Was Disney planning to someday build a theme park in Hawaii?

[tjkraz]

I don’t think its margins as much as that the target program has changed. Disney has long tried to bring the Disney experience beyond Orlando and Anaheim - they were successful with retail stores, but they failed with restaurants, DisneyQueat, etc.

In many ways, it's a chicken-and-egg situation. Vero Beach was DVC's second ever resort. It was built very small, and still took a decade to sell-out. Sure the target changed...only because the original vision was fatally flawed. Disney itself had to know it was risky, given the laundry list of hotel and timeshare concepts they've scrapped over the years.

There's a price point at which Disney could profit off hotels, timeshares, restaurants and retail stores...maybe even video game parlors...outside of LBV and Anaheim. They choose not to, mostly because the margins are so much thinner than WDW and DL. When weighing how to invest resources, the theme park complexes always look better.

 

[LAS2AMS]

There's a price point at which Disney could profit off hotels, timeshares, restaurants and retail stores...maybe even video game parlors...outside of LBV and Anaheim. They choose not to, mostly because the margins are so much thinner than WDW and DL

The Chicago DisneyQuest was such a heavy loss maker that Disney abandoned the others in development and sold the project off at at loss. I went to the Chicago location several times… it was always dead.

ESPN Zone were losing so much money, Disney pulled the plug on all but one location without any notice.

Disney Cruise Line underperformed (and likely lost money) it it’s early years, to the point Disney explored selling the brand.

I get it, demand for everything Disney is stronger than in the past. But let’s be honest - Disney attracts a certain niche, and most of the people buying into DVC are fanatics. Look at the Alunai forum — many of the narratives about Waikiki Beach are straight out of a horror movie. If people are triggered by a few homeless people and street entertainers in a heavily foot traffic area… they’re not going to be able to handle Times Square.

 

[Cfabar1]

I was unaware of DCL was considered/explored for a sale. Was it for the ships or for the brand itself?

Disney Vacation Club in the early years was a very different vision. Look at the rooms at OKW, VB, and HHI. They are very similar in square footage and planning.

I have openly wondered over the years if the original Disney Hilton Head Island had been allowed to be constructed if Disney's off property future might have been different.

The Vero Beach vision was flawed from the beginning, there wasn't enough to do for the week in Vero Beach certainly then, as there is really not now. But... I do think it fills a niche in the Disney Vacation Club portfolio. I am hopeful it sticks around.

I wish they had built the second phase, but I cannot imagine how furious owners would have been to be paying the same amount of points per night for units on the other side of A1A...