Ideas for the Next DVC Resort

[CarolynFH]

Somewhere in internet world I’ve seen a diagram of potential route for Skyliner from DHS to CSR, AK, AKV, and All Stars as well as Blizzard Beach. It makes a lot of sense to me, given how many more guests per hour the Skyliner carries compared to buses. Although I’d like to see regular bus service too, maybe on a reduced schedule, for guests who for whatever reason don’t want to ride the Skyliner.

 

[Kingkonig]

Somewhere in internet world I’ve seen a diagram of potential route for Skyliner from DHS to CSR, AK, AKV, and All Stars as well as Blizzard Beach. It makes a lot of sense to me, given how many more guests per hour the Skyliner carries compared to buses. Although I’d like to see regular bus service too, maybe on a reduced schedule, for guests who for whatever reason don’t want to ride the Skyliner.

I mean, the point of the skyliner is to reduce the cost of fuel/labor/repairs for a bus fleet. High upfront cost for long term savings. They likely would maintain a reserve of busses, not unlike they do to repurpose for HS/Epcot in case of inclement weather, but it wouldn’t be part of the continual plan.

What would be very interesting (but not likely) would be to have them build a Peoplemover track like Walt originally intended for his version of EPCOT.

 

[marmentrout85]

I think MK is built up enough with all the LSL points hitting the system soon.

Agreed. In the last 3 years we've had the VGF expansion along with Island Tower, now with LSL that will be a hefty amount of new points in the MK area in a 5 year span.

 

[marmentrout85]

Man I'm in a pretty good spot with DVC at the moment and I really don't want things really any more saturated than what they're becoming. Having said that, here are some pretty vanilla ideas lol.

It's been talked about a decent amount before but I could still see DVC taking over some of Yacht Club. I also could see further teardowns of Caribbean Beach buildings and then build more deluxe towers. Or, on the other hand, expand to the moderate resorts as they currently stand and just have more generous point charts for rooms at CBR, CSR, and Port Orleans.

I hope I'm wrong, but I sort of just feel like after LSL we might not get another tremendous new build for a good chunk of time. And by that time then we might start hearing more on what the future may or may not hold for BWV and BCV.

Now, when it comes to Magic Kingdom, I actually could very well see them building a hotel with direct access to the park, but I don't necessarily think it would be part of DVC since they could charge well more than Grand Floridian and it would likely sell-out cash just about every night I'd have to imagine. I just feel like, if it WERE to be DVC, that it would make it seem much more ultra-exclusive compared to all the other WDW DVC resorts. But then again there's Grand Californian, so who knows? Has a mathematical argument ever been made that Grand Californian could have driven more revenue as a non-DVC resort? That's basically where I'm trying to get with this lol.

 

[Girlstar30]

Man I'm in a pretty good spot with DVC at the moment and I really don't want things really any more saturated than what they're becoming. Having said that, here are some pretty vanilla ideas lol.

It's been talked about a decent amount before but I could still see DVC taking over some of Yacht Club. I also could see further teardowns of Caribbean Beach buildings and then build more deluxe towers. Or, on the other hand, expand to the moderate resorts as they currently stand and just have more generous point charts for rooms at CBR, CSR, and Port Orleans.

I hope I'm wrong, but I sort of just feel like after LSL we might not get another tremendous new build for a good chunk of time. And by that time then we might start hearing more on what the future may or may not hold for BWV and BCV.

Now, when it comes to Magic Kingdom, I actually could very well see them building a hotel with direct access to the park, but I don't necessarily think it would be part of DVC since they could charge well more than Grand Floridian and it would likely sell-out cash just about every night I'd have to imagine. I just feel like, if it WERE to be DVC, that it would make it seem much more ultra-exclusive compared to all the other WDW DVC resorts. But then again there's Grand Californian, so who knows? Has a mathematical argument ever been made that Grand Californian could have driven more revenue as a non-DVC resort? That's basically where I'm trying to get with this lol.

The thought of them not building more resorts for a while also has me not in a rush to buy direct.

