Fort Wilderness Cabins Cannot Stave Off Slow March 2024 Direct Sales

[walt34]

Any rooms they have declared have to be offered up to dvc home resort owners at 11 months and then all the direct owners at 7 months. If no one is buying it as a home resort, any declared inventory is wide open for 7 month bookings

But if they don‘t sell DVD won’t declare any additional units, will they?

 

[Tatebeck]

Not until they get close to selling out the current batch. So it will have high availability for a while, then low, then high again etc. But if it doesn't sell at all we get consistent availability forever lol

 

[Sandisw]

Any rooms they have declared have to be offered up to dvc home resort owners at 11 months and then all the direct owners at 7 months. If no one is buying it as a home resort, any declared inventory is wide open for 7 month bookings

Except, they won't be declaring as many if sales are not occurring, so that will temper the number of cabins available for non owners....

 

[Tatebeck]

So in 20 years when they finally declare the last ones, everyone stop buying lol

I don't think non owners will get a big inventory anyway usually. If someone is buying at the cabins, they better love the place and pretty much always be using the points at those cabins. With those dues it's the only thing that makes sense. So I think we will get at max probably 1 declarations worth of inventory available at 7 months at any point. I could be wrong though

 

[maui22]

If Reflections 2.0 is added to CFW association, it could have a significant impact on dues. Reflections 2.0 has lots of land available so it could be 5.5 million points. That would result in Reflections points representing 2/3 of the total association points. Unless I'm missing something, this would bring CFW association dues down significantly

Maybe we hear something like this announced at the December member meeting.

 

[Coronator]

So how does Disney fix this if it ends up being as big of a flop as most of us seem to think it is/will be? Do they just fire sale the points as an “entry” option to direct DVC? How much $$$ will those points need to be to actually move?

It seems like Disney is in a pickle here. I for the life of me don’t know what it would take to buy these points, unless they ended up folding them into another property (which I’m even sure they can do).

 

[Sandisw]

So how does Disney fix this if it ends up being as big of a flop as most of us seem to think it is/will be? Do they just fire sale the points as an “entry” option to direct DVC? How much $$$ will those points need to be to actually move?

It seems like Disney is in a pickle here. I for the life of me don’t know what it would take to buy these points, unless they ended up folding them into another property (which I’m even sure they can do).

They simply keep them for cash stays and not worry about it. Plus, if they move future projects the way of the trust, then it would give them different options.

 

[BamaGuy44]

They simply keep them for cash stays and not worry about it. Plus, if they move future projects the way of the trust, then it would give them different options.

Exactly, they fix it like they fixed slow selling Aulani. Sell out the rooms at very high cash prices. They won't be crying about it for sure.

 

[jennypenny]

I dunno, letting the vloggers in before installation to do promo videos strikes me as a little desperate. Makes me think they are surprised at the lack of interest, also implying they are at least a little worried about slow sales. The weird reference to 'reflections of river country' makes me think they are still trying to figure out how to make 'Reflections' a reality too.

Watching those videos ... that second vanity area seems like a no-brainer place for a w/d. Maybe that was the plan and it cost too much to rework the plumbing?

I really want to like them but I'm not there yet. Cute theming and easter eggs are nice touches but don't make me open my wallet. The cabins and BPK both seem like rush jobs to put out a product. BPK had GF's amenities and location to help sell lackluster rooms. FWC does not.

 

[Minniemoo15]

I wonder about the cash rates for the cabins. The couple of times we stayed there we were able to get a relatively decent price - similar to a moderate resort. There certainly didn’t seem to be a high demand at those prices, outside a few weeks a year. If nobody is buying points, can it really demand a high cash rate the way Riviera, Aulani and DL seem to be able to?

I also wonder how happy DVC is in general with holding all these resorts that won’t sell out for many many (many) years. It’s not the business model to build and do cash stays forever.

 

[HyperspaceMountainPilot]

I wonder about the cash rates for the cabins. The couple of times we stayed there we were able to get a relatively decent price - similar to a moderate resort. There certainly didn’t seem to be a high demand at those prices, outside a few weeks a year. If nobody is buying points, can it really demand a high cash rate the way Riviera, Aulani and DL seem to be able to?

