I haven't heard anything about it, even with rumors flying like crazy about DtD, but why doesn't Disney build a hotel in the middle of/directly connected to DtD? I'm not talking Saratoga; that's DVC anyway. The rooms there are crazy expensive for cash rentals. The bed taxes (most anywhere but specifically) for Orange and Osceola counties border on the usurious, so a new hotel would be a pretty compelling reason for the government to help fund transportation improvements. With some quick and dirty math to get a lowball number, 25,000 rooms at 80% capacity at $100 per night at 12.5% tax (it's 13% for Pop and some All-Stars) is $250,000 per day in bed taxes for the counties. That's a low-end estimate... that's guessing $100 per room; I don't think it would be crazy to say the average room price at WDW could be $200 or more even with discounts (keep in mind free dining books a rack rate room). 800 rooms at a new hotel, 80% capacity, $200 per night per room would be... an extra $16,000 per day in taxes generated. That doesn't include any extra sales tax from DtD improvements or at the hotel itself. People love the way the Grand Californian is right in DtD in Anaheim. Some people really go heavy on the shopping and some go really heavy on the drinking (even after Epcot is closed), so an expanded DtD with a transportation system that makes it easy to get around would drive demand for a hotel in a big way. With the lures mentioned above, it could even become the de facto "adult" Disney hotel. And it works both ways: having 1,000 people or more staying right inside DtD (I think) helps lure some more businesses to pay the crazy rates that Disney is sure to charge for restaurant/retail space.
Someone tell me there has at least been a whisper of a Disney hotel inside DtD? It makes a lot of sense.