LAKE BUENA VISTA — Walt Disney World is in the midst of its most significant expansion in the last two decades and now that expansion includes a brand new deluxe-category resort development, set to add 900 more hotel rooms to the Disney pipeline when it opens in 2020.
The build joins three other resort projects currently underway at Florida’s Walt Disney World Resort. Altogether there are some three dozen resorts at WDW.
The new nature-themed resort, a mixed-use property with Disney Vacation Club villas, will be located between Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, along the shoreline of Bay Lake.
“We continue to add new attractions, new lands – and these beautiful accommodations will be right in the heart of all that magic,” says George A. Kalogridis, President of Walt Disney World Resort.
Also in the works, Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort will debut completely reimagined in 2019, featuring a new 15-storey tower overlooking Lago Dorado, the resort’s centerpiece lake.
The upgraded Disney’s Coronado Springs will offer an additional 545 new guest rooms and suites, plus the tower also includes a two-level entrance lobby, concierge lounge and new meeting spaces. Rooftop dining at a specialty table-service restaurant has panoramic views. Disney’s Coronado Springs’ existing 1,800 guest rooms have all been fully updated with new fixtures and furnishings.
The third project, Disney’s Riviera Resort, currently under construction near Epcot and anticipated to open in 2019, is an all-Disney Vacation Club property.
The fourth project has the most buzz. Seamlessly connected to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it’s the immersive Star Wars-inspired destination coming to Walt Disney World Resort.
The first-of-its-kind resort is billed as “a completely immersive experience into an authentic Star Wars story”. Guests will interact with characters as they become active citizens of the galaxy, dressed in proper attire as stories unfold all around them.
These resort projects join a flurry of expansion at Walt Disney World Resort, including Pandora – The World of Avatar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and the recent debut of Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
In early 2019 Walt Disney World plans to unveil a new collection of shows, parties, Disney character interactions and more.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is also set to open in 2019.
