WDWNT Reporter Cody Smith visited three of the Walt Disney World parks on Thursday (including Animal Kingdom) and he has a number of newsworthy photos to share from his trip, so let’s take a look:
The giant Mickey wreath is back on Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Our good friend Robert Ashburn of Figmentsmedia.net visited the Magic Kingdom on a less-than supernatural Friday the 13th and has a number of newsworthy photos to share with us:
Posters for Disney-Pixar’s “Up” and Disney Channel’s “Sonny with a Chance” at the Transportation and Ticket Center
Some exterior work on the Exposition Hall on Main Street U.S.A.
Read More about Robert Ashburn’s 3/13/09 Magic Kingdom Photo Report
WDWNT Videographer Jose Eber has returned with a fantastic high definition video of the Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. As previously reported, all of the scaffolding is down and work on the interior is in full swing:
WDWNT Videographer Matt Paul has provided us with a fantastic video update (opposed to a photo update) from his latest trip to the Magic Kingdom on Sunday. This update includes a look at:
The video is embedded from our WDWNTube Disney Parks Video Site and will require you to download Divx if you haven’t already. The download is quick and easy, and will allow you to watch High Definition videos from the WDWNTube, as well as any future videos we may embed on this site.
‘-While it comes as no surprise that the Magic Kingdom closed it’s gates to all but Annual Passholders and Disney Resort guests at 12:00 PM today, another more interesting closure took place. It seems a pipe of some kind burst in the Frontierland area of the park earlier today, closing the entire area off to guests. A large vehicle was then actually brought into that section of the park to fix the problem. The only downtime we can confirm thus far was for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain which guests could not reach at this point. Stay tuned for more details on this story as it becomes available, as well as pictures sometime tomorrow.
-In a follow-up to yesterday’s DVC report, here is a video taken by WDWNT Reporter Jose Eber:
You can also watch the video in HD HERE
Here is our first photo report provided by WDWNT’s Head Technician Jose Castillo. Here is what he saw during his first day trek through the world:
The gingerbread display at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
A cool monorail tree inside the Fantasia shop
Some work being done on top of the BVG store
The tree outside the Contemporary
Here is another fantastic photo (and video) report by WDWNT Photographer Jose Eber from his latest trip to the world:
Refurbishments on the Fantasyland facades has now moved on to Pinnocchio’s Village Haus
Work is now 100% complete on the new Liberty Square Bridge, no more work in the waterways
Christmas has now taken over Main Street U.S.A.
Tinker Bell movie merchandise has taken over some of the windows
This window that was full of Year of a Million Dreams merchandise has been changed, the first piece of the celebration to disappear with just about a month and a half left in it.
Fresh paint going on another facade on Main Street
Moving over to Disney’s Contemporary Resort, the Contempo Cafe is now open
Here’s a video of the Cafe (boy is it loud on that floor now)
The Holiday napkins have arrived
New promotion, similar bag… 🙁
Continuing construction on the Bay Lake Tower addition
An arial view of the bridge
The lesser seen side of the Bay Lake Tower
Click the above image for a larger version
Here’s a video of the construction on the Bay Lake Tower Jose has taken
Chocolate Advent character with some awesome artwork
Same can be said for these holiday cards
We’ll end this report by looking at this cool recordable gift card holder, again featuring that artwork we love so much
Thanks for the update Jose!!!
DVC members received an email this morning from “Deevy See, the First Lady of Disney Vacation Club,” with “the big announcement” including a link to this YouTube video. The email also mentions that viewers will see the new resort on an upcoming Travel Channel special “Season of Disney: Disney’s Best Kept Secret” to be aired on September 18 at 8:00 pm EDT.
The Orlando Sentinel also published a full article this morning:
The Walt Disney Co.‘s rapidly growing time-share division takes an aggressive step forward today when it unveils plans for two new resorts in Orlando — even as Disney Vacation Club battles some of the strongest financial headwinds it has ever faced.
