Walt Disney World To Feature Two New Resorts
Walt Disney World has announced that two new resort properties are now under construction in Florida. When completed, the park will boast 27 individually themed resorts.
Disney Imagineer Joni Van Buren sculpts a model of King Triton from the 1989 animated film The Little Mermaid. In its final form, the sculpture will be 35 feet tall and tower over guests at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, a new Disney World hotel that will open in 2012. Photo courtesy of the Walt Disney Company
“Disney’s Art of Animation Resort” was officially announced back in May. The new resort will feature family suites designed around four unique themes: The Lion King, Finding Nemo, Cars and The Little Mermaid. Located adjacent to Disney’s Pop Century Resort, the new resort will include 1,120 family suites in The Lion King, Cars and Finding Nemo wings, and 864 themed rooms in The Little Mermaid wings – for a total of almost 2,000 new units. Suites will feature both a living room and a bedroom, offering added space for families.
Disney’s Art of Animation Resort, the 26th resort at Walt Disney World, will be one-of-a-kind, with themed building exteriors and room interiors, and larger-than-life icons from the animated films in the courtyard areas. Walt Disney World Resort currently features 25 uniquely themed, Disney owned-and-operated resort hotels with more than 26,000 guest rooms. The new resort is expected to create more than 800 construction jobs, beginning immediately. All of the themed suites and rooms at Disney’s Art of Animation Resort are expected to open by the end of 2012.
Meanwhile, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is currently building a luxury hotel and 18-hole championship golf course along the northeast border of Walt Disney World. The Toronto-based luxury hotel chain is part of expansion plans that will take eight to 10 years to fully develop and will include single- and multifamily vacation homes, fractional ownership homes and a 450-acre retail, dining and lodging district.
Four Seasons, with 74 hotels in 31 countries and two locations currently in Florida, will anchor a 900-acre development which already houses two golf courses. The hotel is scheduled to open by year’s end. One of the existing golf courses will be upgraded into a championship course and the other will be renamed after the Four Seasons brand. The second development will be roughly the size of Disney’s Animal Kingdom and be located just outside the western entrance. About 4,500 time shares and hotel units will surround a pedestrian-friendly retail village that includes restaurants, shops and small-scale entertainment venues. Construction is underway.
