New Disney resort officially announced for Fort Wilderness area in Disney World
Disney today officially announced a new nature-inspired, mixed-use resort along Bay Lake between the Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground.
The new resort, which does not yet have a name, will have 900 hotel rooms and proposed Disney Vacation Club villas. It is expected to open in 2022.
The resort is being constructed on the site of the former River Country water park and swimming area. Given the name Project 89, permits were filed with Southwest Florida Management System for soil boring tests in March of this year.
This will be Disney’s 16th Disney Vacation Club property and it will continue to build on the value and flexibility of a Disney Vacation Club membership.
“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,” Terri Schultz, senior vice president and general manager of Disney Vacation Club said in a news release.
This will be the fourth new resort being built at Disney World, bringing more than 1,700 new hotel rooma and proposed Disney Vacation Club villas.
“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,” George A. Kalogridis, president of Walt Disney World Resort said in a release. “We continue to add new attractions, new lands — and these beautiful accommodations will be right in the heart of all that magic.”
The other resort construction taking place includes:
• Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort will debut completely reimagined in 2019, featuring a new 15-story tower overlooking Lago Dorado, the resort’s centerpiece lake. Offering an additional 545 new guest rooms and suites, the tower also includes a two-level entrance lobby, concierge lounge, new meeting spaces and more.
• Disney’s Riviera Resort, the 15th Disney Vacation Club property will open in 2019. With plans for approximately 300 units across a variety of accommodation types, this much-anticipated property will connect to Disney’s Hollywood Studios and the International Gateway at Epcot via the Disney Skyliner. This new resort will be the first all-Disney Vacation Club property at Walt Disney World since Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa opened in 2004.
• The Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, will be an immersive Star Wars-inspired destination. “This first-of-its-kind resort will be a completely immersive experience into an authentic Star Warsstory as guests depart together for a multiday adventure aboard their starship. Guests will interact with characters as they become active citizens of the galaxy, dressed in proper attire as stories unfold all around them,” according to Disney.