I tend to agree with the thought they might not build another for a while and there's a majority of direct only resorts right now i have no real interest in staying at past experiencing once so far (vdh bcuz of tot will always give me pause, could care less about cfw, dont think LSL will be my cup of tea unless pool area is amazing)

 

[hardcorestitch]

After Lakeshore Lodge, what should the next DVC resort be? Some ideas I'll throw out there:

• Convert Caribbean Beach into a Venice-themed deluxe resort. Combined with Riviera, it would make the area seem more cohesive and a destination onto itself (the way that Crescent Lake is). It would also fix the problem with Riviera's preferred view rooms facing the non-preferred direction. Caribbean Beach currently has the largest moderate rooms, but they would become the smallest deluxe rooms.
• A resort at Hollywood Studios, ideally near the Skyliner station. I would recommend a Chateau Marmont theme.
• I heard a rumor of a resort at Epcot near its front (monorail) entrance. This would be convenient for accessing MK and Epcot, but aside from that, you wouldn't have much else in the area. I would recommend this hotel be Star Wars themed (but done the right way this time).
• I also heard a rumor of a resort on the back side of MK, tied into Villain's Land. Like the Epcot idea, it sounds cool, but would put you out on an island for exploring elsewhere. I don't know how many people would want to stay in a villian-themed hotel, especially if they have young kids.
• If you look at a aerial view between Animal Kingdom and AKL, it is mostly vacant green space. Plop a hotel there to bridge the gap and have an entrance into Avatar Land. A resort that focuses on natural beauty with a subtle Avatar vibe would be really cool.

FWIW I am not a fan of Lakeshore Lodge's location; it feels like they're simply sprawling in the direction of least resistance. I think we could come up with something better than that.

I would love to see a Haunted Mansion themed resort… either in the former Discovery Island Bay Lake area or near the Animal Kingdom area.

 

[Brittleebee]

I’ve seen rumors in the past of an Adventureland gate resort. I think that would be neat, although unlikely.

In a dream world. I would absolutely love to see something with HEAVY theming as others have mentioned above. I think there’s money to be made in putting guests “into the story.”

 

[muppets3d]

In a dream world. I would absolutely love to see something with HEAVY theming as others have mentioned above. I think there’s money to be made in putting guests “into the story.”

Have we already forgotten about the Starcruiser???

 

[Girlstar30]

Have we already forgotten about the Starcruiser???

I kind of wish I would have gone tho and i wouldnt consider myself a star wars fan. There was an interest from me, but the high price and super short stay had me booking a 7 night Disney cruise instead.

I feel it could have been successful without the crazy high price for the very short stay, but yes niche product is riskier.

They are probably better off offering a star wars themed room inside of a hotel than themeing the whole thing like that. Japan successfully did a Toy Story hotel, so I think it could be popular if done right.

 

[gsdweller]

Imagineering made this mistake (misjudging the market) once with Starcruiser, and I can’t imagine DVD wants another Aulani or Cabins where they can’t ever sell out

Aulani is a cash cow. The don't care if it ever sells out. They make tons of money there.

 

[Steelers0854]

Have we already forgotten about the Starcruiser???

I don’t think that is a fair comparison. Yes it was heavily themed, but it was also a unique experience, not a typical hotel. Had they built the Starcruiser anywhere else, I think they could have fairly easily just made it a hotel once the experience part of it failed, but its location made that practically impossible. Also, im not sure if they would have because then my guess is they likely wouldn’t have been able to take the tax write off for it. But they literally could have sold those rooms for premium prices as a normal hotel and made a killing so I have to agree with the OP, if done correctly this is an easy way to make big money.

 

[muppets3d]

I don’t think that is a fair comparison. Yes it was heavily themed, but it was also a unique experience, not a typical hotel. Had they built the Starcruiser anywhere else, I think they could have fairly easily just made it a hotel once the experience part of it failed, but its location made that practically impossible. Also, im not sure if they would have because then my guess is they likely wouldn’t have been able to take the tax write off for it. But they literally could have sold those rooms for premium prices as a normal hotel and made a killing so I have to agree with the OP, if done correctly this is an easy way to make big money.

