Walt Disney Imagineering is asking for an extension on a permit related to the delayed (canceled?) Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge Disney Vacation Club property that was planned to sit on the former River Country site. Buckle up, there’s some history here.
Back in March 2018, we posted an article that said that Disney World was exploring the development of the land where the long-shuttered River Country water park used to be located. The exploratory project was called Project 89 and our early coverage of the permits included impact studies for land viability.
More than 6 months later, Walt Disney World officially announced that they were, in fact, going to build on the former River Country land and that an all-new nature-inspired resort would be built. This announcement came in October 2018 and Disney announced that the resort would open in 2022.
The deluxe resort, which would be themed to complement its natural surroundings, would include more than 900 hotel rooms and proposed Disney Vacation Club villas spread across a variety of unique accommodation types.
To support the construction, Disney applied for a permit to utilize land near the former Stolport site as a stockpile area. Here’s a look at the May 2018 permit that shows where the land was located – at the “corner” of World Drive and Vista Blvd. The area along World Drive and a connection to Vista Blvd have been developed a bit more since then, but the Stolport Stockpile area remains intact.
A February 2019 permit outlined how Disney planned to connect the stockpile site to the Reflections DVC site via a series of roadways. The access roads were built to connect the stockpile and future Reflections DVC site, but the COVID shutdowns caused the project to be put on pause. Essentially, Disney had demolished the former River Country site and built up the land for construction of the Reflections DVC, but they never got around to building it. The project was considered to be canceled.
Fast forward to March 2022. The Reflections site is still sitting abandoned and Disney World announced that they’re going to build a new Disney Vacation Club tower at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. The resort is currently under development and has made some outstanding progress in less than half a year since it first went vertical.
Disney Vacation Club isn’t slowing down, either. It’s full steam ahead and an April 2023 announcement that DVC would be refreshing more than 350 cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. It’s important to note that the cabin refresh and the Reflections DVC are two separate projects. As of publish time, the Reflections DVC is still paused while the cabin refresh is an active project. That said, Walt Disney Imagineering’s recent request for an extension of the Stolport Stockpile could indicate that the Reflections DVC isn’t completely abandoned. In the letter, Imagineering addressed the Stolport Stockpile permit, saying that “the project was shut down during COVID-19 conditions and therefore delayed the completion of this project.”
Before we declare that Reflections is back (!!!), we have to caveat what the permit extension request actually is. First, the extension is for the Stolport Stockpile area – not the Reflections DVC construction. The stockpile permit was set to expire May 30, 2023 and needed an extension if the site was going to be utilized going forward. The Reflections DVC permit doesn’t expire until November 2024, so there is still time for Disney to make up its mind, although an extension would eventually be needed should they plan on moving forward. Finally, the stockpile area could be utilized for a variety of things. Most likely, Disney will use the area for staging and development of the refreshed cabins that have already been announced.
That said, we don’t think that the Reflections project is 100% canceled anymore. Disney has shown an eagerness to expand its DVC footprint aggressively, and the development of some sort of sprawling multi-story resort at Disney’s Fort Wilderness is something that we think executives would love to implement should the business environment be favorable.
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!
Should Disney revive the Reflections Resort idea, just a thought. If they insist upon using the current building plans, could we at least see a separate “Reception Building” with resort check in, themed restaurant and gift shop? GASTON’S HUNTING LODGE could provide a perfect design idea.(Complete with lots of antlers.) This would fit perfectly in the wilderness setting of the resort location. Maybe they could get back to themed hotels, as opposed to another glass and steel tower.