TS Today - Creating a Vision for the Future of Vacation Ownership Issue #159 May/Jun 2018 | Page 16

TimeSharing Today
Page 16
May/Jun, 2018
Swimming pool and hot tub.Credit: All photos by George Leposky.
Why Magic Tree Resort still thrives
Continued from front cover
What owners say
We asked several owners why they
appreciate Magic Tree. They cited its
intimacy—a welcome contrast to a vast,
impersonal Orlando-area resort hotel
that may check in hundreds of thou-
sands of guests annually.
“I like the smallness of it, and the
friendliness of all the people,” says
Joan Morris of Poughkeepsie, NY, an
owner since 2008. “You’re off the main
road, but close to the parks.”
“Everything at Magic Tree is com-
pact, within a short distance from your
unit,” adds Mary Ann Verostko-Heary
of Alden, NY. She began coming to the
resort in the 1980s, and became an own-
er in the 1990s.
“They keep the place up beautiful-
ly,” says Wayne Allswede of Rockford,
MI, “and there’s not one person work-
ing here who isn’t pleasant and sweet.”
“I have three kids,” says Jean-Luc
Gingras of Ottawa, ON, Canada, a for-
mer Royal Canadian Air Force pilot who
has owned at Magic Tree for 32 years.
“ When they were little, they want-
ed to go to Disney World, but Magic
Tree is smaller and better than a room
in a big hotel.”
“The romantic element of this place
has stood the test of time,” says Tom-
my Eldridge of St. Catherine’s, ON,
Canada. “Housekeepers who say ‘Good
morning,’ attentive front-desk clerks—I
don’t get that kind of experience from
my hotel loyalty program.”
Never high pressure
Located nine miles from the gates
of Walt Disney World’s Epcot and Mag-
ic Kingdom theme parks, the property
that is now Magic Tree Resort began
life in 1975 as an Admiral Benbow Inn
motel surrounded by orange groves.
Disney World had opened just four
years before. The motel was a harbinger
of the rampant development that would
engulf the U.S. Highway 192 corridor
on Disney’s southern fl ank.
By 1982, the Admiral Benbow chain
was failing. Treco Inns of Orlando, Inc.,
a timeshare developer, acquired the Kis-
simmee property and began to convert
it. “In 1986 when we fi rst came, two of
the four buildings were still operating as
a motel,” recalls Allswede.
Word of mouth generates many
sales at Magic Tree. Existing owners tell
their friends and relatives. Some come
for the fi rst time as renters, exchang-
ers, or guests, and come back as owners
Owners of long standing say they were
never subjected to high-pressure sales
tactics. “It was more like the clientele
trying to get in,” says Verostko-Heary,
who owns seven weeks.
A critical mass of happy owners
developed and perpetuated itself. That
trend continues today. After staying at
the resort as renters, Allswede and his
wife, Joyce, became timeshare owners
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