GF DVC Site Plan?

[eilie]

Other than BLT (which is arguably the wrong look for where it sits), I haven't seen another DVC Resort that wasn't perfectly themed for its setting/environment/location. And they use our dues wisely to maintain the buildings and grounds.

I'm one of the apparently few people who think the SSL shoreline needs a bit MORE to look at. It's a huge body of water, and the buildings provide eye candy. I'd much rather look at another pristine white victorian manor than a parking lot, pine trees and a cell tower (which is what you see in that area right now).

And to clarify, it appears as if they're pushing the beach out with the new building and shoreline, so there will still be beach.

This^

I don't think the proposed location will cause lots of problems, except during the construction phase. The view of the main building will not be lost, except for the people who make it all the way down to the beach by the wedding pavilion. The wedding pavilion will lose some of its isolation (but not its view), and it has always been located next to a parking lot. The new building will add more life to the shoreline. The biggest drawbacks are the dearth of potential MK views from the new building and what is likely to be a relatively small # of new units compared to other DVCs on property.

 

[eilie]

Based on what little is shown on the site plans, the rooms will face out on both sides of each wing - unlike most of BLT which has a hallway on the inside and rooms only on the outside.

Granted, square footage is square footage - and you can still only fit X number of rooms in a given space. Eilie's numbers make sense.

I have plans showing the layout of typical DVC rooms at home and can scale a 3-room module and compare it to the length/width of the new GF wings.

That would be very helpful. My numbers are just based off of gross square footage comparisons, but they're very rough estimates at best. I could be off by quite a bit, especially since I didn't realize the BLT was primarily single-loaded corridors. How extraordinarily inefficient! I agree that the GF wings look to all be double-loaded, which should help from an efficiency standpoint. Of course, the size of the lobby and other ancillary spaces will impact the number of units that you can cram into the building, but comparing the module size to the footprint will certainly give better numbers than mine.

 

[wsmith1978]

Also, it looks like the tennis courts are now gone, and the walk to the Heath Club will be even longer since guests will have to take the new path that follows all the way around the new drop-off.

Well if you're going to a health club, you probably shouldn't mind walking a bit to get there

 

[Master Yoda]

Well if you're going to a health club, you probably shouldn't mind walking a bit to get there

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Because those don't sell. Or attract guests. Look at OKW and SSR. Both are usually partially booked, and also routinely serve as bump hotels for values/moderates. And even HHI/VB don't have much demand at this point. Many people buy those points as they are cheaper on resale, and hope to be able to stay at a deluxe.

Unless it has some killer hook, no one will want to stay there/buy points. People are buying DVC because of the perceived value. The same way that people buy the dining plan. If you tell someone you can buy the dining plan to save money, but need to eat at a new restaurant over there, when they really want to eat at CRT or Le Cellier, no one would buy it. If you can use points you got for cheap to stay at at deluxe on the monorail line, you can save a bundle.

I don't think that's it at all.

I think it's because when Disney builds these DVC add-ons to existing resorts, they're able to share facilities and resources... Which means they can use DVC member dues to pay for at least some of those facilities and resources... Which means their costs go down to operate the hotel side of the resort. Sure, the facility and resource costs are built into room rates on the resort side... But with DVC they can essentially guarantee coverage of those costs for 50 years, irregardless of resort bookings levels. I'd take a 50 year guarantee that someone else was going to shoulder a financial burden for me if I could get it.

I also think there's a demand from members of the "Grand Floridian Crowd" that have probably told them, "I love my Grand Floridian, and when they build DVC for it, I'm in". We've heard that on this site, even.

The deluxe crowd is really the target market for prospective DVC members. I expect the other deluxe hotel (the Poly) will be next to get this treatment.

I think the combination of the two reasons above is why we're seeing this (and will see it at the Poly next).

And to put a disclaimer out there: I don't have a good OR bad opinion about this addition. I just am thinking about Disney's motivation to do it, that's all.

 

[eilie]

Well if you're going to a health club, you probably shouldn't mind walking a bit to get there

Haha - point taken

 

[MoonMouse1]

Does anyone have a projected start date of this construction?

I am getting married at the Wedding Pavilion on 11/12/11 and would be incredibly upset if construction is going on in the background.

My cocktail hour is going to be outside on the patio near the Summerhouse bar, looking out to the beach...and from this view you can see the Wedding Pavilion and large grassy patch of land. If construction is going on this will be ruined as well.

I'm going to contact my Wedding Planner about this, but in the meantime if anyone has more info I would REALLY appreciate it!

 

[Buried20KLeague]

Does anyone have a projected start date of this construction?

I am getting married at the Wedding Pavilion on 11/12/11 and would be incredibly upset if construction is going on in the background.

