Do you think the EPV will be like.....

[DVCJman]

Do you think the Eagle Pines DVC property will be in line with the way the Boardwalk is or the way OKW is? By looking at the small drawing that I saw this week, it gives me the idea that the property will be similiar to the Boardwalk.

I like how OKW is.....I like the small "communities", the fact you can park at your door so to speak, and the quiet and laid back feeling there.


So what do you think?

 

[Peggy Sue]

If I understand what I've read, I think it will be a combination of both. Sort of like what they did at Vero. A Inn building, and then clusters of units....I hope like OKW. I also got the impression the size of the units may be more like OKW than BWV and VWL. If this is true..it will be the best of both worlds!!

 

[DVCJman]

Peggy Sue...that is the impression I got also....and looking at the picture I saw, I just wondered out loud, so to speak, as to what others thought.....It would be the best of both to have some large accomodations like OKW....better start saving to get my add on at EPV....*L*

 

[drusba]

It looks like it is going to be closer in line with BWV but with possibly some separate or non connecting buildings. It will definitely not be spread out like OKW. BW resort is on 45 acres, OKW 156, and this will be on 61.

 

[prncssjas]

I really hope the VEP ends up similar to VB in the sense that you can stay at the inn or in the separate villas. Because there are times when I just want a "hotel" feel and other times, a more homey atmosphere. Either way, I think it's going to be gorgeous...I can't wait to see what it looks like.

 

[Lisa F]

Originally posted by drusba
It looks like it is going to be closer in line with BWV but with possibly some separate or non connecting buildings. It will definitely not be spread out like OKW. BW resort is on 45 acres, OKW 156, and this will be on 61.

Drusba, do you also have the numbers of how many units there are in the BW and in OKW (and also acreage and number of units at Vero?)

For those of us who have never been to Vero, is it kind of like the grand floridian? There is a main building with some rooms and most of the services and then a few other buildings in close proximity to the main building with the majority of the rooms.

It seems like at Vero, the rooms in the "inn" are cheaper/smaller (studio sized?) and the real "villas" are in the other buildings. In the GF it is just the opposite where you pay a premium to be in the main building. I am wondering which model it will follow.

In either case, the announcement and piece of concept art seems to have introduced more questions (at least for me) than it answered! If the site is not as large as OKW's site is and things aren't as spread out, will there be room for parking at the units or will there have to be a centralized parking lot? Will the units be the same size as OKW, or has disney figured out that people will buy into places that have smaller units? Will people still buy in if these units don't have either the size of OKW or the proximity to the parks of the other 3 WDW DVC resorts?

I guess only time will tell!

Lisa

 

[PamOKW]

Lisa I'll try to answer some of your Vero questions. DVC members indicated that they "missed" staying in a hotel sometimes. So Vero included the Inn which is very much a luxury hotel. The rooms are similar to studios in that they have a kitchenette area but they remind me very much of the GF. Even the lobby, though smaller, has a GF feel. (Originally, those who stayed in the Inn were also given housekeeping for the hotel experience. Some members complained and it was eliminated.)

The one-two bedrooms and studios are located in seperate buildings (some of each in each building). The GVs are actually free-standing beach cottages. There are six of them rimming the dune that runs the edge of the property. No building is more than a 1-2 minutes from the Inn. It is all very compact. Original plans were for the majority of the resort to actually be across the street. Those plans have now been scrapped and the land is for sale/sold.

The area surrounding the resort is residential high-end condos.

 

[drusba]

OKW has 531 units, BWV 383 (but 761 rooms if you also count the Inn); Vero had 70 acres but only half developed and Disney has now sold the other half, thus 35 acres and about 175 units. Room counts can be somewhat deceptive. The new one is supposed to have 600 units but with an Inn portion it is likely to have a lot of inn (hotel-like) rooms similar to Vero where there are 115 rooms in the Inn portion. About 38% of BWV's count is 2BR units that can be locked off to 1BR and studios. All of OKW's count is 2BR's (lock-offs and not lock-Offs) and the GV's. If there are a lot of Inn rooms in that 600 count then it really is not going to have more rooms than OKW if you count OKW's 2BR lock-offs as two rooms each.

 

[Joeblack]

My guess is that EPV will be up there on themeing with the Grand Floridian and will be very similar to the Breakers Hotel in West Palm Beach or the Boca Raton Club and Resort. I believe they will try to recreate a "Grandeur" atmosphere at EPV. This will, of course come acompanied with a higher price/point.

