In what order were the resorts built?

[Luv2Roam]

Today I overheard someone say the Poly was the first Disney resort built.
Which got me thinking -- what was built, and in what order?

 

[ILoveWDW2003]

Poly and Contemporary were the first.

Saratoga Springs and Pop Century are the most recent.

 

[HopperFan]

I think SOG was built fairly early but of course it was a regular hotel then.......

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

When WDW opened in 1971 there was the Contemporary, the Polynesian, and Fort Wilderness. I believe those were followed by the Disney Inn (now Shades of Green). After that my knowledge gets fuzzy, but I think it might be the Swan and Dolphin, CBR, GF, POFQ, Dixie Landings, Boardwalk, YC/BC, WL, CSR, All Stars, AKL, POP and SSR.???

 

[keys2kingdom]

1971 Poly & Contemporary, Fort Wilderness
1988 Grand Flo & CBR
1989 Swan
1990 Dolphin & YC/BC
1991 Port Orleans (now POFQ)
1992 Dixie Landings (now POR)
1994 All Star Sports, Music and Wilderness Lodge
1996 Boardwalk
1998 Coronado Springs
? 1999 All Star Movies, Animal Kingdom Lodge ?
? 2002 Pop Century ?

 

[TDC Nala]

I've had this list awhile. Had to add PC and SS to it. I don't know if the dates are absolutely correct or not, and they're only WDW resorts that are now open.

Polynesian 10/1/71
Contemporary 10/1/71
Fort Wilderness 10/1/71
Grand Floridian 6/28/88
Caribbean Beach 10/1/88
Yacht Club 11/5/90
Beach Club 11/19/90
Port Orleans now Port Orleans FQ 5/17/91
Old Key West 10/1/91
Dixie Landings now Port Orleans Riverside 2/2/92
All Star Sports 4/29/94
Wilderness Lodge 5/28/94
All Star Music 11/1/94
Boardwalk Villas 6/30/96
Boardwalk Inn 7/1/96
Coronado Springs 8/1/97
All Star Movies 1/15/99
Wilderness Lodge Villas 11/15/00
Animal Kingdom Lodge 4/16/01
Beach Club Villas 7/1/02
Pop Century 12/14/03
Saratoga Springs 5/27/04

 

[joliesmom]

I've had this list awhile. Had to add PC and SS to it. I don't know if the dates are absolutely correct or not, and they're only WDW resorts that are now open.

Polynesian 10/1/71
Contemporary 10/1/71
Fort Wilderness 10/1/71
Grand Floridian 6/28/88

You forgot about Shades of Green/ Disney Inn it was one of the originals.

 

[TDC Nala]

It is no longer the Disney Inn. Shades of Green is owned by the Department of Defense and not Disney. I listed only current Disney resorts.

 

[DMRick]

Since the OP posted:
"what was built, and in what order?" does anyone have the date the Disney Inn opened? I'm guessing around 1984? Am I close? How about the treehouses, and the place that was where Saratoga is now?

 

[Miss Park Avenue]

The Disney Inn was originally The Golf Resort. or something like that

 

[WDW LifeLong Fan]

The Disney Inn was originally The Golf Resort. or something like that

You are correct. It was originally the Golf Resort.

 

[PolyHereWeCome]

Great trivia thread! Anyone remember the original name of the Grand Floridian? Was it always owned by Disney?

 

[BostonRob]

Great trivia thread! Anyone remember the original name of the Grand Floridian? Was it always owned by Disney?

I'm going to go with "Grand Floridian" and "yes". I think this is a trick question.

 

[DLKT]

Very interesting question!
I wonder why there was a 17 year gap between building a new resort after the original 3?
Lack of funds? or lack of demand? or just poor management?

I'm surprised that a resort wasn't built in conjunction to Epcot being opened.

Thanks to TC Nala for the whole list.

 

[DVC-Don]

Very interesting question!
I wonder why there was a 17 year gap between building a new resort after the original 3?
Lack of funds? or lack of demand? or just poor management?

I'm surprised that a resort wasn't built in conjunction to Epcot being opened.
.

Building Epcot almost bankrupted the company and it was almost the victim of a hostile takeover due to that. If that had happened the company would have been broken up and sold piecemeal. Once that got settled and Eisner came aboard, the resort building started.

 

[KevinFSU]

Wow.... hard to believe most of the resorts are 17 years or newer. That's a lot of frickin resort building over the span of 20 years or so.

 

[paras4ri]

Great trivia thread! Anyone remember the original name of the Grand Floridian? Was it always owned by Disney?

Grand Floridian Beach Resort....and the Poly was originally the Polynesian Village Resort.

 

[HookdonWDW]

The Disney Villas and Treetop Resorts (later the Disney Institute and now being rebuilt as Saratoga Springs) are also missing from the list. We stayed in them back around '92, when they were still the Villas (I think that was the name).

 

[crazy4wdw]

Great trivia thread! Anyone remember the original name of the Grand Floridian? Was it always owned by Disney?

Are you possibly referring to the Asian Resort? This was the resort which was originally planned to be built where the GF is currently located. Construction on the Asian Resort came close to being started in the mid-70's; don't know why Disney pulled the plug.

 

[Tikiman]

Part of the list of construction should be the expansion of the Polynesian in 1978 and again in 1985 making two of the buildings only 3 years older than the GF and CBR. Also the Polynesian was called the Polynesian Village (no resort on the name).

Aloha

Steve