Attack of the Lakeshore Lodge

[airjay75]

I'm personally skeptical it will prove popular once it is done...

WL couldn't even fill all its cash rooms, so now a decent chunk of it is DVC...

WL couldn't support a true Signature Restaurant... so now it has a psuedo-signature restaurant with (in my view) an odd choice of IP...

And this property is further away from MK... Now, maybe if the rooms are bigger, and they can play up the pools... but idk... I was hoping for a 1,000 ft lazy river....

I think it's a bet on Cars and Villains Land. There is going to be an increased demand for MK rooms, both hotel and DVC. And there is only so much GF, Poly, and CR/BLT can accommodate.

 

[Girlstar30]

I think it's a bet on Cars and Villains Land. There is going to be an increased demand for MK rooms, both hotel and DVC. And there is only so much GF, Poly, and CR/BLT can accommodate.

Im betting on this being the upscale SSR

 

[hardcorestitch]

Im betting on this being the upscale SSR

As if Disney Vacation Club isn’t upscale enough lol…

 

[Kailunkat]

The total number of 900 rooms is on the larger end of DVC but not Disney resorts in general. But I suspect that with more vertical floors and a smaller footprint it will "feel" smaller when you stay there (versus the never-ending hallways at BW or Kidani). In terms of amenities and theming - we will probably have to wait right up until they start selling points to any info but I suspect they know that in order to sell points they need a services/food setup more like GF, Contemporary or PVB to make it successful. I have high hopes that we will have a signature TS restaurant, a family style/buffet TS, and at least 1 large hotel QS plus a pool QS.

I also have high hopes for the pool area. BCV has such a nice rambling set of patio areas around the pools and river - if they have numerous areas like that and an amazing slide it will be a huge draw. Having a lazy river that is actually designed to be one - versus a weird retrofit like BCV is - should make a huge difference. In previous posts and LSL threads people have broken down the occupancy versus pool/water size at LSL and it should be one of the best occupant to pool size ratios at WDW once finished.

Lastly, the fact that they are building free-standing cabins is a huge green flag to me. They didn't NEED more cabin/bungalow style cabins in this neck of the woods (and yes, I am 100% casting shade on CFW here). I expect that similar to the cabins attached to CCV and PVB these should be a huge point sucking "premier/luxury" stay. If you want people who are willing to sink 500+pts a week into a 2bd stay - you need AMMENITIES! So I am hopeful.

 

[Cfabar1]

I think it's a bet on Cars and Villains Land. There is going to be an increased demand for MK rooms, both hotel and DVC. And there is only so much GF, Poly, and CR/BLT can accommodate.

I hear you, but we are doing a MK stay soon... Long story short, our travel dates changed, and so GF wasn't available. We now have a 1 BR at WL.. We are already thinking about how much more inconvenient it will be to get to dinners with others in our travel party at Polynesian and Grand Floridian, how annoying it will be with the stroller and the boat to MK instead of taking a monorail or walking. We will have a car with us which will help.

We considered OKW for the stay, and BR won out slightly in our calculation when comparing convenience and points cost...

To your point, had we been talking about any of the other parks being part of this trip's visit, we would have booked OKW over BR... They were able to get us with it being Magic Kingdom adjacent... But LSL will be even further away... Which means, it would need to be considerably nicer for me to book it over WL... maybe it will be... If they do rooms and amenities right, WL could actually be in a little bit of trouble with LSL opening... Hopefully there will be a way to walk between WL and LSL when all is done...

 

[airjay75]

I hear you, but we are doing a MK stay soon... Long story short, our travel dates changed, and so GF wasn't available. We now have a 1 BR at WL.. We are already thinking about how much more inconvenient it will be to get to dinners with others in our travel party at Polynesian and Grand Floridian, how annoying it will be with the stroller and the boat to MK instead of taking a monorail or walking. We will have a car with us which will help.

We considered OKW for the stay, and BR won out slightly in our calculation when comparing convenience and points cost...

To your point, had we been talking about any of the other parks being part of this trip's visit, we would have booked OKW over BR... They were able to get us with it being Magic Kingdom adjacent... But LSL will be even further away... Which means, it would need to be considerably nicer for me to book it over WL... maybe it will be... If they do rooms and amenities right, WL could actually be in a little bit of trouble with LSL opening... Hopefully there will be a way to walk between WL and LSL when all is done...

