Inside of the treehouse villas

[SCFIREMAN]

Does anyone have pics of the inside of the treehouse villas?

 

[Carrieannew]

I would love to see those as well. Also anyone have a link to some outside? Maybe we have some international CM's who can share them.

 

[3guysandagal]

Since noone has responded yet, I know if you go to youtube and search "Disney Treehouse" you will get quite a few videos taken by international CMs. Most arent in english, you will get some from SFR treehouse, and have to wade through some others, but there are quite a few that show the interiors.

 

[smjj]

My space has quite a few. One I remember is a short video set to music made by an exchange student that shows many pictures taken both inside and outside. Most have pictures are of his/her friends but you can see a lot of the interior in them. Its touching, you can see they were very good friends from several different countries and it may be a good by party before they left for home. Hope this helps...smjj

 

[Smooshdog]

Outside.

 

[jlx2]

I have never heard of this before. Could someone fill me in on where they are located? Any details would be great. Thanks!

 

[Smooshdog]

Take the boat from downtown disney to Port Orleans and you will pass right by them.

The Tree Houses were Walt's idea as he wanted a place for large families to stay while visiting. They are three bedroom two bath built on Walt's original design. The bottom is 1/3 less the size of the top giving them a treeish appearance. However in the late 90s they needed a refurb but to upgrade them they would have to meet the requirements of the American's with Disabilities act. That proved too much of a project and really couldn't be done due to their unique design. Now they house the international college students.

They even have one room called the "rope room" where all the furniture is suspended by rope.

 

[3guysandagal]

Having trained in architecture and being in the building trades sector myself, I would love to see a floor plan layout or even better, drawings of these buildings.
Any ideas out there?

 

[momto2]

Why only international college students? I know that US students can do a semester at WDW. Are they able to stay in the tree houses too?

 

[stellablue]

I was wondering if anyone knows how much $$ it had cost to stay in the Treehouse Villas back when they were open for guests?

They look huge and I wondered if their rates were comparable to today's DVC Villas-

I remember them when I was little, but we never got to stay in them My parents weren't really the "rough it" type-they preferred straight hotel rooms.

 

[Smooshdog]

Well the boat driver we had from POFQ to DTD told us he took his family there a year before they closed and the cost was about $500 a night...but I'm not sure how accurate that is.

 

[CanadianGuy]

While the ADA is often cited by posters as the main reasons these were taken out of booking inventory for guests.. that's a red herring. The ADA would have only required some small percentage of these units to be converted to ADA compliancy.. that would hardly have been cost prohibitive.

A much bigger issue revolves around the fact that the land and property surrounding these buildings is now a protected wetland area. This severely impacts the cost of construction in the nearby-non protected lands as all sort of additional steps must be undertaken to protect the watershed.. the groundwater.. water flow.. etc.

And those steps must be taken even if the construction is highly unlikely to cause an impact in those areas.

And the reality of the substantial growth of the Disney World resort as a whole means that the managing, maintenance and upkeep of the very limited number of these formerly unique guest accommodations.. doesn't make practical economic sense for the guest or for WDW ... when you compare vs. the newer resort and other alternatives available on-property.

Knox

 

[momto2]

Why only international college students? I know that US students can do a semester at WDW. Are they able to stay in the tree houses too?

Still wondering

 

[CanadianGuy]

Still wondering

Mom:

Generally speaking -- no -- the US based College Program participants do not use the treehouses but rather stay in different and more modern accommodations like Vista Way and Chatham Square.

The International CM's are generally in the country and working at Disney for 12 months at a shot whereas the US based CP's are in for 6 to 8 month sessions.

Hope this helps,

Knox

 

[eandt]

We had the opportunity to stay at the Treehouses when we traveled with a CM the year before they closed but we opted to stay at CSR instead not knowing they were about to close.......looking back we wish we had tried the Treehouses when we had the chance! Incidently the cost of them, at least at CM rates was nowhere near $400 a night.........more like $110-$120 as I recall. We have heard some rumors on some of our trips (we normally stay at POR/FQ so we take the boat quite a bit) that the treehouses may be renovated and reopened but so far that has obviously not been the case.......if we ever get the opp again we will take it!

 

[stacy6552]

Here's one...

and another....

I stayed in one back in 1991. They were nice, but I prefer the DVC villas they have now.

 

[ElizabethB]

In 1996 they ran about $300 per night. We checked into staying there but didn't due to the price.

 

[momto2]

Mom:

Generally speaking -- no -- the US based College Program participants do not use the treehouses but rather stay in different and more modern accommodations like Vista Way and Chatham Square.

The International CM's are generally in the country and working at Disney for 12 months at a shot whereas the US based CP's are in for 6 to 8 month sessions.

Hope this helps,

Knox

Knox,

Thanks for the answer. My daughter will begin college next year. It has always been her dream to spend a semester at Disney. She has looked into in the past. I guess now that the time is upon us, she will be looking into it a bit more. Just thought it would be fun for her to stay in the tree houses. But now I realize t hat the international students are probably the ones working at EPCOT. We met and visited with a lot the last couple of trips, they were teriffic!

 

[mandidel]

Knox,

Thanks for the answer. My daughter will begin college next year. It has always been her dream to spend a semester at Disney. She has looked into in the past. I guess now that the time is upon us, she will be looking into it a bit more. Just thought it would be fun for her to stay in the tree houses. But now I realize t hat the international students are probably the ones working at EPCOT. We met and visited with a lot the last couple of trips, they were teriffic!

Yes, I have to agree, the international program is wonderful, and meeting the students is amazing. I also have to chime in as I did 3 stints in the college program (2 summers at Disneyland, and 1 term at WDW before I graduated and became a perm CM), and I have to say that the College Program is one of the most significantly wonderful expediences in my life. I would highly recommend it to any college student who has an interest in Disney/tourism/retail....you name it! AWESOME!

 

[Poohbug]

I am going through all my Disney paperwork right now and trying to organize. We stayed in the treehouse in 1997. I have not found any pictures yet but I did find a travel guide from Walt Disney Travel Co. It lists a treehouse for 4 adults as $303 pp for three nights-value, $319 pp-regular, $332 pp-holiday. This is for the basic plan wich includes River Country admission. I don't have a floor plan but the lower level just had one bedroom and a utility room with washer/dryer. The upper level had two bedrooms-one with bath, bathroom, open living room, dining room and kitchen. The spiral stair was in the middle. They were nice for larger groups. One of the things I remember is the peacocks that were roaming free. If you don't know what a peacock sounds like-its kind of scary at first.