First Riviera ROFR

We were at a Padres game last weekend on the first night of our exchange at Wyndham Harbour Lights--the Pads got shelled by the Red Sox, I mean shelled. Plus, it was just bad baseball.

The person I was with noted that, despite the situation, everyone was smiling and chill. "Well sure." I said, "They live in San Diego."
America’s Finest City
 
Disney is also happy to move offsite guests onsite. Even if they don’t get a single new guest year-over-year, if they can convert some offsite guests to onsite, fine.
Offsite guests primarily stay offsite to save money. To get this crowd, Disney would either need to build value accommodations (which Disney has demonstrated no appetite for), or lower hotel rates across the board (it seems to be the route they're currently going, surprisingly).
At some point DVD needs to change whatever strategy they have. IMO they are currently building and selling new resorts. But for how long can they do that? It’s not as Disney owns endless acres of land - they will run out - is that now, in 5 years or 10 years i don’t know. But before they do they will change the strategy, maybe into buying and flipping.
Disney could demolish existing resorts, which I don't think they've ever done before. I won't name names, but some resorts in the value and moderate categories seem like they've lived a full life to me.
 
Disney could demolish existing resorts, which I don't think they've ever done before. I won't name names, but some resorts in the value and moderate categories seem like they've lived a full life to me.
Which, as I understand it, is exactly what they did to build RIV - tore down one of the Caribbean Beach villages. To the extent Disney wants another Epcot area resort before 2042, one of the resorts (or part of one) along the Skyliner could make sense.
 

Offsite guests primarily stay offsite to save money.
Tell that to the people who buy in Marriot's systemt. Or stay at the Ritz-Carlton. Or the Waldorf. None of them are spending less than it costs to buy DVC or stay onsite.

Not everyone is offsite to save money. Some are offsite because the service level is better---and that's a different problem for Disney, but one that is more easily surmounted given the business model.

Which, as I understand it, is exactly what they did to build RIV - tore down one of the Caribbean Beach villages.
This is not the first. They also bulldozed one of the Garden Wings to build BLT, and SSR is built on the bones of the old DIsney Institute.
 
We were at a Padres game last weekend on the first night of our exchange at Wyndham Harbour Lights--the Pads got shelled by the Red Sox, I mean shelled. Plus, it was just bad baseball.

The person I was with noted that, despite the situation, everyone was smiling and chill. "Well sure." I said, "They live in San Diego."

Born and raised in San Diego. The weather is great year round, but I found it boring to always be 70-75.
 
The summer I moved to Palo Alto, I was bummed that much of the vegetation was dead. By the second summer, the Golden Hills were beautiful.

My son is a West LA denizen (he technically lives in Brentwood, so Bob Iger is his neighbor). He does not miss winter, complains that LA can be cold when it is overcast, but he does miss fall.
 
Born and raised in San Diego. The weather is great year round, but I found it boring to always be 70-75.
it’s probably my wife’s first choice for retirement. It’s where she lived when I met her… and then she moved to Seattle with me when I got my first big promotion…. talk about a life change! We’ll take beautiful and boring…
 
Disney could demolish existing resorts, which I don't think they've ever done before. I won't name names, but some resorts in the value and moderate categories seem like they've lived a full life to me.
The all-stars serve a purpose. They are entry-level on-property accommodations for families starting out. (Hey, we stayed there one Thanksgiving when the kids were really young! Actually, now that I think about it, we may have stayed there twice.). More significantly, the All-Stars are low-cost accommodations for the gazillions of school groups who come through each year (as sports teams, cheer units, youth imagination campus, etc., etc., etc.). That's a big chunk of the resorts overall income--as those groups also buy tickets, eat on property, and pay for various activities, such as to play at the Wide World of Sports complex.
 
it’s probably my wife’s first choice for retirement. It’s where she lived when I met her… and then she moved to Seattle with me when I got my first big promotion…. talk about a life change! We’ll take beautiful and boring…
See we didn’t really find it beautiful. It’s probably due to living there since birth to adulthood or could be not being able to afford places like Carlsbad. We find mountains and big trees much more beautiful.
 
