Disney Announces New Nature Resort on Bay Lake

[jt04]

Yeah, because mud huts totally fit in with the western theming.

The concept art actually looks pretty nice. I just question the location.

Fair enough. Didn't mean to be so blunt.

 

[sndral]

The building on the right looks like they took a plan for a parking garage and added windows - that'll be a DVC building I bet.

 

[djkidkaz]

Nothing about the concept art says nature to me. Hoping when we see the rooms, pool and surrounding areas it will change my mind.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

"Natural" doesn't mean "old." This is a pretty common design aesthetic.

Yeah, but this ain't that. What that looks like is another tower(far from the nature) and a plain looking one at that. Looks like the Hyatt I stayed in in upstate new york

 

[Astro Blaster]

This is literally the Villas at Kenny's House

Disney Springs might be the closest thing we have in real life to SoDoSoPa.

 

[doctornick]

Couple of thoughts after mulling it over...

1. I truly hope they get "inspiration" from River Country for the pool area. Hopefully, making it a mini-water park like Stormalong Bay. 900 rooms sounds like a pretty sizable resort, so having a large/high quality pool area would be welcome. I would like it is they called the pool "the good old fashioning swimming hole" or something like that. If not, "Bay Cove" would work. This seems like an easy way to play on nostalgia and get some skeptics on board.

2. It would also be awesome if they could re-open Discovery Island in some capacity and make it an extended part of the resort. Not holding my breath in the slightest though.

3. back to 900 rooms... seems like a lot for a mid-rise resort. Wouldn't that have to be pretty sprawling? I would guess that if they expand the property that it would be built more toward the Wilderness Lodge, since the edge of Fort Wilderness (Tri-Circle D Ranch, Pioneer Hall) are basically right next to the old River Country plot.

4. Really curious as to how they will handle transportation. Do they just add more ferries or change the routes? Obviously buses for the other destinations; an interesting side effect of that is that it would make it easier for people on property to go to Pioneer Hall for Hoop Dee Doo because they could bus to this resort and then have a short walk.

5. Interesting that they are going for "nature" over "wilderness" - hope it actually fits the final product. And that the name is interesting unlike some of the reported options.

 

[mm121]

Not great, but could be worse

Just good they aren't doing one big 15 story tower

Would been cool to see it have sonne tree houses or somethingto tie into nature

This doesn't feel like nature at all

 

[World_Showcase_Lover007]

Wow...another really cool, stunning project that has nothing to do with the parks...awesome.

Glad to see there are at least some people at WDW that have creative talent, but in the mean time, Stitch is still seasonally operational and Future World is on life support.

And glad to see that projects like this (plus Riveria resort and others) get the financial green light why maintence and simple updates to flagship attractions get scaled back.

 

[brb1006]

Ehh. It looks really nice, but too bland for a Disney hotel. Michael Eisner had the right idea by hiring world-renowned architects from outside of the company to help create the iconic resorts WDW is known for.

This one of the few things I miss from the Eisner era. The architects for other resorts that looked unique.

 

[brb1006]

With every new hotel at the lakes the unifying concept of a seven seas area is further abandoned.

'Persian, Asian, Venetian / Mediterranean, Polynesian, contemporary American'.
The first three unbuild. The Polynesian and contemporary American losing their common concept of big centre high rise with sprawling wings along the way. Then the Floridian, which followed its own design altogether but at least paid lipservice to being a geographical location. Then the Wilderness resort, which is looks set in the northwest of the Americas but has no real place whatsover. And now just a nature one.

On the upside, perhaps a new common theme is being developed along Bay Lake's southern shore. Wilderness resort, Nature Resort, and Fort Wilderness. If TDO weren't so sad and uninspiring, they could develop some nature trails, perhaps reopen Discovery Island with a new theme.

At least the postcards looked good.

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

So now we've got at least an additional 1,745 rooms coming to WDW, and that's not counting the Star Wars hotel (number of rooms hasn't been released). That's a crazy number. @ParentsOf4 What do you think?

Obviously they’re looking to increase prices to control attendance...

On another note - anyone want to buy my “magic” beans?

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

Fallingwater did it first.

This guy gets it.

Fallingwater was an experimental piece of art for a magnate....

It was never analyzed penny by penny to see how they could shave the margins on toilet paper.

A tad different

 

[eddie104]

Seriously? The Disneyland Hotel Paris is saccharine vomit of a hotel. It's the lodging equivalent of the 25th anniversary cake Cinderella Castle.

I think it is one of them most beautiful hotels Disney has ever built but that is just my opinion.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

Honestly..If they don't call the pool area River Country all is lost..

 

[Bartattack]

Will this have any brain eating amoeba?

 

[Indy_UK]

People need to chill. It’s adding a good amount of capacity of rooms as well as DVC. It’s 4 years away so let’s not judge from one picture.

 

[note2001]

Okay, looking at the big image finally....

- The buildings themselves: meh. Would be much better with wood tones, not plaster.
- The porte-cochère: nope, nope, and nope again. Looks like Disney had a contest among architectural students and had no clue what looked good. "Hey, that one's neat, choose that!"
- Then there's the covering over the sidewalk: Is this supposed to be a 1950s throwback design?

* groans *
There's still time for them to fix this.
But they won't.

I hope their interior work exceeds the exterior.

 

[Sir_Cliff]

I’m not really seeing much in the way of real Modernism. It looks like the same sort of contemporary design being applied to apartments and hotels all over the place. Being “nature inspired” should be more than just finishes applied to the surfaces. Seeing all the different angles I’m doubting there is anything like real solar orientation or anything else meaningfully inspired by nature.

I agree that this doesn't echo modernist architecture in any real sense, beyond maybe some mid-century modernist flourishes blown up to the point of exaggeration in the porte cochere. The first thing it reminded me of is a contemporary suburban apartment complex. Indeed, take away that port cochere and it looks exactly like countless bland apartment complexes with a few fancy finishes that have sprung up in major cities all over the world during the past decade or so.

I've never been to DLP, so I guess I can't really judge the hotel. But from your picture it looks nice...

It looks very nice in the context of Disneyland Paris and serves as a fitting entry to the park. One of the nicest design elements of the resort is that it comes into view as you drive into the resort as the focal point at the end of the Avenue Paul Séremy before you turn off for the resorts, parking, etc. Basically, it serves the same function as the castle at the end of Main Street USA.

 

[Robbiem]

I'm not sure which of the two threads to post this in, but bioreconstruct posted an aerial for us. Maybe we could consider this the "before" shot?

I could see the new resort expanding towards wilderness lodge creating a continuous resort area, maybe not initially but certainly over time

 

[Sirwalterraleigh]

People need to chill. It’s adding a good amount of capacity of rooms as well as DVC. It’s 4 years away so let’s not judge from one picture.

...so why is that “good”?