There is a new area of construction between the Transportation and Ticket Center, and Disney’s Contemporary Resort that has rekindled the rumor that there could be a fourth “monorail resort” added to the Magic Kingdom area. Before we jump in, let’s take a look at the Magic Kingdom area resorts from this Google Maps image.
The area of interest is the southeast portion of land along the shores of the Seven Seas Lagoon. Here’s a closer look at the land, which resides along the existing Magic Kingdom area monorail loop – in between the Transportation & Ticket Center to the south, and Disney’s Contemporary Resort to the north.
This area was previously a candidate for either a Venetian-themed resort, or a Mediterranean-themed resort. However, as those concepts were fleshed out, it was rumored that this land was difficult and costly to build on. That said, a recent interview with self-described “mostly retired Disney Imagineering Project Executive” Bob Holland calls that rumor into question.
According to Holland, the hotel was planned to have 900 rooms and a convention center. Ground was moved on the site and then the project was halted due to the uncertainty of travel in the early 90’s as a result of the Gulf War. Holland described the site has having not only some ground fill added, but a gate of 2×4 pieces of wood to prevent construction vehicles from striking the monorail beam. As you’ll soon see, this story bears a striking resemblance to what we’re seeing at the site today.
Finally, Holland said that the site was a “very buildable” site and that there was “nothing wrong with it”. He did say that the site has some problems like all sites in Florida, but that there was another concept developed in the early 2000’s for a Venetian resort that got scrapped. Holland said that the site is the “last great site” along the Seven Seas Lagoon and that there is immense pressure to develop an upscale resort.
Now, it’s possible that Disney is exploring the use of this land once again. Here’s a current look at the site.
Here’s a look back at an early-April aerial photo from friend of the site bioreconstruct that shows that there was no activity on the site earlier this year.
Of course, Disney has not announced a new hotel at this time, so you should treat any information here as speculative and unofficial.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
This site has been used in the past as a staging area for other projects so the wood structures may just be there for truck height regulation for another project. Perhaps Reflections is back on track or maybe the rumour of a second Bay Lake Tower may be moving forward.
I think this location is too far for something related to Contemporary/Bay Lake. Could still be possible though
It’s the new launch site for the perimeter fireworks for the 50th. Nothing more. I drive over it daily.
The construction site in this article is almost a mile south of where the perimeter launches are going – these are two different areas
That is the only area where they could legitimately launch fireworks on 7 Seas Lagoon. There have been, height tests ( balloons telescopes, cameras for sight lines) but not In the last several years.
The excitement for a Venetian resort was rekindled in the 90s, but they halted construction because of the sinkhole problem that is in all of Florida.
And they solved the problem in the 90’s by moving the center of the deluxe resort site about 2,000 feet to the East. They called that, built on bay lake and not 7 seas, the Wilderness Lodge.
I thought there were height balloons in that area maybe 5-6 years ago?
You’ll see a similar set up off of the walkway between GF and MK. Probably more of an access issue than anything.
On the subject of access, it’s incredibly disappointing that despite being able to spit from the South Garden Wing and hit somebody at Wilderness Lodge, Disney has failed to provide even the bare minimum of a sidewalk on World Drive to enable guests to walk between the two, or between Contemporary and the TTC. Yes, there is (or was) a boat between Contemporary and Wilderness and yes there’s the monorail, but the actual on-the-ground walking distance along World Drive and some CM-only roads (disregarding for the moment that actually attempting this walk is highly unsafe and probably illegal) between the front door of Contemporary and the main hub of the TTC is 3/4 of a mile, or about a 15~20 minute “healthy walk.” There’s really no reason not to install a sidewalk along World Drive for this purpose.
It’s tough for me to believe in a full monorail resort considering the current state of the monorail and the economics, but you can’t beat walking paths for cheap transportation improvements and the World Drive sidewalk to TTC combined with the recent GF to MK path would make a complete walkable circuit around the entirety of Bay Lake. Why not?
More resorts without another park/gate is unsustainable.
What they need is another park, not a hotel