Desties

I was checking availability for the Orlando home in Reunion and saw that it was booked pretty solid through the next three months before it goes offline in mid-December.

Does anyone know if a replacement property is in the works? Obviously demand is there if the next three typically soft months of travel are strong.

I understand that Reunion isn't playing nice, which is a shame because it really is a pretty amazing resort that is surprisingly accessible to all of the area attractions. Still, especially with the UE mantra to open more properties in year-round places -- and it doesn't get any more year-round friendly than Orlando -- I'm shocked to see that a new replacement property hasn't been announced yet.

DC4MS

They should really consider buying in Celebration.

LTTravel

I looked in Celebration for a home when it was first going up. They made it very clear that they only wanted full time residents and I was not welcome in purchasing a vacation home. Unless things have changed, they will have even more difficulty buying in Celebration.

Desties

LT is right about Celebration. I too sniffed around before being told that the place was designed for neighbors to engage one another and they wanted to dissuade part-term residents that would create dormant homes (or the unpredictable flow of short-term rentals).

Then again, a lot has happened since then. Disney cashed out of the project. It has expanded through developers. Hotels have popped up. The original charter may or may not be in place. The occupancy requirements may only apply to the original area around downtown Celebration.

DCTraveler

What is more worrisome is that you had to "figure out" that the home was going away because the availability disappeared and ask the question. As far as I can see, it becoming unavailable was never officially communicated. I wonder how many other homes you can check far enough out to figure out that they might be vaporizing?

willmyclubmakeit

UE shows 2 years out and its not too difficult to tell when there is a home that maybe phased out (usually its been a lease). Whenever I have seen that I have asked and received a prompt and open response (another example was Steamboat where they replaced a Signature lease with I believe a former Elite owned unit--basically an upgrade) while also adding a better located Elite unit. I was told that the development was giving UE members a hard time in Orlando and they needed to resolve this--I don't know if this was a message sent to the membership or a verbal discussion but they were open with it. There is pretty good transparency since you can see each property and what is reserved 2 years out and anything more than a 7 day block of a reservation (and surely 14 days) suggests something is being reconsidered or remodeled.

DCTraveler

I have to say that I respectfully disagree completely with your take. It should be right there, plain as day, if a property is being phased out, a lease not renewed, etc. Additionally, it should be communicated in the regular newsletter or whatever form that they utilize just like they tell us what is coming soon or has just been acquired. It should not take checking every ski location for two years out and "noticing" an anomaly, going to the trouble of asking why, and then finally getting a one-off verbal (or e-mail) answer only to the satisfaction of the person who asked the question.

Desties

Since it's a UR property I have no idea if it was formally communicated to UR members pre-merger. On the PE side, there have been routine real estate updates with the good and the bad (so Charleston going away earlier this year wasn't something that came out of the blue).

PE itself had identified Reunion as a future home, and in a real estate update had noted that it had even singled out the developer it would use and it was just negotiating the actual vacant lots to build on. Then merger talks started and that was that.

Again, my reason for starting the thread wasn't a shock that the property was going away. We actually had a thread on that here a few months ago. I'm just surprised that a replacement property isn't available for booking past mid-December.

Kagehitokiri

sounds like another thing the UR site/etc is/was missing when compared to the PE site, in addition to all the property details like floorplans, photos, etc.

DC4MS

I dis a MLS search for homes in Celebration a few weeks ago and called a few Realtors on a few interesting homes in the $1.5m range.

I specifically asked about a Destination Club buying there and they indicated that this would not be a problem now. Perhaps that was just Real Estate Agent BS, but clubs should begin to explore this wonderful community.

Desties

I had posted an update in a different thread, but figured it was worth repeating here. It appears that the Reunion home is now available beyond late December.

I'm not sure how the issue was resolved, or if the lease was simply extended, but the property now can be booked into 2009.