OKW Annual Meeting Report

[Simba's Mom]

I hope this is the right board to report this. I attended the OKW annual meeting on 11/30. The availability of the dining plan to DVC members has probably already been reported-it will be available for stays in April or later. The bad news (I thought) was the big increase in annual dues, 9.8%. They said that mostly the increase was due to a big increase in the cost of insurance (thanks to the hurricanes), workman's compensation issues, and general salary increases. For maintenance issues, the new pillows and mattresses were mentioned, there'll be repaving, exterior work on 4 buildings (13, 14, 47, and ? I think), some new air conditioning, and refurbishment of flooring in the grand villas. I was surprised no one mentioned the pool slide and lifeguards possibly being an issue. The pool slide was such a "hot" topic when it was first presented. I took note of there being a 79% satisfaction rating on rooms, which I thought was something that especially needs improvement. There was also talk of better member online capabilities, but unfortunately that won't include the ability to make reservations. And it appears the Annual Pass and Golf Pass discounts will continue for the foreseeable future.

[tjkraz]

Thanks for the report. :bluebloun

I take it nobody directly questioned DVC about the dues increases, eh?

Transportation took a big hit, too. I'm curious as to how much of that might be due to projecting $3+ gas prices vs. other factors like DME cost or the bus upgrades that WDW recently announced.

[GrimGhost]

Thanks for the report! I noticed you mentioned the AP discount continuing, I personally never even thought that was in doubt. I had noticed around the internet, that that was slightly in question.

[tjkraz]

Thanks for the report! I noticed you mentioned the AP discount continuing, I personally never even thought that was in doubt. I had noticed around the internet, that that was slightly in question.

I had my doubts, too. But I was more worried that they might reduce the discount--say, from $100 off of an AP to just $75 off.

I'm sure there will be a price increase around 1/1 since that was the date of the last increase. So the discount is almost certain to lose SOME value compared to 2005. But I'm thankful it will remain in place for the time being.

[AFMom]

Hmmmmm - you'd think the other resorts would have had similar increases if insurance was the issue. I'm still not satisfied with the answer. 9.8% seems so high when you look at the historical chart. I completely understand the transportation thing - I mean - look at my gas bills! But really - I was expecting more of an explanation than that........

[tjkraz]

Hmmmmm - you'd think the other resorts would have had similar increases if insurance was the issue. I'm still not satisfied with the answer. 9.8% seems so high when you look at the historical chart. I completely understand the transportation thing - I mean - look at my gas bills! But really - I was expecting more of an explanation than that........

Insurance did take a bit hit at OKW, but it's really only a small line item in the budget. I'm too lazy to go look up the OKW value, but I know in our SSR dues it's only about $.09 per point.

That said, if I recall correctly, the OKW insurance virtually doubled. I wonder if that represents some unexpected fall-out from the pool slide. A slide does seem to represent a substantial risk for personal injury.

Don't know if there's any truth to my suspicion...just thinking aloud.

[AFMom]

Oh - yeah,,,,,, good point - I can't believe it doubled. I guess the slide would make sense. Otherwise the other resorts insurace should have gone up the same after the hurricanes....
Now we just have to hope it goes back to normal!

[JudithM]

If anyone is still interested & hasn't already read them, I posted some threads over on the DIS boards about the OKW annual meeting. I use the same name there - judithm.