The Walt Disney Company has filed plans to build a 12-story Disney Vacation Club tower at its Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim.
DVC already has a wing at the Grand Californian Hotel, so this would become DVC's second property at the Disneyland Resort. Although locals drive most visits to the Disneyland Resort, the destination offers great appeal to Disney's DVC customer base, so having room inventory in Anaheim to accommodate them is a must for Disney. Plus, it boosts the visibility of DVC to the lucrative Southern California travel market.
Disney submitted the initial plans to the city of Anaheim for review on Friday (h/t to my colleagues at the Orange County Register). The 12-story tower would include 350 rooms — half the number of rooms that Disney had planned for its now-canceled fourth hotel at the resort.
The plans call for the new tower to go up on the western side of the Disneyland Hotel site, between the Goofy's Kitchen building and the Frontier tower. There's no officially proposed timeline for the project.
Disneyland canceled its plans for a fourth hotel after a dust-up with the city over a tax rebate for the project. Anaheim canceled the tax break after Disneyland moved the proposed location for the hotel when it decided to build the Pixar Pals parking structure, which Disney needed after canceling its Eastern Gateway project following community opposition.
So there's some history here.
But the DVC proposal should progress more smoothly, as Disney has not asked for any tax breaks on this project, and it's expanding the resort's footprint in the city. The second Disneyland property continues the expansion of Disney's timeshare program (there, I said it!), which is opening the Riviera Resort at Walt Disney World next month. DVC currently has 15 resorts in Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Vero Beach in Florida, Hilton Head in South Carolina, and Aulani in Hawaii.
Theme Park Insider's Disney Vacation Club FAQ:
Yes, there is a bed tax charged on timeshare stays.
Is there really a demand for more overpriced DVC rooms? DVC demand has significantly decreased in recent years as added inventory around the world, particularly in Orlando and Europe, has outpaced the desire to commit to the timeshare. Disney has also significantly increased DVC prices for newer resorts in recent year, and has tightened rules that restrict benefits of newer DVC members. DVC has hundreds of unsold commitments for the new (and upcoming) resorts in Orlando, and reportedly has difficulty selling out DVC commitments at the Grand Californian, so I don't understand how they're going to be able to sell another 350 rooms without undercutting existing members.
This sounds more like a project built out of spite to taunt the City of Anaheim, and not a sound business decision that will actually grow the Disneyland Resort.
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does anyone know if a DVC timeshare resort pays any room tax to the city? if so. is the basic nightly rate percentage that most hotels comply with. I am assuming to is a way for disney and the city to value per night even for memberships.