Disney Vacation Club Timeshare

The rumor mill about new projects at Disney is always churning. But it probably doesn’t require inside connections or a crystal ball to predict that the next new development in Orlando will involve the vacant land on the west side of the theme park property.

In the Orlando-Kissimmee vacation destination of central Florida, the Disney folks have already given us the Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom and a host of other entertainment venues including Downtown Disney, Blizzard Beach, Typhoon Lagoon and Pleasure Island. All of this fun and activity is surrounded by Disney’s themed hotels and the vacation villas (Disney timeshare) of the Disney Yacht and Beach Club, Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, the Disney Beach Club Villas, the Villas at Wilderness Lodge, the Old Key West Resort, and the 450-plus new Disney World timeshare villas already under development at Animal Kingdom. But as we all know, enough is never enough at the “Happiest Place on Earth,” and no one really thought that Disney would sit on those hundreds and hundreds of acres of undeveloped land it currently owns.

So while there’s nothing official yet, we’ll take it as a big clue that the Walt Disney corporation was not likely to build a highway to nowhere. With traffic now moving on the four-lane road known as the Western Way, (which Disney kindly shouldered much of the bill to construct) many believe that new Disney development is imminent.

To put the location in perspective, the Walt Disney parks are situated south and west of the city of Orlando and the Orlando International Airport. They are west of the smaller city of Kissimmee. Everything around the parks and to the north or east toward Orlando and the airport is high-dollar real estate. While there is some budget-friendly lodging scattered throughout this area, most tourists looking for a Disney vacation without the big price tag currently head south and southwest of the parks. Along Highway 192, one can find a motel, hotel, timeshare deal or timeshare promotion. Vacation accommodations and fast food restaurants abound in a high-traffic triangle created by the Disney parks, Kissimmee and State Road 27.

Some forecasters say that Disney will construct a new theme park in this area and more accommodations in keeping with their other properties and Disney timeshare. Other sources speculate that they will go head to head with the budget properties that already surround the area, and build Disney timeshare units, economy hotel rooms, quick-serve restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores and budget-conscious retailers.

Either way, here’s my prediction: whatever the people behind the Mouse decide, it will include more Disney timeshare resorts and Disney World timeshare vacation villas. Central Florida is consistently a top family-favorite vacation destination. With more timeshare units and timeshare promotion in Orlando than anywhere else in the world, vacation ownership in Central Florida is a proven triumph. Whether Disney goes upscale or budget-friendly, you can bet on the fact that future development in Orlando will prominently feature Disney World timeshare.

Timesharing has been around since the 1960’s and available in the US since as early as 1970 when the first right-to-use timeshare resort was developed in Hawaii. Most of the early developers were individuals or companies whose names were not well known to the general public. It took another fifteen years before big name hoteliers, interested in the timeshare market, made their decisive move.

To the surprise of many in the hospitality industry, the Marriott Corporation was the first major hotel chain to venture into the timeshare business. In 1984, Marriott purchased the assets of American Resorts, Inc., which at that time owned two resorts on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and had a third resort under construction. Marriott recognized the successful track record of American Resorts in this market and quickly hired many of American Resort’s top executives to run the Hilton Head properties.

Today, Marriot Vacation Club International (MCVI) features over fifty luxury resorts in more than thirty destinations including the US, Spain, the Caribbean, and Thailand. With Marriott’s demonstrated success as inspiration, Disney, Sheraton, Hilton, Hyatt and many other big guns of the hotel business soon found themselves developing and operating timeshares and vacation clubs. Their presence has benefited the industry across the board, raising standards of service, quality, and reliability, and increasing customer confidence in timeshares as a product. Hoteliers in the timeshare industry are able to take advantage of name recognition and customer loyalty from one branded product to another.

But the consumer interested in buying a timeshare resale should not feel left out of the “big name” market. A quick search of the internet reveals that resale opportunities are plentiful for hotel brand timeshares and vacation club memberships. Hotel brand timeshares tend to command higher resale prices, while retaining excellent value.

The timeshare buyer interested in a hotel-brand property as a resale should carefully confirm which of the present owner’s membership perks will transfer in a sale. The answer to this varies from company to company, but since many vacation club members claim their perks alone are worth their membership costs, it is important for the resale buyer to understand exactly what s/he is purchasing. It is also sometimes a good idea for interested buyers to tour a property as a new timeshare prospect, even if they know before they go that they are only interested in buying resale. The time spent listening to a sales presentation affords interested buyers several benefits. They will learn many details about the amenities of the property from the sales presenter. They will enjoy the opportunity to tour the property firsthand and to compare the costs of buying new with buying resale. And they will typically have the opportunity to enjoy a luxury vacation at a free or highly discounted price in return for their time spent at the sales presentation.

A timeshare buyer should always remember that buying resale and paying a lower purchase price does not mean settling for less in the way of quality, comfort, and amenities. In today’s timeshare market, almost any resort product that can be purchased new is also available at a much lower price buying resale from a broker or by-owner service, and dealing directly with the person who owns the timeshare now.