Plans for an addition to Walt Disney World’s Grand Floridian Resort and Spa have been filed with the South Florida Water Management District.
Discussions about the addition quickly popped up on Disney fan forums and websites all over the internet, but Disney has declined to speak about this specific project – or even give a timetable as to the construction of the six to seven story, T-shaped building that will be connected via a walkway to the main Grand Floridian.
Spokesman Bryan Malenius had this to say about the addition:
“At any given time, we have numerous projects in various stages of development across our resort. If a project comes to fruition, we will share details when it makes sense to do so for our business.”
The plans Disney submitted to the board, however, have many Disney fans wondering if the new addition will be used for Disney Vacation Club time shares. Tim Krasniewski, publisher of DVCNews.com, says “It has all the markings of it.”
If Disney does decide to use the new addition as a DVC property, no one would be very surprised – Disney has a long history of keeping their time-share projects as quiet as they can to avoid losing sales at DVC properties that are already open. For example, Walt Disney World’s most recent time-share property, Bay Lake Tower, was kept quiet for almost two years after breaking ground on the project.
Despite the fact that this would be Disney’s first new time-share project since the global recession, Disney fans are still speculating that this would be the perfect time to introduce a new one. Krasniewski himself believes that it would “make sense for Disney to begin work on its next Orlando time share now… [especially since he] expects Bay Lake Tower to sell out before the end of the year.”
Disney has also seemed happy with their time-share properties despite the recession. “It has been a business that has been far more resilient than I think any of us internally would have thought,” said Disney CFO Jay Rasulo.
Whatever Disney plans to do with the new addition to the Grand Floridian, it’s safe to say that right now all we’ll hear is speculation until Disney decides to comment one way or the other.