My cocktail hour is going to be outside on the patio near the Summerhouse bar, looking out to the beach...and from this view you can see the Wedding Pavilion and large grassy patch of land. If construction is going on this will be ruined as well.

I'm going to contact my Wedding Planner about this, but in the meantime if anyone has more info I would REALLY appreciate it!

I would say you are in a bit of a pickle, my friend.

Don't forget... Disney didn't officially even acknowledge that anything was going on on the Bay Lake Tower until it was half way built. Like, literally. There was a big giant building being built, and no one at Disney would say a word about it.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the same way. You might not be able to get anything at all out of Disney, because they haven't officially announced the project, and probably won't, until it's well under way.

The reason for that is because if they announce a GF DVC, it could hurt sales of the other properties they're trying to close out.

You MIGHT get lucky though... Maybe they'll come up with some kind of way to shroud all the work, considering it's right next to the wedding pavilion. Surely they had to have thought that they're going to have some furious people, right? Surely?? :lookaroun

 

[Master Yoda]

I would say you are in a bit of a pickle, my friend.

Don't forget... Disney didn't officially even acknowledge that anything was going on on the Bay Lake Tower until it was half way built. Like, literally. There was a big giant building being built, and no one at Disney would say a word about it.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the same way. You might not be able to get anything at all out of Disney, because they haven't officially announced the project, and probably won't, until it's well under way.

The reason for that is because if they announce a GF DVC, it could hurt sales of the other properties they're trying to close out.

You MIGHT get lucky though... Maybe they'll come up with some kind of way to shroud all the work, considering it's right next to the wedding pavilion. Surely they had to have thought that they're going to have some furious people, right? Surely?? :lookaroun

Two words. Castle Cake.

 

[Tom]

Does anyone have a projected start date of this construction?

I am getting married at the Wedding Pavilion on 11/12/11 and would be incredibly upset if construction is going on in the background.

My cocktail hour is going to be outside on the patio near the Summerhouse bar, looking out to the beach...and from this view you can see the Wedding Pavilion and large grassy patch of land. If construction is going on this will be ruined as well.

I'm going to contact my Wedding Planner about this, but in the meantime if anyone has more info I would REALLY appreciate it!

Based on the timeline that Fantasyland followed, my gut feeling is that construction will be underway by November of this year. They are currently leaping the final hurdle in getting a project approved in central Florida. After that, they just have to finalize architectural design, put it out for bid and start work.

Assuming architectural plans are near completion, which I predict they are, this could realistically start in a few months.

I would definitely call your WDW Wedding Coordinator and tell them you want a straight answer. And if their answer is, "Duhhhhh, I don't know about no new buildings or nothing like that", go higher. Disney weddings cost FAR too much for them not to tell you if there will be construction going on next to your wedding.

Keep in mind that they likely won't be working on your wedding day, assuming it's a Saturday. It's not inside a park, and they won't be behind schedule by November, so they will have little need to work on weekends. It will just look ugly.

 

[awilliams4]

i really wish disney would stop building dvc resorts.

it's incredibly disappointing to see wdw being overbuilt with resorts.

Sorry, may be people like us faciliating this. We purchased BLT once it went on sale and I just emailed my wife about the news and (assuming this is legit) we have already decided we are buying here as well.

 

[DVCOwner]

I think it's because when Disney builds these DVC add-ons to existing resorts, they're able to share facilities and resources... Which means they can use DVC member dues to pay for at least some of those facilities and resources... Which means their costs go down to operate the hotel side of the resort. Sure, the facility and resource costs are built into room rates on the resort side... But with DVC they can essentially guarantee coverage of those costs for 50 years, irregardless of resort bookings levels. I'd take a 50 year guarantee that someone else was going to shoulder a financial burden for me if I could get it.

BINGO - They do it to cut the cost to the resorts by sharing cost of everything from the front desk, pools, lobby, and transpertation. It only a few dollars per member, but it adds up fast.

 

[awilliams4]

I see a lot of empty resorts now.
....frankly, there is always availability at any given one.

I was just checking availability for (5) nights in mid June at the VWL, BLT, BCV, BWV & AKV. There was no availability for my 5 nights anywhere.

Are you referring to non-DVC rooms? If so, that may provide some insight, besides OKW and SSR which are both nice resorts, there is not a lot of empty rooms with DVC but there may be more empty hotel rooms. Maybe that is why they are building more DVC and less of everything else (besides Value).

 

[Tom]

Possible Room Layout

Each wing will be 70' wide. This allows for a 32' deep room on each side with a 6' wide hallway down the middle. Kidani and BLT rooms are both about 32' deep. This works perfectly.