Well, I'm headed to WL and CCV today! And, I am really looking forward to the boat transportation. We always just rent strollers at the parks, so we don't have to worry about lugging them on buses, boats, skyliner, or monorail. But, I hear what you're saying if you're used to GF or BLT and like that ability to walk to MK.

Only Disney knows their projections on future capacity needs, but I don't think they'd be building LSL if they didn't think they need more MK deluxe rooms. I think they can easily position it as a MK-adjacent deluxe resort that is slightly cheaper than the monorail resorts. I think, on the DVC side, the rooms will be bigger, and the points chart will reflect that - CCV/BRV rooms and points charts reflect the 2042 era, so to speak. I imagine the hotel side will price similarly.

That said, as DVC members, we're people who intimately familiar with all these resorts and their locations. I don't know that that describes your average non-DVC visitor who may be planning their once in a lifetime or once every 5 year WDW trip. And, I imagine Disney knows how to position these things to the people booking cash. But, I guess we'll see.

 

[Lorana]

I don't think an awesome lazy river is actually enough to make this a destination resort, for the same reason I don't think everyone would love BCV/Stormalong Bay the same way if it was not walkable to Epcot.

Lazy River + Wilderness Theme is what makes it a destination resort for us.
We do book Beach Club a lot in the warmer months for resort stays for its lazy river, but I'm from MA and it is EXACTLY like Cape Cod resorts, so I'm really looking forward to a resort that does not look like my back yard.

Now, if I'm also going to Epcot, then Beach Club does have an advantage still.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I will admit I am not a WDW pro by any means but when I was there I didn’t see LSL as being far away at all. OKW felt like 1 million miles away and can’t imagine how anyone could compare OKW in closeness to MK to LSL. There’s something about taking a boat to your destination vs taking a bus and driving the streets. The bubble sells and I see LSL as being fully in the bubble. Not everyone loves the same things or sees things the same way. I think LSL will do well unless they do something stupid with it like very high dues or ludicrous point charts, location isn’t going to be why it wouldn’t sell.

 

[Cfabar1]

That said, as DVC members, we're people who intimately familiar with all these resorts and their locations. I don't know that that describes your average non-DVC visitor who may be planning their once in a lifetime or once every 5 year WDW trip. And, I imagine Disney knows how to position these things to the people booking cash. But, I guess we'll see.

We are going with some of those people.... They started out wanting to book Beach Club so they could take a boat over to the Magic Kingdom.... Thank goodness I intervened! I think non-Disney people envision the parks a bit like the Las Vegas Strip, where everything is close together....

I think LSL will do well unless they do something stupid with it like very high dues or ludicrous point charts, location isn’t going to be why it wouldn’t sell.

Or a trust without certain written guarantees to members...

 

[VGCgroupie]

We are going with some of those people.... They started out wanting to book Beach Club so they could take a boat over to the Magic Kingdom.... Thank goodness I intervened! I think non-Disney people envision the parks a bit like the Las Vegas Strip, where everything is close together....

Or a trust without certain written guarantees to members...

Ahh yes the trust.

 

[Mikey15]

We’re never going to get a walkway/sidewalk from WL to TTC, which in theory LSL guests could use too. But if you have a car with you WL remains really close to the monorail resorts for ADR purposes. Go straight at the lights, and Poly is basically right there, with GF just another corner. Turn right at the lights instead, go under the boat bridge, and you’re at CR.

If you do know your way around Disney World, the LSL location is pretty good. Easy to go to Epcot main entrance or take Vista Dr over towards DS too.

 

[patm95]

Ahh yes the trust.

I really need to learn more about this trust.

 

[VGCgroupie]

I really need to learn more about this trust.

Same.

 

[tidefan]

Lastly, the fact that they are building free-standing cabins is a huge green flag to me. They didn't NEED more cabin/bungalow style cabins in this neck of the woods (and yes, I am 100% casting shade on CFW here). I expect that similar to the cabins attached to CCV and PVB these should be a huge point sucking "premier/luxury" stay. If you want people who are willing to sink 500+pts a week into a 2bd stay - you need AMMENITIES! So I am hopeful.

