Kingdom Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort

[DVC Mike]

The Orlando Sentinel is reporting:



The Walt Disney Co. (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/economy-business-finance/media/walt-disney-co.-ORCRP017360.topic) has won approval to begin selling time shares in a 15-story tower the company is erecting next to its famed Contemporary Resort, a $110 million addition that Disney has named "The Kingdom Tower."

Disney has for months refused to divulge its plans for the hard-to-miss, half-built tower that is rising just outside the gates of the Magic Kingdom -- despite rampant speculation among Disney fans that it is destined for time shares.

A spokeswoman for the company's time-share division, Disney Vacation Club, would not discuss the project in detail again Monday.
"We don't have anything to announce today," spokeswoman Diane Hancock said.

But in new filings with the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Disney formally states that the Disney Vacation Club will "add a ninth component site to be known as Kingdom Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort."

Disney says in the documents that it will sell the time shares in phases, beginning with an initial 75 units. The Kingdom Tower, which will connect to the existing Contemporary via a fifth-floor pedestrian bridge, will ultimately contain 281 units, according to the filings.

A spokesman for the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, which awarded a time-share license to the Kingdom Tower project earlier this month, said Disney has now been cleared to start selling units at any time.

"They can begin," department spokesman Sam Farkas said.

Disney appears in no rush. The company says in the documents it doesn't expect to finish the Kingdom Tower until the fall of 2009.

Analysts say the company can afford to be patient. The Kingdom Tower, they say, is likely to prove a huge seller, given that it will be the closest time shares Disney has built to the Magic Kingdom -- the busiest theme park in the world -- and the first built directly alongside Disney's monorail.

"I'd have to imagine that's going to be an extremely popular product," said Jeremy Glaser, a lodging-industry analyst with Morningstar (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/economy-business-finance/morningstar-incorporated-ORCRP010253.topic).

Some analysts think Disney is withholding a formal Contemporary announcement because it does not want to undermine time-share sales at Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas or Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, both of which are still selling units. The company's four other time-share resorts at Walt Disney World (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/topic/travel/tourism-leisure/theme-park-vacations/walt-disney-world-resort-PLREC000087.topic) -- as well as one each in Vero Beach and Hilton Head, S.C. -- are sold out.

Glaser, however, said Disney's silence "could just be some trademark Disney secrecy."

Disney's filings with the state also offer more detail about the Kingdom Tower's amenities.

A new swimming pool, for instance, will be large enough for 180 people; go as deep as 4 feet, 11 inches; and feature two hot tubs and a 104-foot-long water slide. There will be two tennis courts, two shuffleboard courts and two boccie ball courts. A barbecue pavilion will have about 490 square feet of covered area and a pair of picnic tables.

Glaser predicted that Disney will choose to market the Contemporary time shares "as more of an upscale product." An early point-chart submitted by Disney to the state -- Disney Vacation Club owners buy points from the company, which they then redeem for rooms, though they must buy through a "home resort" -- shows guests will have to spend more points to rent one- and two-bedroom units at the Kingdom Tower than any of Disney's other existing time shares.

In a further step toward cementing the new tower's status as a time-share resort, Disney has created a new condominium association that would manage the resort once units are sold off to individual owners. State records show that the "Kingdom Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort Condominium Association" was formally incorporated Jan. 9.

[Wells]

A DVC tower at the Contemporary!?? What a surprise!
A Disney official was quoted as saying "Tower?, What tower?, I haven't seen any tower....:D

[sillyolbear]

It will be interesting to see the price per point and the point table on these units because as the analyst pointed out the very obvious--this property will be pretty popular.

[goofy for pluto]

A few weeks ago, while checking out info about DVC on Disney.Go.Com, at the top of the DVC web page I noticed that the photo was of the Contemporary Resort.
I wondered at the time if they had already announced the DVC plans and I had somehow missed that announcement. :mickey:

[ibrowse17]

Wow, I guess the CM's at the Cont were right:thumbsup:

[CaptainJessicaSparrow]

See, now it's official!

The only way I ever believe anything :blush:.

[tinkerbell04]

It will be interesting to see the price per point and the point table on these units because as the analyst pointed out the very obvious--this property will be pretty popular.


I was thinking the same thing

[Jasper]

You know, speaking for those of us who either don't want or can't afford to purchase a timeshare I have to wonder if there will be a time that we will be squeezed out of rooms on property. I realize that there are still far more regular rooms than timeshares but it seems Disney's entire focus is now on timeshares. I hope I am wrong because I think there are only so many timeshares they can sell, especially considering that timeshares are notoriously bad investments. I know this is a long term issue but it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

[Aurora]

You know, speaking for those of us who either don't want or can't afford to purchase a timeshare I have to wonder if there will be a time that we will be squeezed out of rooms on property. I realize that there are still far more regular rooms than timeshares but it seems Disney's entire focus is now on timeshares. I hope I am wrong because I think there are only so many timeshares they can sell, especially considering that timeshares are notoriously bad investments. I know this is a long term issue but it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

I don't think you have to worry about that because the people who are buying into the DVC are mostly people who stay on property over and over. So in fact those who buy in are actually making room for those of you who rent the non-timeshare rooms. :D

[dlpmikki]

This topic is also being discussed in the News forum. Please check there.

[jkomoros]

We just passed ROFR yesterday. (Bought points at BWV.) Yea!! If we don't need to finance additional points, does it make the most sense to go through Disney when we're ready to buy some add-ons? I'm interested in getting some points at either AKV or the new Contemporary Tower when those sales begin. Will my Disney guide still want to talk to us since we bought resale instead of through him? Will Disney sell fewer than 160 points at either AKV or Contemporary?