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.
Company executives say they are confident of strong demand for their newest resorts despite the slumping U.S. economy, which has eroded consumer spending and made financing for big-ticket purchases such as time shares harder to obtain.
“What we’re trying to do, particularly with the resorts that we build on site [at Walt Disney World], is really provide something that’s unique, something that you can’t get any other place in Central Florida — and, really, in the world,” said Jim Lewis, president of Disney Vacation Club. “With these two resorts, we believe we’ve done that.”
The company is especially optimistic about the roughly 300-unit Bay Lake Tower, which will be linked to the iconic Contemporary Resort by a fifth-floor pedestrian bridge and will feature the first time shares Disney has ever sold within walking distance of the Magic Kingdom theme park. Sales will begin Sunday, with first crack going to existing Vacation Club owners.
“We think it’s going to do very, very well,” Lewis said. “That is a premium location . . . right across the street — literally — from our flagship park.”
Disney will command a premium price for that convenience. Lewis said 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.
The 60 elevated homes comprising the Treehouse Villas will be built as a new phase of the Saratoga Springs resort near Downtown Disney. A sales date and prices haven’t yet been set.
The Treehouse Villas will open next summer. Bay Lake Tower will follow in the fall.
Although different in size and theme, Disney says both resorts share a similar heritage.
The Contemporary, which was just the second hotel to open at Walt Disney World, is one of the park’s most recognizable monuments, with its mammoth, A-frame structure straddling the resort’s monorail. The Treehouses have stood in a quiet corner of the park since 1975, used at various times as hotel rooms, Disney Institute housing, and dorms for international student-employees.
Design challenges
When designers first set to work on blueprints for an addition to the Contemporary, concepts ranged from copies of the main hotel to a “George Jetson”-like theme, said Bill Hanus, director of development at Walt Disney Imagineering. But they worried about constructing a building that could be seen as competing with the original. They opted instead to build a crescent-shaped tower, hoping the Bay Lake Tower’s curved architecture will complement the angular Contemporary.
There are touches of symmetry: Exterior grooves marking each floor are aligned in both buildings, and a rooftop lounge on the Bay Lake Tower matches the California Grill restaurant on top of the Contemporary.Inside, designers have made sure to emphasize the views that they hope will ultimately make Bay Lake Tower one of Disney Vacation Club’s most sought-after resorts. Rooms will contain nearly wall-length windows that open to views of the Magic Kingdom or Bay Lake. Some bathrooms will even have sliding walls allowing guests to watch fireworks while soaking in tubs.
“It feels like a Tomorrowland building,” Hanus said, alluding to the section of the Magic Kingdom that the tower overlooks.
Saving trees
Each of the new Treehouse Villas has been manufactured in sections at a factory in Wingate, Pa., and they are being installed by cranes that lift them over existing treetops. That approach will allow Disney to build modern, 1,200-square-foot homes without damaging the lush, campsite feel that many Disney fans recall, said Jim Durham, vice president of resort projects for Imagineering.
Disney Vacation Club is now scheduled to have space in four time-share resorts for sale in 2009, with Bay Lake Tower and the Treehouse Villas joining the Animal Kingdom Villas and the upcoming Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa at Disneyland in California. It will be the first time the company has had four resorts for sale at once.
Disney is also in the early stages of developing a roughly 800-room resort in Hawaii that will include both time shares and hotel rooms.“It’s certainly going to be challenging,” said Jeremy Glaser, a lodging industry analyst with the research firm Morningstar Inc. “I think they’ll find buyers, just not at the same speed as they were before.”
But Lewis said Disney’s investment in Bay Lake Tower and the Treehouse Villas demonstrate its confidence that its time-share business will remain strong.
“During tough economic times, people are really a little bit more receptive to a message regarding how you can save money on future vacations,” Lewis said. “Clearly, we’re not recession-proof. But we are recession-resilient.”
