Here you go everyone:
Disney confirms Hawaii Resort
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Disney moves into Hawaii market -- without Mickey and his friends
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Jason Garcia | Sentinel Staff Writer
October 4, 2007
Disney is heading to Hawaii, with plans to build an 800-room hotel and time-share resort on Oahu, the company announced Wednesday.
But don't expect to see Mickey or Minnie wandering around the complex, which is being billed as the company's "first mixed-use family resort outside its theme parks."
The move comes eight months after Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo told investors that Disney was considering building stand-alone hotels, independent entertainment districts or even niche theme parks in locations far beyond its mega-resorts in Orlando and four other cities around the world.
"This resort hotel will give our guests another way to visit an exciting part of the world with a brand they trust," Rasulo said in a statement.
It also marks another major expansion of the rapidly growing Disney Vacation Club, the company's Celebration-based time-share arm. Vacation Club President Jim Lewis said half -- and possibly more -- of the resort's 800-plus rooms will be time-share villas.
"Hawaii is just an ideal location for us as we continue to venture outside of the theme-park berm, if you will," Lewis said.
Several analysts called the move a way for Disney to drive new growth in its parks-and-resort division and further capitalize on its reputation for detailed customer service.
"It's a good business extension for Disney because they have built up a tremendous expertise in running resort hotels at all their various properties," said media analyst Harold Vogel of New York-based Vogel Capital Management.
What's more, Vogel added, "It's almost like an advertising beacon for them. They can market and advertise all of their properties while they're out in Hawaii."
But the decision to build a stand-alone resort could also be a sign that Disney expects growth to flatten at its traditional theme parks. Disney, after all, is increasingly focusing on vacations beyond trips to Walt Disney World and its other signature resorts in Anaheim, Calif.; Paris; Tokyo; and Hong Kong.
Two years ago, for instance, the company launched Adventures by Disney, in which it offers guided-tour packages to locales ranging from Wyoming to Peru to China.
Meanwhile,
Disney Cruise Line, which is planning to double its fleet to four ships in the next five years, had one of its existing ships sailing in the Mediterranean this summer and is rumored to be considering itineraries everywhere from Alaska to Northern Europe.
"It's difficult to further increase the size and scope of the big theme parks. . . . In a week's vacation or five days, there's only so much one can see and do," said Janna Sampson, co-chief investment officer for Oakbrook Investments in Lisle, Ill. "Are people actually going to take longer vacations at Disney World? I think probably their research must be saying no."
Disney, which unveiled its plans in a news conference with Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle, said it has purchased 21 acres of oceanfront land for the project on the southwestern corner of Oahu, Hawaii's most populous island. The property is part of Ko Olina Resort & Marina, about 25 miles from the heart of Honolulu.
The company said its Imagineering unit is still finalizing designs but that it intends to begin construction on the resort next year with a goal of opening by 2011. An artist's rendering depicts a lush, tropical setting with palm trees, thatched roofs and Tiki torches -- and not a Disney character in sight.
Disney spokeswoman Lisa Haines said any use of the company's iconic characters at the resort will be limited to those "that fit the authenticity of the area," such as figures from the 2002 animated movie Lilo & Stitch, about a Hawaiian girl who befriends an alien.
Characters are "not going to be a prominent part of this," Haines said.
In addition to extending Disney's presence beyond its theme parks, the project will also continue a sudden westward expansion for Disney Vacation Club. Just two weeks ago, Disney revealed plans to build its first time-share units in California, saying it would add 50 two-bedroom villas at
Disneyland's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa.
Vacation Club's eight existing resorts are all on the East Coast, including six at Walt Disney World and one each in Vero Beach and Hilton Head, S.C.
Further expansions are certain for a Disney unit that, according to Lewis, has seen revenues, profits and membership double since 2003. Lewis mentioned Lake Tahoe on the California-Nevada border and the Caribbean as possible future time-share locations.
"This is a very important business to parks and resorts," Lewis said.
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