DVC Opening Office in CA

[Sarangel]

From the Sentinel:

The Mouse goes where the money is.

That's why I take this as a sign that the time-share business is booming: Disney is opening a sales office in California to market its Disney Vacation Club.

Expect an official announcement in May, but I'm told the new place will look like the cozy "preview center" at the Saratoga Springs resort in Orlando.

Disney has put a lot of muscle into time shares lately, and with good cause. Nationally, time-share sales now total about $5 billion a year. What's more, the business stood the test after 9-11 and through the recession, when time-share owners traveled while others stayed home.

The opening of a sales office in Anaheim near Disneyland doesn't mean Disney is building time shares in California -- not yet, anyway. Folks there will sell time at Disney's existing resorts in Orlando, Vero Beach and Hilton Head, S.C.

But Mouse managers are talking a lot about how much they like this business -- and I wouldn't be surprised to hear soon that something more is planned.

Jim Lewis, local chief of the vacation club, says demand is especially strong among the 50-something crowd. Minimum buy-in at Disney is about $14,000.

About 90,000 people are members of the Disney Vacation Club, making it among the top time-share operators in the country.

In Orlando, Disney will complete the second phase of the Saratoga Springs resort at the end of this year, with a third phase to start in 2006.