Attack of the Lakeshore Lodge

This is a no-brainer, @MagicCat.

As a 20-yr+ guest at FW, my initial reaction (like yours) is that the holidays are special at Fort Wilderness for guests staying there. And they certainly are. So I agree with you.

But I bet (and I only gamble on a sure thing) that those folks will find that Fort Wilderness is special EVERY day of the year. And if you disagree with me, don't be afraid - time will tell, won't it.

Generally (very) speaking, guests who stay in the Fort cabins (DVC style) seem to enjoy it. Sure there are trade-offs (example - transportation options) but the drive-up-to-the-door-pleasure for most is hard to deny.

My only hope is that the newcomers respect the vibe of the Fort. I hope that is enough.

Bama Ed
I agree that any time of the year is wonderful at the fort. The holidays are just next level. I appreciate all of the work people put into decorating and I myself am planning go all out to decorate my cabin for Halloween and for Christmas. I am a long time fort fan and definitely want to preserve the fun vibes of the campground.
 

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Lots going on in some of these photos... continued boat dock construction, signature restaurant steel vertical construction, and outline of at least some part of the center courtyard pool. From my untrained construction eye, still too much other construction staging occurring to see any signs of a lazy river or the full pool complex at this point.
 

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Additional elements of the project starting to become more visible...the beginnings of the porte cochere, lobby, and bus stop area. Original stormwater permit drawings showed six bus stops, some other plans have shown five. That's a seemingly decent size for a deluxe resort - similar sizing to AKL - and at least to me would seem appropriate for the potential guest load here. Original stormwater plans showed the bus stops as "proposed roof area" in orange in the image below, so presumably (and hopefully) these stops have some sort of roof structure along with a covered walkway from the lobby, which would make sense.

The grade leading to the porte cochere/main lobby entrance is "built up" - I believe you enter the building on the third floor.

Still very early in construction and inconclusive, but it seems to me that "hole" and steel now being erected in the lobby area could be the beginnings of the structural supports you see in original concept art in this area.
 

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I know, it's so hard to tell scale in drawings. Using the measuring tool in Adobe I get roughly 633 feet around. Big emphasis on roughly as measure 100 times and you get slightly different results depending on just where you click. SAB's "lazy river" (which I consider a pathetic excuse for a lazy river) is roughly 244 feet, although obviously surrounded by a much more elaborate pool setup. The Four Seasons lazy river (which is awesome) seems to be roughly 698 feet. Of course width is a part of the equation too.

I'll withhold judgement until the final product, but I suspect it may end up being like how I feel about many Disney resort feature pools (particularly the MK and Epcot deluxes) - passable but at times undersized for the demand.

That is all assuming, of course, that a lazy river is in fact still a part of the plan!

You can see the most recent plan for the lazy river here. Changed minorly? But mostly the pool looks bigger.

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...ent-near-fort-wilderness.938671/post-11268152


Obviously anything can change, but I’d be pretty surprised to see the Lazy River cut now. It’s been too repetitively present.
 
You can see the most recent plan for the lazy river here. Changed minorly? But mostly the pool looks bigger.

https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads...ent-near-fort-wilderness.938671/post-11268152


Obviously anything can change, but I’d be pretty surprised to see the Lazy River cut now. It’s been too repetitively present.

Yeah, and that pool outline general matches the initial framing you can see in recent aerials. Will be interesting to see it all come together.
 

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Re-if the pool complex/lazy river is big enough. It seems to compare not unreasonably to Aulani. The whole thing feels oddly the same. Eyeballing, Aulani does hug the building more and has a bend and a bit more of a curvey route than just a giant oval.

I find Aulani’s lazy river perfect. I mean, I’ll always be down for a 10 mile lazy river. But it seems to handle guests well enough as is and by its very nature Aulani will have way more people in its pool complex at all hours.

Now I don’t remotely expect that level of detailing and care (plus Aulani has many more feature pools and the ocean), but the fact I can mention a WDW pool complex in the same breath and not seem idiotic has me thinking this will quickly be a top (maybe even the very best) resort pool.
 
Re-if the pool complex/lazy river is big enough. It seems to compare not unreasonably to Aulani. The whole thing feels oddly the same. Eyeballing, Aulani does hug the building more and has a bend and a bit more of a curvey route than just a giant oval.

