Fate of 2042 DVC resorts?

[TisBit]

And in my above example, I guessed beach club would get renovated first, because I think there is a much better chance of a fully renovated beach club (total demo and rebuild) would be better than a renovated boardwalk for a couple of reasons.

• Beach club DVC is located as an addition on the back of the hotel. Moving DVC towards the "front" of the resort will be more appealing to selling the high priced contracts.
• Point charts could reflect pool/standard/lake views to further appeal to guests.
• Moving the lobby towards the parking lot and using that lobby space for rooms would make sense.
• Potentially integrating Yacht club more fully to the Beach Club resort and expanding shopping/dining etc.
• Boardwalk probably would not benefit much from a full demo and rebuild and there is the retail impact as well. I think Beach Club benefits way more with the proximity to boardwalk while boardwalk has no benefit being close to the beach club. So, if boardwalk closed first, it might be less appealing for people to extend at beach club.

These are just my opinions and I KNOW the owners of both are passionate about their resorts. I am just thinking on a business perspective, a beach club owner who is losing their points would probably take boardwalk short contract quicker than vice versa and would see it only as a stop gap until the new beach club was reopened and they could buy there.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I could see tearing down some of the buildings at OKW and rebuilding them higher with elevators, maybe adding parking on bottom floor, and then reselling the points. They’d have to keep enough of the old buildings to accommodate those who extended their points, but eventually they could replace the whole property with higher density buildings. Not sure how well that idea could work at other resorts though.

I do not see that as very feasible. It would be against the grain of the resort. There is absolutely zero, nothing, nada about old key west that is associated with "tower", "High rise", "high density", or even "parking garage". To do as you would suggest would basically mean that they better be considering a name change to the resort as well as a new theme. In that case, why bother? Just use the part the DVC gives up as cash inventory until the remainder of the owners are out and tear it down.

But you really can't get too distant from 2-3 stories up in lazy, spread out, pastel buildings with outside shops and still call it "Old Key West". You can't even call it "New Key West" or heck even "Florida Keys". So I think they would have to abandon the theming to drastically alter the density.

 

[tjkraz]

Heck, they'd probably be able to work some of their renos in (unless they're tearing things down and redoing completely) out of the dues of existing owners.

When a refurb happens, that budget is coming out of reserves that owners have paid into, right? One way to get those reserves to $0 by Jan 31, 2042 is by refurbing rooms in 2041...

As the ownership winds down, the manager is expected to take steps to avoid spending money on projects which will not benefit current owners. What you describe--a massive refurb in 2041 paid for by then-owners--won't happen. That's a little too blatant to pass muster. Ideally, the last refurb should happen 5-6 years before 2042. If a resort happens to be on target for a '40 or '41 refurb, I'm guessing we either see a smaller-scale mid-term refresh or it gets scrapped entirely.

In the waning years, capital reserves collections should cease for room refers and any other project which would extend beyond 1/31/42.

My assumption has always been that Disney's long-term goal is to have ~25 DVC resorts that expire ~every 2 years. That way they have plenty of time to sell out each new resort, one at a time, with a new one coming online just before the last one sells out. After that, they can just repeat the cycle for centuries without having to build new buildings, responding to increased demand by raising prices for new points. It's a self-sustaining money-printing machine.

If they'd continued with 50 year contracts all thru the 90s, things would be set-up that way now. But since they aren't, it probably doesn't make sense to offer short term extensions to stagger things. It's not worth the paperwork expense to offer 2 year extensions for BWV owners, 4 year extensions for BCV owners, etc.

There's nothing saying the resorts need to immediately shut down on 1/31/42. Disney could leave some locations in place to rent for cash and selectively close them down as renovation plans are finalized.

Having a glut of resorts come free at once isn't ideal...

No but having glut of long-time owners who are suddenly NOT owners on 1/31/42 *IS* a nice problem to have from a sales perspective. Many of those contracts will be held by younger families--resale buyers, heirs of the original owners--who still wish to visit WDW. Marketing replacement contracts to them is undoubtedly an easier sell than than pulling a random family out of the MK.

On an otherwise quiet Saturday in February, DVC will have 75-100K families who have known and loved the product, who are suddenly faced with the prospect of having to let go. DVC will have SOMETHING up their proverbial sleeves to help fill that void.

 

[Mikey15]

But you really can't get too distant from 2-3 stories up in lazy, spread out, pastel buildings with outside shops and still call it "Old Key West". You can't even call it "New Key West" or heck even "Florida Keys". So I think they would have to abandon the theming to drastically alter the density.

Some comments earlier in this thread have convinced me we’re still 35 years away from an actual OKW redo, but I’m not quite in agreement that OKW is particularly strong on theming as “Old Key West.”



