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Disney Vacation Club To Add Villas At Grand Floridian Resort

2011-12-18T20:40:00.000-05:00

The Disney Vacation Club has officially announced what rumours have speculated for months. The newest addition to the DVC at the Walt Disney World Resort will be part of the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. The new villas will include 147 villas to open late in 2013 near Disney's Wedding Pavilion. This will be the second Disney Vacation Club property to be located along the Magic Kingdom Monorail loop joining the recently added Bay Lake Tower Villas at Disney's Contemporary Resort.

Here is the official announcement from the Disney Vacation Club:

Villas in the works for Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa

Disney Vacation Club is developing an estimated 147 villas as part of the previously announced expansion of Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa.

Estimated to open in late 2013 near Disney's Wedding Pavilion, the resort's slated to become the 12th Disney Vacation Club property.

"We continually look for ways to expand Disney Vacation Club by creating resort experiences that our Members will love," said Claire Bilby, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Disney Vacation Club. "With the continued popularity of Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort, we are thrilled to offer our Members and Guests a new resort option along the monorail beam with easy access to the Magic Kingdom Park, as well as a variety of shopping, dining and recreation experiences."

Disney World Top 6 Disney Vacation Club Resorts

2011-09-16T22:05:00.000-04:00

The Walt Disney World Resort is known for its stunning Resort Hotels that are vacation destinations unto themselves. Not the least of which are the Disney Vacation Club Resorts. In this article we will look at the Top 6 Disney Vacation Club Resorts located at Disney World.

Disney World Top 6 Disney Vacation Club Resorts
The Disney Vacation Club, aka DVC, is the unique Disney version of timeshare ownership that has become very popular. Along with this popularity has come a multitude of Resorts that each have qualities to make them people's favorites. Ranking them is not easy and is sure to delight some and upset others. Without further adieu here is the Top 6:

6. Old Key West Resort - The original Disney Vacation Club Resort is still home to the most relaxing DVC Resort. They have truly captured the laid back atmosphere of the Florida Keys. It is hard to believe that you are still in the center of Disney World. It really is a 'Home Away From Home."

5. Bay Lake Tower At Disney's Contemporary Resort - The newest DVC Resort At Disney World is the first to be just a monorail ride away from the Magic Kingdom and affords spectacular views of Disney World's first theme park. Rooftop Lounge is only open to DVC Members staying at this resort and provides a magical way to view Wishes.

4. Boardwalk Resort - The east coast feeling of the Boardwalk has been recreated at this favorite resort of many. Its close proximity to Epcot and Disney's Hollywood Studios cuts down on the time spent riding the Disney World Buses. Night Time entertainment on Disney's Boardwalk is literally just outside your door to enjoy.

3. Wilderness Lodge Villas - The feeling of the great American National Park Lodges of the Northwest has been magically created in this beautiful resort. The imagery is spectacular both inside and out. The pool area even has its own geyser. You can't help feeling special when you get to stay somewhere as wonderful as this.

2. Beach Club Resort - Two words: Stormalong Bay! This eastern seaboard themed resort not only is a short walk from Epcot, but also has what many people consider to be Disney World's 3rd Water Park as its resort pool. This makes the resort a favorite of families with children during the summer months. Also a close walk to Disney's Boardwalk and a boat ride to Disney's Hollywood Studios.

1. Animal Kingdom Villas - The Animal Kingdom Lodge and Villas provide a unique experience to Disney World and anywhere else. The masterful architecture of the buildings creates an experience that transports you to Africa in the grandest fashion. The Resort has its own savannahs populated with Zebras, Giraffes, Ostriches, Ankole Cattle, and more. The restaurants: Boma, Jiko, and Sanaa are all top notch and provide African flavors that complement the surroundings. When you are here you may forget about the theme parks at Disney World, it is an amazing resort throughout and worthy of the top spot on our rankings.

Disney Vacation Club Resort - Kidani Village

2010-04-07T23:28:00.001-04:00

One of the newest Disney Vacation Club Resorts is called Kidani Village. It is one of two Disney Vacation Club (DVC) locations at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge. While the DVC Jambo House section shares space within the Animal Kingdom Lodge, the DVC Kidani Village is a stand alone part of the resort with its own lobby, pool area, restaurant, DVC member's area, and Disney Transportation Bus Stop.

The smaller size of the lobby area of Kidani Village compared to the massive Jambo House lobby sets the tone for a much more intimate feel to this resort. It never appears to be bustling and automatically makes you slow down and relax, thus remembering that you are indeed on vacation.

From the "Welcome Home" message above the front entrance you immediately feel welcome in this stunningly beautiful resort. The lamps near the entrance are a traditional African Way of letting guests know that they are welcome to visit.

Even with its smaller footprint, it is no less impressive than the Jambo House. The theming is spectacular throughout. In the Kidani Village you will find a great emphasis on authentic African Art. The artwork displayed everywhere you look in the entire resort. It is not just limited to the main lobby. A nice feature is the many great African Quotes that are written on various locations on walls around the resort.

