Who thinks Saratoga Springs is overpriced at $95?

[DrTomorrow]

Not sure if this is old news or not, but at the Institutional Investors meeting on Feb 12, Jay Rasulo, President of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, noted the following:

Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa is not scheduled to open until May, but they have already sold about 50 percent of the first phase and expect to be completely sold out by fiscal year end—just four months after opening.

[Note: this comes from another Disney-focused site; usually very reliable]

So if they expect to be sold out of Phase I by Fall 2004, perhaps tjkraz is right. When is the fifth building scheduled to open? I seem to remember not until Spring 2005 - that would be a long time without real product to sell.

 

[mom2rb]

We bought in Oct. at $79. We ended up buying 300 points instead of the 200 we thought we would need. I am so glad we did. I don't think we will be able to buy more points for a long time.

 

[SSRex]

For those of you that may know, how long did it take from the initial announcement until grand opening for the add-on resorts like BCV or VWL?

If the speculation on prior posts is correct, they would not have time to make something like Eagle Pines the next DVC II resort.
That would make me think the Contemporary wings would have to be consider the next likey location similiar to BCV or VWL.

For $95 to $100 per point it had better be on the monorail line.
that and the extra 10 years might be enough to attract buyers.

 

[sgtpet]

$95 per point is extremely high in my opinion. I am thankful that I do not feel the need to add on anymore than I have already. I never thought SSR would do this well and I was completely wrong. DVC is on fire.

 

[MrShiny]

Well, if you recall back before 9/11, Disney did announce another resort that still is yet to be built:

Disney Vacation Club Announces Plans for Largest Ownership Resort to Date At Walt Disney World Resort


LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 23, 2001--Disney Vacation Development, Inc., operators of Disney Vacation Club (DVC) -- Disney's innovative vacation ownership program -- announced today that it will expand its timeshare resort presence at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida (subject to obtaining necessary approvals) by building a seventh DVC property. This latest development for the growing Disney Vacation Club product marks the Company's largest ownership resort project to date.

The announcement heralds a time of exciting growth for Disney Vacation Club, which now boasts a membership of nearly 60,000 member families from over 60 countries.

The proposed 600-unit ownership development is slated to occupy a 61-acre site along the award-winning Disney's Eagle Pines Golf Course at Walt Disney World Resort. All rooms will feature either a pool, golf course or forest view. Initial plans call for the construction of a main Inn building encompassing a check-in area; accommodations; restaurant/lounge; theme pool with feature slide; retail space; arcade; common living room area and a health club, as well as Villa buildings containing vacation home accommodations. Development will begin this fall with an estimated opening in Spring/Summer 2004.

 

[SSRex]

Based on the date of the press release of July 2001 and the then previously announced expected completion of Spring\Summer 2004, that would have been 3 years to open an entirely new site.

What my question was instead was for an add-on DVC resort like BCV or VWL, how long did it take from announcement until open.

My guess is that Eagle Pines would take too long to be the next DVC II property and my assumption would be something else like the Contemporary or Poly or even AKL if that is even feasible.

I had almost thought they might hold off on Eagle Pines until a
possible DVC III since it was expected to another mega sized
resort like OKW was to start DVC I & SSR is going to be for DVC II.

Rex

 

[crisi]

To turn the CR wings into DVC resorts would take as long as building EP - maybe longer as you'd have to be careful not to overly disturb existing guests. Likely those towers would be torn down and rebuilt from scratch. Then you'd rebuild. The utilities are in place and the landscaping (though after major construction you'd need to relandscape), but utilities don't take much time to run through a site....a friends grandmother died, they got the will through escrow, and six months after they sold the farm, people were moving into houses where formerly there was nothing but pasture.

Not that they wouldn't do it, just that time to build for those two possibilities are likely very similar.

 

[vernon]

AKL isn't going to happen, Contemp is a chance if the hotel continues to struggle, but EPV will be dragged out of mothballs pretty damn quick if SSR carries on selling at this brisk rate. As with the other freestanding DVC resorts they would just start building the basic infrastructure and continue with the units as they were selling. I think a lot of the planning has already been done for EPV and permits etc would also have been procured before they announced it's launch.

 

[Divamomto3]

Investments, rate of inflation, "cash rich" people, financial plans, capital gains, marketing strategy.....


Did anybody else buy a DVC just because they like the Mouse?

 

[Richyams]

I still remember people scoffing at me for predicting that SSR would open at $100 per point. While pre-sales did start much lower, they aren't open yet and its at $95.

I was close.

No cigar, but close.

 

[HookdonWDW]

Originally posted by Divamomto3
Investments, rate of inflation, "cash rich" people, financial plans, capital gains, marketing strategy.....


Did anybody else buy a DVC just because they like the Mouse?

As much as we like the Mouse, we did run some numbers to make sure that the proposition made financial sense to us. The kids would like to attend college, and we'd like to retire one day.

Wish that things didn't always come back to the buck, but sometimes they just do.

