Arabian themed hotel?

[BrianV]

Does anyone remember this?

As a kid back in the 70's I remember staying in one of the disney hotels and there was a large map of what was then all of disney world. It included the poly, the contemporary, the golf resort, the magic kingdom, the TTC, AND an Arabian themed resort...that clearly doesn't exist and was never built. I presume it was never built due to geopolitical issues, and I think that the grand Floridian may have been built where it was depicted.

Does any one remember this of have a copy of this picture? Or any details? Was this merely morphed into the GF hotel? I can see the picture in my mind pretty vividly though it is now many years ago.

 

[Sage of Time]

You're talking about the Persian hotel. Never built, lots of plans. A simple google search should answer most questions.

http://bit.ly/153gD4P

 

[vonpluto]

The three never-builts:

Notice that the monorail went from the Contemporary to the Persian, then thru Tomorrowland to the MK station.

 

[BrianV]

Awesome. Thanks, both. I'd looked but hadn't thought to look up "Persian".

I'll have to see if I can find the map I was thinking of. I never knew about the Asian or Venetian hotels either. Some fun googling for later today.

 

[JohnD]

Of course, the GF is now where the map shows where the Asian was planned. The Persian is the MK docks and backstage facility and the Venetian is still empty land. But after the 1979 Iranian Hostage Crisis, it's safe to say the Persian was off the drawing board.

 

[BrianV]

Thanks again, this must have been the map. But I don't recall seeing the other hotels. Maybe my memory is in fact a little fuzzier than I than I thought.

 

[Sage of Time]

That map used to hang in the Polynesian Village rooms, so, yes, you're right about that.

 

[Epicpilot]

IIRC The Iranian government planned to fund the construction of the resort but that plan got thrown out the window with the Revolution.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney's_Persian_Resort

 

[Matt_Black]

Well, considering that U.S.-Iranian relations are improving slowly but surely (admittedly VERY slowly, though progress has been made), maybe someday we will see this.

 

[sbkline]

Besides any possible geopolitical situations mentioned, I remember reading that part of the reason that these other hotels were never built was because of the ground itself. Apparently, they started trying to build one of them, but everything just kept sinking into the ground, so they had to give up the project.

 

[Hakunamatata]

Besides any possible geopolitical situations mentioned, I remember reading that part of the reason that these other hotels were never built was because of the ground itself. Apparently, they started trying to build one of them, but everything just kept sinking into the ground, so they had to give up the project.

My recollection as well.

 

[BalooChicago]

Apparently, they started trying to build one of them, but everything just kept sinking into the ground, so they had to give up the project.

There is no such thing as unbuildable land, it's merely more expensive to build on due to more complex foundation systems. At some point, as/if the resort uses up the easily built upon land the more difficult locations may become economically viable.