See we didn’t really find it beautiful. It’s probably due to living there since birth to adulthood or could be not being able to afford places like Carlsbad. We find mountains and big trees much more beautiful.
“Show me the most beautiful person in the world and I’ll find someone who is sick of looking at them” 🤣
 
See we didn’t really find it beautiful. It’s probably due to living there since birth to adulthood or could be not being able to afford places like Carlsbad. We find mountains and big trees much more beautiful.
It's interesting how our perspectives change. I grew up mostly in Montana, close to incredible mountains in the south central part of the state. After a few years in the midwest, ended up in San Diego to finish high school and then on to the Bay Area for college before heading out to the East Coast for law school. I remember thinking San Diego and SoCal in general was just one of the most incredibly beautiful and amazing places I had ever been - warm and sunny almost all the time, beautiful beaches, and even mountains that aren't too far (not Montana mountains, but not too terrible either). When I first went to the Bay Area, all I wanted was to go back to San Diego. Even in law school, I sort of hoped to end up back on SoCal somewhere. Fast forward, and I've now spent most in my adult life in the Philly and DC areas. Although San Diego still holds a special place in my mind, I think I'd move back to Montana or the mountain west before I'd move back to California. But, also not going anywhere anytime soon and perfectly happy where I am.
 
It's interesting how our perspectives change. I grew up mostly in Montana, close to incredible mountains in the south central part of the state. After a few years in the midwest, ended up in San Diego to finish high school and then on to the Bay Area for college before heading out to the East Coast for law school. I remember thinking San Diego and SoCal in general was just one of the most incredibly beautiful and amazing places I had ever been - warm and sunny almost all the time, beautiful beaches, and even mountains that aren't too far (not Montana mountains, but not too terrible either). When I first went to the Bay Area, all I wanted was to go back to San Diego. Even in law school, I sort of hoped to end up back on SoCal somewhere. Fast forward, and I've now spent most in my adult life in the Philly and DC areas. Although San Diego still holds a special place in my mind, I think I'd move back to Montana or the mountain west before I'd move back to California. But, also not going anywhere anytime soon and perfectly happy where I am.
Wow, you have lived in some of the most spectacular places in the country!
 
Wow, you have lived in some of the most spectacular places in the country!
I won't disagree! That said, I've often remarked, at the end of the day, you can be happy anywhere you want and your family, friends, and job are so much more important than the particular place you live - I used to joke, give me a job making good money but a good work/life balance in the upper peninsula of Michigan, and I can be happy! No offense to anyone from there - I've never actually been, and I'm sure it is lovely, just not a place on the top of most people's lists of places to move.
 
Offsite guests primarily stay offsite to save money. To get this crowd, Disney would either need to build value accommodations (which Disney has demonstrated no appetite for), or lower hotel rates across the board (it seems to be the route they're currently going, surprisingly).

Disney could demolish existing resorts, which I don't think they've ever done before. I won't name names, but some resorts in the value and moderate categories seem like they've lived a full life to me.


In recent years, they have partially demolished resorts several times. Then built DVC on the land.
The Riviera was CBR buildings.
BLT was The Contemporary Garden Wing building.
 
The all-stars serve a purpose. They are entry-level on-property accommodations for families starting out. (Hey, we stayed there one Thanksgiving when the kids were really young! Actually, now that I think about it, we may have stayed there twice.). More significantly, the All-Stars are low-cost accommodations for the gazillions of school groups who come through each year (as sports teams, cheer units, youth imagination campus, etc., etc., etc.). That's a big chunk of the resorts overall income--as those groups also buy tickets, eat on property, and pay for various activities, such as to play at the Wide World of Sports complex.
The All-Stars are perfectly pleasant and get knocked on a lot. Especially after their recent renovations, I think it's undeserved.
 















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