Savannahs Provide Great Animal Viewing Opportunities

One of the best leisure time activities at Kidani Village is viewing the animals on one of the resort's savannahs. The resort is designed such that 80% of the rooms have a Savannah View.

There are also multiple public viewing areas throughout the resort where you can watch animals such as:

Ankole Cattle, Bontebok, Eland, Zebra, Greater Kudu, Impala, Okapi, Red River Hog, Nyala, Reticulated Giraffe, Roan Antelope, Sable Antelope, Thompson's Gazelle, Waterbuck, White-Bearded Wildebeest, Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, Blue Crane, East African Crowned Crane, Greater Flamingo, Marabou Stork, Ostrich, Pink-Backed Pelican, Spur Winged Geese, Guinea Fowl and Ruppel's Griffon Vulture!

It is an amazing feeling to see the animals grazing and milling about the savannah at different times of the day. It is almost surreal. This feature certainly makes the resort a vacation destination in itself, forgetting that you are at Disney World.

Rooms You Don't Want To Leave!

The rooms are also well themed and decorated. The African theme for the resort is carried into the choice of the dark woods for the furniture, art on the walls, and patterns for the bed and carpet.

There are 4 classes of rooms at Kidani Village:

Studio (pictured) 366 sqft. with one queen sized bed and a full sized sleeper sofa. The room also has a wet bar area with small refrigerator, microwave, toaster, and coffee maker. One large bathroom with separate doored area for toilet. Flat Panel TV and DVD player.
One Bedroom 807 sqft - Living Room Area with Queen size sleeper sofa and sleeper chair, flat panel TV and DVD Player, Bedroom with one King sized Bed, Master Bathroom with Whirlpool tub and separate shower, additional full bathroom near Living Room Area, Fully Equipped Kitchen with Full-sized Refrigerator, Stove with Oven, Microwave, and Plates, Utensils, Pots, Pans, etc., Laundry room with Washer and Dryer
Two Bedroom 1,173 sqft - Living Room Area with Queen size sleeper sofa , flat panel TV and DVD Player, Master Bedroom with one King sized Bed, Master Bathroom with Whirlpool tub and separate shower, Second Bedroom with two queen sized beds, full bathroom near 2nd bedroom, additional full bathroom near Living Room Area, Fully Equipped Kitchen with Full-sized Refrigerator, Stove with Oven, Microwave, and Plates, Utensils, Pots, Pans, etc., Laundry room with Washer and Dryer
Grand Villa (2 Story) 2,201 sqft - Master Bedroom and master bathroom as above, 2nd and 3rd bedrooms with two queens beds in each, 3 additional full bathrooms, Living Room with Queen Sized Sleep Sofa and Flat Panel TV, Fully Equipped Kitchen, Dining Room, and Laundry Room with Washer and Dryer.

The amenities that you expect to see in any of the Disney Vacation Club Resorts are all here, combined with the African theming. The Kidani Village rooms are quite large compared to other DVC Resorts.

Wonderful Place To Spend Your Disney World Vacation

The Kidani Village Resort is a wonderful place to spend your Walt Disney World Vacation. Having stayed there twice since it has opened in 2009, I can highly recommend this resort.

The intimate feel of the resort combined with the theming and amenties make this a resort that is hard to top. With it own private savannahs stocked with many African animals, the Kidani Village is a resort experience that is truly different from one you will have, anywhere, not just at Disney World.

Whether you are a Disney Vacation Club Member or not, this is a Disney World Resort that you should definitely consider staying at during a future Disney World Vacation. The most difficult part will be staying in a "normal" hotel after you have stayed here.

Special Tapestries Recognize Founding Members at Disney Vacation Club's Animal Kingdom Villas

2009-08-27T20:32:00.005-04:00

When the Disney Vacation Club, aka DVC, announced in early 2007 that they were starting to sell ownership interest in the to be built Animal Kingdom Villas there was a lot of excitement.

In addition to the usual incentives to prompt current DVC members to purchase they advertised that if you purchased a certain amount of points within the initial time frame of the offering they would consider you to be a "Founding Member of the new Animal Kingdom Villas".

These founding members would also be recognized on a special tapestry that would be hung in the yet to be built section of the resort (Kidani Village).

This sounded like a neat perk, and since my family already loved the Animal Kingdom Lodge, we made the decision to become "Founding Members" of the DVC Animal Kingdom Villas. Mind you this was in February of 2007.

Time went on and despite Internet conjecture no one really knew what was going to happen with the "Tapestry" that was promised. Eventually a flier arrived in the mail, asking how we wanted our name to appear on the "Tapestry", so we figured it was still going to happen.

Then no new news came out about the "Tapestry", everything was quiet, and I was afraid that maybe they (DVC) had decided not to proceed with the idea.

Well, the Kidani Village finally opened to the public earlier this year(2009). My family had the opportunity to visit the new resort for the first time just recently (August).

