A new report from Florida Politics says that Disney recently scrapped plans for one or two hotels that would be connected to Magic Kingdom theme park. The report cites an Imagineer connected to Master Planning and a 2024 deposition connected to the feud between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Disney. Here’s the latest!
Disney World Scrapped Plans for Hotels Connected to Magic Kingdom
According to the report, longtime Master Planning Executive Imagineer Todd Rimmer revealed plans for one or two hotels that would be connected to Magic Kingdom. The deposition was conducted in early 2024, and Rimmer said that plans at the time were still under development, but that they “included new attractions and redevelopment of existing attractions and potentially new hotels”. Rimmer said that there were “one or two hotel locations” that would’ve been “within the same area that we’re expanding [at Magic Kingdom]”.
In the deposition, Rimmer confirmed that the hotels would be new, but said that “there are no specific locations decided yet”.
Of course, Rimmer was referencing the northwest corner of Magic Kingdom theme park. While the deposition took place in early 2024, by August 2024, Disney had announced an ambitious expansion of Frontierland and the Rivers of America area for a Cars-themed addition and an all-new Villains Land. It’s likely that the hotel(s) that Rimmer was referencing would’ve been attached to the west side of Magic Kingdom, perhaps even directly to Villains Land itself.
The report says that Disney has responded, saying that “there are no plans for new hotels as part of the Magic Kingdom expansion. We’re focused on bringing to life all we’ve already announced”. Presumably, that means that plans were axed during the development stage.
We’ve been tracking some roadway improvements to the west side of Magic Kingdom since late 2024. At the time, we speculated that the roadway improvements could be for a new hotel. While it doesn’t seem like a hotel is in the immediate plans, the roadway improvements will be in place should Disney wish to revisit the idea later.
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!
Hotels inside the Magic Kingdom would have been a total disaster. Thank God they didn’t do that, but just the fact that they even considered it shows that the people who now run the Disney company have very poor judgment and should be removed immediately.
I know the article title says “IN” Magic Kingdom.
But everything in the article says connected to
I think it was a hotels planned right outside the park
Like Boardwalk & Beach club right outside of Epcot
Or Contemporary right outside Tomorrow Land and Polynesian (planned) right outside Adventure Land
The relevant quote from the Imagineer is “within the same area that we’re expanding”
Bs. Go to the grand Californian at Disney land. 60 seconds and you are in the park.
They are definitely planning to add a MK hotel. Just not as part of this expansion. But it’s next after Lakeside Lodge. It will take years to sell out Lakeside.