The OKW style / layout has less in common with anything I’ve seen of Key West, FL, but it is very similar to every other timeshare built in CFL in the 90s… spread-out two-story walkup buildings with parking spaces in front.

I do wonder if by the time renos do roll around if that’s going to be a desirable style / layout to keep. It already seems passé now. I get not wanting everything new at Disney to be a tower either, but CSR / CBR / SSR still exist, and they don’t seem to be wanting to build more like that.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Some comments earlier in this thread have convinced me we’re still 35 years away from an actual OKW redo, but I’m not quite in agreement that OKW is particularly strong on theming as “Old Key West.”

The OKW style / layout has less in common with anything I’ve seen of Key West, FL, but it is very similar to every other timeshare built in CFL in the 90s… spread-out two-story walkup buildings with parking spaces in front.

I do wonder if by the time renos do roll around if that’s going to be a desirable style / layout to keep. It already seems passé now. I get not wanting everything new at Disney to be a tower either, but CSR / CBR / SSR still exist, and they don’t seem to be wanting to build more like that.

Yes, the picture you posted is of Key West. The theme of OKW is loosely based on it. Left = Key West as it appeared in the 50's, on the right is OKW.




It really does match what Key West looked like back then.

One thing you will NOT find in the Florida keys - back then, or even now really with only a few hotels as exceptions is High Rises or High Density Building.

I am not saying Disney can't do a High Rise, or that they don't want to build them. Maybe they do. I am just saying that I do not find it likely that they would put a High Density building smack in the middle of OKW. Disney is all about theming - even under new management, they are still about theming. They may make some questionable choices, but even they would not stray THAT far off track.

Although I am still not convinced that towers are their only thing now. Reflections (which I am still convinced is just paused, and not dead) was going to top off at about the height of AKL from the concept drawings I saw. No - I can not explain the poly tower.... Although I guess it's not THAT far off. But, I admit most buildings in the Polynesia triangle are not very tall.

 

[Cabius]

Although I am still not convinced that towers are their only thing now. Reflections (which I am still convinced is just paused, and not dead) was going to top off at about the height of AKL from the concept drawings I saw. No - I can not explain the poly tower.... Although I guess it's not THAT far off. But, I admit most buildings in the Polynesia triangle are not very tall.

I believe the inspiration for the tower (in the original ~1966 plans for the resort) was the high-rise hotels of Waikiki. Not authentic to native Polynesian culture, but definitely something that would've been an iconic image of Hawaii in the mid-century.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

I was the one that brought up tearing down OKW and replacing it with taller buildings, but I didn’t mention towers. I was thinking more like SSR, 5 or 6 floors.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I believe the inspiration for the tower (in the original ~1966 plans for the resort) was the high-rise hotels of Waikiki. Not authentic to native Polynesian culture, but definitely something that would've been an iconic image of Hawaii in the mid-century.

That makes sense. I can see that.

 

[SteveAZee]

Some comments earlier in this thread have convinced me we’re still 35 years away from an actual OKW redo, but I’m not quite in agreement that OKW is particularly strong on theming as “Old Key West.”

View attachment 726148

The OKW style / layout has less in common with anything I’ve seen of Key West, FL, but it is very similar to every other timeshare built in CFL in the 90s… spread-out two-story walkup buildings with parking spaces in front.

I do wonder if by the time renos do roll around if that’s going to be a desirable style / layout to keep. It already seems passé now. I get not wanting everything new at Disney to be a tower either, but CSR / CBR / SSR still exist, and they don’t seem to be wanting to build more like that.

I really like OKW for those reasons (spread out, two story walkup, parking out front, etc) because it provides me a sense of privacy and quiet, which is welcome at the end of a Disney day. No elevators, no lobbies to pass through, easy coming and going by car (to parks, off site entertainment, shopping for food) and lugging said shopping materials up to the room in just a few steps. LOL, maybe OKW, and layouts like it, are for the introverts of the world.

 

[Mikey15]

I really like OKW for those reasons (spread out, two story walkup, parking out front, etc) because it provides me a sense of privacy and quiet, which is welcome at the end of a Disney day. No elevators, no lobbies to pass through, easy coming and going by car (to parks, off site entertainment, shopping for food) and lugging said shopping materials up to the room in just a few steps. LOL, maybe OKW, and layouts like it, are for the introverts of the world.

Our non-Disney timeshare is just like this, and yeah, going to agree it's very nice. Come back from wherever we've been during the day, park 30 feet from the door to the room, and walk on in. Much more appealing to us than going through a lobby, waiting on an elevator, and so on. It just seems out of step with how Disney does things now, and more in line with what other CFL timeshares already / still do.

