First Timeshares go on sale at Disneyland Today

The Grand Californian Disney Vacation Club Villas went on sale today. Any bets as to how fast they sell out. I understand it’s just 50 units, so you can only sell so many weeks.

The full press release from March is below the cut:

Another Grand Disney First at the Happiest Place on Earth

The Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa
is scheduled to be the 10th resort hotel for Disney Vacation Club

The Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel, part of Disney Vacation Club, have begun general sales. To officially launch sales of what is scheduled to be its tenth hotel, Disney Vacation Club hosted a Grand Disney Firsts event weekend from March 26 through March 29.

Highlighting Disney Vacation Club’s flexibility, affordability and overall value, the event sessions will also mix in a dose of Disney magic that promises to be fun for the whole family. The weekend sessions incorporate both special appearances and fun Disney surprises to commemorate Disney Vacation Club’s first venture on the West Coast, as well as introduce the public to vacation ownership with Disney Vacation Club.

“We are excited to bring Disney Vacation Club to the West Coast,” said Jim Lewis, president of Disney Vacation Club. “The Grand Disney Firsts event connects Disney Vacation Club to the original Disney vacation destination and allows our current and future Members to be part of the Disneyland magic for the first time.”

Responding to a growing demand for guest accommodations in Anaheim, the expansion of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa will increase accommodations by more than 30 percent and will include the first Disney Vacation Club villas in California.

Scheduled to open in late fall, the 2.5-acre expansion on the hotel’s south side will add more than 200 new hotel rooms and 50 two-bedroom equivalent Disney Vacation Club villas. All of those vacation villas, many of which will include kitchens, living rooms and dining areas, will bring Disney Vacation Club’s signature home-like amenities to a whole new section of the country.

“Our member community has more than doubled since 2003, which illustrates families’ deep desires to enjoy quality vacations for years to come,” Lewis said. “Expanding our resorts to where the magic began is a big milestone for Disney Vacation Club.”

Other elements planned for the project include a new swimming pool and about 300 underground parking spaces. The expansion will reflect the same California Arts & Crafts architecture of the existing hotel, which immerses guests in a turn-of-the-20th-century California experience.“This expansion underscores our commitment to growing and investing in both the Disneyland Resort and the Anaheim Resort Area,” said Ed Grier, president of the Disneyland Resort. “These new hotel rooms and villas will give more people the opportunity to enjoy the immersive vacation experience Disney is known for. We know that our guests value being able to stay in the middle of the magic with our world-class theme parks, shopping and dining just steps away.”

Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa currently features 745 guest rooms, including 44 suites. Upon completion of the expansion project, the hotel will feature 945 guest rooms, including 44 guest suites, and 50 two-bedroom equivalent Disney Vacation Club villas.

Disney Vacation Club

Disney Vacation Club is a vacation-ownership program that helps families enjoy flexibility and savings on vacations for decades to come. By purchasing a real estate interest in a Disney Vacation Club Resort, families enjoy flexible vacations at Disney destinations worldwide as well as more than 500 other popular Member Getaways vacation locations around the globe. Since its inception in 1991, Disney Vacation Club has grown to serve more than 400,000 individual members from approximately 100 countries and all 50 states.

The expansion project is part the latest growth for Disney Vacation Club, which is also scheduled to open phase one of Kidani Village, the second phase of Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas, at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida on May 1. In addition this year, Disney Vacation Club plans to open the Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa, the fourth phase of that resort, as well as Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort, which is planned to feature views of the Magic Kingdom Park. All totaled, by the end of this year Disney Vacation Club will feature nine resort hotels on the East Coast and one resort hotel on the West Coast. On the horizon, Disney Vacation Club has begun construction on its first mixed-use resort hotel in Hawai‘i, which is scheduled to open in 2011.