A new hotel is coming to Disney World!
A lot can change at Disney World, and we are used to projects being canceled, like Reflections — A Disney Lakeside Lodge which was slated to sit on Bay Lake between Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground on the land that used to be River Country. Sadly, this project was canceled, but another hotel is set to take its place.
Reflections—A Disney Lakeside Lodge was announced in 2018, and the land started to be cleared and construction walls went up for the new hotel. However, one year later, in 2019, Disney seemed to erase any mention of this new resort, changing its D23 Expo announcements blog post and removing all mentions of Reflections—A Disney Lakeside Lodge.
Fast-forward to 2024, and we still did not know the fate of this resort; it seemed that it would be canceled for good, and that was until the end of 2024 when we got some exciting news. The land that was set to be used for Reflections—A Disney Lakeside Lodge would be used for a new hotel called Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge. This new Disney Vacation Club resort is set to open in 2027, although no exact date has been announced.
Although Disney has not released many details, they shared that the resort “will be inspired by the majesty of nature and its enduring influence on Disney artists.” From past concept art released by Disney, it seems that some of Disney’s intellectual property will be used in the theming, as we spotted Bambi, Thumper, and Flower.
Construction seems to be moving along, which gives us hope that this resort will actually come to fruition. We recently spotted cranes working at the hotel’s future site.
We also got a birds-eye view of the construction thanks to @bioreconstruct.
Another look at the construction.
Until this resort opens in 2027, The Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Villas & Bungalows, which is also a Disney Vacation Club resort, will hold the title as the newest Disney World hotel as it opened in December of 2024.
We can’t wait for Disney to release more details as well as concept art for this new project, so make sure to stay tuned with AllEars, as we will keep an eye out!
The Best Disney World Hotel to “”Splurge for a Luxurious Stay”” — And No, It’s Not the Grand Floridian
Join the AllEars.net Newsletter to get the free Cheat Sheet for Disney's Wilderness Lodge & Animal Kingdom Lodge! Click here to get started!
I hope this will be a full-service hotel, unlike the new Polynesian Tower. The Polynesian Tower is more time-share than hotel, lacking valet parking, full bell services, gift shops, and an advance-reservation restaurant. Fortunately, the Tower can access most of the full Poly resort’s facilities and services…..just like Bay Lake Tower accessing the Contemporary and the GF Villas accessing the Grand Floridian. But Lakeshore Lodge cannot easily access Wilderness Lodge, and Fort Wilderness never offered hotel-like services. It is in a remote area all to itself. And, quite frankly, I wish Disney would open a fifth gate instead of just building more high-rise DVC properties. We need a fifth gate to absorb the extra people these new properties will bring in. Not to mention easing the construction in current parks, where beloved attractions are being ripped out to make way for new ones. I don’t mind change…..as long as it’s an addition rather than a loss of current favorites.