DVC Atlantis?

Rumors have been abundant lately regarding the next Disney Vacation Club property to be announced for Walt Disney World.  A recent post on DVCNews.com highlighted information suggesting a potential California-themed resort.  There have been other rumors flying around about the resurrection of the previously planned Buffalo Junction resort, which was discussed in a great post on the Progress City USA site.  Regardless of what the theme is, it does seem that a WDW DVC resort will be announced in the not-too-distant-future (or...maybe like Bay Lake Tower...it will just be built and then announced once it is almost complete).

So knowing that construction of a new DVC property is most likely on the horizon, let's discuss what the theme SHOULD be.  I don't want to knock the themes that have been churned out via the rumor mill...but to be honest they just don't thrill me.  Granted, details are limited (and even the ones that exist are hypothetical)...but I haven't heard anything yet that has me itching to add on.

And that's the whole goal, right?!?!  Get potential owners excited enough to plop down tens of thousands of dollars.  Animal Kingdom Lodge created that excitement....Bay Lake Tower created that excitement....but a California resort does not, in my opinion, create excitement.  If I wanted to stay at a California themed resort near a Disney park, I'd go to the Grand Californian at Disneyland Resort (yes...I get that the proposed resort at WDW will be different than that of the Grand Californian...but still).

So what is another option for a DVC theme?  The theme should be one that recreates an experience that will be unique to the average guest.  An experience that takes the guest away to another world...either real or imagined.  Each resort at Walt Disney World is its own attraction.  Sure...some are executed better than others...but for this newest DVC I want us to think big!!!  So what do I propose?  Nothing less than the Lost City of Atlantis....

First off, I want to acknowledge that yes, I know, an Atlantis Resort already exists in The Bahamas.  While I have been to Nassau, I haven't actually been to the resort itself.  I almost considered bypassing this proposal simply based on that resorts existence.  However, I think we can all agree...Disney does things in a way that no other company does.  It is safe to say that Atlantis DVC would be a completely different experience than Atlantis in The Bahamas.

With that out of the way, let's move on.  The Lost City of Atlantis....Villas?!?!  Needless to say, water will be a major theme here.  Obviously the resort cannot ACTUALLY be underwater.  But the theme needs to be thick enough that that "minor detail" doesn't matter to the guest.  The exterior grounds would be made up of various "ruins" and larger than life coral.  These structures would serve two purposes...one would be to set the scene of an ancient, underwater civilization.  The other would be to guide and direct the multitude of waterfalls that would flow down from the resort building itself, on to (and off of) these ruin and coral structures, and then through the surrounding grounds.  If done in just the right manner it would give the illusion that the resort was surrounded and engulfed by water.

The rooms would continue to drive home the "submerged" experience for the guest.  By using the same "virtual porthole" technology that is being installed on the new Disney Cruise Line ships, each room would have a "window" out into the surrounding seas.  This window would allow guests to gaze out at the sea life as if they, too, were residents of the ocean deep.  In addition to schools of exotic fish, sharks, and dolphins...perhaps even the occasional mermaid would swim by.

It would only be natural to build in some sort of aquarium into the resort...perhaps on the main level.  This aquarium would have to appear seamless with it surroundings.  I could see this being incorporated with the swimming pool.  Perhaps the sides of the main pool would be clear...and shared with the aquarium.  So guests would feel like they were swimming next to the fish (despite being separated by industrial strength plexiglass like material).  The pool would also, naturally, be fed by the surrounding waterfalls.

Other tidbits that would be worked into the resort:

• A seafood restaurant that would serve meals "farmed from the resorts surroundings" (not really...but it's all part of the story). 
• Sailor Stories:  Much how other resorts (Animal Kingdom Lodge, for example) have some sort of campfire storytelling in the evening..."sailors" could tell the tale of Atlantis...as well as other "fish tales".
• I did consider working in aspects and characters from the Disney animated feature Atlantis: The Lost Empire.  But by Disney standards the movie was hardly a "classic".  So it is probably best left alone, with the exception of maybe some Atlantis merchandise in the shops.

As I mentioned before...this is "dreaming big".  The cost to build and maintain such a resort would make this a tough sell from a business standpoint.  But isn't that what Walt Disney was all about?  Isn't he the one who challeged his team to build a "mountain" in the middle of Anaheim, California way back in the 1950s?  Shouldn't this company continue to take on even greater challeges?  I believe so. 

In future posts, we'll discuss other potential resort themes.  But what do you think? What would you build into our Atlantis?  Or would you go a completely different direction?