The Timeshare Beat
May 6, 2002
HONOLULU, HI -- Disney Vacation Club was created in 1991 by Disney Vacation Development, Inc., a subsidiary of
the Walt Disney Company. They had big plans for rapid expansion.
Following their success with their original timeshare resort (now named Disney's Old Key West Resort) at Walt Disney World, the company announced plans for Vero Beach, FL, and Hilton Head, SC --and also plans for a Newport Coast, California project. Reports circulating around that time also said Disney had acquired land at Beaver Creek in Colorado and in the Branson, Missouri area.
In addition, according to the August 1995 issue of Wired Magazine featuring an article about Times Square in New York City, "A key corporate player is the Walt Disney Company, future tenant of a 47-story hotel being developed by Dream Team Associates." The accompanying artist's rendering showed a tower displaying the Disney Vacation Club logo.
So far, only additional Central Florida resorts plus the Vero Beach and Hilton Head resorts have come to pass.
In Central Florida, Disney's Old Key West, Disney's BoardWalk Villas and the Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge are current DVC properties. Points at Disney's Beach Club Villas are also now for sale, with a planned opening date of July 1, 2002. According to the latest DVC news, 16 acres of lakefront property at the Disney Institute will be the next building site with a targeted opening date of Spring 2004, and a new, 600-unit resort, located on Disney's Eagle Pines Golf Course, is planned to follow.
But while Disney has continued to expand its considerable timeshare presence at Walt Disney World in Central Florida, Disneyland in California has continued to languish.
That was not in the original plans.
In 1994 Disney announced they were planning to build a 650-unit, $250 million Disney Vacation Club resort on the
Newport coast of California, overlooking the Pacific Ocean just a half hour from Disneyland. It was to be a Mediterranean-themed
village, complete with Venetian canals and a "Roman" aqueduct.
In October 1995, around the same time that the Vero Beach resort opened, Disney went public with a revised Newport coast plan. Quoting an Orange County Register article at the time ("Disney's resort plans are revised" October 18, 1995), "Walt Disney Co. said Tuesday that it is revising its planned 35-acre Newport Coast Resort to include a free-standing hotel and larger restaurants. The revisions may delay the construction start until 1997, when Disney originally hoped to have the project open."
In Spring 1996 Disney opened the Hilton Head resort. Officially, the Newport coast project was still alive.
But construction at Newport did not begin in 1997; instead, Disney announced that they had changed their minds entirely and were putting the land on the market.
And in January of 1998 Disney's Newport coast timeshare resort became the Marriott Vacation Club resort when Marriott officially announced "its first California coast Vacation Ownership resort located on the rolling hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach." The site, of course, was the former Disney site. In June 2000, Marriott's Newport Coast Villas opened its first 55 units, with plans for - yes- 650.
The Mediterranean architecture-- with a decided California flair-- now belongs to Marriott's, not Disney's,
Newport Coast Villas.
Located between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach, the resort overlooks the region's scenic Pacific coastline and
Crystal Cove State Park. While Marriott scrapped Disney's designs and drew up their own, they retained the Italian
village theme on the property's 75 acres.
All the villas on the property units have two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a kitchen that is fully equipped
with gourmet touches. From dinner for eight in the dining room to breakfast for two at the breakfast bar or on
the balcony, the villa is supplied with a full set of cookware, linens and dinnerware. The Master Suite boasts
a king size bed, two-person soaking tub and shower, and a balcony to capture the Pacific ocean and scenic California
coastline. There is a sofa-bed in the living room.
Villa amenities include:
Resort amenities include:
Both Disney Vacation Club and Marriott Vacation Club are affiliated with Interval International as an exchange company. In addition, Marriott's Newport Coast Villas resort is on the DVC World Passport Collection list. DVC members can arrange an Interval International (II) exchange through DVC Member Services.
The only timeshare resorts currently in the immediate Disneyland area are Shell Vacations' Peacock Suites and Fairfield's Dolphin's Cove, both of which are RCI-affiliated.
Meanwhile, with the recent expansion of Disneyland and more expansion planned for the future, rumors have begun to circulate again that Disney will finally build its own Vacation Club-- but this time right on the theme park grounds along with its hotels.
It couldn't come soon enough for DVC members, but in the meantime Marriott owners are very happy that Disney's Newport plans didn't work out.
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Information about the Marriott Newport Coast Villas can be found on the Marriott Vacation Club website at http://www.vacationclub.com