Will DVC build on the West Coast soon?

[jmatias]

I would love to buy into the DVC but we live in Hawaii and the resorts are so far away. Does anyone know if Disney will build in the West Coast anytime soon?

Are there any DVC owners on the board from Hawaii? If so, I would love to hear from you!

Aloha,
Jen

 

[Dean]

Jen, don't hold your breath. DVC bought property and announced a resort about 45 miles south of Disneyland but the backtracked and sold that property to Marriott who is developing it as Marriott's Newport Coast Villas. They also had some type of agreement for a hotel and apparently planned a DVC in Colorado but something happened to that deal. Rumors also abounded for both a NY and HI location around the same time the above options were being banted about. So I think it's likely we've seen the last of off property DVC resorts and likely getting close to the end of the on property resorts.

We were stationed on Oahu for 3 years in the mid 80's and my daughter was born there. We will be back there this summer but staying a week on Maui and a week on Kauai. No Oahu time this trip which was what the family said they wanted but now they're saying they wished we could do some of the usual things like the PCC, PH Memorial and the like. I guess we'll just have to suffer on the other islands. Aloha.

 

[Terry S]

A DVC resort in Hawaii, that would definatly be one I would want to stay at! I wouldn't mind one near Disneyland either!

 

[Werner Weiss]

Originally posted by Dean
Jen, don't hold your breath. DVC bought property and announced a resort about 45 miles south of Disneyland but the backtracked and sold that property to Marriott who is developing it as Marriott's Newport Coast Villas.

I agree with Dean.

Disney Vacation Development had a maginificent resort site just 21.73 miles from Disneyland.

For more information, see my article Disney's Newport Coast Villas, the Disney Vacation Club that Never Happened.

All indications are that future Disney Vacation Club resorts will be limited to the Walt Disney World property.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

A few months ago, there was an announcement of a new Vacation Club at Disneyland Paris. A perfect location for another Disney Vacation Club, right? But, once again, it's a Marriott Vacation Club, not a Disney Vacation Club.

Disney seems to have no interest in developing DVC resorts anywhere other than WDW.

 

[Dean]

Unfortunately, I agree. I think that would have been the perfect opportunity too. Disneyland Paris would have served many of the same reasons they're selling only at WDW now.

 

[Richyams]

Its not that Disney has no interest, its because they were burned so badly with the mistakes of building at HH and VB. THe dismal sales at those resorts have forever negated any possibility of there ever being an off WDW DVC resort ever again.

 

[Granny]

Good points all around.

And honestly, DVD seems to have found their niche in WDW DVC resorts. Look how fast VWL sold out, and BCV business appears to be brisk.

Still on the boards for WDW sites is the new Disney Institute Villas (or whatever they will call them) and the Eagle Pines Villas.

Disney has figured out that on-site at WDW is the only place where they have a competitive advantage with the other time shares. Since DVC is not the least expensive time share out there, they are using the "on-site magic" to sell their time shares at a premium.

To me, it makes a lot of good business sense.

 

[LDPKELLY]

Why do you thing that HH and VB were such disappointments? We just bought into a OKW resale and are really excited about the resorts that are offsite....it seems to me that the offsite properties make the whole idea of the DVC more appealing....it gives you the opportunity to go other great places while insuring the best accomodations when we visit WDW.....Colorado would be awesome for another resort.....

 

[jmatias]

Well, if DVC does build on the West Coast, we will be there!

For Christmas 2001 we stayed at the Disneyland Hotel and enjoyed the "Disney Magic" even with our little hotel room!

We did visit the Marriott Newport Coast and considered buying it mainly because it was the nicest resort close to Disneyland.

I'm sure if DVC built out West, it would be a hot seller!

Aloha,
Jen

 

[Werner Weiss]

Originally posted by LDPKELLY
Why do you think that HH and VB were such disappointments?

All indications are that HH and VB are diappointments only from a Disney business perspective. According to the reports on this board, HH and VB are outstanding resorts.

Disney is in a much better position to market to potential DVC buyers at their resorts at WDW than elsewhere. Consider the DVC booths at the WDW theme parks and the DVC desks at the Disney resort hotels. At those locations, DVC is able to reach Disney's core audience. How can Disney reach potential customers at HH and VB? And how much value does the Disney brand have at those locations?

Also, Disney enjoys a substantial cost structure advantage at WDW where Disney still has many thousands of undeveloped acres -- most of which were purchased in the 1960s for around $300 per acre. In comparison, Disney Vacation Development (DVD) had to buy expensive land at HH and VB. One story I've heard about Disney's Newport Coast site is that the land was so expensive that the business economics of the project were questionable. Obviously, Marriott thought otherwise (and Marriott's has had to accelerate construction in an effort to keep up with the demand at Newport Coast Villas).

Sure, as a DVC owner at WDW, it's great to have HH and VB as options, and it would be even better to have more off-site DVC options. But each of those resorts would need to be a profitable business venture for Disney Vacation Development. By ceasing any additional off-site development after HH and VB, Disney made it obvious that off-site timehshare development was not a profitable business for them.

 

[Dumbo]

Vero Beach and Hilton Head are smaller resorts compared to the WDW resorts. Vero Beach opened on October 1, 1995. Hilton
Head opened on March 1, 1996. Disney has been selling these resorts for over 6 years now and they still are not sold out.

Compare that to the larger Villas at Wilderness Lodge that sold out in approx. 1 year.


Dumbo

 

[Richyams]

Both HH and VB are beautiful resorts, among the finest in the world.


They were also horrible mistakes.

I am happy to have them as options, but the dismal sales at these resorts eliminated any possibility of ever seeing an off site DVC resort again.

