I'm not sure how accurate the Swan/Dolphin story on Allears really is...
For example, the whole "loan" to Disney during the early 80's doesn't jive with the story I was told as a Cast Member in the mid-90's.
Basically, what I was told (by execs at the time) was that pre-Eisner Disney had deals in place with lots of hotel operators (most specifically, Marriott) to come in and build/operate hotels in Disney World under much the same kind of arrangement Universal currently has with Loews - where Universal owns the hotels but Loews runs them.
Back then, Disney leadership wasn't sure they wanted to be a hotel operator (they didn't even own the
Disneyland Hotel then) and running the Polynesian/Contemp was even something they weren't sure they wanted to do long term (after all it's primarily a movie studio / theme park company then...) Don't forget this was also the time when Disney was selling "lots" on Hotel Plaza Blvd for outside companies to build hotels on yet still call them "inside" of Disney World. At that time, these hotels were even serviced by the WDW Bus System (places like the Hilton Downtown Disney, Buena Vista Palace, etc..) That's why they get to call themselves "the" official hotels of Walt Disney World even though Disney would love to end that arrangement, as well.
So basically, from opening until the early 80's Disney was openly experimenting with different concepts for hotels onsite, only ONE involved them actually operating the hotels. Keep in mind, the majority of onsite rooms were actually run and even owned by outsiders (Hotel Plaza Blvd) until Eisner changed directions in 84!
After Eisner came around he/his team decided that the hotels could be extremely profitable and wanted Disney to build and operate lots more - they were then able to back out of all the agreements (some weren't even final) with people like Marriott and put an end to outsiders building on Disney land. No more lots were sold on Hotel Plaza Blvd, etc.
However, Tishman already had his deal signed and would NOT back out of it. Basically what happened was Disney threatened to find a way to break the deal, Tishman sued, and they settled by letting Disney pick the design (and I believe that Disney technically owns the Swan and Dolphin buildings as well.. Tishman has an uber long term lease..) and the rest is history.
Also, contrary to the Allears article - I believe Tishman had the site already designated as part of the original deal. There's no way Eisner would have given them such a prime location if he absolutely didn't have to... in fact, I recall one Imagineer telling me the design Tishman had would have looked positively awful from EPCOT (hence the site was already designated...) and that "what we got" was infinitely better.
Would be interesting to find out.
