Vacation Club units at five-year-old, 536-room Boardwalk Villas, for example, go for $11,000 a week to $150,000 for a month or more. That project is near sellout. Disney opens pre-construction sales in February on a new timeshare venture, Beach Club Villas, scheduled to break ground at about the same time the 192 new units begin construction.

The new units, tentatively scheduled to open in 2004, haven't yet been christened. They will be built near Downtown Disney and Pleasure Island. Disney has 22,000 hotel rooms among 19 hotels and 2,000 timeshare units.

Disney officials at Lake Buena Vista, FL couldn't be reached at GlobeSt.com's publication deadline to discuss the new development strategy. But an area resort developer, who has worked with Disney on various retail and commercial projects, tells GlobeSt.com on condition of anonymity, "It's hard to beat Disney on strategy moves."