Imagineering a Disney Mountain Resort

[Heppenheimer]

The skating trail could be marked by decorations, so it can double as a walking trail when it’s not icy. Speaking of that, the Yetis could be a Halloween event. As for location, I think Alaska, because it lets us use the lion’s share of the Marvel cast and to mesh with Aulani being in Hawaii.

Oh, yes, good idea about the decorations. The only problem with the corresponding walking trail, as I envisioned it, is that the skating trail is on a frozen lake... but, I believe the city of Edmonton has a system of skating trails throughout the city, so perhaps a method used to connect the hotels in the winter could use something like that. The Netherlands hosts a famous long-distance skating competition called the Elfstedentocht (roughly, "11 city tour") through their frozen canals. So maybe this could be the inspiration.

I'm not a Marvel fan, so I'm keeping that group of IPs out of my imaginary ski resort. But don't let my personal objections stop anyone else from dreaming up something Marvel-related. The only bad idea here is not having an idea.

 

[John park hopper]

We took a road trip to Nova s Scotia 2 years ago toured for 2 weeks and had never heard of Tim Hortons fell involve with their apple fritter donuts. think I gained 10 lbs from them

 

[Heppenheimer]

We took a road trip to Nova s Scotia 2 years ago toured for 2 weeks and had never heard of Tim Hortons fell involve with their apple fritter donuts. think I gained 10 lbs form them

I love their coffee. Nice rich flavor, but none of that burnt turpentine taste that you get with Starbucks.

 

[Miru]

Oh, yes, good idea about the decorations. The only problem with the corresponding walking trail, as I envisioned it, is that the skating trail is on a frozen lake... but, I believe the city of Edmonton has a system of skating trails throughout the city, so perhaps a method used to connect the hotels in the winter could use something like that. The Netherlands hosts a famous long-distance skating competition called the Elfstedentocht (roughly, "11 city tour") through their frozen canals. So maybe this could be the inspiration.

I'm not a Marvel fan, so I'm keeping that group of IPs out of my imaginary ski resort. But don't let my personal objections stop anyone else from dreaming up something Marvel-related. The only bad idea here is not having an idea.

The Elfstedentocht races it is. Onward could work as a theme. Any thoughts on incorporating attributes of non-Western snowy regions like Hokkaido?

About Marvel; the only characters I could think of were those yet to be included in the movies and who haven’t even seen animated TV in a decade. So I say it’s okay.

 

[Heppenheimer]

The Elfstedentocht races it is. Onward could work as a theme. Any thoughts on incorporating attributes of non-Western snowy regions like Hokkaido?

About Marvel; the only characters I could think of were those yet to be included in the movies and who haven’t even seen animated TV in a decade. So I say it’s okay.

Yes, one of the 5 hotels I've envisioned will be based on the skiing resorts of Japan and maybe South Korea. I'm saving that for last, simply because of the 5 regions in our World Showcase of ski resorts, I have no first-hand experiences there. I'll need to rely on what I've seen in pictures, on TV and other people's suggestions.

From what I've found on the internet, Niseko looks stunning.

 

[Heppenheimer]

The next lodging cluster is Hotel Norden. Like our east coast resort (layout based on Caribbean Beach Resort), this one will have three interconnected villages and also sit on the edge of the lake. The influence comes from the Nordic/Scandinavian countries and their winter traditions. Arandalsfjord takes inspiration from the wooden slat buildings of rural and coastal Norway (and to a lesser extant, Sweden) and the distinctive 19th century Dragonstil. Øresund pays homage to Danish and Swedish modern design. And finally, Karelia represents the vast spartan wilderness of Finland.

I'm not a fan of Frozen at all, but I suppose this being a Disney resort, I suppose we can't get away without at least a few references in a Nordic-themed hotel. But I also want to add some more whimsical touches that reference Scandinavian mythology and folklore. Perhaps also include a few Hans Christian Anderson references. Decorate the grounds with little elf houses, maybe with some visual effects like motion-activated lighting.

Or trees that twinkle changing light colors to suggest fairies.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Arandalsfjord would feature wooden slat facades, like in Bergen and Trondheim:

And perhaps a little of the Dragonstil the Disney artists used for their inspiration in creating Arendelle:

 

[Miru]

The next lodging cluster is Hotel Norden. Like our east coast resort (layout based on Caribbean Beach Resort), this one will have three interconnected villages and also sit on the edge of the lake. The influence comes from the Nordic/Scandinavian countries and their winter traditions. Arandalsfjord takes inspiration from the wooden slat buildings of rural and coastal Norway (and to a lesser extant, Sweden) and the distinctive 19th century Dragonstil. Øresund pays homage to Danish and Swedish modern design. And finally, Karelia represents the vast spartan wilderness of Finland.