I find Aulani’s lazy river perfect. I mean, I’ll always be down for a 10 mile lazy river. But it seems to handle guests well enough as is and by its very nature Aulani will have way more people in its pool complex at all hours.

Now I don’t remotely expect that level of detailing and care (plus Aulani has many more feature pools and the ocean), but the fact I can mention a WDW pool complex in the same breath and not seem idiotic has me thinking this will quickly be a top (maybe even the very best) resort pool.
The fact Disney took so long to plan better on resorts boggles my mind. Off site resorts have offered far better pools for years.

They can get away with some thing in the Seven Seas, Crescent Lake, and now skyliner bubble. Other resorts really should have better pools or other features (savanna), etc to make them competitive.

Offset location with features if you want to charge $250+/point in 2027.
 
The one distance aerial showing CR in the corner is some good perspective too. Not that you’re going to see MK from any of the rooms, but it’s looking like some of the lake-side DVC wing rooms could at least catch some fireworks in the sky each night?

Crude visual of possible angles towards the castle and fireworks launch site. Exact angles and height will be critical in terms of actual views, there's a lot going on with possible obstructions with shoreline trees, to what extent CR/BLT are in the way or not, etc. I suspect that section around the boat dock and leisure pool (which has fewer shoreline trees) will be pretty decent, especially higher floors.

No idea where the source of this info came from, but I'm reminded of this 2018 WDWNT article which referenced a "2-Level Fireworks Viewing Lounge" and has some oddly specific narrative related to the overall resort. "Remember that lobby hallway from earlier? It leads into this fireworks viewing lounge, with small islands of moss and large dandelion light fixtures illuminating the space."

For the sake of speculation let's say that is accurate - marrying it up with @bioreconstruct aerials on X and a recent article from WDWMagic with photos from this past week, the section with the red circle would be in the zone of having a good MK angle, would be "off the lobby hallway" on the third floor, and appears to have a two-story component to it as it doesn't match the room/balcony layout above it and does not appear to be rooms.

All speculation of course!
 

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Crude visual of possible angles towards the castle and fireworks launch site. Exact angles and height will be critical in terms of actual views, there's a lot going on with possible obstructions with shoreline trees, to what extent CR/BLT are in the way or not, etc. I suspect that section around the boat dock and leisure pool (which has fewer shoreline trees) will be pretty decent, especially higher floors.

No idea where the source of this info came from, but I'm reminded of this 2018 WDWNT article which referenced a "2-Level Fireworks Viewing Lounge" and has some oddly specific narrative related to the overall resort. "Remember that lobby hallway from earlier? It leads into this fireworks viewing lounge, with small islands of moss and large dandelion light fixtures illuminating the space."

For the sake of speculation let's say that is accurate - marrying it up with @bioreconstruct aerials on X and a recent article from WDWMagic with photos from this past week, the section with the red circle would be in the zone of having a good MK angle, would be "off the lobby hallway" on the third floor, and appears to have a two-story component to it as it doesn't match the room/balcony layout above it and does not appear to be rooms.

All speculation of course!
I do find it interesting that what we consider the potential " hotel/cash " side has no direct view of anything but another building and the former D. Island trees. The pool alone would need to justify this as a Deluxe hotel.

That being said, the whole "TP view" is a bit overstated @ Poly - even the fireworks are not that impressive from the beach. I would assume this would be the same.
 
I won't be buying points (ETA - who am I kidding?) at CFW or LSL anyway so it doesn't matter to me, but once upon a time I almost bought a favorite week at CFW because I love the Fort and we stay there every year - and I used to hope that LSL and CFW would be combined in the Trust so I could book either at 11 months. Now I'll just have to hope I can swim the LSL lazy river at 7 months.

As a cash paying fan of the cabins at the Fort the last 20 years, my personal preference is the holiday season when everyone decorates their camp site (myself included) and tooling around the whole place in a golf cart with my kids to look at the lights. This is why I almost bought a favorite week, and why I agree with you completely.

Well….that didn’t take long. I’m presently on the Disney Wish and just wrapped up my visit at the DVC office where I bought a favorite week (#50) at CFW. That puts me back in the camp of hoping they combine CFW with LSL! Come on DVD… do it!
 
