Vero Phase 2

[Cfabar1]

I am wondering if anyone knows the story as to what was planned for VB Phase 2. Obviously it is never going to happen, with the land having now been sold to GHO homes. However, does anyone have any information on what was initially envisioned?

 

[tjkraz]

The short answer is more buildings. There is a tunnel under SR A1A which was intended to allow guests to move easily between the two areas. The front desk, restaurants, beach and pool are on the eastern side. Support buildings, additional parking, basketball courts, tennis courts and other minor amenities are on the western side. That western side was intended to be populated with more guest buildings. I suspect they would have added a "quiet pool", playground, BBQ, etc. But I don't know that Disney ever revealed detailed plans.

 

[hhisc16]

The short answer is more buildings. There is a tunnel under SR A1A which was intended to allow guests to move easily between the two areas. The front desk, restaurants, beach and pool are on the eastern side. Support buildings, additional parking, basketball courts, tennis courts and other minor amenities are on the western side. That western side was intended to be populated with more guest buildings. I suspect they would have added a "quiet pool", playground, BBQ, etc. But I don't know that Disney ever revealed detailed plans.

View attachment 723149

Why was phase 2 cancelled?

 

[hhisc16]

I am wondering if anyone knows the story as to what was planned for VB Phase 2. Obviously it is never going to happen, with the land having now been sold to GHO homes. However, does anyone have any information on what was initially envisioned?

When was phase 2 cancelled?

 

[Cfabar1]

My understanding was that phase two was cancelled due to Vero taking a very long time to sell. In order to get it sold, I believe they had to subsidize the dues To get it sold. It took way too long compared to OKW, Boardwalk, etc.

Shame it hadn’t gone ahead.

 

[Narcoossee11]

DVC has learned (the hard way) that resorts not at a park , just don't work.
They sound great on paper but have too many issues.
Aulani, I think , put the end of resorts not at a park.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

My understanding was that phase two was cancelled due to Vero taking a very long time to sell. In order to get it sold, I believe they had to subsidize the dues To get it sold. It took way too long compared to OKW, Boardwalk, etc.

Shame it hadn’t gone ahead.

I don’t believe they subsidized dues to enhance sales, but rather the other way around.

Original dues were calculated assuming the build-out would happen, and many expenses were spread over more points. When the build-out was cancelled, maintenance became more expensive per point.

Those who purchased under the less expensive dues are now subsidized for the difference.

At least that’s what I have always believed, but perhaps somebody will correct me.

 

[Budzooka]

DVC has learned (the hard way) that resorts not at a park , just don't work.
They sound great on paper but have too many issues.
Aulani, I think , put the end of resorts not at a park.

Exact opposite of our family. Our favorite resorts are Vero and Aulani. Love getting the Disney service and feel without the hustle and bustle of the parks.

We are doing our first park stay since 2017 this summer. Have used points at Vero four times and Aulani once since then.

 

[AnnaS]

The land is now sold and homes are being built.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

The land is now sold and homes are being built.

I know the land to the south was sold, but is the land across the street sold as well?

 

[tjkraz]

Exact opposite of our family. Our favorite resorts are Vero and Aulani. Love getting the Disney service and feel without the hustle and bustle of the parks.

We are doing our first park stay since 2017 this summer. Have used points at Vero four times and Aulani once since then.

Sales numbers suggest you're in the minority.

Many DVC owners occasionally use their points for non-park destinations. The problem is few people choose to buy into a non-park location. If someone is specifically in the market for a Disney timeshare, they're usually better off getting the 11 month advantage at WDW or DL. And if folks are simply in the market for a beach timeshare, there are a lot of other options besides DVC, many with lower prices, wider range of destinations, etc.

The number of buyers who view Disney as a desirable hotel operator AND do not wish to have easy access to theme parks is really small.

 

[Budzooka]

Sales numbers suggest you're in the minority.

Many DVC owners occasionally use their points for non-park destinations. The problem is few people choose to buy into a non-park location. If someone is specifically in the market for a Disney timeshare, they're usually better off getting the 11 month advantage at WDW or DL. And if folks are simply in the market for a beach timeshare, there are a lot of other options besides DVC, many with lower prices, wider range of destinations, etc.

The number of buyers who view Disney as a desirable hotel operator AND do not wish to have easy access to theme parks is really small.

Don’t disagree with you. We made our first purchase at Poly in 2016 and had no intention of non park stays. It wasn’t until we stayed at Vero in 2019 that we realized how much we enjoyed it.

 

[PalmettoPath]

Exact opposite of our family. Our favorite resorts are Vero and Aulani. Love getting the Disney service and feel without the hustle and bustle of the parks.

We are doing our first park stay since 2017 this summer. Have used points at Vero four times and Aulani once since then.

Same here. Resorts not with a park (Vero and Aulani primarily, lesser HHI) were big factors as to why we ultimately bought in. We visit VB ever summer. It's like our summer cottage.

 

[AnnaS]

I know the land to the south was sold, but is the land across the street sold as well?

Not across the street. Disney still owns a portion of the land - the tennis/basketball courts, lake, etc. They started excavating/working for the new homes when we were there last March. We could see it when we took a walk across the street I wonder if they are finished/almost finished.

