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Grand Floridian Construction Plans - New Building


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You heard it here first, I'm guessing, haha.

I saw today that the Grand Floridian applied for an ERP permit to modify their site and add a building along the Seven Seas Lagoon.  They are going to demo the tennis courts, add a new building with its own drive up access, a new parking lot, modify the lake bank, and modify the walkway from the Poly.  It looked like a big project I think around 15 acres.  The plans are online but good ole Disney used a code name again.

What do you think it will be?  I'm guessing a DVC bulding with villas.

I?ve never stayed at the GF, and I know this isn?t Fort news I just thought I?d share with everyone.  It?s hot off the press too, it was submitted yesterday, how?s that for up to date reporting!

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Posted on The Daily Disney (Orlando Sentinel) today...

Disney planning addition to Grand Floridian

By Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel

8:50 a.m. EDT, March 23, 2011

Walt Disney World  is preparing to build an addition to Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, the most expensive of the giant resort's 17 hotels.

A permit application submitted to the South Florida Water Management District describes a six- to seven-story, T-shaped building that will be connected via a covered walkway to the existing Grand Floridian. The nearly 900-room, Victorian-themed hotel, next to the Magic Kingdom, has standard room rates that begin at $440 a night.

No construction timetable was provided, and Disney wouldn't discuss the project Tuesday.

"At any given time, we have numerous projects in various stages of development across our resort," spokesman Bryan Malenius said. "If a project comes to fruition, we will share details when it makes sense to do so for our business."

But the plans, which were filed with the water-management district earlier this month and quickly surfaced online in Disney fan forums, have touched off widespread speculation that the building will be used for Disney Vacation Club time shares.

"It has all the markings of it," said Tim Krasniewski, publisher of DVCNews.com, a news website for Disney time-share owners.

Disney would be following a familiar model if that's what it does. The company's newest time-share project in Orlando, the 15-story Bay Lake Tower, was built as an addition to Disney's Contemporary Resort, another high-priced Disney hotel by the Magic Kingdom.

Disney also has a history of attempting to keep its time-share projects quiet for as long as possible, for fear of undermining sales at already-open properties. Disney refrained from discussing its Bay Lake Tower plans until nearly two years after breaking ground on the project.

Disney is currently peddling units in three open time shares at Disney World ? Bay Lake Tower, Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas, and Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa ? as well in an under-construction resort in Hawaii dubbed "Aulani." That project, the first major resort Disney has built that isn't tied to a theme park, is scheduled to open in phases beginning this fall.

A new time-share project would be the first Disney has launched since the global recession and credit crunch, which decimated much of the time-share industry. Sales at Disney's time-share business fell during the downturn; the unit generated an estimated $190 million a year in operating profit before the slump.

Still, Disney says it has been happy with Vacation Club's performance through the recession.

"It has been a business that has been far more resilient than I think any of us internally would have thought," Walt Disney Co. Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo said during an analyst conference earlier this month.

Rasulo added that Disney prefers not to do lengthy pre-sales for its time-share developments. "We basically like people to be able to use their unit as soon as they buy in for the Vacation Club," he said.

Krasniewski said it would make sense for Disney to begin work on its next Orlando time share now. He said he expects Bay Lake Tower to sell out before the end of the year, based on documents filed with Orange County.

Disney declined to discuss the pace of sales in Bay Lake Tower, other than to say it is "pleased with the continued popularity" of the project.

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Conventional wisdom points toward it being a DVC.

As a former CM, I visit from time to time and chat with some friends. Nothing official, but over the past few months the sense that I get is that it might be an expansion of the existing resort, maybe a super concierge building, in the continuing effort to put it in the same class as some of the 5 star resorts in the area.

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More from WDW Magic...

DVC Villas coming to Disney's Grand Floridian Resort?

Mar 18, 2011

It has been speculated for a couple of years that Disney Vacation Club will next be heading to Disney's Grand Floridian Resort following its most recent new construction just across the lagoon at the Contemporary Resort. Some plans have now surfaced on the internet that seem to further backup the rumors (see below).  They show a 3 wing building, located roughly on the site of the grassy area and beach between the Grand Floridian and the Wedding Pavilion, opposite to the existing health club and spa.  The Villas have their own entrance, and covered walkway to the main Grand Floridian building, but do not appear to have a dedicated pool. Due to the limited size of the land, this would not be an addition anywhere near the size of the recent Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary, even with the modification to the shoreline that the plans detail. A new parking lot for the health club and Wedding Pavilion are also shown in the plans.

Of course we don't know if these plans are genuine, and even if they are, whether the plans will actually be put into action - until announced by Disney, this all remains speculation.  However, it would certainly seem logical for the Grand Floridian to join the majority of the other Deluxe Resorts in adding DVC Villas, and perhaps the final sellout of the Bay Lake Tower will prompt the new construction to break-ground.

Disneys-Grand-Floridian-Resort-and-Spa_Thumb_13148.jpg?Expires=1300936560&Signature=K-S4SJPsRHgc597VX9e5C7mfxCTn0pbBI3e1DWzjJ~mUEcBLR~eSVwmdERL8Tntr83u0QwgSFpvOxQPIyhioTBotsAgqiS-msilofRa9dAZBXmz51rgm~6hOXhT1p1gGKFy7dfvxcZVv1XueMzyptLXbIFZMyG53dReT-rm0lGc_&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIXD73LCXQPO2WCKQ

follow the link for a closeup of the image...

http://www.wdwmagic.com/Resorts/Disneys-Grand-Floridian-Resort-and-Spa/News/18Mar2011-DVC-Villas-coming-to-Disney%27s-Grand-Floridian-Resort.htm

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If you recall TCD posted a thread last year about a DVC on or near the Fort that would be announced, I believe, in April. If that happens, that would mean that there will be two new DVC projects. Is there that much demand for DVCs? Or is Disney just playing games? 

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