The footprint of the building shown on the site plans shows where the columns/posts will be on the balconies. They are spaced the exact distance apart as typical DVC room sizes. The first space is 13', then 15', then another 13' - consistent with the 3-room setups at both Kidani and BLT. This allows for a 2-BR or a 1-BR and lock-off studio.

I printed the plan off, to scale, and laid out the most obvious room locations and configurations. See image below.

The shaded areas are the hallways, and I've darkened the lines between each 3-room setup. I also indicated where connecting doors would be, for clarity. I can only assume they'll have a grand lobby/atrium, but they'll also require elevators and housekeeping closets - so I penciled in a couple of elevators and just left the center area blank.

There appears to be enough balcony to host one more studio in the west (left) wing, above where i wrote ATRIUM. That would then leave symmetrical spaces on either side of the main hallway.

 

[eilie]

Each wing will be 70' wide. This allows for a 32' deep room on each side with a 6' wide hallway down the middle. Kidani and BLT rooms are both about 32' deep. This works perfectly.

The footprint of the building shown on the site plans shows where the columns/posts will be on the balconies. They are spaced the exact distance apart as typical DVC room sizes. The first space is 13', then 15', then another 13' - consistent with the 3-room setups at both Kidani and BLT. This allows for a 2-BR or a 1-BR and lock-off studio.

I printed the plan off, to scale, and laid out the most obvious room locations and configurations. See image below.

The shaded areas are the hallways, and I've darkened the lines between each 3-room setup. I also indicated where connecting doors would be, for clarity. I can only assume they'll have a grand lobby/atrium, but they'll also require elevators and housekeeping closets - so I penciled in a couple of elevators and just left the center area blank.

There appears to be enough balcony to host one more studio in the west (left) wing, above where i wrote ATRIUM. That would then leave symmetrical spaces on either side of the main hallway.

This is very helpful, and the layout looks exactly as I would expect it to. Good work!

Since we're looking at 18 two-bedroom units per floor, the total number of units in the building likely will be in the 90-126 range, depending on the height of the building and the number of units on the ground floor with the lobby, etc.

 

[828tnt]

Aerial overlay:

thanks so much for this! the one surprise for me is, i'm not sure if there will be any mk views at all. i may need to look at it a bit more on google earth, but other than the entrance, i'm thinking the angles are gonna be pretty difficult for any great views.

 

[828tnt]

also, and let me say i'm a dvc memeber, i tend to like this. if it's smaller, like wl, this can be a great addition that solves the problem of people wanting more options within dvc.

my next question is how long does everyone think it takes until we see the poly dvc? this to me, seems a logical step in tdo's thinking for dvc. in fact, i'm not too sure there will be many resorts left with out dvc options, so why not the polly too?

 

[828tnt]

also, and let me say i'm a dvc memeber, i tend to like this. if it's smaller, like wl, this can be a great addition that solves the problem of people wanting more options within dvc.

my next question is how long does everyone think it takes until we see the poly dvc? this to me, seems a logical step in tdo's thinking for dvc. in fact, i'm not too sure there will be many resorts left with out dvc options, so why not the polly too?

maybe someone is more technically gifted than i and has the time to check, but from lining things up, i think the only view will be of space mountain. there's one building that sticks out too far. so, this is really not going to be about a view of the mk. maybe if the building is high enough, the top floors will be lucky. but i'm really hoping for something smaller that doesn't kill the look of the gf.

 

[DisneyHeather]

also, and let me say i'm a dvc memeber, i tend to like this. if it's smaller, like wl, this can be a great addition that solves the problem of people wanting more options within dvc.

my next question is how long does everyone think it takes until we see the poly dvc? this to me, seems a logical step in tdo's thinking for dvc. in fact, i'm not too sure there will be many resorts left with out dvc options, so why not the polly too?

This is my question, too - when is the Poly getting DVC? And moreso, where will it go, given the location of the GFV?

Sorry to those of you that are not DVC fans, but once Poly villas go up, I'll be on the phone with my rep to add on there ASAP. Location, location, location...

 

[Tom]

This is my question, too - when is the Poly getting DVC? And moreso, where will it go, given the location of the GFV?

Sorry to those of you that are not DVC fans, but once Poly villas go up, I'll be on the phone with my rep to add on there ASAP. Location, location, location...

We too would buy in if they ever add DVC to the Poly. But, there are several reasons why I don't think it will happen.

First, as you mentioned, there really isn't any space to put another building. It they built one, it would have to go where the luau building is now, with even more beach/shore expansion than the GF is requiring.

The alternative is to convert an existing longhouse into a DVC building. But history has shown this to be unsuccessful and unappealing (i.e. Jambo). Not to mention the fact that the Poly never has problems filling its rooms, so why sell a building off to another division of the company?

It's still a pipe dream of mine.