Back in 2018, it was confirmed that Disney was bulldozing the remains of River Country and building a new hotel around Bay Lake that will be named Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge. However, after several years in development and only a few months of vertical construction, it looks like this project may have stalled. And according to recent rumors, it actually may never be picked up again.
An ambitious (and expensive) project
Reflections- A Disney Lakeside Lodge resort was announced as a deluxe-level property that was to be themed around Walt Disney’s love of the natural world. When completed, this new hotel would include more than 900 rooms as well as Disney Vacation Club villas spread across a variety of unique accommodation types.
In addition to its luxury rooms and villas, Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge was designed to feature a dual-level fireworks viewing lounge and a high end table service restaurant with scenic views of Bay Lake, which reportedly had a Princess and the Frog theme.
Originally stated to be the 16th Disney Vacation Club property as part of a larger plan to add as much DVC inventory as possible to the Florida resort, rumors seem to indicate that this project has been cancelled. Crews have been seen onsite removing the equipment from the construction site, and it looks like landscaping may be going up around where the construction site used to be.
In addition all references to this property have been removed from Disney Vacation Club and Disney Parks Blog websites, which is similar to what happened to the Main Street Theater project, which was also cancelled suddenly a few years ago with no announcement after construction had already begun.
Though we assumed that Reflections- A Disney Lakeside Lodge resort was not going to make its 2022 original opening date, this cancellation is definitely a surprise.
The last of the Disney projects to stop construction
One reason why this reported cancellation is so surprising is that construction on this hotel was one of the last project at Walt Disney World to shut down due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, as third-party company, Balfour Beatty Construction LLC, which is responsible for principal construction on Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge, actually continued on with work on this massive project for Disney weeks after the theme parks shut down.
Though we haven’t heard any official news about the status of this resort, when it comes to cancelled projects, Disney rarely makes public announcements. However, since this is technically still a rumor, we’ll keep an eye out for any developments about this project in the future.
As always, while this situation is evolving, all travelers should check out the CDC’s official site here, which has information on the virus and how to prevent its spread.
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