I also wonder how happy DVC is in general with holding all these resorts that won’t sell out for many many (many) years. It’s not the business model to build and do cash stays forever.

I think we can conclude they are quite happy to hold and rent because they know how to move points when they want to, and they have been raising prices instead. I think OKW direct is an example of what DVC does when they aren’t happy with how many points they are sitting on (or even VGF last year). There are plenty of people here who would pick up 300+ RIV, VDH, or AUL if it got priced anywhere close to OKW at that level.

If they start having trouble renting those properties (as hotels) we might see them get close to VGF prices with more aggressive discounts for bigger buys.

 

[maui22]

I see DVCNews reported 33 more cabins were declared.
https://dvcnews.com/wdw-resorts/ft-...tory-for-the-cabins-at-fort-wilderness-resort

 

[Sandisw]

I see DVCNews reported 33 more cabins were declared.
https://dvcnews.com/wdw-resorts/ft-...tory-for-the-cabins-at-fort-wilderness-resort

It’s interesting that these cabins comprise more points per cabin. This move could mean that they will eventually adjust and add more points per night to get down some of MFs.

 

[maui22]

It’s interesting that these cabins comprise more points per cabin. This move could mean that they will eventually adjust and add more points per night to get down some of MFs.

Getting MFs down is critical. At the current levels, math doesn’t work.

 

[CastAStone]

It’s interesting that these cabins comprise more points per cabin. This move could mean that they will eventually adjust and add more points per night to get down some of MFs.

Getting MFs down is critical. At the current levels, math doesn’t work.

It would still be the same MFs per room-night. But then with a larger buy in. I don’t see how that fixes the math at all.

 

[maui22]

It would still be the same MFs per room-night. But then with a larger buy in. I don’t see how that fixes the math at all.

I definitely don’t understand what the point change is in the new declaration. I thought maybe they were increasing the total points for the resort, but I’m not sure they can do that. Definitely beyond my DVC knowledge.

 

[Unclelude]

Anyone else catch the vloggers dog and pony ... "each cabin is equipped with EV charging" ??!?

I wonder if it will be "free"?! - worth buying now!!?!

... hehe, I would consider renting an EV if this is the case... Good for Hertz I guess - Let's go!

 

[Cfabar1]

Not having any kind of model unit for walk through was a big miss here... I think that will change with time, but especially given how different the product is from every other DVC, I think that was a huge mistake.

I also think restrictions matter a lot more with cabins than other DVC properties. So far, the other two properties with the resale restriction that you can only stay at your home resort can be explained away. VDH - well I would only use my points for California anyways. RIV - well, it's one of the most beautiful resorts, maybe even the most beautiful resort at WDW. So, people can say that's okay... The cabins are such a distinct category and offer such a lousy location, when these things start to hit the resale market, I think the valuation is going to be ugly... especially considering the restrictions will be coupled with crippling dues... I would think they will hit SSR or OKW 2042 resale prices pretty quickly.... and no amount of chips and dales on the headboards would persuade me to buy that resort....

 

[walt34]

Not having any kind of model unit for walk through was a big miss here... I think that will change with time, but especially given how different the product is from every other DVC, I think that was a huge mistake.

Not disagreeing with you on anything here and I've been thinking about the model situation as well. On one hand, it would be even easier to show a model than with hotel rooms, as they can just put an actual unit wherever they want to have it.
On the other hand - really? Putting a cabin next to beautiful hotel buildings? 'For the small price of $20,000 plus annual dues you can sleep in one of these huts instead of a hotel room' I just can't see this having the same effect as walking through models of previous offerings. I guess the cabins 'feel' more in place with trees around them?

 

[Coronator]

Not disagreeing with you on anything here and I've been thinking about the model situation as well. On one hand, it would be even easier to show a model than with hotel rooms, as they can just put an actual unit wherever they want to have it.
On the other hand - really? Putting a cabin next to beautiful hotel buildings? 'For the small price of $20,000 plus annual dues you can sleep in one of these huts instead of a hotel room' I just can't see this having the same effect as walking through models of previous offerings. I guess the cabins 'feel' more in place with trees around them?

Yes - it’s all about the “experience”. The experience of having to navigate around a huge resort with bad transportation. The experience of not having a pool or restaurants.

You just can’t capture that in a model.