Disney Had Plans for “1 or 2” Magic Kingdom Hotels. Can They Build Them?

Reporter Gabrielle Russon at FloridaPolitics.com obtained deposition transcripts that show Disney was considering building one or two hotels in or near the Magic Kingdom, in a new report out today.

The depositions were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request regarding Disney’s legal fight over the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Testimony from Todd Rimmer, an executive at Disney’s Imagineering group, included the disclosure. A statement from Disney included in the article says, “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, which you can find the details on at DisneyExperiences.com”.

Where would these hotels have gone? We have some clues.

Magic Kingdom Locations for Villains Land and Piston Peak

The image below is from BlogMickey.com and shows the South Florida Water Management District permits for Villains Land and Piston Peak overlaid on Google Maps. Those permits and this image show the expanded size of the Villains Land show buildings, which we talked about on the Disney Dish podcast here.

Magic Kingdom Land Available for Hotels

The lawsuit depositions seem to indicate that Disney wanted to build these hotels on land that was zoned for conservation, not development. And Disney was concerned that the new Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD) would delay or deny Disney’s request to re-zone the land.

The CFTOD’s 2045 Comprehensive Plan Figure 2-3 (page 245) shows the areas below, labeled “Potential Sites”, as land designated “Resource Management/Recreation” that would need to be re-zoned for commercial development. This seems to be a good clue as to where those hotels might go.

I’ve labeled these sites as 1, 2, 3, and 4. We’ll talk about the pros and cons of each of them next.

Potential Hotel Site 1: Between the Grand Floridian and Magic Kingdom

The first set of potential Magic Kingdom hotel sites sits to the west of the Magic Kingdom, on land between Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort and the park. Here are two aerial images of those sites, courtesy of our friend @Bioreconstruct:

And this one:

There are pros and cons to these two locations. One thing in favor of them is that guests could walk to the Magic Kingdom using the existing walkway. And that also puts the restaurants of the Grand Flo and Polynesian close enough by to provide more dining options.

There are downsides to these locations. One is that the hotel would not be directly connected (at least for the foreseeable future) to the Magic Kingdom. In talking with Disney Imagineers, I got the sense that having the hotel attached to the park is a strong preference for any resort development. Neither of these sites would do that.

A second downside is that the Magic Kingdom views could be obstructed, especially on lower floors, by show buildings and infrastructure in Adventureland and Frontierland. And having great views would be important to everyone staying here at the kinds of prices I’d expect Disney to charge.

Another potential downside – and this could be minor – is that every other Magic Kingdom resort within walking distance also has a monorail stop. This hotel would not, because I don’t think Disney would add one in between the Grand Flo and Magic Kingdom. It’s too high a cost for too little gain.

Potential Site 2: The Villains Triangle Looks Good

I think this site, however, has potential. It’s a roughly triangular pice of land just outside the eventual boundary for Villains Land. Land inside the triangle is about 12 acres, roughly the size of Disney’s Contemporary Resort and infrastructure, minus the South Garden Wing.

Potential Site 3: Probably The Best Hotel Site Choice

I think the best site for potential Magic Kingdom hotel development is a large parcel of land northwest of Villains Land. It’s the wooded area in the bottom of this photo:

A hotel here would overlook Villains Land and have great views of that side of the park, including evening fireworks. There’s plenty of room for both a cash-based and DVC resort, if Disney wanted to “go big” here. Disney could use the existing Floridian Place road to provide bus service to the other parks, too.

In fact, outside of not being able to use this land for future Magic Kingdom park expansion, there are few downsides to using this land for hotels. Disney might have to re-route part of that canal system (or not), but that’s relatively minor in the overall scheme of things. If I’m Disney, this would be my first choice for hotels.

Potential Site 4: The Contemporary Resort Area

The fourth area that might hold a Magic Kingdom hotel is north of the Contemporary Resort and east of Tomorrowland:

The advantages to putting the hotel here include:

• Using existing walking paths to get to the Contemporary and Magic Kingdom
• Great views of Bay Lake for rooms not facing the park

The disadvantages are the same as Site #1: No direct access to the Magic Kingdom, and not great views for park-facing rooms on the lower floors.

Will We Ever Get More Magic Kingdom Hotels? I Think So!

I think it’s inevtiable that we’ll get at least one hotel directly connected to the Magic Kingdom. Disney’s seen the popularity of Epic Universe’s Helios Grand Hotel, for one thing. And rumors floating around the geosphere is that Disney has considered the area directly north of EPCOT’s monorail station as the location for a hotel. So “park-adjacent hotel in Florida” is definitely something Disney’s interested in. As soon as the hotel opened, it would be the most popular resort in Disney World.

Why hasn’t Disney built this hotel yet? It comes with risks, for one thing. A hotel is essentially a 30-year committment, so the executive team that approves it has only one chance to get it right. That means the theme, location, and amenities have to be absolutely perfect for Disney to make as much money as possible off it. My sense is that each of those elements – heck, probably the hand towels and floor mats – would be under so much scrutiny that everyone in the approval chain would have to love it.

That said, I think the odds are very good that we’ll get this hotel as part of Walt Disney World’s second phase of expansion. Recall that in 2023 Disney announced a $60 billion, 10-year parks expansion. (Keep in mind that when Disney says “10 years” that time is a construct – it’s probably going to run through 2035.) We know that Walt Disney World is getting Tropical Americas, Monstropolis, Piston Peak, and Villains Land.

All of those should be open by 2031. So it’s safe to assume there’s a second phase of expansion after that. Imagine that at the opening of Villains Land, Josh D’Amaro stands in the middle of the land, goes over the new rides and attractions, says “Oh, and one more thing … ” and reveals the hotel’s concept art.

Let me know in the comments below which area you like for the hotel, and what you’d want to see in it.