Disney considered building one or two new hotels in the Magic Kingdom area, apparently attached to the theme park.
Magic Kingdom Hotels
Gabrielle Russon with Florida Politics shared the discovery, which comes from a February 2024 court deposition, when Disney was embroiled in a legal battle with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District.
Florida Politics requested records in October 2024 but only recently received them.
Imagineer Todd Rimmer said under oath that the Magic Kingdom expansion was “still under development” and “included new attractions and redevelopment of existing attractions and potentially new hotels.”
The expansion is currently under construction and includes the Cars-themed Piston Peak National Park and Disney Villains Land but no hotels.
Lawyer Nicole Moss, representing the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District Board, asked how many hotels were under consideration.
“One or two hotel locations,” said Rimmer.
“And would these be new hotels or development of existing hotels?” asked Moss.
Rimmer said, “New.”
Moss asked, “And where would they be located?”
A Disney lawyer objected to the line of questioning but Rimmer ultimately answered, “Generally, it’s within the same area that we’re expanding. There are no specific locations decided yet.”
There are three hotels located within walking distance of Magic Kingdom: Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, Disney’s Contemporary Resort, and Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort. But it seems these “one or two” hotels would have been attached to the theme park. The closest Walt Disney World has had to an in-park hotel was Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser, but guests still had to take a shuttle to Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
An in-park hotel at Disney World would be similar to Universal Epic Universe, which opened last year with the attached Helios Grand Hotel. Epic Universe is the only theme park in Central Florida with an in-park hotel.
But Disney never announced plans for such a hotel and said in a statement to Florida Politics, “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”
The Villains Land and Cars area were announced a few months after Disney and the District Board settled their lawsuits.
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