Generally (very) speaking, guests who stay in the Fort cabins (DVC style) seem to enjoy it. Sure there are trade-offs (example - transportation options) but the drive-up-to-the-door-pleasure for most is hard to deny.
The fact Disney took so long to plan better on resorts boggles my mind. Off site resorts have offered far better pools for years.
I'm kind of new to this, but hasn't Disney transportation always been one of the top selling points for staying on property? Wouldn't renting a car introduce the hassle that you're already paying a premium to avoid? Maybe I should try it just once to see if it's actually more enjoyable.

And likewise, the offsite resorts need to compensate with other, non-propriety selling points (lower price, better amenities such as pools) in order to compete. And if you really start getting skeptical, an off property resort would LOVE for you to stay at their hotel longer, whereas Disney would prefer you use the hotel minimally so you can maximize time bleeding money in the parks.
 
I'm kind of new to this, but hasn't Disney transportation always been one of the top selling points for staying on property? Wouldn't renting a car introduce the hassle that you're already paying a premium to avoid? Maybe I should try it just once to see if it's actually more enjoyable.
Some people say they like the “vacation bubble” experience, but I don’t find it takes anything away to also have a car. It allows us to readily eat different places and to explore elsewhere in the area (other parks, nature & attractions, even to the coast for beach days). Many of us drive to WDW, so our car is there whether we use it or not.

DVC’s offers a variety of options when it comes to having your own car with you. Yes, many are central parking lots which lend themselves to just leaving the car and using Disney transpo 90% of the time. But there’s also the traditional FL timeshare style of OKW, the Treehouse Villas with their individual parking and fairly private entry road coming back from a park day, Copper Creek Cabins with special private lots, and of course Kidani’s unique “park under your villa” approach. Whether I’ll have my car with me or not definitely influences where I’d book to stay.
 
Well….that didn’t take long. I’m presently on the Disney Wish and just wrapped up my visit at the DVC office where I bought a favorite week (#50) at CFW. That puts me back in the camp of hoping they combine CFW with LSL! Come on DVD… do it!
I need to know where you bought your money tree...seriously jealous of your all your DVC purchases. Will you adopt me?
 
If you're flying in, it isn't that much of a premium to get a rental car. Last I priced priority Mears, it was over $200 for a family of 4 round trip. My last two week long car rentals were both under $500 for an intermediate SUV. Don't know what the Mears experience is like, but my rental car experiences have been pretty quick and easy. And, even if you're planning to use Disney transportation most of the time, it is nice to have a car if you want to use it - we have found it particularly helpful with the water parks where you have to do the bus transfer to get to/from them.

On the pools, although resorts outside of the Disney bubble can have much better pools, I think Disney has designed their ecosystem very deliberately. Value resorts - basic but nice pool, no waterslide or splash pad. Moderate resorts - waterslide and maybe a splash pad. Deluxe resorts - waterslide, splash pad or other feature, and some theming that gives it a premium feel over moderate. Then, if you want something more than that, you gotta get over to one of the water parks where you'll spend more money. The pools (and other accommodations) are designed to make you want to go from value to moderate or from moderate to deluxe, but nothing so spectacular that you're going to be tempted to stay for a week and not go into the parks at all (although I realize there are still some people who do that).
 
I'm kind of new to this, but hasn't Disney transportation always been one of the top selling points for staying on property? Wouldn't renting a car introduce the hassle that you're already paying a premium to avoid? Maybe I should try it just once to see if it's actually more enjoyable.
What sounds more like a vacation:
  1. Never touching your car keys, or trying to figure out how to get on to Overpass Road (shout out to OKW drivers...)
  2. Never wondering when the bus will come, or how many more monorails before you can board.
In other words, as they say on the Transportation Board: There is no Pixie Dust in Transportation.

I usually rent a car, and will typically drive most places not named Magic Kingdom (or, on most days, Disney Springs). The car is usually faster to those destinations, and is always more predictable, even to MK. I will sometimes skip the car to any random destination if we are not in a hurry or on a schedule, and I'd rather let someone else deal with it.

Many of the better offsite resorts---particularly the timeshares---are destinations unto themselves. Folks staying there are often going to Orlando, not to Disney, so the resort is their home base. From there they might go to WDW for a day or two, they might go to Universal for a day or two, or they might do some of the other things Orlando has to offer. My uncle's family had a couple of weeks at Orange Lake. He golfed most days, they'd hit up the outlets, the kids would go to Magic Kingdom once, maybe an airboat, or fishing, or kayaking in Rock Springs, etc.
 















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