Resort Closings???

[DisneyparkFreak]

Been reading around the web and there is a rumor popping up saying that Disney maybe considering closing temporarily a Value and a Moderate? Is there any truth to this? This may impact my possible trip in 2009. I would hate for Disney to not get my hard earned money.

 

[disney4life2008]

Highly doubtful but I wouldnt be surprised if this did occur in 2009 or 2010 (depending on how the economy changes in the next couple of years/months). When the 1st quarter returns come in, we will know the future of the Disneyworld Resort.

 

[tigsmom]

You never know what will happen, but I would hate to think that the Disney Company would alienate anybody. There are some people who may only be able to visit if they could stay at a value and if you close them then you lose business.
I can see them closing buildings or even floors, but entire resorts?

 

[Kamikaze]

You never know what will happen, but I would hate to think that the Disney Company would alienate anybody. There are some people who may only be able to visit if they could stay at a value and if you close them then you lose business.
I can see them closing buildings or even floors, but entire resorts?

How would closing one value or one moderate 'alienate' someone? Because you can't stay at your favorite 'theme' you are going to take your ball and go home? What if that theme didn't exist in the first place, these people wouldn't go to WDW?

That just doesn't make sense.

If bookings are so low that they would have enough empty rooms to warrant this, then yes, they would close resorts.

But make no mistake, there is no way there would be closed resorts and them telling people that want to book, 'sorry, no rooms'. It wouldn't impact your trip. You just wouldn't have the option of booking the closed resorts, like they were booked full or undergoing a refurb.

 

[chaggy102]

I dont' expect this to happen soon...but if the economy doesn't rebound you might see resorts go down for "rehab" much like happened with Dixie Landings (to become French Quarter) and when the food court was redone at CB. But with the latest Disney promotion going on right now and drawing in the crowds that it is now I don't see this happenening until maybe September-October of next year if it was to happen at all.

 

[tigsmom]

How would closing one value or one moderate 'alienate' someone? Because you can't stay at your favorite 'theme' you are going to take your ball and go home? What if that theme didn't exist in the first place, these people wouldn't go to WDW?

That just doesn't make sense.

If bookings are so low that they would have enough empty rooms to warrant this, then yes, they would close resorts.

But make no mistake, there is no way there would be closed resorts and them telling people that want to book, 'sorry, no rooms'. It wouldn't impact your trip. You just wouldn't have the option of booking the closed resorts, like they were booked full or undergoing a refurb.

If all a person can afford to stay in and still take their family is a Value and all that is open is moderate & deluxe then they won't be visiting this time and may not come back. It has nothing to do with "themes", it's economics.

 

[DisneyPhD]

I don't think the OP is talking about closing an entire category of resorts (ie closing all value resorts) but closing one resort for a period of time (kind of like they do with the water parks in winter). But as Tigsmom said, Disney has the big advantage that all of their value and moderate resorts are comprised of buildings so they could keep some closed and put all the guests in the ones they keep open.
Wasn't Pop scheduled to open in Fall of 2001 but Disney kept it closed because the demand for those rooms wasn't there?

 

[Kamikaze]

If all a person can afford to stay in and still take their family is a Value and all that is open is moderate & deluxe then they won't be visiting this time and may not come back. It has nothing to do with "themes", it's economics.

They wouldn't be closing an entire category. Just ONE of the resorts in a category is the rumor, same as happened after 9/11.

 

[Kamikaze]

I don't think the OP is talking about closing an entire category of resorts (ie closing all value resorts) but closing one resort for a period of time (kind of like they do with the water parks in winter). But as Tigsmom said, Disney has the big advantage that all of their value and moderate resorts are comprised of buildings so they could keep some closed and put all the guests in the ones they keep open.
Wasn't Pop scheduled to open in Fall of 2001 but Disney kept it closed because the demand for those rooms wasn't there?

Except that would require the staffing to be at that resort. The reason they would close a resort is to cut down on staffing.

 

[Bug715]

If closing one value or moderate has to happen ok. But I could understand closing a few buildings at each resort. I could see some people not visiting during that time if the whole resort is closed and is the resort they always stay at.

I don't think that someone wouldn't come back if they couldn't get a value resort because of the lower amount of rooms available.There are times of the year already that values book up. This has to do with supply and demand but since I'm tired of studying microeconomics I'm not going to go into it.

 

[Spyne]

I don't know, I find it hard to believe some resorts would close even during this tough economy. Not sure really, but to me it doesn't seem like something Disney would do.

 

[disney4life2008]

Actually, I think this may occur with the retheming of Pop Century to Disney Animation Inn. Though, I do not know if it will be two seperate resorts.

 

[JEANYLASER]

What happend to Port Orleans French Quarter they put Dvd in every room? I wish!

 

[disneydiva72]

When we use to stay at Caribbean beach we would always go in the down season (when there was one lol) and they use to "close" half of the resort because they did not have enough people to fill it, so it made sense to close half of it because then the buses could just skip stops at the end and the cleaning people wouldn't have to hop all over the place....maybe thats what they mean? :shrug:

 

[DisneyPhD]

Except that would require the staffing to be at that resort. The reason they would close a resort is to cut down on staffing.

Any closed buildings would not require daily housekeeping or significant maintainence and so staffing would be reduced. Housekeeping and maintenance are two of the biggest expenses at a resort. As an example, the DVC expense report has almost 20% of dues going to housekeeping and 19% going to maintenance. And DVC only gets housekeeping every 4th night.

 

[Enigma]

It will probably happen sometime in 2009

 

[GenerationX]

If bookings are way down, the logical response from Disney would be to close portions (or all) of one or more resorts for a period of time. Seems like a sound business decision.

 

[disneymojo]

I remember back in Dec. 2001 when we first went to Disney, we had a booking at Port Orleans. Disney called us about 3 weeks before we left to say they where going to up grade us to AKL at no extra cost. Our rooms had the savannah view and everything for the price we booked PO for. Turns out they closed Port Orleans for awhile and needed a place to put us, they did the same for my parents too. So who knows, maybe they will end up doing something like that again.

 

[maryszhi]

it would make sense if they did some of the deluxe ones since if people are staying on property , those are what they would more likely stay at

 

[gators38]

My family went to disney in Jan. 2002 and about 2 months before we got there, they closed the French Quarter. We were booked to stay there but because of 9/11 they closed some resorts. They moved us to Dixie Landings, they sent us a letter telling us of the move. It was fine with us. I'm booked for Pop Century for Jan 2009 and so far nothing in the mail to tell us they are moving us.