We have an update on our earlier article about the room inventory allocation at the upcoming Disney Lakeshore Lodge hotel being built on the shores of Bay Lake. An earlier article said that Disney Vacation Club (DVC) would own about 90% of the rooms of the resort. That figure was the result of a new filing with the State of Florida and some math. Now, we’ve learned that the figure doesn’t tell the whole story. In fact, Disney Lakeshore Lodge will be 100% owned by DVC, but just like other DVC properties, non-Members will be able to book a stay at the hotel. Here’s what we’ve learned.
Disney Lakeshore Lodge Is Fully DVC, But You Can Book a Stay When It Opens in 2027
As a quick recap on how we got here, Disney Vacation Club submitted a new filing with the State of Florida, listing a figure of 45,552 timeshare weeks for Lakeshore Lodge. The simple math here is that we divide 45,552 timeshare weeks by 52 weeks in a year to get approximately 876 rooms. That 876 figure was not the same as the previously announced 967 total rooms, creating a delta of some 91 rooms. In our earlier article, the math stopped there, and we put the DVC allocation at roughly 90% of the total rooms in the hotel. As it turns out, it’s not that simple.
In a general sense, Disney Vacation Club hotels typically have multiple room types – including some 2+ bedroom options. While we don’t have specific details as it relates to Disney Lakeshore Lodge, Disney has previously announced that room types will range “from cozy studios to spacious suites”. In theory, if some of those “spacious suites” were 2-bedroom configurations (or higher), those could be presented as multiple rooms. While the DVC State of Florida filing may look at a 2-bedroom configuration as a single unit, it could be considered as two keys depending on how the room is configured during a cash reservation (think of an adjoining room door closed in a normal hotel). Applied across a number of suites, we can start to see how the delta between the 967 figure and the 876 figure begins to close.
In fact, it is our understanding that Disney Vacation Club will own 100% of the rooms at Disney Lakeshore Lodge – regardless of the room configuration. But that’s not to say that non-Members won’t be able to stay at Disney Lakeshore Lodge. In fact, it is our understanding that there will be plenty of inventory available for guests looking to make cash reservations.
How is it that the hotel will be 100% owned by Disney Vacation Club and have plenty of cash reservation availability? Again, talking in generalities here and not specific to Lakeshore Lodge, Disney Vacation Club sells timeshare units in phases.
For example, filings show that Disney has sold roughly 37% of the total number of rooms at the Island Tower at Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. While not directly confirmed by Disney, it would stand to reason that any inventory that hasn’t been sold through DVC is eligible for cash reservations.
In fact, it’s our understanding that we should think of Disney Lakeshore Lodge like we’d think of Disney’s Riviera Resort. Disney’s Riviera Resort is a fully Disney Vacation Club property, but only some 85% of the total amount of timeshare allocation has been purchased. That means that if you’d like to make a cash reservation at Disney’s Riviera Resort today (and Disney Lakeshore Lodge starting in Summer 2027), you can head over to the Walt Disney World website and book a room like you would at a non-DVC hotel.
We’ll wrap up by underlining a single point: Lakeshore Lodge is a fully DVC-owned hotel, but there will be plenty of opportunity for non-Members to book a stay at the hotel through a standard cash reservation.
As we’ve said before, we expect that Disney Lakeshore Lodge will be a beautiful resort and one worth visiting, even if I don’t love the location that Disney settled on for the sprawling 10-story hotel. The resort will be a very compelling location when it opens in Summer 2027, with some premium features such as a lazy river, robust swimming and leisure areas, waterfront table-service dining, and much more.
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!