I'm not a fan of Frozen at all, but I suppose this being a Disney resort, I suppose we can't get away with at least a few references in a Nordic-themed hotel. But I also want to add some more whimsical touches that reference Scandinavian mythology and folklore. Perhaps also include a few Hans Christian Anderson references. Decorate the grounds with little elf houses, maybe with some visual effects like motion-activated lighting.

View attachment 423159

Or trees that twinkle changing light colors to suggest fairies.

View attachment 423160

Sure! Maybe some ducklings and swans in a mural (along with Stitch), a Little Mermaid reference, a nightingale, and maybe some nods to the dark side of his stories.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Øresund village uses the sleek, elegant forms of modern Swedish-Danish design.

(Unlike most of the images, I actually took this picture).

This area will host a restaurant inspired by the New Nordic cuisine of Copenhagen's highly rated restaurants, such as Noma.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Rounding out the grounds of Hotel Norden will be Karelia village. Similar to the cabins at Fort Wilderness, this will replicate the experience of log house living deep within the forests of Finland (although within walking distance of the rest of the hotel).

Expect plenty of saunas.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Sure! Maybe some ducklings and swans in a mural (along with Stitch), a Little Mermaid reference, a nightingale, and maybe some nods to the dark side of his stories.

Maybe there could be a store called "The Emperor's New Clothes"... or more in the spirit of the story, make it an empty store front that sells nothing.

Fantasia 2000 contained a sequence based on "The Brave Tin Soldier", so there's another direct reference to an existing Disney IP that could be used.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Karelia's restaurant could offer a Sami (aka Lapp) based meal.

(These pictures are from Saaga, an existing Sami-themed restaurant in Helsinki).

 

[Heppenheimer]

Finally, meet Hotel Norden's mascots.

Reindeer.

Norwegian Elkhounds.

Icelandic horses

And Tamaskan dogs from Finland. Despite the resemblance, they contain no direct wolf ancestry. Very sweet dogs.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Rounding out our World Showcase of ski lodges is a hotel complex based on the winter sports experiences in Japan and South Korea. I admit that I have far less knowledge of this region than the others, and have never visited. So, forgive me if I'm making over-generalizations, since everything here is based on what I've seen watching competitions on TV and not particularly thorough internet research. Any ideas for this hotel are appreciated. I'm struggling with a name, too. Hotel Eastern Star? Hotel Eastern Dawn? Hotel Sun Tiger? I'll go with that last name, referencing the flag of Japan and the national animal of South Korea, unless I get a better suggestion.

 

[Heppenheimer]

For the Japanese portion of Hotel Sun Tiger, I like the look of Hakuba, Niseko and Nozawa Onsen, and I would use these as inspiration. If you asked me to imagine "Japan in the snow", these are pretty close to the mental images I would formulate.

Hakuba:

Niseko:

Anyone know the name of that mountain? It resembles Mt. Fuji, but that famous mountain isn't in Hakkaido. Looks kind of like the outline of Space Mountain.

Nozawa Onsen:

 

[Heppenheimer]

For food, convince Chef Morimoto to open another franchise here. I like the look of his Bangkok restaurant.

And for pool options, how about a nice onsen?

 

[Heppenheimer]

Unfortunately, if I know little about skiing and winter sports in Japan, I know even less about Korea. The one fact I absolutely know is that in international competition, South Korea dominates the sport of short-track speed skating to a degree that few other countries can claim in any other sport. So, our Korean side of the hotel should reference this fact.

The decor could feature stylized representations of speed skaters.

Most of my internet searches of Korean ski resorts (and what I saw at the last Olympics) appear to show very modern buildings. So, this part of Hotel Sun Tiger could serve as the counterpart to the Contemporary Resort.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Hotel Sun Tiger's mascots.

 

[Heppenheimer]

So, to summarize our hypothetical Disney-built, owned and operated mountain resort, we have thus far:

-A fully functional Alpine ski moutain, with scenic dioramas on the lifts, and scenic illumination at night
-A pedestrian dining, shopping an entertainment village at the bottom of the mountain, styled in a European Alpine theme
-A central "weanie" on the mountain summit, constructed as a decorative chalet
-A mostly indoor waterpark, themed as an inverse of Blizzard Beach
-A "World Showcase" of 5 resort hotel complexes, each themed after one of the world's major winter sports regions- the Alps, eastern North America, the Rocky Mountains, Fenno-Scandinavia and Japan-Korea.

Next up: Expanding on the various activities available to make this resort a northern, winter sports counterpart to WDW's ESPN Wide of Sports. Also, adding some features for summer use.

 

[Heppenheimer]

Our winter sports resort will want a public gathering area, where guests can watch international competitions, night-time Disney light and firework shows, or just simply a central meet-up place. For this, I'm going to fuse two ideas from existing resorts. The first is at Mont Tremblant.

(All my own pics). It might be hard to appreciate (I couldn't find a better picture online), but the main slopes terminate in a large open area just at the top of the pedestrian entertainment village.