Something is happening on the site where we’ve discussed a new Disney hotel connecting to Magic Kingdom. Why is Disney building a construction wall in the middle of a forest?
The following article is rumor and speculation. It is intended as such and no more.
I’ve been following this now for more than six months. There are two major goals for Walt Disney World as determined by The Walt Disney Company internally over the next decade, with those goals being reassessed as economic situations and consumer demand shifts. The first goal is simple: raise capacity at the Disney World theme parks and the water parks. The second goal is hard for some to believe, yet is absolutely true: create offerings for families making more than $400k annually. Disney believes the ultra-rich demographic is not being catered to sufficiently… and that means they’re heading to places like the French Riviera or the Bahamas instead of Disney World.
Both of those efforts are colliding in a project that we have exclusively reported upon in the past and are now continuing to discuss today. It is the coveted, ultra-luxurious hotel connected directly to the Magic Kingdom.
I’ve chatted about this before, but let me re-explain. The idea is that Disney may be working towards a premiere hotel that would dwarf all others, including The Grand Floridian and Animal Kingdom Lodge, in terms of luxury and price tag. The hotel would be small in terms of room numbers. I’ve heard as low as 200 and as high as 250. Located just north of The Grand Floridian, the hotel would also have direct access to Adventureland via a new entrance gate exclusive to patrons of the luxury hotel. There’s no monorail station for this hotel as far as I know in the plans… instead, patrons simply walk straight into Magic Kingdom. For the other parks, guests of the hotel supposedly have a chauffeur service directly to their destinations. In other words, there’s also no bus station as far as I am aware. A new feature I’ve been told about by a source is potentially a large boat may also take guests to a point on Seven Seas Lagoon to watch Magic Kingdom fireworks for a one-of-a-kind experience. Keep in mind, nothing is locked in until it’s announced officially… and even then things can and do change.
So why do I bring all of this back up again? Didn’t I already relay this in an article from January?
The second expansion is one that I covered before, and many have speculated upon after Disney announced expensive infrastructure changes to roadways that seemingly free up a new area of land for a hotel near Disney World. I said at the time that Disney was planning to install their most luxurious hotel ever, with direct access to Magic Kingdom. I think that’s still true. It’s not only true because Disney executives would love to offer a high-end resort for the $400k+ annual income crowd, but also because they would connect the resort with an expansion pad south of the Pirates of the Caribbean show building. With a new E-Ticket built there, the theme park would pull crowds away from Frontierland and Tomorrowland, dispersing congestion. Expect a City of Gold theme with the new resort, and potentially the expansion pad. — Walt Disney World Expansions Likely on the Way
The answer is because the same source that told me about a possible fireworks boat dock on Seven Seas Lagoon also tipped me off about work taking place to test the land where the hotel is alleged to go. And for that reason, I headed to the location to see for myself if the source was giving me correct info.
Before going more into this story, let me clarify that I never entered any prohibited or off-limits area at Disney World. If a sign said to stay out of an area, I stayed away. I did not leave any public pathways. On the way, I did take a photo of the Luau building being demolished, but I kept to the sidewalk in order to make sure I was on my very best behavior.
After I made my way north of the Grand Floridian, however, it turned out that my source appeared to be correct. A number of changes had occurred since the last time I had walked between Grand Floridian and the Magic Kingdom. Additionally, I noticed that a security patrol boat was slowly following anyone who was walking the path between GF and MK. It followed me and my fellow reporter as we broke no rules nor even took any photos. I don’t think they were being suspicious of us, only that they were making sure nobody tried to look behind what we found.
And what we discovered was a new construction wall in the forest that was painted “go away green.” This was just above the GF canal, not yet to the backstage canal that allows access to Magic Kingdom’s waterways. Why in the world was a construction wall sitting in the woods? When was it put there? According to my source, it was installed so that crews can do ground tests before committing to a future hotel. I don’t know if that’s true, I just know what I’ve been told and that there’s a mysterious wooden wall to block views into that area. The next thing that we found interesting was that new concrete blockades had been put up, along with signage, to the backstage road that goes south of the Jungle Cruise attraction. This road gives access to the Crystal Palace, left-side of Main Street back entrances, as well as provides floats with their connection to Main Street from their warehouse. This new change almost certainly appeared to be in preparation for an official connection to the walkway from that path. That makes sense if special equipment needs to be brought in through that area instead of through the western backstage gate… and that makes sense if they’re wanting to expand Adventureland in the future with an E-Ticket attraction plus a new entrance exclusive for hotel guests.
So does all of this mean that a hotel is absolutely on the way? Absolutely not. But it does mean that one of my sources on this potential expansion had solid information for me. It does mean that they wanted to hide whatever was, or is, going on in the middle of the woods between GF and MK. It does mean they’re preparing to improve infrastructure in the largest expansion pad near Adventureland.
In the coming years, don’t be surprised when other sites just begin to announce this along with Disney’s “big reveal.” Like other things surrounding the Disney Parks, if you read this website, you’ll have known about it far in advance.
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