 

[JonHM]

I've only been a member for less than a year, so I don't know nearly as much about this topic as some of the other posters on this thread. That said, however, I *would* like to put in my .02 about where I think Disney went wrong with HH and VB - a newbie's perspective, if you will.

The point structure is all messed up.

In my view, we (DVC members) are all Disney obsessed to one degree or another (or at least WDW obsessed ), so Disney should have recognized that the *really* big draw in DVC was going to be on-site Villas. Now, given that, there would need to be some sort of real incentive for people to buy at the off-site locations.

And by real, I don't mean a slightly bigger 'magical beginnings' rebate. There needs to be some incentive to actually *own* at HH or VB, beyond the 11 month window. And my real problem with VB and HH (in theory, because I've never seen either of them, but have heard that they are both absolutely beautiful) is that the point structure is just TOO darned close to the on-site resorts! From the ethno-centric viewpoint of the WDW obsessed, anywhere else should cost less (a LOT less) than on-site, because not having WDW closeby is a HUGE drawback.

So IMHO, HH and VB should be a lot cheaper, points wise, than they are. Apart from that, there would need to be some real incentive for people to actually *own* there, not just *stay* there. The only thing I could think of would be a points discount at HH or VB if you actually own there - but I am sure that that would create more problems than it would solve - it might break timeshare laws, and if not would create a tremendous ruckus at the onsite properties about getting points discounts at one's home resort.

But as it stands now, not only is there very little incentive to use one's points on HH or VB, because they cost so close to on-site, but there is *extremely* little incentive to actually *buy* there as a home resort.

Again, this is a newbie's perspective, and one that is colored by the fact that we cannot afford a huge number of points. If we had 500 or 600 points or more, then I would eliminate the 'incentive to stay' argument - but the 'incentive to own' argument would still exist, in my mind.

Thanks for letting me vent. I'll shut up now...

 

[stlrod]

There are plenty of incentives to own at HHI. Any comparable property on HHI (Marriott) is going to cost more. You will also not have unit-size flexibility. I am a long-time Marriott owner who bought DVC on HHI for one reason only: a 5-night stay over the summer cost half as much as a week at Marriott's BB. Also in DVC's favor is the ability to get a 1BR or a Grand Villa as the need arises. The downside of Disney is that it does not from the beach (most people want that.)

 

[stlrod]

There are plenty of incentives to own at HHI. Any comparable property on HHI (Marriott) is going to cost more. You will also not have unit-size flexibility. I am a long-time Marriott owner who bought DVC on HHI for one reason only: a 5-night stay over the summer cost half as much as a week at Marriott's BB. Also in DVC's favor is the ability to get a 1BR or a Grand Villa as the need arises. The downside of Disney is that it does not from the beach (most people want that.)

 

[JonHM]

I didn't mean to be attacking HH or VB in any way. As I said, from everything I've heard, they are beautiful resorts. From an objective perspective, or the perspective of a timeshare buyer, I am sure that there are plenty of incentives.

I was speaking exclusively from the perspective of the WDW obsessed.

No insult to VB or HH in the 'real' world...

 

[Granny]

JonHM....I didn't think you were attacking VB or HH at all. I just thought you were providing an opinion on the DVC value proposition at those locations. I think we were both thinking along the same lines.

That is, at WDW Disney holds a competitive edge and can command more margin on its product than when it has to compete head to head with other time shares....it's just economics.

And I didn't even think about the cheap land they own (as pointed out by Werner Weiss) which makes it even more profitable to build at WDW.

Having said all that, I could see getting an HH resale somewhere down the line to ensure the ressie advantage during the prime golf season! It looks like an awesome resort and Doc's and others eloquent descriptions make me hungry to check it out!

 

[ZerasPride]

Speaking as a HH owner (and sometimes on this board I feel I need a thick skin as a Hilton Head owner) I wasn't offended by this discussion. It is obvious VB and HH are not the "hot" properties that the on-site resorts have proved to be. Do I regret my HH purchase? Heck no! I am a proud HH owner. I am struggling with which resort to make a modest add-on purchase (my home resort or the new BCV). Unlike for some, stormalong bay does not hold our fascination. We prefer the quiet pools so that is not a factor for us. Also, even though its nice to walk to MGM and Epcot, my family was not fond of walking all the way through the IG to Future World.

My point is, each DVC property has its fans and Disney may never build another off-site resort again but I am happy to own where I do. HH is quiet and relaxing - frankly I can't believe I can have a great vacation and not ride Space Mountain but it is possible for me and quite enjoyable. I did not purchase DVC to stay exclusively at HH. It is where we will stay most of the time but I do plan on sampling each of the DVC resorts over the next 40 years. If I could only stay at one property for 40 years, I would never have made a DVC purchase. I know the 11/7 month windows are important and essential at peak holiday times, but I purchased DVC to be able to cruise, stay at the conceirge collection resorts, my home resort, Disneyland resorts and yes, on property resorts. I just love DVC and am happy to be a member!

Lisa

 

[ncligs]

ZerasPride ,
We agree with you, we purchased an add -on at VB(110), we may only go there every other yr right now. But we may want to go more often and longer when we are retired, especially in the winter months. We have the majority of our pts at OKW(300), but we wanted to have VB as a home resort also.We plan on using all DVC options in the next 40 yrs.........

Werner Weiss said...All indications are that HH and VB are diappointments only from a Disney business perspective. According to the reports on this board, HH and VB are outstanding resorts.

He is right, VB and HH are only "dissapointing for Disney's Business side of it. All the people who own at VB and HH, and have been there absolutely love it there. And thats good if others don't want to go there...it will be easier for us VB-HH owners to get the ressies that we need, anytime that we want then...