One thing I like about ours is we're a pretty short walk to the main pool. I've never stayed at OKW but just from the aerials, a lot of the buildings seem to have a pretty long walk?

 

[TiggerBouncy]

One thing I like about ours is we're a pretty short walk to the main pool. I've never stayed at OKW but just from the aerials, a lot of the buildings seem to have a pretty long walk?

It is a nice long walk from some of the buildings. But to be honest, it's probably not really any longer the AKL - just outside. SSR also has a similar walk.

I really like OKW for those reasons (spread out, two story walkup, parking out front, etc) because it provides me a sense of privacy and quiet, which is welcome at the end of a Disney day. No elevators, no lobbies to pass through, easy coming and going by car (to parks, off site entertainment, shopping for food) and lugging said shopping materials up to the room in just a few steps. LOL, maybe OKW, and layouts like it, are for the introverts of the world.

OKW is one of my wife's favorite places to stay for this reason. It feels so peaceful and quiet compared to the other locations. We joke that it feels like the old folks hotel, but we absolutely love the quiet feeling that you get at OKW. SSR also have a similar quiet vibe.

 

[SteveAZee]

Our non-Disney timeshare is just like this, and yeah, going to agree it's very nice. Come back from wherever we've been during the day, park 30 feet from the door to the room, and walk on in. Much more appealing to us than going through a lobby, waiting on an elevator, and so on. It just seems out of step with how Disney does things now, and more in line with what other CFL timeshares already / still do.

One thing I like about ours is we're a pretty short walk to the main pool. I've never stayed at OKW but just from the aerials, a lot of the buildings seem to have a pretty long walk?

There's a specific booking category for buildings near the Hospitality House (and therefore the store, restaurant, bar, main pool, etc.) so if you think you'll be using those things a lot, then booking that category (no extra points for it) is a good idea. There are also three quiet pools, one with a snack shack, spread around the rest of the resort, and numerous bus stops that will take you to/from the parks but also run through the resort so you can hop on them to get around as well.

LOL, yeah.. I get the 'old folks hotel' vibe @TiggerBouncy. I bought originally in 1993 before I became an 'old folk', and now I fit right in.

 

[MKCP1984]

BWV Standard View rooms are the best value in all DVC!

Gets you within walking distance of 2 theme parks for about the same price as the difficult-to-book Value rooms at AKV.

Shhhh, don't let this secret out!! This has been our go-to resort for years because of the points requirements, proximity to both parks and the resort is wonderful!

 

[Nabas]

Shhhh, don't let this secret out!! This has been our go-to resort for years because of the points requirements, proximity to both parks and the resort is wonderful!

We bought at BWV first because we loved the theming, enjoyed having our own mini Disney Springs within the resort, liked the pools, thought they had the best water slide of any Disney hotel, and greatly appreciated being within walking distance of the two most “adult” theme parks.

BWV’s many pluses are no secret!

 

[TLSnell1981]

We stayed at the Poly for years due to the proximity to MK and monorail to EPCOT We purchased Boardwalk for the same reasons...walk to EPCOT and HS plus jump on the monorail from EPCOT to MK. -BW has changed it themeing over the years much to our disappointment. But the location is still a huge selling point.

 

[BaybeeYoda]

We stayed at the Poly for years due to the proximity to MK and monorail to EPCOT We purchased Boardwalk for the same reasons...walk to EPCOT and HS plus jump on the monorail from EPCOT to MK. -BW has changed it themeing over the years much to our disappointment. But the location is still a huge selling point.

Curious- how has it changed theming? I do miss the clown, myself…

 

[TLSnell1981]

Curious- how has it changed theming? I do miss the clown, myself…

The decor in the rooms/ villas has changed significantly. I do miss the "picket fence" lining the hallways too. Everything now is so...bland and generic.

 

[nkosiek]

The decor in the rooms/ villas has changed significantly. I do miss the "picket fence" lining the hallways too. Everything now is so...bland and generic.



I miss the roller coaster with the hiddeMickey carpet.

 

[Wakey]

A lot of the dues go to the big capital reserves pots. These will not be necessary as the contract comes to an end as, for example, it wont need a new roof.
So dues should go down quite a bit in the final years. I say should…..
All these resorts ending at the same time give Disney a headache. I think they may offer some short extensions on some. They can’t resell them all or renovate them all together, and they wouldn’t fill with cash guests, so there will be no choice IMO. Of course they eventually realised this with the extended resort end dates subsequent to these. Those will be flipped as they end. A massive cash cow those for refurb cost only.