WDW could permanently close the theme parks, and you...

[Werner Weiss]

Originally posted by CaptainMidnight
Am I to understand if the resorts close, that we would not recoup our original or a discounted version of our investment?

Disney doesn't owe us any particular resale value. Many of us who bought into DVC in the 1990s are actually in a position to sell at a profit if we were to sell now; that's very unusual for timeshare real estate.

However, at any time in the future, our real estate interest will be worth what people are willing to pay. Various factors would enter into the value, including the perceived value of WDW vacations. Needless to say, in the very, very unlikely case that Disney were to shut down the theme parks, our resale value would suffer greatly.

I'm not sure I understand what CaptainMidnight is asking about when he writes, "if the resorts close." The DVC POS allows Disney to run their operations outside of DVD/DVC in any way they want to, including closing resorts. Currently, Port Orleans French Quarters resort is closed temporarily, and the opening of the Pop Century resort is delayed indefinately. Other WDW resorts may have sections closed as well.

Closing DVC resorts would be another matter. The DVC resorts are timeshares, not hotels. We DVC members have rights associated with our real estate interest. So Disney can't shut down DVC resorts just because overall on-site occupancy is down, nor would it make any sense to do so.

I seem to recall that there is language in our paperwork about what would happen if a DVC resort doesn't last until 2042 -- if a DVC resort were wiped out by a natural disaster, for example. But right now I don't have time to look it up. Does anyone else recall?

 

[BobH]

I would hope it would not come to a class action suit. Everyone I have ever heard of gives intangible or miniscule benefits to the members of the suit and just makes the law firms wealthy.

 

[Pa@okw95]

You would more likely see a rotation of parks open. Animal Kingdom would probably close forever. By rotation I mean one park closed for a certain time period, then another. Just as long as the sun shines I don't much care whether the parks are open. What would bother me is some of the nice restaurants closing down there.

 

[DisneyCrazy]

I'm sure we could get one of those 'traveling carnivals' to set up in the MK parking lot...

 

[Werner Weiss]

Yikes! When I wrote that "WDW could permanently close the theme parks," and we DVC members would have no recourse, I was only using this to illustrate a worst case scenario in relation to clause in the Public Offering Statement.

I wasn't actually suggesting that Disney would close the theme parks. Disney's theme parks and resorts have a history of being highly profitable. Undoubtedly, that's not the case this quarter, with current reduced attendence and poor hotel bookings. But WDW will bounce back.

 

[loribell]

Funny, isn't it, how you can put up a hypothetical example of what could be done and all of a sudden people start thinking it might happen? I could tell from the beginning of this thread that Werner was just trying to get people to realize that we are not owed anything other then our accomodations. Disney doesn't have to do the extra's. If they are hurting because of the slumping economy we should we willing to endure a few cut backs. Stopping early entries, cutting back on performances, etc. is not going to ruin a vacation if we don't let it. We need to try not to take everything so seriously. Lets just plan our vacations and go enjoy our families and friends.

 

[dianeschlicht]

This thread is a good example of how rumors and inuendo get started. I too knew what Werner was saying, but it is like the old " telephone" game we all used to play.

 

[BobH]

The last two posts by Diane and Loribell are right on the mark. I suggest this thread be ended and we move on.