Image Source: The Timeshare Blog

We’ve been talking about this deal for quite some time, as Disney Vacation Club timeshare plans for a new Orlando timeshare resort through their just-completed arrangement with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. First announced in March of 2007, this past week Disney finalized the sale of 298 acres of Disney property in Orlando, Florida, sold to Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.

The land will be used by Four Seasons for a 445-room hotel, 18-hole championship golf course, a Residence Club of fractional ownership vacation homes, (timeshare condos),and custom single- and multi-family vacation homes.

The Vacation Fun Disney Vacation Club Already Offers

If you currently own Disney Vacation Club timeshare, or have ever enjoyed vacationing in a Disney Vacation Club timeshare rental, you know that the Disney resorts mean spacious accommodations, loaded with amenities and vacation fun. Disney Vacation Club offers wonderful resorts available at excellent prices as Disney timeshare resales:

• Disney’s Old Key West Resort timeshare resales
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa timeshare resales
• Disney’s Vero Beach Resort timeshare resales
• Disney’s Beach Club Villas timeshare resales
• Disney’s Boardwalk Villas timeshare resales

But the commitment of Four Seasons Hotels means the Orlando Disney resorts will, for the first time, include a 5-Star hotel and timeshare property.

Four Seasons Timeshares and Fractionals Take Disney Vacations to a New Level

According to The Timeshare Blog, Scott Woroch, the executive vice president of development for Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, says, “This project is one with which we are proud to be associated. Having memorable family vacation experiences are more important than ever to our guests, and we are excited about working with Disney to create a unique product in Central Florida.”

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts are ranked as some of the best hotels in the world. The Canadian based company was founded in the 1960’s, and has since gone on to establish some nearly 80 luxurious hotels and resorts, with seven of the properties including a timeshare ownership component.

While timeshare or fractional ownership at a Four Seasons Residence Club is not widely available because of the limited number of resorts, Sell My Timeshare NOW currently has timeshare resales available at four of the Four Seasons property.

• Four Seasons on the Gulf timeshare resales
  Galveston, Texas, United States
• Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara timeshare resales
  Carlsbad, California, United States
• Four Seasons Residence Club Scottsdale at Troon North timeshare resales
  Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
• Four Seasons Vilamoura timeshare resales
  Vilamoura, Portugal

Walt Disney World, the self-proclaimed, “happiest place on earth,” has always been about great family-fun vacations. With the addition of the new Four Seasons fractional ownership resorts, you can soon be very happy enjoying a whole new level of luxury.

Here’s what Australia’s SuperLiving Magazine had to say about timesharing in general, and specifically our company, Sell My Timeshare NOW, in their Monday, June 9 online issue. Overall, it is a very good article and we are sincerely appreciative of their coverage.

When You Buy Timeshare from the Developer

The article correctly points out that buying timeshare resort property and then not using it is as impractical as buying a car and leaving it in the garage. The author, Lynelle Johnson, also notes that the Australia timeshare industry is booming, particularly on the Sunshine and Gold Coasts, as well as booming worldwide.

Lynnelle explains the process of buying new timeshare (timeshare sold by the developer) like this: “Sales of timeshare are often done at ‘free’ resort weekends (beware, as extras are often priced to recoup the costs) where high pressure salesmen ply their trade. The result of these expensive sales techniques is high prices for buying into new timeshares.”

The article then goes on to warn that the cost of your new timeshare is not just the average $15,000 -$16,000 you may pay, but there are fees that typically run around $600 per timeshare unit, per year.

But here is where we get to the good part because at this point, the article starts talking about timeshare resales and about Sell My Timeshare NOW.

The Virtues of Buying Timeshare Resales

The SuperLiving Magazine article then asks the question we ask all the time on this timeshare blog, and at Sell My Timeshare NOW, “Why by new when you can buy used?”

Here’s how they describe our services and the timeshare resale marketplace:

So thank you to our friends down under at SuperLiving Magazine. No wonder they are interested in timeshare; Australia timeshare truly is a fast growing market, with many new places yet to build timeshare resorts and lots of vacationers to enjoy them.

