Jose Eber’s 4/6/09 Mini-WDW Update Part 2

WDWNT on April 7, 2009

WDWNT Reporter Jose Eber has more pictures to share from his latest trip to Walt Disney World Resort, so let’s take a look at some more newsworthy photos:

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The Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort is nearly completed

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The bridge (featuring the horrible frosted windows) is nearing completion

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Some landscaping taking place behind the main building of the Contemporary

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The exterior of the Fantasia Market is complete. The “mini-market” opens at the end of April.

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The sign and logos very much resemble that of the Fantasia store next door

Jose Eber’s 4/6/09 Mini-WDW Update

WDWNT on April 6, 2009

WDWNT Reporter Jose Eber took a short trip to the Walt Disney World Resort this morning and has a few photos to share:

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The Characters in Flight balloon at Downtown Disney looks ready to take off any minute now

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The Virgin Megastore is almost gone, rumors suggest that this may become an AMC-Imax location

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Work continues on “Paradiso 37”, not much progress on the exterior in the last few days

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The finishing touches are being applied to the entrance of the Bay Lake Tower wing of Disney’s Contemporary Resort

People Still Vacation!

WDWNT on March 31, 2009

According to the OC Register’s Around Disney blog:

As hundreds of workers hang drywall, weld girders, pour concrete and install plumbing in the new wing of Disney’s Grand Californian, the sales staff are kicking off selling space in 50 time shares.

The villas at the Grand, to be completed in the fall, will be the 10th location in Disney’s growing “Vacation Club” business.

Mike Brunson, the sales director for Disney Vacation Club on the West Coast, said he expects the timeshares to sell out fast, despite the spiraling economy.

“We’re actually finding we’re doing very, very well,” he said. “In economic times like these, people still vacation. We’re actually growing year over year.”

The vacation club is based on a points system, Brunson said. Consumers tend buy between 160 and 300 points at $112 a point – so a typical timeshare with the club costs an average of $18,000 to $30,000. The 200 to 300 points refresh every year.

Annual fees, in addition to the cost of the time share, run about $500 or $600, according to the Disney Vacation Club member Website.

Members use the points like Monopoly money to purchase nights in suites at any of the Disney resorts. For example, a studio – basically a hotel room with a kitchenette – sleeps up to four and costs as much as 227 points per week during the busiest season in spring and during the holidays. In the slowest seasons, a week in a studio is 129 points.

There are also one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom Grand Villa suites that get pricier – 160 points a night in the busiest season.

There are two “Grand Villa” suites under construction at Disneyland, with balconies overlooking Paradise Pier and what will be the “World of Color” light, water and pyrotechnic show each night.

The Worldmark Anaheim timeshare resort opened in the nearby Anaheim Gardenwalk about six months ago, and officials from Wyndham, the company that operates the huge unit, said all the space was sold out by the time the resort opened.

Worldmark spokeswoman Liz Hutchison said that timeshare resort has been at almost full occupancy since it opened.

“Consumer demand remains strong,” Hutchison said.

For more information about the Disney Vacation Club, visit www.disneyvacationclub.com.

More pictures are available at the link to the OC Register.

Yamabuki To Close April 11th

WDWNT on March 28, 2009

According to the OC Register’s Around Disney blog, the Yamabuki Restaurant inside the Paradise Pier Hotel will soon be closing:

Disney officials announced Thursday afternoon that Yamabuki restaurant, inside the Paradise Pier Hotel will close down  April 11.

Some 39 hourly employees who work at the restaurant were informed of the pending closure during a closed-door meeting around 4 p.m. Thursday.

Disney spokeswoman Suzi Brown said the company will work to relocate the employees to other park restaurants. Those who cannot be placed elsewhere will receive at least 60 days pay as severance and  an extension of some health care benefits.

A “handful” of salaried managers could either be relocated or lose their jobs, as well, Brown said.

“The concept of the restaurant no longer resonates with our guests,” Brown said.  The closure was not related to other layoffs and staff re-organizations related to the sagging economy, she added.

“We continuously evaluate all of our concepts and listen to what our guests are telling us,” Brown said. ”We’ve scaled back the hours at this restaurant since the beginning of the year. Other restaurants at the Resort are doing quite well.”