IF they decide to put LSL in the trust (a big IF), and it has the same language as CFW, they will explicitly be allowed to reallocate points across units as "needed" in the trust. I would worry that they extremely over-point those cabins for future room for point inflation on the other units.

DVC tried this in the past with the lock-off conundrum back some years ago and some great people on here called them out on it. They won't have that issue with the language in the trust properties.

 

[GrumpyInPhilly]

I really need to learn more about this trust.

https://www.disboards.com/threads/dvc-trust-based-ownership-article.3935854/

https://www.disboards.com/threads/trust-points.3937569/

 

[Kailunkat]

I will admit I am not a WDW pro by any means but when I was there I didn’t see LSL as being far away at all. OKW felt like 1 million miles away and can’t imagine how anyone could compare OKW in closeness to MK to LSL. There’s something about taking a boat to your destination vs taking a bus and driving the streets. The bubble sells and I see LSL as being fully in the bubble.

I FINALLY got my younger daughter (8) with a boat phobia to take the boats from SSR to Disney Springs in December. I'm hoping when we go next month I can get her on a PVB to MK boat but we shall see. I remember taking the boat from WL to MK as a kid and thought it was the coolest.

Obviously LSL should shine as a pool day resort but I will also look at it as an option for when I do the unthinkable and visit ::GASP:: OTHER PARKS where the hotel and food options are less than ideal. I tried Grand Helios in December and while it was nice, I vastly prefer a DVC stay with kitchen and more space. So if I'm staying onsite and visiting offsite activities I think this could end up being a great split stay with either an MK loop spot or an EPCOT adjacent spot. That is certainly how I will try using it on my first trip and then who knows, I might totally fall in love or totally hate it.

IF they decide to put LSL in the trust (a big IF), and it has the same language as CFW, they will explicitly be allowed to reallocate points across units as "needed" in the trust. I would worry that they extremely over-point those cabins for future room for point inflation on the other units.

This is a really good point for anyone considering buying there. I have direct points at PVB (probably not enough for a long stay here but between bank, borrowing and stealing I could make it work) so I was working off the idea that I would use those points to book LSL. I too have a lot of concerns about the trust and I really hope that we get a lot more information about how this all works BEFORE LSL goes on sale.

 

[Sandisw]

IF they decide to put LSL in the trust (a big IF), and it has the same language as CFW, they will explicitly be allowed to reallocate points across units as "needed" in the trust. I would worry that they extremely over-point those cabins for future room for point inflation on the other units.

DVC tried this in the past with the lock-off conundrum back some years ago and some great people on here called them out on it. They won't have that issue with the language in the trust properties.

Not exactly. They can reallocate points among any of the component sites that are put into the same RTU plan.

The trust was created so it can contain mulple RTU plans.

So, in order to reallocate LSL points to the cabins, they have to be in the same RTU plan.

They can put LSL into the trust and sell it as part of its own RTU plan. But selling under a trust gives DVD the ability to do things that it can’t via leasehold.

If I read it correctly, and we have seen it already a small bit with the cabins, because DVD remains owners of all units, new activation of inventory into the plan would allow them to add them at different point levels.

If they decide to sell LSL under the trust model but keep it out of the CFW RTU plan, it would function as its own home resort.

But, what is a big difference is that nothing prevents them from ever adding different component sites into an already established RTU plan.

 

[MyDogTink]

But, what is a big difference is that nothing prevents them from ever adding different component sites into an already established RTU plan.

Would you consider this to be similar to DVC adding new points to an existing resort? I’m thinking of BPK being added to the original VGF and the Island Tower being added to PVB. For VGF, adding all studios at BPK impacted original owners who book 1 and 2 BRs. While DVC didn’t reallocate points (which I believe they can do with the RTU in the Trust), the addition of BPK did impact original owners.

 

[Cfabar1]

But, what is a big difference is that nothing prevents them from ever adding different component sites into an already established RTU plan.

This is potentially a sticking point for me...

 

[mkatsy]

This is potentially a sticking point for me...

I’m looking at you 2042 The trust gives them so much flexibility, and as if it were even possible LESS accountability than they already enjoy. What reason would they have to go with the traditional lease hold model?