveillance with the neighboring lounged guests.

I always thought those towels were put there by the resort to save a trip to the towel area.
 
I am writing this as I look at the Stormaway Bay Pool. The cast members at the pool gates are scanning people’s magic bands, and then giving them an additional tyvek bracelet, the kind of bracelet that would be given out at water parks. I asked the cast member why the extra bracelet?” The response, “this way we do not have to scan you each time you come and go from the pool.” Of interest, when we got back from Epcot yesterday around 3pm, the pool was very busy. All of the loungers were “taken.”I put “taken” in finger quotes because at least 25% of these loungers just had the Disney supplied white towels draped over the lounger. There were no personal effects to be found. Maybe the resort should just be more vigilant in removing these towels. The cruise line attendants are quite active in opening up loungers . I happily saw many other guests removing these towels themselves, after doing a quick surveillance with the neighboring lounged guests.

I wonder if there’s a time of day when they stop doing it. We were at Stormalong Bay yesterday around 5. I got to the pool a little after my husband. The gates weren’t locked for us at all. My husband and kids got the extra band, but I couldn’t even find someone to get one.
 
Back in March, the gates were closed at BWI and needed a band to get in. Which seems silly because we were literally the only people in the pool. Plus, how many people willingly want to go to that creepy clown pool! I get why Stormalong Bay needs bands, but the creepy clown?!

That creepy clown pool is the worst! Come on Disney! Can't they just replace the clown with a Mickey face wearing a red nose or something?!?
 
Does anyone know with the Animal Kingdom Jambo Pool Renovation starting after Labor Day whether they will require a Magic Band to enter the pool or is there a system in place right now?
Staying in October at Jambo; haven't been there since 2014; perhaps there are gates now?:confused::scratchin
Thanks..:thanks:
 
BC has always been pretty good about checking them. When we were last there with our kids, my wife and I wore our MBs, but did not want to risk the kids losing theirs at the pool. So we left them in the room. The cast member reluctantly let them in even though it would have been clear from scanning one of the adult bands that we had two kids on the reservation with us.
I was wondering about this as well- we leave next weekend for a stay at the Poly. I also don't want to risk the kids MB coming off as they'll be going on the slides, etc. and just not paying attention if it started to come off.
 
I was wondering about this as well- we leave next weekend for a stay at the Poly. I also don't want to risk the kids MB coming off as they'll be going on the slides, etc. and just not paying attention if it started to come off.


I can’t speak about Poly, but at Y&B, you don’t have to keep the magic band on the whole time. It gets scanned as you go in, then they put a colored paper band on you. So after you get in, you could take the kids magic bands off & store them in whatever bag you have with you. You could come & go then without needing to be rescanned.
 

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