The Disney Vacation Club (DVC) is going through a 500-unit growth spurt. And the 16 year old Walt Disney Company owned timeshare firm is getting a more sophisticated and grownup look.

The expansion includes plans to add 50 two bedroom Disney Vacation Club time share suites in Anaheim, California, as part of a 250 room 2009 expansion of the Disney Grand Californian Hotel & Spa.

The new Disney timeshares will also the first time share suites for the Orlando based Disney Vacation Club to be built at an existing Disney resort outside of Florida. The club currently has eight resorts: six at Walt Disney World; one at Hilton Head, S.C.; and another at Vero Beach.

The Disney time share group has doubled its membership in the last four years to 350,000 members from more than 100 countries and all 50 states. One insider estimates that the Disney Vacation Club generates $1 million in sales a week.

Meanwhile, in early 2008, Disney Vacation Club is wrapping up its 109 unit Phase One at Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge, with another 340 suites in Phase Two set to open in spring 2009.

The new Animal Kingdom time share suites range from 366 to 2,200 square feet. The largest unit, the Grand Villa, is themed with African artifacts and includes three bedrooms, four bathrooms, a kitchen, and even a game room with a pool table.

Its three balconies overlook the hotel savannas, where dozens of African animals wander in a natural habitat.

Disney Vacation Club will have nearly 2,900 timeshare suites when all current construction is complete.

Even more Disney time share suites are on the way, but DVC officials are not yet confirming when and where.

Next on the DVC timeshare list may be a new north wing at the Disney World Contemporary Resort Hotel. If persistent rumors prove to be true, it will be the first time share resort on the monorail connecting both Epcot and the Magic Kingdom. Despite the rampant rumors, Disney Vacation Club marketing Vice President Lisa Becket will not confirm the information.

In August 2007, Disney opened a sales center for the timeshare club in the upscale Woodfield Mall, a suburban Chicago retail center.  The new mall sales center is called Disney Doorway to Dreams and includes a two bedroom model of the Disney timeshare Animal Kingdom suites at Disney World in Orlando.

There is also a more sophisticated, grownup look ahead for the Disney Vacation Club brand. Look for a major shift in DVC timeshare graphics and artwork in 2008. The DVC brand will reportedly move away from its traditional Disney character based pixie dust toward a more grownup brand theme emphasizing the worldwide travel opportunities available to DVC timeshare members.

The brand graphics shift is because, oddly enough, Mickey Mouse was not always a best friend when it came to time share sales. Tony ­Diehl, the timeshare Club sales manager, reportedly says that buyers cannot always make the connection ­between the animated icon and a real estate transaction.

And DVC Vice President Lisa Becket says the club logo, made up of palm trees, waves, mountains and a Mickey silhouette, does not tell the complete DVC story.  The full Disney Vacation Club timeshares story is apparently more broad and grand than even the great Mickey Mouse can communicate.