Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Filing Fuels Speculation on New Resort at Disney World

Aug 28, 2024 in "Disney Lakeshore Lodge"

Posted: Wednesday August 28, 2024 12:45pm ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

A new filing by the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District today adds further weight to speculation that the Reflections resort project at Walt Disney World is about to resume.

In this latest filing, the CFTOD Board is considering a Master Services Agreement with Chen Moore and Associates to install new electrical transformers for servicing what is referred to as "Project S."

In the project brief, the document states, "The purpose of this project is to provide a new transformer service yard, transformer loop, and SCADA monitoring cabinets for a new resort."

This latest development follows Walt Disney Imagineering recently filing a construction permit for what appears to be a new project between Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness Resort. The permit lists multiple locations close to the Copper Creek Cabins at Wilderness Lodge, suggesting that Disney may have plans to add more cabins.

The same Disney contractor, Balfour Beatty, filed a very similar permit in 2019, which was assumed to be for the announced Reflections—A Lakeside Disney Lodge project.

Nature-Inspired Resort concept art

Unveiled by Disney in 2018, Reflections—A Disney Lakeside Lodge was canceled in 2020 amid the pandemic downturn, and the land was mostly returned to its pre-construction state.

It now seems that Disney is returning to this prime piece of land for its next project and that Reflections may be about to make a return in some form. Note that at this time, Disney has yet to make any announcement of a new project in this area.

Aerial view of construction at Reflections - A Disney Lakeside Lodge - March 2020

Back in 2018, Disney said the deluxe resort would be themed to complement its natural surroundings. It would include more than 900 hotel rooms and proposed Disney Vacation Club villas spread across a variety of unique accommodation types. Notably, Reflections also included cabins, which may explain the multiple addresses in the permit.

Discuss on the Forums

Get Walt Disney World News Delivered to Your Inbox

John park hopper5 days ago

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

eddie1045 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.

castlecake2.08 days ago

It’s an additional pool and redesigned sports courts

2600loop8 days ago

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

nickys8 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.

DisneyHead1238 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.

tpoly888 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.

dseepersad8 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.

nickys8 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.

WDWhopper8 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 Dad9 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.

nickys9 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.

HauntedPirate9 days ago

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

John park hopper9 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