Ever since the October 2018 announcement of Reflections: A Disney Lakeside Lodge, Fort Wilderness lovers have been on a roller-coaster ride of emotions regarding the impact of the modern, nature-themed DVC resort on the historic campground. This week’s release of publicly-available permits showing that nine bungalows are planned for the present Clementine Beach and the demolition of Mickey’s Backyard BBQ have once again fueled anxiety across social media. Some are going so far as to fear that the campground itself will end up on the chopping block, but most clues point to a Fort Wilderness Campground that will far outlive most of us.
With that said, it it the theme and look of the new resort that are most peculiar. Described in a 2018 survey to DVC members as “refined nature” and construction of “steel, glass and wood,” the resort appears modern and minimalist. Now it seems to be a near-extension of Fort Wilderness, not something that is 1000 or even 100 feet away. With the likely sharing of Pioneer Hall and food venues, it is interesting to imagine how these very different design styles can intersect. Before we consider how we landed with this often-critiqued design, it’s important to understand how the project evolved over the years.
Version 1: Fort Wilderness Junction
In 1990, Disney announced plans to build what is now Wilderness Lodge, as well as a budget-friendly 600-room hotel between the new lodge and the campground. The hotel, like its neighbors, was to be based on an old-west theme, and include new restaurants and activities such as new dinner shows and western-themed activities. Possible hotel names were Buffalo Junction, Wilderness Junction, and Fort Wilderness Junction. (jimhillmedia.com, 2004) Designs were to be similar to Disneyland Paris’ Cheyenne Hotel. This would seem to be the perfect fit, as, Disney’s website beckons its Paris guests to “Experience the yee-ha atmosphere of a Wild West frontier town. YEE-HA COW BOY! Put your boots on, hang on to your hat and get on your horse!”
And like the Hotel Cheyenne, it would have had its own Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. The best part of all in the Imagineering phase was the inclusion of a train that would transport guests between Fort Wilderness Campground, Buffalo Lodge, and Wilderness Lodge (jimhillmedia.com, 2004). Sounds wonderful, right?
So what happened to delay this project?
Enter the DVC era. The Disney Vacation Club (time share program) kicked off in the early 1990s, and proved to be a cash flow cow for Disney. Priorities shifted, and resources were allocated to building more DVC units, such as those that opened at Wilderness Lodge in 2000. And this was followed by a travel and economic downtown that began after the events of September 11, 2001.
VERSION 2: WILDERNESS WAY RESORT / discovery lodge
Fast forward to 2010 when new permit filings revealed a multi-story DVC complex to be built on the old River Country parcel with some intrusion into Fort Wilderness Campground. These were the first plans indicating the need to relocate the Tri-Circle-D Ranch. By 2014, a more complete set of plans created in 2011 were leaked by Twitter account @AmusementLeaks,who dubbed the project Wilderness Way. By this time, River Country had been long abandoned (since 2001), and at least eleven DVC resorts had been built, including Bay Lake Tower at the Contemporary Resort (2009) and the Villas at Grand Floridian Resort and Spa (2013).
The 2011 plans revealed an 8-story DVC resort with a lazy river and some apparent nods to River Country, and theming that appeared very similar to Wilderness Lodge. (DVCNews.com, 2014). Yet, once again, the project seemed to once again move to the back of the barn, as activity stopped and River Country continued to rot away, until . . .
versiON 3: reflections: A Disney Lakeside Lodge
In early 2018, Disney filed new permits for environmental studies on wetlands, and by May, the Orlando Sentinel reported that plans were being completed for the final destruction of River Country. (Orlando Sentinel, 2018) So, few were surprised in October when Disney officially announced the new DVC resort, with a projected completion date of 2022.
Yet, this version had some very significant changes. First of all, it was much larger in scale, with 900 rooms and “other” types of accommodations. Most stunning, however, was the artist rendering. (WDWNT.com, 2018) Instead of the expected western theming was a very modern design more suggestive of the new urbanism of Serenbe – the hipster, upscale nature-oriented community south of Atlanta. At first glance, it feels like the architectural opposite of what was expected.
Then, this week, updated plans revealed that the new resort would not be beside Fort Wilderness campground, but would nearly become part of it. The inclusion of nine bungalows on the present Clementine Beach of the campground (gasp!) means that visitors to the log-cabin style Settlement area will be looking out on organic, modern cabins that wouldn’t seem to mesh. It seems clear that Disney is looking to attract a more affluent and more educated visitor, but the campgrounds are by no means exclusive to a blue-collar or middle-class crowd. To the contrary, Disney has already attracted wealthier Class A RV owners by raising camping prices as high or higher than the value resorts. And the campground is more booked than ever, so it doesn’t seem to be all about the money.
As I pondered this, a part of me wondered if the cumbersome name and the underwhelming concept art was all a Disney ploy to keep us from knowing what the real resort would really look like.
But then I realized that maybe there is something we are missing here.
social responsibility
For those who are truly lovers of nature, we understand that our species are increasingly threatened, and we are steadily more aware of the value of the great outdoors to our own health. And, we see Disney progressively take more measures that fall into the realm of social responsibility. As you recall, Musket Mickey (old Fort Wilderness logo) was retired in the early 2000s as a response to increasing gun violence. And just this week, we learned that remake of Lady and The Tramp will not feature the stereotyped Siamese cats with their broken English. Of course, Disney CEO Bob Iger himself resigned from Trump’s Advisory Council after the president stunned the nation by withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord (Fortune, 2017). Sometimes, more important to corporate powers than the bottom line is the greater good, as one’s personal legacy and impact far outlast fortune and investments.
Every experience that we have with Disney not only entertains us, but influences us.
Perhaps the story that Reflections: A Disney Lakeside Lodge will inspire is not one of man overcoming nature, or cowboys and Indians, but rather living in harmony with our earth and one another. If Fort Wilderness is similar to Country Bear Jamboree, then Reflection: A Disney Lakeside Resort is more akin to Epcot’s Living With the Land.
In retrospect, it seems only natural that Disney would leverage the greatest resources of the campground for a “nature-inspired” DVC resort. What remains to be seen is how the Imagineers of Disney will bridge the illustrative gap between the folklore of Davy Crockett and the type of person that could be representative of the new resort – such as the environmentalist-humanist Jane Goodall. Could it result in a re-branding of some elements of Fort Wilderness Campground? Possibly. Will it mean the eventual end of the campground altogether? I don’t think so – in fact, the new resort likely increases the odds of positive campground improvements. I am optimistic that in five years we will look back and wonder why we were so worried.
