DVC Hawaii on hold?

[Mouseaholic!!!]

It's not a nice view from the outside either, if you (like me) are old enough to remember the way it used to be. In 1968, you could eat off the floors in Disneyland.

OMG - my husband and I agree with you 1,000 %.

We switched from the Beach Club to Boardwalk because of one really bad trip to the Beach Club 2 years ago. Just a part of the list includes.....lobby bathroom stench overpowered you BEFORE you even opened the door, our little side stairway had trash and yes, dried vomit, in the stairway for our entire 10-day trip. We called the front desk the first day to let them know....broken chair on our balcony - also called about it -- nothing happened, general shabbiness that comes from reduced maintenance budgets....high traffic areas needing re-painting for example.

The last day of our trip we stopped and talked to the manager....castmember to castmember. They were doing the best they could but with budget cuts they had to cutback on maintenance staff, mousekeepers, etc.

We see if from both sides and we too remember the days when every corner was simply spotless.

Generally it's not because the castmembers don't care, it's because there is not enough time in the day to accomplish everything that needs to be done. Just imagine THEIR honey-do lists!!!

Not fun to watch from either side.

 

[snowbunny]

Generally it's not because the castmembers don't care, it's because there is not enough time in the day to accomplish everything that needs to be done.

The CMs for the most part are great. Disney is still a good value but the focus on top line growth (DVC) and profits (cost cutting), aka "shareholder value," has taken its toll.

 

[tjkraz]

Not when they are making BOTH decisions at the same time. It's a little frustrating for managers to be told to prepare for budget cuts - possibly difficult budget cuts and then watch a new resort being built in a local economy that is suffering.

You BET Anaheim looks at EVERYTHING when they make a $$$ decision.

Large companies view daily operating expenses very differently from capital improvements. As JimC pointed out, DVC projects pay for themselves (and then some.) This one may take a bit longer than most due to the high outlay for the land acquisition, but other investments can be recouped in short order.

It's also a project that adds value to DVC as a whole. Having a Hawaii destination improves the marketability of the entire program.

As for the resort hotel, Hawaii tourism may be hurting but they still get millions of guests per year. Disney will only have 350 rooms per night to try and fill. Even in a shrinking market, the Disney name and style of resort they plan to build could very well be enough to attract a few hundred families per week to vacation at their resort (or timeshare) even if it means taking business from Marriott, Hilton, Wyndham, etc.

 

[Golden Rose]

We're fairly new to the timeshare world (just bought DVC this year,) but we've visited Hawaii many times. We almost bought HGVC some years ago, but decided against it for a variety of reasons. We've continued to go and stay in hotels, although admittedly not as often as we'd have gone if we'd bought. (We also had a child, which meant flying wasn't quite as easy as it had been.)

I definitely think a Hawaii destination adds a missing component to the DVC portfolio. (I think they ought to do something in the mountains somewhere, too, although I know it isn't likely in this economy.) Assuming DVC does go ahead and build on schedule, we'll definitely use DVC Ko Olina. We'll probably add on points so that we can be certain to get ocean view rooms every time we go. If Disney doesn't build, we may well go ahead and buy another Hawaii timeshare. I've definitely been bitten by the timeshare bug. And timeshares turned out to be a good fit for us; we generally take a couple of week+ vacations a year. We don't want to be locked into going to Hawaii every year, but we'll probably go every two to four years.

In our case, Disney would definitely be taking business from another timeshare... we're going to buy something in Hawaii in the next few years. DVC will probably be our first choice, but if it doesn't happen (or isn't well on its way), we'll take advantage of a deal offered by another of the big, easy to exchange timeshares.

 

[Darthmerideth]

Trump was on Fox and friends this morning, he said he can't get financing for his projects. I wonder if Disney has the financing available to start building?

 

[tamclan]

Trump typically builds Condos which aren't selling in this environment. I would hope that Disney had their financing for this lined up before breaking ground.

I guess we will see if they really break ground next week.

 

[hakepb]

Trump typically builds Condos which aren't selling in this environment. I would hope that Disney had their financing for this lined up before breaking ground.

I guess we will see if they really break ground next week.

Of course you see a lot more negative bits on the news, but I did see a case of a 30+ year car dealership owner had to close their doors for good, because his lenders closed his established, open lines of credit. (Of course there may be more to the story, not all dealers are closing)

The question might be, does DVC have the cash, not just the credit lines established?

 

[DisFlan]

The more I see how protracted this downturn is likely to be, the more I wonder about the whole project in Hawaii. It won't be just a DVC, it'll also be a hotel. If it is built, let's hope the travel industry in Hawaii improves before it opens.

DisFlan

 

[tjkraz]

The more I see how protracted this downturn is likely to be, the more I wonder about the whole project in Hawaii. It won't be just a DVC, it'll also be a hotel. If it is built, let's hope the travel industry in Hawaii improves before it opens.

I'm still not convinced that will be a major factor.

Whether Hawaii attracts 10 million guests per year or 6 mil or 3 mil, Disney has only 350 rooms to fill per night. With an average stay of 5.5 nights, they need to draw only about 20,000 parties per year.

If Disney succeeds in building a high-quality resort, they will have no problem doing that. A burgeoning tourist market certainly would help, but even in a worst-case scenario a Disney resort done right should succeed while others are left to fail.

 

[ACDSNY]

I'm still not convinced that will be a major factor.

If Disney succeeds in building a high-quality resort, they will have no problem doing that. A burgeoning tourist market certainly would help, but even in a worst-case scenario a Disney resort done right should succeed while others are left to fail.

I agree as it will be more family oriented than most of the other resorts.

 

[JimC]

I'm still not convinced that will be a major factor.

Whether Hawaii attracts 10 million guests per year or 6 mil or 3 mil, Disney has only 350 rooms to fill per night. With an average stay of 5.5 nights, they need to draw only about 20,000 parties per year.

If Disney succeeds in building a high-quality resort, they will have no problem doing that. A burgeoning tourist market certainly would help, but even in a worst-case scenario a Disney resort done right should succeed while others are left to fail.

There may be reason for some pause. Disney has little experience with non-theme park connected resorts and DVC's experience with non-theme park connected projects brought their early non-park expansion plans to a halt. Marriott's Newport Coast Villas was originally a DVC project that was never developed (DVC sold the undeveloped land to Marriott I believe). Couple that with the time/cost of getting to Hawaii and one might wonder if a project such as this might be delayed in this market environment.

I agree that the draw required for the Disney project is negligible when compared to Hawaii's overall tourism. But Disney's reputation is not general leisure travel, it is theme park specific leisure travel. Hopefully the Adventures by Disney program and DCL's summer respositioning activity has expanded their general leisure travel profile sufficiently, but I have my doubts in this market.