It’s been too long since we’ve made it out to Disney’s Fort Wilderness for an updated look at Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge, so we hopped on a boat today after a visit to Magic Kingdom for a mega update by land, air, and sea. When it opens in 2027, Disney Lakeshore Lodge will be the 14th Disney Vacation Club property at Walt Disney World, and it will have more than 900 rooms. Here’s a closer look at the latest progress!
Disney Lakeshore Lodge Mega Update
We’ll start with aerial photos from friend of the site Bioreconstruct. In the aerial photos, we can see how the hotel is being worked on in phases. We can also see the ongoing development of a lazy river, a lakeside table service restaurant, and lakefront cabins.
While not an aerial photo, we do have an elevated photo of the Disney Lakeshore Lodge construction site from Disney’s Contemporary Resort. The two hotels are located about 2/3rds of a mile apart, separated by Bay Lake.
Turning to the “by sea” portion of this update, we’ll take a look at Disney Lakeshore Lodge as seen by watercraft. We took a boat from Magic Kingdom to Fort Wilderness, passing right by the Lakeshore Lodge site, offering some great looks at the side of the hotel that will face Bay Lake.
One of the reasons that we haven’t taken a look at Lakeshore Lodge in months is that there is still a lot of construction going on. And it just looks like construction. Because the work has occurred in phases, we’ve kind of known what this is going to look like for a while. Over the past many months, the work has mostly consisted of getting the south side of the hotel to catch up to the north side. That said, there are still some interesting highlights that we want to get a closer look at, including a look at some painting taking place.
Interestingly, while the south side of the hotel tower itself is “behind” the north side, the lakeside cabins here are further along. From my understanding, the A-frame cabins on the south end of property will be a little bit larger than the ones on the north end of property. Extra square footage, extra room, etc. Maybe Disney wanted to get a head start on these larger cabins, so they appear to be further along.
Continuing with our look at the south side of the hotel, we can see that there is still a bit of work to be done here. While the shape of the hotel is in place, there is still plenty of work to be done to the exterior before it starts to look like a finished product. While Disney has announced a 2027 opening timeframe for the hotel, we’re not sure what season, much less what month, it’ll open.
As we pass by the southernmost portion of the hotel, we spot the shoe tree. Sometimes called the rubber tree, this tree has a history to it, but if rumors on Bay Lake are true, it may be history. As legend goes, the Bay Lake shoe tree is where watercraft Cast Members chuck their shoes on their final day of work. The tree has accumulated a lot of shoes over the years, but with a table-service restaurant being built along the shore, will the shoe tree soon be history?
Speaking of the restaurant, we expect that the structure being built along the waterfront here will be a table-service restaurant. In fact, we expect that the structure will be a combination of table-service restaurant and pool bar/grill to service the nearby feature pool and lazy river.
As we continue to make our way northbound, toward the Fort Wilderness dock, we can see the northern cluster of “small” A-frame buildings.
The portion of the hotel in the northern “U” of the resort is noticeably further along than the southern half, but there is still plenty of construction going on here.
Wrapping up our “by sea” portion of the article, it’s time for the final leg of our journey…”by land”. At the Fort Wilderness dock, we can see that the A-frame cabins will be very close to the dock. This could be convenient for guests looking to jump on a boat over to Magic Kingdom, or to enjoy The Settlement area, but it won’t be very secluded. For a quieter cabin experience, you’ll want to splurge on the larger A-frame cabins to the south.
Same sign, different views.
As we make our way toward Pioneer Hall, Lakeshore Lodge is as imposing as ever. We can see that this wall of the hotel has been painted a faint greenish color. The true test will be once the accoutrements are added to the exterior of the hotel. This actually seems to be a good time to pause and take a look at concept art released for Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge. There has been no concept art released for Disney Lakeshore Lodge yet, but it’s clear that the hotel will follow the same idea of the former Reflections concept.
There’s a lot of work to go before we get the “final product”, but here’s a look at the current state of the work from our recent visit.
From the outdoor porch at Crocket’s Tavern, we can very easily see the smaller A-frame cabins. In fact, plans call for a second row of cabins between the waterfront A-frame cabins and the existing Pioneer Hall area. From what we can tell, those cabins haven’t been built yet. I think there will only be four of these inland cabins built. They are expected to be larger than the small A-frame cabins along the waterfront seen below.
Continuing on. I’ll echo what I’ve said all along for this project – the hotel itself looks like it could be one of the best at Walt Disney World, but I’m not a fan of the placement so close to Pioneer Hall.
The overhangs for the upcoming Lakeshore Lodge bus stop can be seen from near the current Settlement bus stop.
Actually, we’ll be jumping on a bus to Magic Kingdom shortly, but before we do that, let’s take another look at Lakeshore Lodge from the Tri-Circle-D Ranch area.
Ok, we’ll wrap up our photo update with a look at the front of Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge, as seen from the bus transportation between the Settlement and Magic Kingdom.
A final look at the front of the larger A-frame cabins along the southern shore of the Lakeshore Lodge resort complex.
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!