When we checked in, we asked the Cast Member that helped us, if she could tell us where the "Tapestry" was located. I wasn't really sure whether she would know what I was talking about or just look at me like I had been out in the Florida sun for too long.

Fortunately she knew of the tapestry that I referred to and didn't appear to regard me as crazy for asking. She directed us to the Library, so we went to check it out.

The tapestry ended up being two tapestries that are very impressive.

We found our family name at the bottom of the left hand one. The names don't seem to be in any special order, so it took awhile to locate it, but we enjoyed the adventure of looking for it.

This was a neat idea for the Disney Vacation Club to do, and it is something that will always give my family a close connection to the resort. When they tell us their famous "Welcome Home!" it will mean a little more to us now.

Bay Lake Tower Becomes The 3rd DVC Property To Open This Year At Disney World

2009-08-05T06:51:00.007-04:00

Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary Resort is the third Disney Vacation Club (DVC) property to open in 2009.

The first was the initial phase of the Kidani Village at the Animal Kingdom Villas. Next came the Treehouse Villas at Saratoga Springs, and now Bay Lake Tower has opened on August 4th.

Bay Lake Tower (BLT)is a 15 story crescent shaped tower that is added to the 38 year old Contemporary Resort complex that was part of the opening of the Walt Disney World Resort on October 1, 1971.

This resort becomes the first DVC property that is on the Disney World Monorail loop near the Magic Kingdom. The BLT houses 295 two-bedroom equivalent villas decorated in a fashion consistent with the Contemporary Resort's theming.

With its close proximity to the Magic Kingdom, BLT was built to take full advantage of the views. In addition to having many of the villas facing the Magic Kingdom, there is the Top of the World lounge and observation deck, offering sweeping views of Walt Disney World Resort, as well as a unique perspective for the “Wishes” nighttime fireworks spectacular at Magic Kingdom.

Disney’s Contemporary Resort is easily accessed by way of the Sky Way Bridge which takes guests from the 5th floor of Bay Lake Tower directly to the 4th floor Grand Canyon Concourse of Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Here they have close access to the monorail, shopping, and the Contemporary's restaurants, including kid favorite Chef Mickey's.

BLT also has added a new zero entry pool complex including a water slide, separate whirlpool spa and an interactive children’s water feature – all overlooking picturesque Bay Lake.

Here are some interesting facts about the construction of Bay Lake Tower:

There are 167 miles of post-tensioning cable running through the concrete slabs. These cables could stretch from Bay Lake Tower to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort and back.
There are 1,398 tons of reinforcing steel, known as rebar, within the structure. This is equal to the weight of 254 full-grown elephants.
Bay Lake Tower rests on a foundation of more than 800 concrete piles that are 16 inches in diameter and extend 70 feet into the ground. Stacked on top of one another, these would reach more than 10 miles into the sky.

Although Bay Lake Tower is a DVC Resort, anyone can make reservations there, although availability may be limited during certain times.

This is certainly an exciting addition to one of the Walt Disney World Resorts original attractions.

DVC Rewards Founding Members of Animal Kingdom Villas

2009-01-06T21:36:00.007-05:00

The Disney Vacation Club (DVC) has recently sent out a unique framed African Necklace to Founding Members who purchased a 150 or more point interest in the Animal Kingdom Villas during it's initial offering.

The plaque states:
Disney Vacation Club
"Member Family Name"
Founding Members
Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas

This is an unexpected, but really neat memento that we will certainly hang in our home and enjoy.

During this initial offering, none of the rooms in the original Jambo House had been remodeled yet, you had to take their word as to how it was going to turn out.

This summer we had a chance to spend a week in the new Villas in the Jambo House and we weren't disappointed. It captured the charm of the original Animal Kingdom Lodge and incorporated the space and amenities that the DVC rooms provide.

Soon the Kidani Village buildings will be completed. We can't wait until our planned August stay to check them out.

Disney Vacation Club Announces 7th DVC Resort at Walt Disney World

2008-09-16T12:21:00.005-04:00

Today the Disney Vacation Club announced that Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort will open in the fall of 2009 as DVC's latest resort.

Speculation had been going on for some time as to whether the 15 story building connected to the original Contemporary resort by a skyway would indeed be an addition to the growing list of DVC resorts.

The Disney Vacation Club also announced that sales for Bay Lake Tower would begin on September 21st, starting with existing DVC members first.

The new tower will contain approximately 300 units made up of studios, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom, & 3 bedroom villas. It will also have a new pool area with waterslide.

The views will be mainly of either the Bay Lake and Pool or the Magic Kingdom. Nearly floor to ceiling windows will be included in most of the units to take advantage of the wonderful views.

Besides being the first DVC resort where you can either board a monorail or walk to the Magic Kingdom, it will also have spectacular views of the park and a rooftop fireworks observation deck.

The new resort is expected to be one of the most popular when it opens due to its views and proximity to the Magic Kingdom.

For additional information follow this link to Disney's official press release

or this link to official Disney video: Deevy See's Video of Bay Lake Tower