Disney Confirms Grand Floridian DVC

[SMAX]

Disney is now acknowledging, as was widely speculated, that the new structure will be the latest in its timeshare venture, Disney Vacation Club.

The project, which will add approximately 147 time-share units in a separate building next to the posh hotel, is the first new Disney Vacation Club resort to begin construction since the global financial crisis sent sales tumbling across the time-share industry.

Disney said the resort is expected to open in late 2013. The new building will be exclusively time-share units and will include a children's water-play area, among other amenities.

[SMAX]

The project should inject some high-demand inventory into Disney Vacation Club, which was one of Disney Co.'s fastest-growing businesses before sales ebbed during the recession and the anemic recovery that has followed. The Victorian-themed Grand Floridian is Disney World's most luxurious hotel and is adjacent to the Magic Kingdom, the busiest theme park on the planet with more than 17 million visitors a year.

It will be the second time-share property Disney has built along the Magic Kingdom monorail, joining Bay Lake Tower, an addition to Disney's Contemporary Resort that opened in August 2009.

"We continually look for ways to expand Disney Vacation Club by creating resort experiences that our members will love," Claire Bilby, senior vice president and general manager of Disney Vacation Club, said in a prepared statement. "With the continued popularity of Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort, we are thrilled to offer our members and guests a new resort option along the monorail system with easy access to the Magic Kingdom Park, as well as a variety of shopping, dining and recreation experiences."

The new resort will have 200 keyed entries (a "keyed entry" is any room that can be locked off and entered separately, though it will probably counted as fewer "two-bedroom equivalents"—which counts connected studio and one-bedroom units as a single "two-bedroom equivalent"), but we have received word that there will also be additional existing rooms at the Grand Floridian that will be converted to DVC units, as well. This will result in a roll-out similar to that of the Animal Kingdom Villas, where the converted fourth- and fifth-floor rooms in the original Lodge building (now called "Jambo House") were later joined by the new rooms in the Kidani Village addition.

The existing parking lot by the to-be-demolished tennis courts will be removed, and replaced by two new parking lots—a 192-space lot for the guests of the new building and a 124-space gated lot specifically for the Wedding Pavilion. The gated lot will connect directly to the circular driveway for the Wedding Pavilion, while the resort lot will connect to the circular drive for the new building and fill the space between the existing Spa & Health Club (which will not be affected), the Wedding Pavilion lot and the main entry driveway. The entry to the new lots will cover much of the current tennis courts, though it appears from the site plan that enough room will remain for a half-court basketball court adjacent to the Spa & Health Club. Don't expect these new parking lots to ease parking restrictions at the Grand Floridian, though. Magic Kingdom resort parking is apparently enough of a problem that all Magic Kingdom resorts might be restricting their parking more in the future.

[Katenbeth]

I'm in for 200, I think that will be the minimum at around $150 pp. only a guess though, if it's less than that it will go on release.

[KarenG]

The artwork looks phenomenal

[DIBBadmin]

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