In space/point ratio, OKW will remain the best value of DVC.

Rooms will be in the same size range as BWV or WLV and Parking will not be like at OKW but rahter a central Parking lot with valet.

They might have studios in the central building and villas in separate wings, but my guess is that there won't be any clusters like OKW.

What I am certain about is that when EPV is finished we will all be drooling over adding-on.

 

[mrsdon]

When we were at VWL in June a guide told us the size of the units would resemble those of OKW. he said members really liked the larger units and the openess of OKW>

 

[Werner Weiss]

Here's a paragraph fom the press release:

The new resort is scheduled to open in phases, with the first phase consisting of the Inn building and five Villa buildings for a total of 360 units. The Inn and one Villa building are currently expected to open in Spring/Summer 2004, with the four additional Villa buildings opening throughout the remainder of that year. The final phase of five additional Villa buildings containing 240 units are currently anticipated to open by Spring/Summer 2005.

Let's see... If I'm doing the math correctly, there will eventually be an Inn building and ten villa buildings. If each Villa building has 48 units (or each has an average of 48 units), the Inn building will have 120 units.

Because the Villa buildings will face golf club fairways, similar to Old Key West, it's likely that they'll have parking on the other side of each Villa building, also similar to Old Key West.

Finally, if I had to bet on the size of the individual units, I would guess they'll be bigger than those at the "hotel" DVC locations (BWV, VWL, BCV), but probably somewhat smaller than those at OKW -- just as the Hilton Head and Vero Beach DVC resorts have somewhat smaller units than OKW. However, I believe they'll have the spacious feeling of OKW.

Of course, these are just my guesses.

 

[PamOKW]

Maybe they'll do the parking in the villa buildings a la Vero, a parking garage under each building.


I agree with Joe....I have a feeling this resort is going to be calling my name.

 

[Beth]

PamOKW.

I know you scan the local papers around Vero from time for real estate transactions, etc.

Have you heard ANYTHING about what's being done with the Vero property across A1A? Disney "has" to retain some of it, right? That's where the resort staff parks, and then there's the tennis courts, volleyball, 100 acre wood, lake, etc....

I hope they keep some of it - we're seriously considering an add-on over there (should have done it a long time ago!), but I'd really like to know what's going in across the road....

Thanks, as always, for all your info!

 

[dvcdudes]

Is this on a web site? Where did you see the pictures?

 

[Werner Weiss]

dvcdudes wrote:

Is this on a web site? Where did you see the pictures?

See the Orlando Sentinel article, Disney ready to build 600-unit time share, which includes a small picture. Click on the picture for a bigger picture.

For more information (but no pictures), see the official July 23 Disney press release, Disney Vacation Club Announces Plans for Largest Ownership Resort to Date At Walt Disney World Resort, at the Business Wire press release Web site. Or see the same press release, Disney Vacation Club Announces Plans for Largest Ownership Resort to Date At Walt Disney World Resort, at Excite's news site. I've included two links to the press release in case one of the links is no longer be valid by the time you click on it.

 

[PamOKW]

Beth, I keep looking but I haven't seen anything. I didn't actually see the ad advertising the property but it appeared in the Wall Street Journal. I haven't seen anything in the real estate transactions indicating it sold. I would think they'll keep the parking lot/recreation area across the street but I don't know for sure.

WDW Magic
This release also has a small picture.

 

[Lisa F]

Pam (and everyone else),

thanks for the responses and the clarification about vero. someday we will have to check it out! (right now can't stand to be that close to disney and not actually go to disney though!).

All of the speculation and guessing is so interesting... I thought I'd never want to stay at a "golf club" type resort after we tried out OKW but if this place really is as gorgeous and luxurious as the GF (and the fact that they are announcing it as a "flagship" resort tends to suggest that) then we may have to try it, at least once!

Lisa

 

[dvcdudes]

What kind of transportation will there be at this resort?
I'm guessing BUS ONLY

 

[JonHM]

Click here for the bigger picture that Werner referred to:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...724.photo?coll=orl-business-headlines-tourism

I'm *pretty* sure transportation was discussed here the other day and someone from Disney said that it would be bus only, no boats (or monorail )

 

[DVCJman]

My guess would be bus transportation only.....unless you could get a boat back out to Bay Lake/Seven Seas Lagoon to have transportation to Magic Kingdom....which would be nice....