Disney announces Hawaii Resort/DVC villa

[jmatias]

Today, Disney announced a 800 room luxury hotel/DVC villas resort to be built at Koolina, Oahu, Hawaii.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Oct/03/br/br1567094328.html


Aloha,
Jen

 

[BCV23]

Cool, Jen! Thanks for the update. So will you buy points?

 

[Dis Ohana]

I read speculation on another thread that this may be tied into a land/sea package to the West Coast. I honestly can't see any other reason to build a Disney resort on the islands. Ko Olina seems to be the perfect place for it though, at least it's out of Waikiki.

 

[jmatias]

Dis Ohana...in regards to your comment about not seeing another reason why to build in the islands here are some thoughts/comments:

1. Hawaii's largest tourist market is the Japanese tourist. Currently the other main hotel timeshares such as Hilton & Marriott are experiencing large sales from the Japanese market...something Disney has been unable to tap into until now.

2. The hawaii Disney store in Ala Moana shopping center is always top 1 or 2 in the country showing a strong market for Disney things.

3. Hawaii is a gateway to Asia. I can see the expansion of the Disney hotels/DVC continuing Westward from Hawaii.

4. I can see it totally helping DVC sales to West Coasters with a DVC in California and now Hawaii. Hawaii largest tourist market from Mainland US is from California.

Just some of my ideas.

Aloha,
Jen

 

[Dis Ohana]

I am totally unfamiliar with the whole DVC timeshare thing, but you're probably right, it would be a great way to tap into the Japanese market.
Ko Olina is a good location for the new resort too, away from Waikiki and the horrible congestion in that area.

I read your post on my lunch break while my husband was in the other office reading the Honolulu Advertiser online. He thought it was so funny that we both got the news at the same time, he from the "real news" and me from the DIS Boards . Thanks for posting so I could get the "real news"

 

[debaone]

Doesn't make too much sense to me....but that is why I don't have the job of deciding where to build new DVC hotels. Reading some replies makes this a lot more reasonable. Very good information to know about.

 

[magicmouse2]

I would love to visit there. I really want to go to Hawaii some day and that would be perfect for us.

 

[canron]

new resort!!! http://www.local6.com/news/14266803/detail.html

 

[Disney Fool]

Makes perfect sense to me....Disney has been rumoring about a DVC for Californians for a long time. They were in negotiations for a section of land right next to Disneyland and it fell through. Where next? Hawaii. Oh, yeah, I can hear the cash registers ringing already. Brilliant!

 

[happymommy]

This is really great! My friends own at the Marriott Vacation Club at Ko Olina, and their investment has gone up so much since they bought (about 5 years ago). It is a quiet area, and we loved it (I went with them a couple years ago). I used to live on Oahu also, and we used to go over to the Ihilani for dinner to "get away" although it was an hour drive to our house on the windward side. This is just a super thing!

 

[jel0511]

Makes perfect sense to me....Disney has been rumoring about a DVC for Californians for a long time. They were in negotiations for a section of land right next to Disneyland and it fell through. Where next? Hawaii. Oh, yeah, I can hear the cash registers ringing already. Brilliant!

I for one am VERY excited about this!! I can't wait to go! DVC is building villas at Grand Californian. They announced an expansion of the resort and along with a few more rooms, they'll also be adding DVC villas. I'm sure with the movement of either the Magic/Wonder out to the west coast permanently (when the new ship is finished), they'll be land/sea opportunities from LA. Hopefully with the new Oahu resort, a DCL ship in Hawaii isn't to far behind....