Apparently Disney Vacation Club Timeshare is trying to get the message across that they are not just about Disney vacations.

In an article published by the Orlando Sentinel on April 9, Jason Garcia writes about Disney’s new television commercials designed to promote timeshare sales, in which the actors focus on other vacation destinations before they get around to talking about the Disney theme parks. Now that is an interesting way to back into your timeshare sales pitch.

Disney Vacation Club Timeshare Advertising

The 60-second commercial, called “Little Travelers,” opens with children talking about all the places they have visited with their families, through Disney Vacation Club timeshare membership. The children talk about Costa Rica, the Grand Canyon, and England while the camera rolls on pictures of the Venice canals and the Eiffel Tower. Eventually, of course, the commercial gets around to talking about Disney theme parks.

The strategy is to eliminate any objection that buying Disney Vacation Club timeshare limits you to vacationing only at Disney properties. The marketing minds behind Disney Vacation Club timeshare want consumers to understand that Disney timeshare is owned in the form of timeshare points, which can be exchanged at hundreds of non-Disney resorts around the world.

Morningstar Inc., lodging industry analyst, Jeremy Glaser says, “I think when people look at discretionary spending, time shares are places that are pretty easy for some people to cut out.”

Yet just as we are hearing from so many timeshare resort developers, Disney Vacation Club timeshare’s director of marketing, Sylvia Woolfork says that they have seen no slowdown so far. According to quotes in the Orlando Sentinel, Woolfork says, “We’ve actually seen some pretty healthy trends in our business.”

Opportunities in Disney Vacation Club Timeshare Resales

To learn more about the opportunity to become a Disney Vacation Club timeshare owner, by purchasing a Disney timeshare resale, visit Sell My Timeshare NOW.

There are Disney Vacation Club timeshare resales available at these resorts:

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas Resales
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas Resales
• Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort Resales
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort Resales
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa Resales
• Disney’s Vero Beach Resort Resales

Plan on a Disney Vacation Club Timeshare holiday. Take the kids and see Cinderella, Mickey, and all the other lovable characters at Walt Disney World. But don’t plan on taking your children with you if you have reservations to dine at Victoria & Alberts at the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.

Victoria & Alberts is the only Orlando Disney restaurant with a 5-diamond rating, and offers unquestionably some of, if not the best dining at Disney World. But this crystal and linen dining room serves 7-course meals that can last as long as three hours. Prices start at $125 per person and there has never been a children’s menu available at Victoria & Alberts. Obviously, the restaurant was never intended to attract family dining.

After Disney made the announcement, The Orlando Sentinel quoted Rosemary Rose, Disney World’s vp of food, beverage and merchandise operations, as saying that no more than two or three families a month brought young children to Victoria & Albert’s. Which now makes you ask, “So what was the problem?”

I wonder if Norman Van Aken, owner of Norman’s at the Ritz Carlton in Orlando, doesn’t have the right idea when he suggests that banning children from the restaurant is a clever marketing strategy that causes people to now view Victoria & Albert’s as extremely special. Disney’s announcement has certainly garnered plenty of press coverage as people examine their thoughts on the, “happiest place on earth,” no longer permitting children under the age of 10 in their best dining room.

But go ahead and plan your stay at your Disney Vacation Club timeshare. Whatever the reason for the new policy, the decision shouldn’t cause a problem for more than, “two or three families a month”.

Owning a Disney Vacation Club Timeshare is easy and affordable when you shop timeshare resales and timeshare rentals available through Sell My Timeshare NOW. To learn more about Disney Orlando timeshare visit the links below:

• Disney’s Villas at Wilderness Lodge Resales
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa Resales
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort Resales
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas Resales
• Disney’s Beach Club Villas Resales

And for a retro view of the Happiest Place on Earth, watch this YouTube video of a 1971 television commercial for the (then) very new, Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom.