 

[sumessefui]

It is only overpriced if no one buys it. In my area I thought the price of houses were way overpriced, yet there are people bidding against each other to buy them. Time will tell.

 

[mtheiss]

Glad we got in when we did, the costs are getting prohibitive. We originally bought because we liked the idea of being on property. The flexibility of the points is also very useful. Now that the price is jumping to $95/point it has become more of a measure of value and economics.
DVC is a great idea and system that was fun. Now it has to be looked at with a much more calculating appraisal of need and wants and economics.

 

[BWVDee]

Originally posted by Pa@okw95
SSR is the first real DVC built at WDW since OKW. The other three were just attachments to a resort that was in place already........

This is not correct. BWV was not an attachment to a resort already in place. The orginal plan and design of the Boardwalk Resort was to have half of it DVC villas and the other half regular hotel rooms, which is exactly as it was built and stands today.
I always have to chuckle when I read about "real" DVC resorts, LOL! All the DVC resorts are "real" DVC resorts. Some have been built as soley DVC resorts, some as a combination resort of DVC and hotel rooms and some as add on DVC resorts to an existing and very popular resort. But no matter how their inception they are all "real" and they are all DVC resorts, so I would venture to say they are "real DVC resorts". LOL!!!

 

[JakelBread]

Hasn't DVC been marketed as buying a vacation at a locked in price? Buy at todays prices and guard against rising hotel costs? Perhaps Disney knows that the projected hotel prices are going to rise substantialy and are just positioning SSR, knowing that the Orlando area hotel prices are going to go up in the near term as more people begin to have more cash availible to travel.
I own a tourist related business and for the past 15 years it never fails every time the economy rebounds we see an increase in business. I think the first thing people cut in a bad economy is travel and then travel is the first thing that they put back into the budget when the economy picks up.
A price increase at this time might mean a rise in hotel rates is comming. Although I don't discount that the price of points is related to how quickly SSR sales are going

 

[BWVDee]

Originally posted by JakelBread
Hasn't DVC been marketed as buying a vacation at a locked in price? Buy at todays prices and guard against rising hotel costs? Perhaps Disney knows that the projected hotel prices are going to rise substantialy and are just positioning SSR, knowing that the Orlando area hotel prices are going to go up in the near term as more people begin to have more cash availible to travel.

Well if that is their philosphy, they are not expecting resort room prices to go up until at least next year. Because the WDW resorts have the lowest room prices that I have seen in years for this summer, which includes the holiday weekends. You can get a moderate resort for $74.00 per night, AKL & WL for less than $130. 00, a OKW studio for less than $150.00, etc. I have seen and taken advantage of some really good discounts on WDW rooms over the years, but the prices for this summer are unbelievable.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

I freely admit that I did not read each response carefully, so I apologize in advance if this has been stated... (I just love that 'duck' smiley, and have been waiting for the right time to use it. )

That being said, I believe two things are true:

1) As long as folks are paying the $95 price, it is not overpriced.

2) In the long run the major cost is maintenance fees, not purchase price.

Yes, if I didn't already own enough points, I would still buy at $95/pt.

MG

 

[jaysue]

I think the specific location of SSR is overpriced at $95 to me - it might be the market clearing price and thus not overpriced in the market but it is too high for me

Other potential DVC II locations/themed areas (such as perhaps some day something at Contemporary Resort/MK area or Animal Kingdom Park/Lodge area) would be worth $95 a point to me

We bought into SSR at $79 net per point and thought that was a good price - $95 is not

thanks
jaysue

 

[doubletrouble_vb]

I think looking at this another way is constructive. An entry level contract is $14,250...this is way below the price other timeshares are asking with a lot more flexibility. Granted 150 points will only get you a studio...you'd need 325 points to cover most two bedrooms for a week (leaving off the really high point season). That brings you up to $30,875...a bit above the developer price locally but with the added cachet of Disney...but I'm not sure how many people really need 325 points every year.

So...you pay for half of what you need and offset it with paying cash on the weekends. Disney looks like a bargain.

 

[tjkraz]

Originally posted by mtheiss
Glad we got in when we did, the costs are getting prohibitive.

(snip)

DVC is a great idea and system that was fun. Now it has to be looked at with a much more calculating appraisal of need and wants and economics.

Don't mean to pick on you, but I think that's a little bit extreme.

We were fortunate enough to buy SSR at $79 per point. So this price increase represents about a 20% hike. In real dollars, that's about $2400. Not a small chunk of change.

But you're still purchasing an asset for the next 50 years. This price increase has nothing to do with annual fees--it's just a one-time expense. $2400 spread out over 50 years is not an incredibly significant number.

Before purchasing we calculated that DVC would pay for itself in about 9-11 years. If we were purchasing at $95, that ROI would increase by a couple of years. But a 50 year investment that pays for itself in 13 is still a good investment.

Certainly I feel fortunate that we bought when we did. And if not for the new roof going on our house later this month I might be in the market for more points before May 1. But if I were to discover DVC for the first time in June, 2004, I certainly couldn't argue that the prices were unreasonable.