Royal Oak Court?

[OliveMcFly]

I was on a website called 2719 Hyperion, great site by the way, and was reading about the Lake Buena Vista Resort. The article mentioned that there were full scale residential homes built in the area. They were numbered 301 - 304 and sat around a cul-de-sac. I did some research and came up with no idea of their location. I did however locate homes near Saratoga Springs Resort on Google Earth; I see about 9 homes in the community. I did find very little info about a community called Royal Oak Court and I was wondering if they're the same homes.

 

[Master Yoda]

If I am not mistaken they are the same. There is a little info on them on wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Buena_Vista,_Florida

 

[Rob562]

I believe all of the homes on Royal Oak Court are trailer/pre-manufactured homes.

The four homes in question were built but never used as actual homes, and then were folded into the Lake Buena Vista Resort (and the subsequent Disney Institute) as the Grand Villa Homes. (Or maybe it was Grand Fairway Homes... Something like that)
Those four homes were torn down as part of the conversion of the Disney Institute into Saratoga Springs.

Here's a write-up from Walt Dated World:
http://waltdatedworld.bravepages.com/id121.htm

-Rob

 

[OliveMcFly]

Thanks for the info. I guess the article wasn't clear on the current state and I thought they were still standing. Just goes to show that after 28 years I'm still learning about the resort.

 

[Rob562]

Thanks for the info. I guess the article wasn't clear on the current state and I thought they were still standing. Just goes to show that after 28 years I'm still learning about the resort.

Based on this rough map of the old Institute, the Grand Vista Homes and the other Fairway Villas were approximately where the Grandstand section of SSR is now, between the central resort area and the Treehouses.
http://www.mouseplanet.com/dtp/maps/images/vdi.jpg

-Rob

 

[OliveMcFly]

After doing research for quite sometime I now know that the homes sat on what is now a parking lot for one of the buildings. Thanks for everyones help. This was a fun little project for me on a sick day.

 

[Botts]

Hello all,

I realize that I'm dragging this up after over a year of inactivity, but I would like to add what I know to this question.

I am an elected Councillor (Alderman) of a Municipal Government in Canada, and was on a private tour of WDW and inquired as to this.

The Disney employee mentioned as he knew my background, that "Disney can't simply build whatever they want, that they have to follow regulations passed by the elected "Council" of Reedy Creek Improvement District, or Bay Lake, or LBV." I thought this seemed to contradict what I had known about the RCID.

Turns out that the "Council" (officially the Board of Supervisors) is elected, but by the residents who live in RCID, and respectively the towns of Bay Lake and LBV.

The residents of LBV and Bay Lake, are limited to directors/execs (possibly spouses as well) of the Walt Disney Company in various capacities. There are various properties within LBV and Bay Lake, and unincorporated areas of RCID, including some undeveloped parcels, Royal Oak Court, and Bay Court.

For example, John Raper is a Council Member of LBV, and the Regional Recreation Manager at WDW. Mike Sheehan is a Council Member of LBV, and the Toy Design Director for The Disney Store. Charles Reed, Council Member at LBW seems to be an exec with Radio Disney.

I'm really interested in how this works, as they may have the same electoral term as other FL municipalities as some appear to remain Council Members and therefore land owners, but are no longer employed by TWDC. I also plan on seeing if I can see the title for some of these properties (should be public info) as there is likely some sort of lien preventing a director who leaves employment of TWDC from just keeping the property and refusing to transfer it back to Disney, that is unless they are technically "renting".

Florida State law requires that the voter actually "reside" in the County in which they are voting which brings up some other interesting questions.

The other piece of info that piqued my interest was the relative modest household income in Bay Lake and LBV. It seems that there may be some incorrect data with the US Census bureau.

If I find any more info, or any of you would like to provide insight that would be great.

B

 

[Mickey Lover!]

I was on a website called 2719 Hyperion, great site by the way, and was reading about the Lake Buena Vista Resort. The article mentioned that there were full scale residential homes built in the area. They were numbered 301 - 304 and sat around a cul-de-sac. I did some research and came up with no idea of their location. I did however locate homes near Saratoga Springs Resort on Google Earth; I see about 9 homes in the community. I did find very little info about a community called Royal Oak Court and I was wondering if they're the same homes.

 

[Mickey Lover!]

These houses were for real! I know this as I was moved to one when the Fairway villa we were to stay in was trashed. We stayed in the Asian! There was a Spanish, Tropical & super modern. Each house had a golf cart and bikes. We stayed there for a week and it was heavenly. The foyer was big enough to park a Suburban in it. There were 2 bedrooms, one with a king bed and the other had 2 queen beds. There were 2 lianas off the bedrooms with two full baths. They were right on the golf course. It has been 25-30 years and we still talk about our stay!

 

[Lilofan]

I was on a website called 2719 Hyperion, great site by the way, and was reading about the Lake Buena Vista Resort. The article mentioned that there were full scale residential homes built in the area. They were numbered 301 - 304 and sat around a cul-de-sac. I did some research and came up with no idea of their location. I did however locate homes near Saratoga Springs Resort on Google Earth; I see about 9 homes in the community. I did find very little info about a community called Royal Oak Court and I was wondering if they're the same homes.

I came across it and had to make a U turn at the cul-de-sac and I saw these trailer like homes behind a electronic gated fence that is unmarked. It's indeed occupied by residents and is on Buena Vista Drive , short drive from Saratoga Springs which is across the street. What a good life. Living in Walt Disney World!