raymusiccity
Well-Known Member
I know it's an artist concept, but, it seems 'rustic' enough for me. I'll bet the horses love it!
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News Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge (Project 89 - Development near Fort Wilderness)
- Thread starter danlb_2000
- Start date
DVCakaCarlF
Well-Known Member
Laserdisc...lol
DVCakaCarlF
Well-Known Member
It made you “reflect.”
Giss Neric
Well-Known Member
note2001
Well-Known Member
I doubt we will ever see another effort along the lines of Wilderness Lodge or the Grand Floridian coming from Disney. The time, care, attention to details and craftsmanship are something Disney pre-covid would not pay for, certainly they won't pay for them now. Someday perhaps they will return to quality.
Certainly more rustic than the hundreds of travel trailers and motor coaches filling up the bulk of the fort. Fits right in.
I like it. Far more welcoming than the old one.
Certainly more rustic than the hundreds of travel trailers and motor coaches filling up the bulk of the fort. Fits right in.
Jon81uk
Well-Known Member
Animal Kingdom Lodge is close to the same craftmanship as Wilderness Lodge.
Also its applied in a different way, but the Art of Animation does have a high level of detail, the buildings housing the rooms are concrete boxes, but the pool areas and theming are pretty fantastic as well as the lobby and the art in it. Also there are elements of Pop Century such as the memory boxes in the lobby area which are very detailed.
Sir_Cliff
Well-Known Member
I wouldn't mind so much if they went down the Disneyland Paris route where they held a competition for major architects to design hotels based around a broad theme (if I recall correctly, it was America in DLP's case). You may or may not get something as intricately themed as Wilderness Lodge, but there's at least the chance you'd get an interesting piece of architecture.
The problem with the most recent Disney hotels is that they just look like such boring, cookie-cutter hotels with some decoration layered on as an after thought to justify jacking up the prices and keeping Disney fans happy that they're 'themed'.
The problem with the most recent Disney hotels is that they just look like such boring, cookie-cutter hotels with some decoration layered on as an after thought to justify jacking up the prices and keeping Disney fans happy that they're 'themed'.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
The Value Resort model of a decorated box is very much the problem as it has been exported to the higher level hotels and even the parks. Hotels like the Lodges and the Grand Floridian were wholly conceived of as a themed experience. They’re form, space, organization and movement through them were all shaped by their story, by competent architects who understood the styles they were emulating to create a strong design. The Value resorts, Grand Floridian Villas, Gran Destino, Riviera and evening many park projects are boxes to be decorated with anything. They’re not distinct forms but boxes to be slathered in ornament. At times they can be highly ornamental but they’re never really detailed as a themed experience one enters.
trainplane3
Well-Known Member
ThEmEd eXpErIeNcE
Whenever I get back down, I'll have to get more pictures of the hotel. I didn't take much on the last trip. There's a lot more places like those. It's a shame because the surrounding grounds are nice.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
What makes these examples worse is they're not just bad themed design, but bad architectural design. It's the notion of hierarchy. Important parts of the building are placed, shaped and size to draw attention to them and less important ones placed so as not to draw attention. You don't put the loading dock and dumpsters out next to the front door. Riviera has these large, bare stair towers that are taller and more massive than other elements, drawing attention to them instead of disappearing into the background.
note2001
Well-Known Member
Peter Dominick brought new meaning to what an architect should be. Basically, he was to Disney resorts what Joe Rhode is to Animal Kingdom, researching every last detail by visiting the areas of the world to be mimicked over and over again to go so far as to define which materials/patterns were to be used in rooms.
I was not omitting AKL by any means but was simply stating that the Disney we once knew that cared about quality in the resorts is gone (for now). Perhaps this drop in quality is due to them not having him to turn to, but I doubt it. To me it all screams an unwillingness to go the extra mile up front.
and... I disagree with you on the values. They're horrible, all of them. But each to their own.
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Jon81uk
Well-Known Member
Yes but the specific examples I gave of the pool areas and similar at AoA and the lobby decorations are unrelated to the "boxes plus decoration". The point was that there details its just that they are detailed areas rather than it being baked into the architecture. The Cars pool area at AoA is probably more detailed than the pool at the Boardwalk, an imagineer has put a lot of effort into getting the detail of the Cozy Cone motel right.
For the resort as a whole yes it doesn't have the architectural detail that many others do. But a lot of the small details at the newer value resorts probably are more detailed than the Rivera resort.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
You can't just separate the two. Those boxes do not exist in isolation, their form and placement shape the space between them. Props and ornament are not inherently detail. Details are things that further enhance the story that most would not necessarily know or notice but builds the illusion and helps convince those who do know. The Cars pools cones look like cone shaped shade structures. They're shells, there isn't much to them. What details took extra effort to get just right?
Jon81uk
Well-Known Member
Well an imagineer still needed to ensure it looked like the movie and forwarded the story they wanted to tell, what extra details took effort to make the pool area at other resorts, they would have still also had an imagineer think about the story they wanted to tell. Rockwork around the pool at Wilderness Lodge is still a shell, there isn't much to it, but someone still put time and effort into designing it.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
I'm not saying there was not effort, but a shade structure looking like a cone is a bare minimum expectation if the area is supposed to look like the Cozy Cone Motel. That isn't a detail. Rockwork is another object that is inherently conflated as a detail. Just having rock work does not make something detail. It is about how it is utilized and how it follows through on an idea.
note2001
Well-Known Member
Comparing the quality of design in the older resorts to today's is like discussing the difference between lamination and sculpting. It can be argued that both are a style of design, but one is cheap and does nothing to detract from the fact that what you are looking at is a box.
All the resorts have this box structure going on for the bulk of the guest rooms, but some conceal it with a sculpted roofline and additional elements such as covered walkways, alcoves etc. Finite details that let our minds explore the design and not just the facade.
That was one of the main problems I have with Reflection's current design. It looks cheap and only half thought out. There's a lot of glass and a V line to the roof, which simply makes it look like it was bought from the pre-fab shop down the street. There didn't seem to be much going on beyond that first impression. Good design is layered in, not superficially imposed upon.
All the resorts have this box structure going on for the bulk of the guest rooms, but some conceal it with a sculpted roofline and additional elements such as covered walkways, alcoves etc. Finite details that let our minds explore the design and not just the facade.
That was one of the main problems I have with Reflection's current design. It looks cheap and only half thought out. There's a lot of glass and a V line to the roof, which simply makes it look like it was bought from the pre-fab shop down the street. There didn't seem to be much going on beyond that first impression. Good design is layered in, not superficially imposed upon.
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Parker in NYC
Well-Known Member
Animal Kingdom Lodge is 19 years old (and change). That isn't at all recent.
Wait while I process that and drink my regrets.
the.dreamfinder
Well-Known Member
It looks like a Westgate development.
Heppenheimer
Well-Known Member
Especially because a lot of "rock work" that we see on modern buildings is simply off-the-shelf paneling.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
No, Disney’s rock work is very much custom and hand carved. Top craftsmen do that work for Disney. The problem is it’s overuse as a substitute for actually shaping space and creating a layered environment that speaks to habitation.