Vero that never was

[tvwalsh]

I am looking for any information, especially pictures and/or descriptions of the the originally proposed, far more ambitious, Vero Beach DVC.

Poor sales doomed it. The "Million dollar tunnel" which lies under the highway gives me a real feel for how much bigger this resort really was going to be.

If you stay at Vero, don't forget to see the tunnel!

 

[PamOKW]

My POS statement shows 436 units as the original build-out. I can't lay my hands on the map and points charts but the majority of the resort was going to be on the "other side". One of the reasons I bought was because I wanted to avoid staying on the "other side" if at all possible. I'm not sure where the resort has ended up. The 2003 Budget was broken out into one budget for 170 Units and one budget for 266 Units and it says "Build Out". I'm not sure if 266 is what has actually been built.

Plans for additional recreation facilities were listed as being at the discretion of DVC. They only detailed what had already been built which is the same as what exists today.

I know the land was for sale, has it been sold and is there any sign of what is being developed?

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Originally posted by PamOKW
....One of the reasons I bought was because I wanted to avoid staying on the "other side" if at all possible...

Yes, this would not be desirable. I'm kind of glad that only the ocean side of the resort was built for this reason, I would hate to have to travel the tunnel every day. The map I was only had one pool, I didn't see a pool on the non-ocean side. There used to be a personal website someone had that showed the map, but I've long ago lost the link. Twice as many units using the same pool would be a dissadvantage. From the map I saw there was a pie shaped section of land owned by Vero DVC on south side of the ocean side of resort, with the pointed section of the pie closest to the beach. This would be on the other side of the walkway on the southern edge of the resort (the walkway is not Vero's). I don't know if this land was sold or not. It would certainly be plenty of room for another villa building. There's probably room on the Northern part of the property as well, where they used to have the large party tent for future expansion, although I don't think it's needed.

I feel that as owners, we lucked out that the resort expansion was stopped. We can always count on oceanside accomodations and more available recreation facilities.

So, as I see it, the slower sales worked in my favor as an owner, regardless of the cost of the tunnel.

 

[JimC]

I believe they were going to build out around the lake on the other side. It appears like the resort would have been large enough for some sort of bus/tram operation (at least the set up at the entrance to the tunnel on the far side certainly looks like a bus/tram stop).

It is a great resort and we enjoyed our stay there last May.

 

[Nick@ VB+OKW]

Originally posted by CaptainMidnight
I feel that as owners, we lucked out that the resort expansion was stopped. We can always count on oceanside accomodations and more available recreation facilities.

So, as I see it, the slower sales worked in my favor as an owner, regardless of the cost of the tunnel.

................

 

[tvwalsh]

When you stay at Vero, be sure to take a walk on the other side of the resort. Walk through the million dollar tunnel, note the cute cartoon characters on the walls. Walk around the pretty lake and see the now decaying outside bar area that was open to impress buyers during the early go-go days of DVC sales.

I'm still hoping for more info.

 

[PamOKW]

Originally posted by tvwalsh
I'm still hoping for more info.

Like what?

 

[CaptainMidnight]

Originally posted by tvwalsh
...see the now decaying outside bar area that was open to impress buyers ....

Where's this?

 

[lenshanem]

So what does the tunnel lead to now? Anything?

 

[PamOKW]

Originally posted by lenshanem
So what does the tunnel lead to now? Anything?

The tennis and I think basketball courts are located here. There is also a parking lot for non-resort guests to use when they come to the restaurant, meetings, weddings, etc. Some people have talked about being able to fish and walk a trail over here, too. I'm not sure whether that's still available or whether that is part of what has been sold.

I'm not sure I understand about the decaying bar....this is something I've never seen decaying or not.

 

[DisneyMim]

This just brought back a memory. I also remember that there was supposed to be another pool and other recreation facilities located on the other side of the highway. I think I know what the poster is calling the decaying bar. On one of our first visits to Vero we walked through the tunnel (very cute artwork by the way) to the hundred acre woods. I think my kids thought it was going to look like something out of Pooh! Anyway I do remember what did look like an outside bar type of area. It looked totally abandoned. This was when "Survivor" was first on TV and we all got the idea of doing our own survivor (actually my kids called it the tribal counsel area! LOL!!). Of course us parents were voted out and I have a video somewhere of hubby and I walking out carring torches (yes there were some kind of tiki torches around too). I always wondered what happened to the original idea for Vero. I guess they just didn't think it would be profitable. And yes Pam and Captian Midnight I would agree it would be not as good to be over the other side of the highway. I seem to recall a basketball court and tennis courts(?) there too.

 

[Desperado]

there are also laundry, housekeeping and maintenance facilities used by the tunnel

 

[tvwalsh]

I remember seeing pictures of the unrealized plans for Vero. I think they were posted on thid site.

 

[JimC]

Two links that might help:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=428977&highlight=Vero+Beach

Note the picture of VB at the bottom of the page of this link.

http://www.disneydreams.net/DisneyVacationClub.asp