In our September 6 blog post, titled, “Planning Your Orlando Timeshare Vacation”, I noted that Disney had banned their guests from using the two-wheeled, battery-powered individual people transporters, known as Segways. Disney, and other Orlando theme parks permit Segways, as does the City of Orlando, but use is restricted to authorized personnel, and not available to their paying customers.

In the October 14 edition of the Orlando Sentinel, an article stated that, “Advocates for the disabled are pushing Walt Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando to lift a ban on the use of Segways in the theme parks.”

The Disability Rights Advocates for Technology, known as DRAFT, is an organization that raises money to donate Segways to disabled US military veterans. As the article explained, many people with prosthetics, as well as people with disabilities that permit them to stand but not walk, benefit from the mobility Segways provide. An estimated 5,000 disabled people now use Segways to increase their mobility options.

In one further note, the Sentinel article stated that Disney runs paid, guided Segway tours of Epcot and the Fort Wilderness campground, however in response to our phone call, we were again told by a Disney customer service representative, that those tours have been suspended.

The Timeshare Owners Blog will keep you posted on the status of the Segway at Orlando theme parks.

Here are a few suggestions for enjoying Orlando timeshares on your next Florida vacation:

• Disney’s Beach Club Villas Resales
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas Resales
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort Resales
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa Resales
• Disney’s Villas at Wilderness Lodge Resales
• Magic Tree Resort Resales
• Marriott’s Cypress Harbour Resales
• Marriott’s Grande Vista Resales
• Marriott’s Horizons of Orlando Resales
• Marriott’s Imperial Palm Villas Resales
• Marriott’s Royal Palms Resales
• Marriott’s Sabal Palms Resales
• Mystic Dunes Resort and Golf Club Resales

And here’s a You Tube video of Segways in use at Walt Disney World.

Yesterday, the Timeshare Owners Blog told you about Disney’s expansion plans in Hawaii. The planned Oahu resort will occupy 21 acres of prime oceanfront property and will be Disney’s first hotel and timeshare resort that is not part of a theme park. While other sources list the property as yet unnamed, the Honolulu Star Bulletin calls it the: Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Ko Olina Family Resort.

COURTESY WALT DISNEY PARKS & RESORTS

From a business perspective, there are several ways to view Disney’s move to expand in Hawaii going there without the benefit of thrill rides and mouse ears as a draw for tourists. Even Disney Vacation Club timeshares currently only offer two locations that are not at a theme park destination: Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort and Disney’s Vero Beach Resort.

In some regards, Disney is a relative newcomer to the hotel and resort industry. The Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim, which opened in 1955, was the first Disney-branded hotel, but it was not owned and operated by the Walt Disney company until 1988.

Still, nearly 19 years in the hotel business, is long enough for you to learn some of the ups and downs. And long enough to establish that not everything Disney touches thrives, despite magic pixie dust to help it along.

In the 1990’s Disney planned a project in Newport Coast, California, which was subsequently cancelled, and the land later sold to Marriott, who built the very successful Marriott Newport Coast Villas on the site.

Disney also planned hotels for Beaver Creek, Colorado, and in New York’s Times Square, but neither ever came to fruition. There’s a reason that Disney has shied away from the hotel business in areas that don’t have theme parks and maybe it’s been a good one.

Without Magic Mountain and twirling teacups, a Disney hotel is, well, just another great hotel, and perhaps not even as great as some of their competition. The developers of the property at Ko Olina were also in negotiations with Four Seasons, Trump Entertainment, and Ritz-Carlton for the land Disney has acquired. Recognizing that the Hawaii hotel and resort market is not one of the easiest—after all it’s not a drive-to destination for anyone—you have to wonder if Disney beat out the competition, or if the other hoteliers were wisely more conservative.

As with most things, time will tell. But if you are a member of the Disney Vacation Club, then maybe you’re in luck, and in the near future, a Disney Hawaii timeshare vacation will be in your plans.

