Mouse Extra

The Orlando Sentinel reports this morning that Disney will finally admit today that Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort and the newly refurbished Treehouse Villas will become part of the Disney Vacation Club’s selection of resorts.

Disney this morning will formally reveal plans for its Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, confirming earlier reports that the 15-story tower rising just beyond the Magic Kingdom will be used for time shares. The company also will unveil plans to sell time shares at the Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, a secluded community of 60 units that is being rebuilt in a forested pocket of Walt Disney World.

The twin announcements ensure that Celebration-based Disney Vacation Club, which has grown to nine resorts and more than 350,000 members, will have more time shares for sale in 2009 than it has ever had before.

With the ever worsening economy, I do worry that this may be too much too quickly.  And one also has to wonder how much the opening of purchasing at Bay Lake Tower will hurt numbers at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  If things slow down for the DVC, it becomes much harder to handle if you have four properties you’re trying to sell rather than one, including Disneyland’s Grand Californian which is also on its way.

As expected, Bay Lake Tower is set to be the club’s most expensive buy-in…

…prices at Bay Lake Tower will begin at $18,000 — the most expensive starting point of any Vacation Club resort. Prices at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas, which opened its first phase last year, begin just below $17,000.

But for me and my fellow DVC’ers, this is certainly good news.  Each one of the four resorts now under construction all add something truly unique to the already amazing collection of places to vacation.  I can only imagine that Bay Lake Tower will be tough to get into for a while, but if this economy doesn’t turnaround it may not be that hard after all.

If you remember, a few days ago we discussed a rumor that Disney was about to make a “major theme park announcement” in New York.  And of course everyone scrambled for the best possibility.  Is this a new attraction?  Could Disney be announcing the Night Kingdom Park that has been so often rumored?  But as experience tells us, these types of things are usually much more boring than our hopes leading up to them.

The curious bit of that rumor was the line about how we hear “breakthrough insights about how American families travel”.  What exactly could that mean?  Well, let us turn to TouringPlans.com for their most recent rumor and see if it makes more sense…

The next Disney marketing campaign theme will be something like “Celebrate Today” with the idea that families can celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, etc. at a Disney theme park. New merchandise and food tie-ins will be created specifically for the campaign.

When you put these two pieces of information together the picture gets much clearer.  Don’t be waiting for the elusive “fifth gate” or the next great e-ticket to be announced during this next Big Apple press event.  The chances of that happening are just way too small.

This morning, Jim Hill has gone off on a rant like I have never seen before.  The closing of the Adventurer’s Club has got Mr. Hill, and many other Disney World lovers, in a complete uproar.  Making matters worse is the fact that the Pleasure Club has apparently been totally jammed for its last few weeks.

It’s a crazy, crazy time at the Adventurers Club. With people standing 5 deep at the bar in the Main Salon, with the cash registers there constantly opening & closing in order to accommodate all of those drink orders … And yet Disney officials still insist that Pleasure Island has to be closed because places like the AC just don’t appeal to WDW visitors anymore.

Oh, really? Try telling that the people who were still standing on line outside of the Adventurers Club at 1 a.m. this past Saturday night. Try telling those folks that this PI nightclub is no longer popular. I’d imagine that those Guests might have a few choice words for you. None of which would be “Kungaloosh.”

As upsetting as it might be, this is the best way to protest Disney’s decision to close the club.  If there is a hope left to convincing Disney to keep it open, and I doubt there is, the only way they will change their minds is if they see that it can make money.

The fact is, and this is what is so upsetting, the Adventurer’s Club does not have to close in order to re-invent Pleasure Island.  If we are going to fill the Island with family-friendly, well themed restaurants, why can’t the Adventurer’s Club fit in?  Sure, it will take some retooling but so what?  Make it a restaurant, add some more seating, there you have it.  If we are tearing everything around it down, the space will be there for an expansion.  In what will certainly be an island full of third-party brands, why can’t we have one that reflects the one brand name most popular with those in attendance…Disney?

According to Screamscape, Disney has plans to make a major theme park announcement in New York on September 18th. According to the release quoted by Screamscape, the media is “invited to join Disney Parks for a special announcement — so big we’re bringing the news to New York.”  The release promises “breakthrough insights about how American families travel will be shared by Peter Yesawich, Chairman & CEO, YPartnership, one of America’s leading travel trend-watchers. Following that, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Jay Rasulo will unveil exciting plans for 2009–including a first in the history of the Walt Disney Company.”

So now we must speculate. Of course, Disney has made these kinds of announcements in the past and often its a disappointment. It could be the big year long celebration like the Year of a Million Dreams stuff. There is also the possibility of a new oversees park, such as one in China that has been rumored. Or, perhaps Disney is announcing the Night Kingdom project. Or maybe its none of the above. We will have to wait and see…

Today’s posting is from Mike, contributing writer to Mouse Extra.

Disney announced late yesterday a change in the name of the Disney Dining Experience program that offers members discounts at Walt Disney World restaurants.  Upon checking my emails first thing this morning, I got this message from the folks at the Disney Dining Experience…

Greetings,
On the occasion of the 13th annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, we are pleased to announce that we will be launching a new name for the Disney Dining Experience.

Our Festival, which will take place from September 26 – November 9, 2008 will celebrate Cities in Wonderland, and following that theme, your dining club will be named Tables in Wonderland as of September 15, 2008.

This new name will not alter any of your current benefits. We have simply decided to do this to help distinguish your membership from any other dining privileges at Walt Disney World Resort that bares a similar name to the Disney Dining Experience.

You may continue to use your current card until expiration and your renewal card will reflect the new name, Tables in Wonderland.

The first thing that really caught my attention was the use of the word “Wonderland”.  Doesn’t that sound strange to you?  I mean, Disney has not used that phrase at all in advertising and marketing plans in recent years.  Creating something like this without using the word “dreams” has almost become a shock to the system.

But besides that the change is just a name change, and I honestly would be happy if they called it whatever they wanted.  The program is not really changing and that is good news.

Today you will need to have some patience as I go off on a little pet peeve of mine that probably doesn’t bother many other people.  It has to do with one of my favorite activities at Epcot, stopping at the Rose and Crown for a little rest and relaxation.

You see, I am a Disney Dining Experience member and the Rose and Crown offers 15 percent off my pints of Bass Ale, which brings them from “insultingly overpriced” to “a bit expensive”.  But at the bar, in order to receive your discount, you have to wait for a manager to come by and swipe a card only he or she has and approve the sale.  The manager is never in the immediate area so a long process of trying to find the manager and then waiting for his or her arrival begins.  It is only slightly annoying for me, but it drives the bartenders crazy and the other patrons who are waiting to get a drink.  It bugs me because it is unnecessary.

This doesn’t happen anywhere else I have found.  Every counter service location, which is essentially what a bar is when you think about it, is able to take your card without having to get authorization.  If this is the case, why do these bartenders have to do it?  Occasionally, someone asks for my ID to make sure I am who the card says I am.  That’s perfectly fine with me.  Why the extra layer of security in just this location?

So I respectfully ask that Disney stop this unneeded nonsense.  Let your loyal Disney Dining Experience cardholders get a drink at the best pub in the parks without being made to feel like your inconveniencing all around you.  How hard could this really be?