Why no DVC in Cocoa Beach?

[tofubeast]

I am wondering if there were ever any past plans or the possibility of a DVC resort in Cocoa Beach.

Now, I know we have the Vero Beach resort, one I love and have stayed at a few times. However, the Vero resort is a decent drive from WDW and Port Canaveral. I could really see a resort in Cocoa being quite popular.

1) As a stay before or after a Disney or cruise line trip. I wonder if some would skip staying at one of the park resorts. This could be a nice enticement.
2) As a bookend to a Disney Parks visit to enjoy the beach and have a more lowkey/restful experience. The drive here would be much shorter than the one to and from Vero.

I know there are things to consider... obviously land, zoning, $, and the rising cost of coastal insurance. Would you want a Cocoa Beach DVC?

 

[BroganMc]

Cocoa Beach really went downhill when they shut down a lot of the NASA program. Did you visit before and after? I did. It was sad.

I think the area is starting to come back but it's not there yet.

I don't think Disney resorts away from the theme parks have that big a market. There are too many competitors offering more destinations that better prices. What I would like to see Disney do is build more DVCs by more parks. Just think of the European market for Euro Disney. And then you have the Asian market for Shanghai and Tokyo. The biggest obstacle is going to be space. There's not a lot of land around any other park but Disney World.

 

[AstroBlasters]

I’d rather have one at Disneyland Paris.

 

[fla4fun]

Cocoa Beach doesn’t have much in the way of vacant property plus they have a lot of building restrictions that would make putting up a simple tower difficult. I think you would need to go farther north of the port, or south of CB to find the necessary property and a friendly attitude towards larger developments. Cocoa Beach likes their small town feel, and has even voted down larger gas stations to maintain it. Many of the multi-story hotels could not be built today due to the restrictions in place. Now, if Disney could buy an existing hotel and renovate it into a DVC without changing or adding to the exterior structures they might have a shot.

Truly, though, I don’t think a DVC resort in that area would have a huge draw. My guess would be that most of the people who buy it would actually end up staying somewhere else like on property at WDW, and there are too many other hotels in the area to make cash reservations at Disney’s usual inflated rate a good value. The beach DVC resorts that exist now at least have more of an isolated beach resort feel you would not get in Cocoa Beach.

 

[LoveToDisney]

I would love to see a DVC in Cocoa Beach and just be an hour from WDW instead of 2 hrs like Vero Beach. The current resorts one can exchange into are not as nice as DVC. I’m hoping Brightline will add a Cocoa station in the future. It would be great to use Brightline to Cocoa and Uber/taxi the rest of the way to a resort at Cocoa Beach. The problem finding open property and fighting regulations as stated above makes it nearly impossible to build a DVC. If they did build one, I believe it would be small and so popular that one would need to own and use the 11 month advantage for a stay.

 

[DebbieB]

With the trouble selling HH, Vero and Aulani, I doubt they will do another non-park location.

 

[SL6827]

Wonder if one on the emerald coast would have sold better?

 

[intamin]

With the trouble selling HH, Vero and Aulani, I doubt they will do another non-park location.

Came here to say this. Aulani still hasn't sold out after 13 years but fortunately still rakes money because it's Hawai'i and they have no problems selling those rooms for cash. Vero Beach had to be downsized I imagine because it didn't perform as well as they would've liked and as a result the original owners have subsidized dues because it was supposed to be a larger resort. Not sure how long it took HHI to sell out.

 

[Maistre Gracey]

Cocoa Beach???

Sort of a dump imo.

 

[DonMacGregor]

Because it’s Cocoa Beach?

 

[Narcoossee11]

Cocoa Beach was too close to WDW and yet to far to drive daily. Not a great beach city either.

You can be sure that there will never be a a resort not at WDW or DLAND.
The non Orlando /LA resort have been a issue with performance and saleability.

 

[BamaGuy44]

Cocoa Beach was too close to WDW and yet to far to drive daily. Not a great beach city either.

You can be sure that there will never be a a resort not at WDW or DLAND.
The non Orlando /LA resort have been a issue with performance and saleability.

Never is a long time... In the case of Aulani at least, I doubt they feel like it's not a successful property even if it never sells out.

 

[s.r.disney nut]

Cocoa Beach really went downhill when they shut down a lot of the NASA program. Did you visit before and after? I did. It was sad.

I think the area is starting to come back but it's not there yet.

I don't think Disney resorts away from the theme parks have that big a market. There are too many competitors offering more destinations that better prices. What I would like to see Disney do is build more DVCs by more parks. Just think of the European market for Euro Disney. And then you have the Asian market for Shanghai and Tokyo. The biggest obstacle is going to be space. There's not a lot of land around any other park but Disney World.

"I don't think Disney resorts away from the theme parks have that big a market". What about the Hilton Head Island Resort and Vero Beach? I think both are very popular.

 

[DebbieB]

"I don't think Disney resorts away from the theme parks have that big a market". What about the Hilton Head Island Resort and Vero Beach? I think both are very popular.

DVC is in business to sell new properties. I don’t think they sold fast, they cancelled the phase 2 at Vero.

 

[dioxide45]

I’d rather have one at Disneyland Paris.

Not DVC, but here is a Marriott Vacation Club property there and it is a pretty easy trade through Interval International.

 

[dioxide45]

Even Ron Jon (a Cocoa Beach staple) couldn't keep a timeshare property in Cocoa Beach. They ended up selling Ron Jon’s Cape Caribe Resort to Orange Lake Resorts. Most timeshares in the Cocoa Beach area are low quality independant properties. Many are on the older side and I am sure beachfront property was more expensive there than it was in Vero at the time they acquired the land.

 

[crisi]

"I don't think Disney resorts away from the theme parks have that big a market". What about the Hilton Head Island Resort and Vero Beach? I think both are very popular.

Not nearly popular enough. HHI and VB are in the Summer, but timeshares that are very seasonal, especially points based timeshares rather than fixed week timeshares aren't great. Disney has been fairly fortunate in the the lower resale value on both resorts has tempted owners (who don't do the higher dues math on them) to buy them as SAP - otherwise you'd have a lot of really angry HHI/VB owners that couldn't get rooms for Summer.

 

[DonMacGregor]

Even Ron Jon (a Cocoa Beach staple) couldn't keep a timeshare property in Cocoa Beach. They ended up selling Ron Jon’s Cape Caribe Resort to Orange Lake Resorts. Most timeshares in the Cocoa Beach area are low quality independant properties. Many are on the older side and I am sure beachfront property was more expensive there than it was in Vero at the time they acquired the land.

I don't think Cocoa Beach has been a destination since you went there to watch Apollo launches and they were still racing on the beach at Daytona. The only reason Port Canaveral is a thing is because they can bus guests easily from Orlando.

 

[dioxide45]

I don't think Cocoa Beach has been a destination since you went there to watch Apollo launches and they were still racing on the beach at Daytona. The only reason Port Canaveral is a thing is because they can bus guests easily from Orlando.

Yeah, Port Canaveral is an easy drive from MCO for cruising and the port is unencumbered (unlike Tampa and Jacksonville), so they can bring larger cruise ships. Outside of that, there aren't a lot of big resorts. Mostly smaller independant places or second tier brands of the bigger hotel chains.

 

[s.r.disney nut]

DVC is in business to sell new properties. I don’t think they sold fast, they cancelled the phase 2 at Vero.

Yes, you're right but DHHIR is very popular.