While visiting Disney’s Fort Wilderness recently, we stopped in to check on the Lakeshore Lodge hotel, which is currently slated to open in 2027. As you’ll see in the photos below, construction is progressing nicely, as the hotel approaches its full 10-story planned height. Here’s a look around!
Disney Lakeshore Lodge Construction Update: Towering Hotel on Bay Lake
The big update here is just how much of a visual impact the complex of towers will have on the waterfront area of Fort Wilderness. No, you can’t see the tower from your campsite (probably), but there’s no denying just how much of an impact it has on the once-tranquil Settlement and Pioneer Hall area. That’s where we’ll start our photo update from.
A bit of an editor’s note to start. It’s kind of tough to capture the feel of Lakeshore Lodge from within the Pioneer Hall area. It’s big. While zooming out to capture the context of where our vantage point is, the tower starts to shrink a bit due to the wide-angle lens optics. This is sort of an “objects are larger than they appear” type of situation. We are talking about an 7-9 story tall building after all. Just something to keep in mind as we move through the photos.
We’ll start with a look at the building as seen with Pioneer Hall in the foreground. As you can see, there will be no hiding it, unless Disney wants to plant nothing short of a small forest between the two buildings.
Making our way to the front of the building, visible from the Tri-Circle-D Ranch, we can get a better idea of how sprawling it is. It looks like crews are working on the 9th floor of the hotel now, with a maximum height of 10 stories allowed in the permitting. In terms of construction progress, the side closest to Pioneer Hall and the front face of the hotel seen below appear to be the tallest. As we’ll see from the boat ride to Magic Kingdom, work on the western side of the hotel is just a few stories tall at the moment.
Jumping on a boat to Magic Kingdom, we get to see the Bay Lake side of the hotel now. Here’s a look at the permit, with some added color to highlight the Lakeshore Lodge (red), cabins (blue), and Pioneer Hall (green). From the boat, we’ll be moving across the site from east to west, or right to left as seen below. The large U-shaped section in C-105 is the tallest, with work on the C-104 section just a few stories tall at the moment.
For some closing commentary, I’m not a fan of the location of the Disney Lakeshore Lodge hotel – at least, as it relates to the Pioneer Hall area. I think the hotel will be wonderful, with a great pool area and beautiful views of Bay Lake. I simply wish that Disney had been able to figure out a way to either push the resort further west, closer to Wilderness Lodge, or take it to the east side of Bay Lake, out of the way of Fort Wilderness’ waterfront.
Oddly enough, Walt Disney World has not released any concept art for Lakeshore Lodge following the renaming and lengthy pause in construction when it was named Reflections. Disney did say that the footprint would remain the same, but I’m still slightly hopeful that Disney has figured out a way to create a more natural look for the 10-story hotel than was previously planned (pictured below).
Either way, the placement of this hotel so close to Pioneer Hall has irreversibly changed the look and feel of the area, which is a shame.
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!
I would imagine Pioneer Hall closes at some point for a full remodel. The cabins have been modernized, the stable nearby is very modern and this new building is going to be modern. I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t update pioneer hall to match the rest of the resort at this point since modern-cabin camping seems to be the way they are going.
I was there in March. Horrible what theyre doing. Disney can’t put on the brakes and enjoy anything. Always building. Never content.
It is a shame it’s so tall. I was hoping it would stay at 3 stories. It definitely takes away from the look & feel of Fort Wilderness. There was a short cut between Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge, I am afraid that the new lodge is in the way of that short cut.
I wish Iger wasn’t so money-hungry and cared more about the ‘Disney Magic’. Between the new Poly tower and this eye-sore, it is obvious that it’s all about the money. How to get more people in an area that already most times of the year, is overcrowded.
Completely agree with y’all, this building is ugly. What a bummer. We have no desire to go to the Fort now, not that Disney cares.
I’m glad the Fort was the way it was for me growing up and for my kids growing up.
At least we have the magical memories.