dreamflight99
<font color=deeppink>Princess of THIS Castle!<br><
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2001
- Messages
- 3,388
Just a bit off here, too. The WDW Swan and Dolphin opened the same year as the BC/YC...1990. (Well, "technically" opening BEFORE these properties.
*From the September 27, 2002 print edition
Tourism world.
A big chunk of the $75 million upgrade at the Walt Disney World Dolphin and Swan hotels is being spent where guests will appreciate it most: the hotel's 2,267 rooms.
Architect Michael Graves has been commissioned by the hotel's owners to redo the room designs with more of an emphasis on comfort and functionality than the original decor, which the designers called whimsical.
Located in the middle of the Epcot Resort area (opened since 1990), the pair of properties appear to be part of the Disney family to the casual eye. Their colorful designs include giant namesake cartoon-like figures atop the buildings.
But these are not Disney hotels. They are operated by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. under the Sheraton (Dolphin) and Westin (Swan) brands. They are not owned by Disney, either. The owners include a partnership between MetLife Inc. and the Tishman Hotel & Realty Corp., a subsidiary of Tishman Realty & Construction Inc., the business that managed the original Epcot construction project.
How did they get inside the Disney gates when all the competition Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt have to settle for more remote locations? When the giant Tishman hotel complex was conceived in the early '80s, it was located elsewhere: the Lake Buena Vista area.
) PLEASE?! HeHe...you are always dependable, "popping-in" to LIGHTEN the mood. Thanks! TTFN....