Until then, here are only a few of the other excellent options for your Hawaii timeshare vacation:

• Marriott’s Kauai Beach Club
• Marriott’s Waiohai Beach Club
• Marriott’s Maui Ocean Club
• Marriott’s Ko Olina Beach Club
• Shell Vacations Club at Kona Coast Resort I Resales
• Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas Rentals
• Whaler on Kaanapali Beach Rentals
• WorldMark at Kapaa Shore Rentals
• WorldMark at Kihei Resales
• Wyndham Hawaii at Kona Hawaiian Resort Resales
• Wyndham Hawaii at Royal Sea Cliff Resales

A Disney resort and Disney timeshare will be built in Oahu, Hawaii. The Disney company reportedly paid $144 million for land at Ko Olina Resort and Marina, located on the western side of the island.

COURTESY WALT DISNEY PARKS & RESORTS

The new Disney timeshare and resort is expected to open in 2011, and will include over 800 units, some of which will be for the hotel, and others will be timeshare villas for the Disney Vacation Club. According to Commercial Property News, Disney has not identified how many of the units will be timeshare and how many will be part of the hotel.

Currently there are over 350,000 members of the Disney Vacation Club, with a sixth timeshare property preparing to open in Orlando later in 2007.

The Disney timeshare at Vero Beach, Florida and the Disney timeshare at Hilton Head, South Carolina are the only two existing timeshare properties that are not built at the Disney Orlando theme parks. But this is quickly changing, with the Disney Vacation Club villas planned for the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa in Anaheim, and now the planned Disney timeshares in Hawaii.

Once the Disney timeshare in Hawaii is complete, it will employ 1000 people on the island of Oahu. Commercial Property News quoted Walt Disney Parks & Resorts chairman, Jay Rasulo as saying “This resort hotel will give our guests another way to visit an exciting part of the world with a brand they trust…Hawaii has been among our most requested Disney Vacation Club getaway location beyond our theme parks.” An article in the Honolulu Star Bulletin said that Rasulo also identified beach vacations as the number one most popular trips for families, and Hawaii is the second most popular destination after Florida.

To find out more about becoming part of the Disney vacation club by purchasing affordable Disney timeshare resales, visit the following links:

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort
• The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Disney’s Beach Club Villas
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort
• Disney’s Vero Beach Resort
• Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort

And for a look at the flip side of Disney’s expansion to Hawaii timeshares, be sure to check the blog tomorrow. Perhaps some of the “Imagineers” have escaped from Disney’s design departments and found their way into Disney’s business development divisions.

The Disneyland Resort in California has announced plans to add 250 units to the Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, 50 of which will be timeshare units.

This is the first Disney timeshare offered on the West Coast. Until now, Disney timeshare resorts have all been located at Walt Disney World Orlando, which has six timeshare resorts along with a resort located in Vero Beach, Florida and another one at Hilton Head, South Carolina.

Disney’s timeshares currently include approximately 2000 units in the 8 existing resorts. Many insiders are speculating that the 50 units planned for the Grand Californian are only the tip of the iceberg for Disney’s west coast timeshare plans.

The Los Angeles Times quoted Disneyland Resort President Ed Grier as saying, “This expansion underscores our commitment to growing and investing in both the Disneyland Resort and the Anaheim Resort area.”

Becoming a member of the Disney Vacation Club starts around $17,000, with $26,000 being the average expenditure, if you purchase through the Disney Vacation Club. But you can also buy Disney timeshare resales at very competitive prices at Sell My Timeshare NOW.

Disney Vacation Club Timeshares:

• Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas
• Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort
• The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
• Disney’s Beach Club Villas
• Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
• Disney’s Old Key West Resort
• Disney’s Vero Beach Resort
• Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort

What is the first big clue that timeshare resorts are edging out the hotel market, claiming more and more vacation business and a bigger piece of the hospitality and tourism pie?

Simple.

The fact is that most major hotel chains are devoting as much or more attention (and more dollars) to their timeshare and vacation ownership divisions as to their regular hotel business. There are the Disney Vacation Club Resorts, Marriott Vacation Club International, the Hyatt Vacation Club, Hilton Grand Vacations, Wyndham Vacation Ownership and even the Ritz Carlton Club and Residence, to name a few of the big dogs now on the playing field.

