With the slogan "Living in a Story", Disney has once again entered the real estate market following the high-end residential project 12 years ago.

Are Disney tourists willing to "pay" for their dreams?

　　Recently, The Walt Disney Company disclosed a residential development plan "Storyliving by Disney".

The first project in the program will land in California and is expected to include estates, single-family homes and condos.

Disney's "high profile" home sale

　　On February 16, local time, The Walt Disney Company announced a residential development plan "Storyliving by Disney".

The program's first project, named "Cotino," is located in Rancho Mirage in California's Checora Valley, where Disney founder Walt Disney once lived.

　　In the announcement, Josh D'Amaro, president of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, said that as Disney is about to enter its next 100 years, the company wants to bring the magic of Disney to the masses in new ways, from giving people " Storytelling" evolved to allow people to "live in stories".

The way Disney found it was the "Storyliving by Disney" program.

　　According to reports, the community operations of each project under "Storyliving by Disney" will be handled by trained Disney cast members.

Through the membership club model, Disney will provide entertainment services ranging from live performances to cooking classes, charitable activities, wellness services and more.

The fantasy engineers responsible for the design and planning of Disneyland will play a key role in the creative design of the community and work with other developers and builders, but the community will not have any ties to the Disneyland they are designing.

　　The partner of Cotino, the first project of "Storyliving by Disney", is DMB Development, which specializes in large-scale community development.

According to the data, Cotino will be built around a 24-acre oasis, including estates, single-family homes and apartments, with at least one area dedicated to middle-aged and elderly residents over the age of 55.

Cotino is also designed to have an integrated area for shopping, dining, entertainment and hotel accommodation, as well as a beach park to which the public can buy tickets.

　　According to foreign media reports, Cotino is expected to have 1,900 residential units, although Disney declined to disclose the total investment of this huge plan.

Judging from public reports, the project as a whole may become an asset-light model, with Disney responsible for marketing and club operations, while developers and builders are responsible for construction and pricing.

Is it to build a utopia, or to sell a house?

　　"Living in a story" may be the dream of many people and one of Disney's goals.

　　In the 1960s, Walt Disney put forward the concept of "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow" (hereinafter referred to as "EPCOT").

Statistics show that at that time, the United States was suffering from the rapid expansion of cities and the failure of infrastructure to follow up the construction in time.

Walt Disney's EPCOT is based on modernism and futurism, aiming to build a utopian city that integrates commercial, residential, industrial and entertainment functions, and is connected by a large-scale, multi-modal transportation system, in order to solve the problems of the time. real dilemma.

　　However, after Walt Disney's death in 1966, Disney abandoned the idea as it felt unrealistic to maintain, manage and operate a city.

The assets associated with the plan were subsequently incorporated into the Walt Disney World Resort and became the source of the resort's now well-known park, "EPCOT".

And some of the ideas in the concept are still in use today, such as the unique Disneyland monorail in the park.

　　Although the original plan was abandoned, Disney has not stopped related attempts.

In 1996, the first residents moved into a town called "Celebration".

It is understood that the town is located near Walt Disney World and was built by Disney in the 1990s and has shops, restaurants, apartments and office buildings.

Although it seems to be "inherited" from EPCOT, there are also sayings that the town is more inclined to "new urbanism", not only the architectural design is uniform in appearance, but even the residential lawn and curtain colors have relevant regulations.

Under the Disney halo, the development attracted so many homebuyers as soon as it was announced that a lottery had to be held to determine who was eligible to buy the land and build the house.

But Disney then began to divest the town's related assets one after another. In 2004, Disney announced the sale of the town's central business district.

It is worth noting that Disney is still closely related to the town, and the headquarters of Disney Cruise Line is also located in this town.

　　Following the Celebration town, the construction of the high-end residential complex "Golden Oak" has further demonstrated Disney's real estate "ambition".

In 2010, Disney launched the Golden Oak under the slogan "Buy a Home at Walt Disney World Resort".

　　According to the data, there are six blocks in the community, with about 300 dwellings, covering an area of ​​980 acres. It was also designed with the assistance of fantasy engineers. The price of the dwellings ranges from US$1.5 million to US$8 million.

It takes about 10 minutes to drive from the residential area to the various parks of the park.

The Golden Oak Club offers members a range of services including Disneyland and special event tickets, dining reservations, family dinners and parties.

According to foreign media reports, as of the end of last year, Golden Oak properties accounted for five of the top ten most expensive homes in Orlando.

　　According to Disney's latest report for the first quarter of fiscal year 2022, Disney achieved revenue of US$21.819 billion, a year-on-year increase of 34%; Disneyland, experience and product division achieved revenue of US$7.234 billion, a year-on-year increase of 101.62%.

As Disney's latest real estate project, Cotino has yet to disclose a price range.

Starting from Cotino, Disney's "Storyliving by Disney" plan will continue to find suitable project locations in the United States for development.

At that time, will Disney's tourists be willing to "pay" for their dreams?

　　Beijing News Shell Finance reporter Zheng Yijia