The upscale  restaurant at 1717 S. Disneyland Dr., originally opened in 1996 with a lunch and dinner menu. Meals averaged $20 to $30 per diner. The restaurant shortened its hours and discontinued its lunch menu within the last year.

Restaurant hours will remain as normal until the April 11 closure.

A now former employee of the restaurant, Kumiko Swearingen, worries about her future:

Kumiko Swearingen, 51, of Irvine is one of the 39 employees who  — for now – won’t have a job after Disney closes the Yamabuki restaurant in the Paradise Pier Hotel.

“The main thing everyone is worrying about is medical benefits,” Swearingen said in a phone interview today.

“How are you going to pay for rent and health insurance? One girl I talked to lives by herself — she doesn’t make that much money and she has her bills.

“It’s going to be very tough for everybody.”

Swearingen said Disneyland Hotels VP Tony Bruno called up each employee to let them know the restaurant was closed for lunch and would close completely April 11.

“I want to stay with Disney, but I don’t know if they can offer other jobs,” Swearingen said.

Disney officals yesterday said they would try to place employees in other jobs around the resort.

Meanwhile, Swearingen is waiting for a call from Disney management to see if she can get a job somewhere else.

The Villas Come to Disneyland!

WDWNT on March 27, 2009

According to the Disney Vacation Club member newsletter:

Sales begin for The Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel

With construction of The Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa on schedule for a late 2009 opening at the Disneyland® Resort in Anaheim, sales have officially begun for this West Coast Disney Vacation Club Resort.


Floor plans and furnishings subject to change. Room views vary.

Jose Eber’s 3/19/09 WDW Mini-Report

WDWNT on March 19, 2009

WDWNT reporter Jose Eber has sent us another short report featuring some of his newsworthy findings from around the Walt Disney World Resort. Let’s take a look:

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At Disney’s Contemporary Resort, a sign for the Concourse Steakhouse remains. Notice the new signs above the Outer Rim bar, Chef Mickey’s, and the Contempo Cafe

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This computer-printing station has appeared at the Contemporary

Here is a video of continuing construction on the Kidani Village addition to Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge

The Cat’s Out of the Bag (and Spoodles Out of the Boardwalk)

WDWNT on March 17, 2009

Famous chef Cat Cora (who some of you may know from the few mini-shows she has been a part of for the Disney Travel On-Demand Network) is bringing a new restaurant to Walt Disney World and the popular “Spoodles” restaurant at the Boardwalk will be leaving to make room for it:

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (March 17, 2009) — Chef Cat Cora and Disney are joining together to open an exciting new family dining restaurant at Disney’s BoardWalk Resort. Kouzzina by Cat Cora will feature a menu of Mediterranean-style cuisine that pays tribute to the chef’s Greek roots.

The restaurant, to be owned and operated by Disney, is scheduled to open by fall 2009 in the space currently occupied by Spoodles.

“I am pleased to welcome Cat Cora and her engaging new concept for Kouzzina to the Walt Disney World Resort,” said Jay Rasulo, chairman, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. “This collaboration between Cat and Disney represents a significant step in our ongoing commitment to offer unique culinary experiences and choices for our guests.”

As a Mississippi native born to a family of Greek restaurateurs, Cora grew up immersed in two different and flavorful cultures , and has taken from that unique background the kitchen “know-how” handed down through generations. The cuisine at Kouzzina (Greek for “kitchen” and pronounced “koo-zee-nah”) will showcase Mediterranean cuisine and Chef Cora’s philosophy to create simple yet sensational meals.

Cora said that the new restaurant will feature “time-honored recipes passed down from my ancestors, as well as my favorite Greek and Mediterranean dishes that my family loves.”

She began working with Disney in 2008 by creating a Disney Video on Demand series to showcase ways to help families develop more healthy eating habits. “I’m extremely excited about this latest extension of my relationship with Disney,” she said. “Together, we’re going to develop a truly amazing contemporary Mediterranean restaurant.”

The first and only female Iron Chef on Food Network’s hit show “Iron Chef America,” Cora is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York. She also is Executive Chef for Bon Appétit magazine. In addition to hosting the instructional cooking demonstrations for Disney Video on Demand, Cora has been a featured chef at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival and at Disney’s California Food & Wine Festival at Disneyland Resort.