I guess I am not sure how "HEAVY" into the theming @Brittleebee is talking about. Are all the cast members at the hotel in character, are you expected to be in character, etc., - like the Starcruiser? Or are we just talking about Animal Kingdom Lodge, but Star Wars instead of giraffes and zebras?

I think Disney is wary to give hotels "heavy" IP theming these days after the blowback from the Incredibles at Contemporary, and the failure of Starcruiser.

 

[Kingkonig]

I guess I am not sure how "HEAVY" into the theming @Brittleebee is talking about. Are all the cast members at the hotel in character, are you expected to be in character, etc., - like the Starcruiser? Or are we just talking about Animal Kingdom Lodge, but Star Wars instead of giraffes and zebras?

I think Disney is wary to give hotels "heavy" IP theming these days after the blowback from the Incredibles at Contemporary, and the failure of Starcruiser.

Yeah, everyone has a different definition of “heavy” IP theming, and if I’m honest if something screams “Disney IP” in your face, it makes me think of the value resorts.

It seems to me (and I may be wrong) that the most popular/successful DVC resorts are the ones that you could pick up and place anywhere else in the world and they’d still be a 4-ish star hotel (or are literally right next to a popular park, but that’s another discussion). They have Disney art, but they’re not “in your face” Disney. Nice rooms, nice restaurants, a luxury feel (if not experience), which helps considering the target market isn’t just parks goers. At some point the families who brought their kids will need to enjoy the resorts between taking their kids and taking their grandkids.

 

[sethschroeder]

Somewhere in internet world I’ve seen a diagram of potential route for Skyliner from DHS to CSR, AK, AKV, and All Stars as well as Blizzard Beach. It makes a lot of sense to me, given how many more guests per hour the Skyliner carries compared to buses. Although I’d like to see regular bus service too, maybe on a reduced schedule, for guests who for whatever reason don’t want to ride the Skyliner.

Until they start running it through more weather I think its dead in the water. You would need a ton of busses to be just sitting there ready to go when weather takes it down to hit all those resorts. You would also need a bunch of bus capacity at opening and closing as well.

AOA/POP/RIV is 5k rooms
All Star/Coronado is 7k rooms
All Star/Coronado/AKL is 9.7k rooms

With the current skyliner the saving grace is that Epcot and HS are essentially always on different schedules spreading people out. AKL though would likely be going to AK opening and HS opening at the same time because that skyliner route would be like a 30 min ride.

 

[sethschroeder]

Yeah, everyone has a different definition of “heavy” IP theming, and if I’m honest if something screams “Disney IP” in your face, it makes me think of the value resorts.

My view is Deluxe/DVC should be heavy regional theming where you work in a few touches of Disney that is subdued. Example is POLY wouldn't work as Stich's resort but it works great having Stich show up.

I would like to see a European mountain lodge. I would like them to make a Deluxe version of CBR as well possibly with a wave pool at the resort.

 

[Kingkonig]

I would like to see a European mountain lodge.

Riviera might be the closest we get to that for a while (granted, not exactly the same theme, but European river vs European Alps might make it hard to sell another deluxe at the moment)

For CBR, I think that’s a neat idea, but they’d pretty much have to demo and fully redo that area to build a deluxe resort (and I’m not sure they want to take a moderate resort offline)

 

[sethschroeder]

For CBR, I think that’s a neat idea, but they’d pretty much have to demo and fully redo that area to build a deluxe resort (and I’m not sure they want to take a moderate resort offline)

My thought is after DLL they will build something where Aruba is right next to the RIV Skyliner. Originally thought they would do something by Boardwalk or Yacht Club but I think they will leave that area alone until closer to 2042.

 

[muppets3d]

Having been stuck on the skyliner, bobbing in the breeze over Boardwalk for about 45 minutes, I would prefer if they built a monorail or people mover instead. There is a reason every skyliner station is equipped with restrooms.