Disney announces plans to build a nature-inspired resort at Walt Disney World

Oct 18, 2018 in "Disney Lakeshore Lodge"

Gallery / 1 Photo
Nature-Inspired Resort concept art

Posted: Thursday October 18, 2018 2:42pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Disney has today officially announced its new Disney Vacation Club property to be built on Bay Lake between Disney's Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness Resort.

The deluxe resort, which will be themed to complement its natural surroundings, will include more than 900 hotel rooms and proposed Disney Vacation Club villas spread across a variety of unique accommodation types.

“Walt Disney World is in the midst of our most significant expansion in the last two decades and the combined 1,700 new hotel rooms and proposed Disney Vacation Club villas we are building at four different resorts will create thousands of new construction and permanent jobs and will drive economic opportunity and incremental revenue for Central Florida,” said George A. Kalogridis, president of Walt Disney World Resort. “We continue to add new attractions, new lands — and these beautiful accommodations will be right in the heart of all that magic.”

The soon-to-be named resort is slated to be Disney’s 16th Disney Vacation Club property.

“This resort experience will be a celebration of Walt Disney’s lifelong love and respect for nature, with some fun and even surprising accommodation types that families will find irresistible,” said Terri Schultz, senior vice president and general manager of Disney Vacation Club. “It will give our members and guests yet another opportunity to stay in close proximity to all the newest attractions and experiences in our theme parks, and with the flexibility, value and world-class service families expect from Disney.”

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John park hopper13 days ago

If I rent one of these sheds can I drive my riding lawnmower there?

eddie10413 days ago

I actually really loved what I saw of the interior of this project when it was originally announced. If they stick with that design I will be happy.

castlecake2.015 days ago

It’s an additional pool and redesigned sports courts

2600loop15 days ago

The cabins are tanking ? I wonder why though because barely themed poorly designed sheds are what the people want surely

nickys15 days ago

Kind of. They always want a ‘new’ resort in active sales. Plus ideally an alternative. In practice it means a new one every 3-4 years. Likely this got nudged earlier because the Cabins at FW are tanking. So now it’s the Poly in active sales plus Riviera. And when this goes on sale Riviera should be declared sold out (95-97% to allow for the minimum 2-3% that Disney must retain). But it’s the percentage of points sold that counts, not the # of contracts - since the size of contracts can vary.

DisneyHead12315 days ago

The memberships are somewhat resort specific with buyers having a “base resort” (they can use points for other resorts or cruises though). They won’t start selling Lakeside DVCs until the resort is open.

tpoly8815 days ago

That’s a great point I didn’t think about. So does Disney build these DVC resorts because they just sold for example , another 2000 memberships and they know they will have the capacity to fill it similar to a condo building that won’t start until over 3/4 of units sold? I find it amazing how many people are still buying DVC.

dseepersad15 days ago

The construction in the Meadows area will begin very soon. Whatever that will be, I just hope it's an amenity that the campers can use too. From Disney's site: "Beginning early May, construction will take place near the Meadow Swimmin’ Pool area. The Meadow Swimmin’ Pool and Wilderness Swimmin’ Pool will remain open. However, the nearby tennis courts, volleyball court and the Meadow Playground will be closed temporarily. Please note that Guests may see and hear construction in the area until the work is complete." The construction noise can impact campers in 1300 and 1500 loops the most.

nickys16 days ago

Hey, that might be the new idea for “the part of the park where Cars will be”. 🤪 It’s an extension of the “You are the Magic” concept. Grab a shovel and start creating the dirt pile.

WDWhopper16 days ago

Here’s Lakeshore Lodge currently: And here’s Car’s Land currently: Pretty obvious where Disney’s priorities are. Another resort is not going to help them compete with Epic Universe this summer, or even next year….or the next.

Jambo Dad16 days ago

I still harbor at least a little hope for this resort. It has more room around it as a buffer than Island Tower and they are doing some good things, like a lazy river. Theme could be interesting in competent hands. However I will also say that we had a chance to walk Island Tower a couple months ago and it was very disappointing. It has ambitions to be calm, relaxing and sophisticated, but you really start feeling how how faux it all is. The site is too tight. The finishes are so bland it hurts your eyes. Every opportunity to inject color was avoided. The pretense of reflecting aspects of the Polynesian culture is a pale, cheap trinket imitation of Animal Kingdom and Wilderness. It is not a worthy companion to the original Poly.

nickys16 days ago

I don’t know how much of a resort’s points they need to sell to recoup their costs. What do you think is the magic percentage? As a guide, Riviera had sold around 22% of points after 2 years, 76% after 4 years and is now around 86% sold. My guess is they need to sell more than 50% at a minimum. And the operating costs are determined per point, so Disney is still on the hook for a significant proportion of the operating costs until the resort sells out. They cannot legally manipulate the maintenance fees to lessen their costs.

HauntedPirate16 days ago

It’s still a 2 year build for a resort. 🤷‍♂️

John park hopper16 days ago

Disney builds DVC because they recoup the building costs almost immediately when they are finished. CASH cows. New attractions cost a lot and they don't recoup the cost as quickly plus DVC maintenance is payed by the DVC owner. Attractions Disney has to pay maintenance costs----all about the money