[WRWDisney]

For those discussing points, this is info from another site. Personally, I always expected the Contemporary to cost more points per night (always hated when people speculated on the cost of the points; those will be the same--except in the resale market--for every DVC property; the differentiation is the points per night). I don't think the mark-up looks to out of line

As part of its legal filings, Disney Vacation Development is required to disclose the maximum number of points that a DVC member would have to spend in order to book a single night at a given resort. DVCNews has obtained a copy of the Maximum Reallocation Chart which includes the "Kingdom Tower Resort."

DVC uses a point system to determine the cost for a single night in any of its resort rooms. The cost will vary depending season and night of the week. However, DVC could conceivably reoganize the points such that every single night of the year costs the same amount to members. That cost is revealed in the Maximum Reallocation Chart.

Following are the Maximum Reallocation amounts for all of the Walt Disney World-based DVC resorts:

OKW BWV (Standard) BWV (Preferred) VWL BCV SSR AKV KTV
Studio 15 15 18 18 18 16 15 16
One Bedroom 30 30 36 36 36 32 36 39
Two Bedroom 40 40 46 46 46 41 45 54
Grand Villa 65 n/a 100 n/a n/a 90 99 96


Based upon the data above, it appears that the average One Bedroom villa at the Contemporary's Kingdom Tower Villas will cost 8% more than BWV(p), VWL, BCV. A Two Bedroom villa will be at least 17% higher than all other resorts.

Note that the absence of separate room categories for Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas (Value, Standard, Savanna, Concierge) suggests that the figure presented is an aggregate of all rooms that are scheduled to be declared into inventory. It is likely that the Kingdom Tower Villas will also have multiple views available, perhaps Magic Kingdom View, Seven Seas Lagoon and Bay Lake. Therefore, even though the KTV Two Bedroom is listed as being 17% higher than the same room at the Beach Club Villas, a room with a Magic Kingdom view may, in fact, have a nightly cost much greater than 17% above BCV.

The complete points charts, including DVC seasons and weeknight vs. weekend stay values should be released as sales officially begin.

UPDATE: There seems to be some confusion regarding the value of the data presented here. Let me take a moment to try and explain a bit more clearly.

The figures presented above represent the amount that it would cost to spend a single night in the indicated resort and room size if the points were equal for every night of the year. For example, by using "Caskbill's" DVC Planner, we can determine that the number of points required to spend all of 2008 in a Two Bedroom villa at the Beach Club is 16760. Divide 16760 by 366 days and you get 45.79 points per day on average. Round-up and the average daily point stay is equal to the 46 points per night cited on DVC's Maximum Reallocation Chart.

DVC has the right to reallocate the points charts as they see fit. This document is part of DVD's disclosure to the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Effectively DVC is saying that worst-case, the most a member will ever pay for a BCV two bedroom villa is 46 points per night if the charts were completely flat.

The same will hold true for the Kingdom Tower Villas. DVC will still have multiple seasons and probably multiple room categories as well. There will be nights when you can get a Two Bedroom villa for much less than the 54 points stated here, and other nights when it will cost much more. The 54 points per night is simply an average.

The true relevance in this data lies in comparing one resort to another. KTV's nightly average is 17% higher than the average for the Beach Club or the BoardWalk preferred. While the exact points chart remains a mystery, we have a ballpark figure to work with rather than being forced to speculate whether the Contemporary points will be 5% higher or 80% higher.

Thanks to the Orlando Sentinel's Jason Garcia for his assistance with this article.

[lockedoutlogic]

281 units doesn't sound that much for a 15 story tower...but then again...the footings of the buidling were alot smaller than I thought they would be when i saw them.....

this really isn't that big of an addition....more than Beach Club.....but not massive....the ground and facilities appear to be nice though

a necessary step when you're adding more volume to a 37 year old hotel of poor design....

[tomatoe pie]

i know vwl is supposed to be the smallest of the dvc resorts (or i have been told) but i don't even know how many units it has. i also had been told that bcv was next to smallest. these are the only ones i have heard about. does anyone know the size of all of the dvc resorts?:mickey:

[Ian]

Definitely buying in here ... definitely ...

[DVC Mike]

i know vwl is supposed to be the smallest of the dvc resorts (or i have been told) but i don't even know how many units it has. i also had been told that bcv was next to smallest. these are the only ones i have heard about. does anyone know the size of all of the dvc resorts?:mickey:

Here are the # of units for each DVC resort:


OKW 531
VB 175
HHI 102
BWV 383
VWL 136
BCV 208
SSR 828
AKV 458Some units are lock-offs and can be broken up into multiple rooms.

[tomatoe pie]

i tend to love the smaller dvcs as opposed to the larger ones. don't know why, maybe they are just more homey and intimate. i can not wait to buy at kingdom towers. i know we will love that one also. i do love akv and it is not really one of the smaller ones. that was the first wdw resort that i took my grandchilden to and we will always have beautiful memories of that trip.

isn't 4ft-11in a little bit shallow for the deepest end of a swimming pool? maybe that was an error. most pools have an area deep enough for diving. 5ft is enough to dive off the side of the pool but that is also just shallow enough to scrape the enamel off your teeth when you just barely escape scraping the skin off your nose. :swim:

the kids usually spend more time on the water slide than diving anyway. mine spend a lot of time just swimming. pools are always adventure.:yes:

does anyone know anymore about when sales will start? i already have my money and kelly jo is supposed to have my name on the list.:pixie: