A brand new hotel is being built near the Magic Kingdom, but I can’t help but wish Disney had done something different.
After years of stops and starts, Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge is deep in construction at the “Most Magical Place on Earth.” The new hotel, built on the site of the long-shuttered River Country water park, was first announced in 2018 as Reflections: A Lakeside Lodge. However, the project was put on hold early on during the pandemic. Work resumed on the site in late 2024, with the newly-renamed Lakeshore Lodge scheduled to open in 2027, according to Disney.
So, what’s the issue with the Lakeshore Lodge?
Well, let’s be clear, it will likely be a very nice hotel, with the modern design sensibilities of Disney properties. However, our issue is with the theme. According to Disney, the new version of the resort will be “inspired by the majesty of nature and its enduring influence on Disney artists.”
While that sounds well and good in a vacuum, I can’t help but notice it’s similar to the official Disney description of the nearby Wilderness Lodge, which“celebrates American craftsmanship and honors the beauty of the untamed wilderness” and “the splendor of the great outdoors.”
While those aren’t exactly the same, they’re pretty similar, especially for two hotels that are both going to be part of the Magic Kingdom resort area. Which in turn leads me down the rabbit hole of lamenting what might have been.
Since Disney World’s first decade, numerous hotels have been planned for the Magic Kingdom resort area, only to never be built.
During the resort’s early years, Disney had plans for several new themed resorts to join the Contemporary and Polynesian Village Resorts in the 1970s. These included:
Disney’s Asian Resort, which was designed in the 1960s with the rest of phase one of Walt Disney World. According to the plans, the resort was planned to have 500-600 heavily themed rooms built to mimic to replicate Thai architecture. The hotel was also to include a 160-foot-tall central tower topped by a restaurant. Plans for the resort were well underway as Walt Disney World was under construction, with land cleared out along Seven Seas Lagoon and an access road to the site, fittingly named Asian Way. However, the 1970s energy crisis put a halt to construction.
Disney’s Persian Resort, which was planned to replicate Middle Eastern architecture, complete with spires and domes, and feature a Monorail expansion that would run to the Magic Kingdom. This hotel also saw its development shelved. The plan was briefly resurrected in the late 1970s, when the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi allegedly offered to fund the project. However, the Iranian Revolution put a stop to the plans once again.
Disney’s Venetian Resort, which was to be themed after Venice Italy, complete with canals and a marina. Like the others, development was killed by the 1970s energy crisis. Plans for a similar resort on the site, to be known as Disney’s Grande Venezia Resort, were drawn up in the 1990s. The complex would have featured “intricately designed buildings with terra cotta roofs, canals with functioning gondolas, lighted fountains, a masquerade-themed pool, a conference center, and a wedding chapel.” This also went unbuilt.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Disney had plans to build a Mediterranean Resort in the area. The massive planned complex was set to be themed to a Greek fishing village. Designed in part by renowned architect Alan Lapidus, the resort would have featured a “series of streets with multicolored waterfront “houses” (actually, rows of hotel rooms of various heights). There was a waterfront walkway with a mosaic serpentine design, a harbor entrance with a lighthouse, windmills, a breakwater, a marketplace, olive groves, and trellis-covered walkways leading to streets of “tavernas,” market squares, and many hidden courtyards with a variety of fountains and outside cafes.”
The concept was put on hold to focus on the opening of the Grand Floridian before being briefly revived in the 1990s, before being canceled, allegedly due to the swampy nature of the ground at the site, which would have would have required millions of dollars in stabilization before construction could even begin.
So, to put it simply, knowing how many unique hotel concepts for the Magic Kingdom resort have gone unbuilt over the years, it’s frustrating to finally get a new hotel in the area… only for it to be so similar in theme to one of the preexisting Magic Kingdom resorts. Stay tuned to AllEars for more thoughts on Disney World’s evolution.
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How do you feel about the theme of the Lakeshore Lodge? Let us know in the comments below.
As I’ve said before about the liberty square, frontierland area soon to be destroyed to make way for a high speed cars themed attraction. Essentially Test Track. Crap is crap no matter how its repackaged or rebranded. There is zero originality any more. The oruginal concept hotels mentioned in the article should be revived and at least some of them built to give Disney guests something new, imaginative and breathtaking to explore and enjoy. C’mon Disney Imagineering find your true creative passion again. Think outside the box again. Don’t just build a box. We’ve seen them and don’t like them.
Disney has lost the magic, what about a villain themed hotel?
I agree with David…..Disney gives minimal attention to theming now. I predict the Lakeside Lodge will be a retread of the new Polynesian Tower, but with Woodland features.
I have been going to WDW since 1973 and believe that the area is overdeveloped at the expense of loyal fans who have to survive enormous crowds. The fun is leaving the parks
At this point I think that theming is a secondary concern at best to Disney. They’ll put a few touches in what otherwise looks like any hotel you’d find outside the park and call it a day.