Timeshares, or vacation ownership, as some providers like to call it, are giving hotels such serious competition that in top tourist destinations like Orlando, Florida, hoteliers actually blame the decline in room night bookings on the excellent offerings in timeshares, timeshare resales, and timeshare rentals.

Today, most leading hotel companies have a timeshare division, even though many like to avoid use of the word “timeshare” and replace it instead with phrases like vacation ownership and vacation club. No matter what you call it, it’s still timeshare. Ritz-Carlton Hotel spokesperson, Vivian Deuschl, says the Ritz-Carlton Hotel company will no longer even manage a hotel unless it includes a residential component, according to a July 6, 2005 article published in USA Today.

A recent Time Magazine article about the newest trend in hotels, makes me wonder if one specific trend isn’t a direct response to the competitive pressure hotels feel from timeshares. The Time article states, “Global tourism is thriving, and the luxury segment, the top 15 percent of the market by price, is driving it. With rates as high as $25,000 a night, these are the most profitable rooms in a hotel, and they consistently have the highest occupancy rates”. The Time Magazine article, titled “The Grander Hotel”, goes on to cite Smith Travel Research as showing that luxury room revenues increased more than 10 percent from 2005 to 2006.

Let me make something clear, we are not talking about the type of luxury you find in a fabulous beachside Marriott Vacation Club timeshare, where the suites are spacious and the amenities are practically perfect. Time Magazine is talking about uber-luxury, targeted at a market willing to pay thousands or tens of thousands per night for hotel accommodations, sometimes referred to as “ultraluxe”.

While this may be a growing market, I’d say that it is not one that most of us are going to be part of, at least not on a regular basis.

Let’s see, you can pay $25,000 for one room night—one time—at an ultraluxe hotel. You can buy a fabulous timeshare week from the timeshare developer for about the same amount of money and use it for 7 days, each and every year, for the rest of your life. Or, for that kind of money, you can deal directly with timeshare owners who want to sell timeshare they currently own, and you can buy the right to enjoy anywhere from 14 nights to perhaps as many as 30 or even 60 or 70 nights, per year, every single year, as long as you own the timeshare. Own a timeshare for 20 years, and you conceivably could get 1400 vacation days and nights from an initial expenditure of $25,000.

I suspect many of us will be passing up ultraluxe and “settling” for more affordable (and more logical) levels of luxury.

Last week in the Timeshare Owners Blog, I mentioned that many people have discovered September is an excellent month for taking a vacation. This month is an especially good time for visiting theme parks like Disney World, as the crowds are typically at their lowest.

Recently, I ran across a unique item in the Detroit Free Press. If you are planning a Disney timeshare vacation in the near future, this interesting information may cause you to add one more item to your vacation agenda.

An entertainment attorney in Detroit, Gregory Reed, was, for many years the attorney for civil rights activist Rosa Parks. In 1998, Reed was part of a groundbreaking ceremony at the Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. Following the ceremony, a man approached Reed and gave him an envelope. The man unknown to Reed, said only, “I believe you should have these.”

The envelope contained the original fingerprints and police booking cards, signed by Rosa Parks, dated December 1, 1955—the day Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a Montgomery city bus.

Beginning September 28, the documents will be on display at the Epcot Center in Disney World, Orlando, Florida. The exhibit will also include items from Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, Jackie Robinson, and George Washington Carver.

As Reed says, “There’s an obligation to take note of this moment and time in American history.”

An Orlando timeshare vacation means warm sun, balmy breezes, and entertainment venues guaranteed to appeal to a wide range of interests. Much more than roller coasters or a ride in a spinning teacup, a Disney timeshare vacation can also include the chance to introduce your children to America’s social and cultural history in a very meaningful way.

Here are some excellent opportunities available to you now in Disney timeshare resales:

Disney’s Beach Club Villas timeshare resales
Disney’s Boardwalk Villas timeshare resales
Disney’s Old Key West Resort timeshare resales
Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa timeshare resales
Disney’s Vero Beach Resort timeshare resales