Who owns the resorts??

[OneMoreTry]

Something I saw at HHI made me wonder. The elevator permit listed the owner as "Walt Disney World Corp." I was surprised it didn't say DVC.

Does WDWCorp own the common areas and concessions, and DVC own the condos?

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I'm not an expert on this sort of stuff, but isn't The Walt Disney Corporation (Company?) the parent company for everything Disney?

MG

 

[Chuck S]

Technically, Walt Disney Company (or one of it's operating companies) owns the land the resorts are built upon. DVC members own the villa buildings, but they are managed by a wing of the Walt Disney Company. As far as the concession buildings, like restaurants and gift shops, I really don't know who the "legal" owner is, I suspect it is a divisoon of Disney, or that the "developer (DVD)" may own them and lease them back to Disney much like any small store space is leased.

So, it really probably doesn't really matter to whom the state issues the elevator license.

 

[drusba]

This might be more than you want to know:

1. The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) is the parent holding company whose stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

2. One of its subisidaries is The Walt Disney World Corp. That company owns the Hilton Head land (and thus is designated as the owner on that elevator permit).

3. That company leases all the land to another TWDC subsidiary, Disney Vacation Development, Inc. (DVD). The lease runs until January 31, 2042 (the time-share end date). DVD is the developer and seller of the real estate interests that form the Disney Vacation Club (which legally is not an actual entity). DVD builds all the buildings and other improvements, and it owns all those improvements and common areas to the property (until it starts to sell them). As to the commercial units (stores, etc.), it retains ownership rights (and then leases those to the operators, which may or may not be another subsidiary of TWDC). It sells undivided real estate interests in "units" in the buildings. That is what you buy an interest in and, in the usual case, a "unit" is legally several, not just one, room (the rooms are officially called "Vacation Homes"). As part of that purchase you get an undivided real estate ownership interest in the common areas. You believe you buy "points" but your points actually have no true legal value -- they simply represent the real estate interest that you do own in the property which is an undivided percentage ownership.

4. The resort operation is then theoretically controlled by the Disney's Hilton Head Villas Condominium Association, of which you are officially a member. However, except for a very few things (which will never occur), you have no right to vote on matters concerning the Association or excercise any real control because when interests are sold to members, members agree to assign their rights to vote in the Association to DVD. Thus DVD appoints all officers of the Association.

5. The Association (actually DVD) then retains a management company to actually operate and maintain the resort, the Disney Vacation Club Management Corp., which is a DVD subsidiary.

6. There is then another company called the Buena Vista Trading Company (a DVD susidiary) that runs reservations and transfers and you know it better by its common name, Member Services.

Bottom line: Eisner controls all (until 2006).

 

[JimC]

The Walt Disney Company is the publicly traded company (a Delaware Corporation). There are four operating business segments. Parks and Resorts is the business segment that DVC falls under. Also here are WDW, DL, TDL (licensing agreement), DLP (39% owned) and HKDL (43% owned), DCL, WDI (imagineering), ESPN Zone and Anaheim Sports. There are lots of subsidiaries that comprise these businesses.

DEI -- Disney Enterprises, Inc. is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and is the sole shareholder of DVD, DVCMC and BVTC

DVD -- Disney Vacation Development, Inc (a Flrodia Corporation) -- Our developer responsible for the design, development and construction of the resorts

DVCMC -- Disney Vacation Club Management Corporation (a Florida Corporation) -- Our management company who by agreement with each resort's condominium association is responsible for for the Home Resort Reservation Component, maintenance, operations, budget preparation, assessments, collections, and accounting for the resorts

BVTC -- Buena Vista Trading Company (a Florida Corporation) -- An exchange company and manager of the DVC Reservation Component for the Club

WDWHRC -- Walt Disney World Hospitality and Recreation Corporation (a Florida Corporation) -- owns and operates certain resort activities at WDW

WorldCo -- Walt Disney World Corporation (a Florida Corporation) --lessor of the ground lease

 

[DrTomorrow]

Two such information- (and acronym-) laden answers. Thanks, drusba and JimC. Unfortunately, they're both wrong.

Who owns the resorts?

I do!

But don't worry, I won't be making any changes in the near future....

[Don't believe me? Ask yourself this: why do you think Walt made sure, when he built Disneyland, that there was a Tomorrowland?]

 

[skelooch]

OneMoreTry,

Aren't you sorry you asked, I got a headache reading all that stuff, does it really matter.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Well, I didn't know all the technical stuff, but my original answer seems to be accurate...

MG

 

[SonicLogic]

DVC members own no real estate (or interest) in any fashion or form. They have a long term "use" lease, that is all. No DVC member has fee simple title to anything.

The DVC even issued "deeds" several years ago to fool the members into thinking they owned something.

 

[DrTomorrow]

Hmmmm, thought we owned "real estate interests"; pay taxes, etc. Wasn't this settled a while ago?

 

[JimC]

Originally posted by Maistre Gracey
Well, I didn't know all the technical stuff, but my original answer seems to be accurate...

MG

Close anyway -- The Walt Disney Company is owned by its shareholders

 

[JimC]

Originally posted by DrTomorrow
Hmmmm, thought we owned "real estate interests"; pay taxes, etc. Wasn't this settled a while ago?

Yes, but they are a special type of interest under Florida timeshare laws. So it is not fee simple, but it is a legal interest that can be conveyed within the limits of the restrictions.

 

[CarolMN]

DVC members have a deeded interest in a lease.

To me, my DVC is like leasing a car. The person who "owns" the lease is generally responsible for maintaining it (periodic maintenance as well as repairs if needed), and for paying the operating costs (gas, insurance, licenses, etc.). When the lease is up, the car goes back to the owner - and that isn't me!

Best wishes -

 

[OneMoreTry]

Thanks for the answers. I would need to make a diagram to conceptualize them completely and may not take the time to do that. I wonder if DVC would provide the information if asked? Instead of just saying we own a "piece of the magic."

Although it seems that's all we really do own -- a piece of magic -- with a small tax deduction. And I guess that's what I was trying to buy all along.

 

[seashoreCM]

deleted ...................................

 

[freediverdude]

The best way that I could make out from reading the actual papers that I signed, was that I owned a small fractional piece of the building itself, which reverts back to DVD at the end date of the resort, but does not include any ownership of the land underneath the building, which is leased, if that makes any sense. So basically you own a piece of the building for X years but not the land.

Aulani is a somewhat different story, from what I understand. The accounting person who came in to help me sign the papers (I was buying Poly, but we got into a discussion) explained how Hawaii does not let anyone who is not a native Hawaiian own any land. Disney has to lease the land from the Hawaiian government. And he said the Hawaiian govt. puts onerous restrictions on submitting the individual timeshare deeds, like only allowing 40 of them to be submitted per day, has to be submitted in person down at the courthouse there in Hawaii (cannot be faxed, so they have to physically send a person every day to the courthouse there in Hawaii), paper can only be printed on one side, so the Aulani paperwork is about twice as thick as the other contracts, etc.

 

[LisaS]

Wow -- this thread is nearly 12 years old!

 

[freediverdude]

Well it's not like this type of info gets outdated though.

 

[crisi]

Well it's not like this type of info gets outdated though.

This probably hasn't, but it can get outdated. I did a software audit once on a company that had changed its legal structure three times over the audit period. They couldn't give me a CURRENT list of their subsidiaries. It was a complete contractual disaster.