Do you ever drive around in that area? I will ask my friend when I see her next week if she has visited the resort recently - but might not have wandered/walked there. They have dinner at the resort sometimes. They just got back a few weeks ago. They have a home in Vero Beach too.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

DVC has learned (the hard way) that resorts not at a park , just don't work.
They sound great on paper but have too many issues.
Aulani, I think , put the end of resorts not at a park.

Aulani is not comparable to Vero Beach and Hilton Head in that it was never intended to be a DVC-exclusive resort. Aulani is also a plain old pay-cash-per-night-hotel, and they sell a ton of rooms at very high prices. There are people who know a lot better than I do who have suggested that Disney might not even be particularly upset that Aulani contracts are hard to sell, because the cash side is so lucrative.

And finally, Aulani is in demand year-round. Hilton Head is a ghost town during the off-season because South Carolina isn't warm enough to be a beach destination in the winter. This is obviously less of a concern at Vero.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Sales numbers suggest you're in the minority.

Many DVC owners occasionally use their points for non-park destinations. The problem is few people choose to buy into a non-park location. If someone is specifically in the market for a Disney timeshare, they're usually better off getting the 11 month advantage at WDW or DL. And if folks are simply in the market for a beach timeshare, there are a lot of other options besides DVC, many with lower prices, wider range of destinations, etc.

The number of buyers who view Disney as a desirable hotel operator AND do not wish to have easy access to theme parks is really small.

We get it, you hate Aulani, but this is all a misstatement of the facts.

You acknowledge that "many DVC (meaning WDW) owners occasionally use their points for non-park destinations" but you seem to not want to recognize that "many Aulani owners occasionally use their points for Park destinations." An Aulani contract gets you Hawaii and theme parks, just like the re rest of DVC, but it's a lot easier to get into Walt Disney World at 7 months than Aulani because the inventory is so much larger.

You also seem to not understand the reason Aulani was added to the portfolio. Aulani was not built to sell out Aulani. Aulani was built to put a big sexy gem in the portfolio of DVC to help them sell their other properties. Guides don't push you to Aulani (unless you indicate that you really want it), but they use Aulani to sell you VGF and Riviera and Poly 2 and DLT and...

 

[tjkraz]

We get it, you hate Aulani, but this is all a misstatement of the facts.

No I don't.

You acknowledge that "many DVC (meaning WDW) owners occasionally use their points for non-park destinations" but you seem to not want to recognize that "many Aulani owners occasionally use their points for Park destinations." An Aulani contract gets you Hawaii and theme parks, just like the re rest of DVC, but it's a lot easier to get into Walt Disney World at 7 months than Aulani because the inventory is so much larger.

I'm simply commenting on what the sales numbers reflect.

The 2022 budget for Aulani is based upon 7.6 million Aulani points. That number accounts for 12.5 years worth of sales dating back to July 2010.

Over that same timeframe, DVC has sold more than 3M AKV points, 1.5M SSR points 2.5M VGF1 points, 700K VGF2, 4M Polynesian, 3.3M Copper Creek, 3.3M Riviera, plus thousands more in older resorts at WDW. Consumers are choosing WDW locations over Aulani by more than 2.5-to-1.

You also seem to not understand the reason Aulani was added to the portfolio. Aulani was not built to sell out Aulani. Aulani was built to put a big sexy gem in the portfolio of DVC to help them sell their other properties. Guides don't push you to Aulani (unless you indicate that you really want it), but they use Aulani to sell you VGF and Riviera and Poly 2 and DLT and...

There's no question Aulani was intended to boost the program as a whole. I thought it was a wise decision. But DVC anticipated better sales. More recently, they've taken to leveraging RCI / II for promoting off-site options. I suspect they'll continue down that path.

It was much more expensive to build in Hawaii and they're having to discount the points more than VGF or Riviera. The ROI just isn't nearly as good as the park locations.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

No I don't.


I'm simply commenting on what the sales numbers reflect.

The 2022 budget for Aulani is based upon 7.6 million Aulani points. That number accounts for 12.5 years worth of sales dating back to July 2010.

Over that same timeframe, DVC has sold more than 3M AKV points, 1.5M SSR points 2.5M VGF1 points, 700K VGF2, 4M Polynesian, 3.3M Copper Creek, 3.3M Riviera, plus thousands more in older resorts at WDW. Consumers are choosing WDW locations over Aulani by more than 2.5-to-1.


There's no question Aulani was intended to boost the program as a whole. I thought it was a wise decision. But DVC anticipated better sales. More recently, they've taken to leveraging RCI / II for promoting off-site options. I suspect they'll continue down that path.

It was much more expensive to build in Hawaii and they're having to discount the points more than VGF or Riviera. The ROI just isn't nearly as good as the park locations.

Selling contracts is not the only way a DVC resort makes money, and it's not entirely a DVC resort to begin with.

 

[Cfabar1]

If they had built the NYC DVC that would have been a huge help for them. Honestly if they had NYC, Hawaii, HH, VB, DL, and Colorado, it would have covered all the big ones!

 

[bobbiwoz]

Same here. Resorts not with a park (Vero and Aulani primarily, lesser HHI) were big factors as to why we ultimately bought in. We visit VB ever summer. It's like our summer cottage.

Yes, for us, it’s the beachfront property we just can’t afford. We live .9 miles from the beach in our Cape May home.