Treehouses

[goinback]

Whatever happened to the treehouses at the Disney Institute? (was that the name?) I remember seeing them on a past trip. I saw a vintage pic of them on the boards. Are they still around?

 

[madge62]

They still exist, as housing for CMs in the college/international college summer programs who work at MK.

They are not wheelchair accessible which is why they aren't being offered to the public anymore.

 

[nbodyhome]

I have a couple of photos of them, you can see the treehouses from the walk between Old Key West/DD/SS. But the bridge over is blocked, and there is sometimes security there.

I loved the old DI townhomes, villas/treehouses!

 

[skywaywaver]

When DH and I were at OKW in 10/04, we took out a water mouse from the dock there, and boated by the old villas. If that's what they were, I don't know how some of them were housing people, as it looked as if at least a few of them had major damage from falling trees.
But it was cool to see the first place that I ever stayed at in the world.

 

[Southernson]

We loved the villas to. Due to past storms the damage to the villas would cost to much to repair. Due to new wetland rules they can not remove and rebuild. Thats what I was told anyway. So they will use them for summer progarms as long as they can.

 

[bookgirl2632]

Yeah, last year on a boat ride from POR to DTD, our captain said that the treehouses were used for the college program.

 

[paintnolish]

We stayed there once and they were cool. I was young, maybe 12, and remember being freaked out by the enormous windows looking off into the woods. It was like being in a well lit fishbowl. Someone, or something, could be watching you. This is shortly after seeing the movie "Watcher in the Woods."

 

[clkelley]

I have a couple of photos of them, you can see the treehouses from the walk between Old Key West/DD/SS. But the bridge over is blocked, and there is sometimes security there.

I loved the old DI townhomes, villas/treehouses!

We saw the gate and the treehouses last month when going down the River. I wonder if that is a permanant block or an openable gate. It would be a shame if the Cast Members living there didn't have walking access to DTD.

 

[nbodyhome]

We saw the gate and the treehouses last month when going down the River. I wonder if that is a permanant block or an openable gate. It would be a shame if the Cast Members living there didn't have walking access to DTD.

I have one photo of a treehouse and a photo of the block at the end of these photos (just scroll down, they are near the end): http://www.mousesteps.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=16&Itemid=48

The block looked very permanent. The students could still get to DD, though probably just not that way (which would be closed after dark anyway).

The treehouses were very interesting, I am sorry they are no longer open.

 

[jenseib]

We loved the villas to. Due to past storms the damage to the villas would cost to much to repair. Due to new wetland rules they can not remove and rebuild. Thats what I was told anyway. So they will use them for summer progarms as long as they can.

Thats kind of like what I heard.
There is alot of damage from hurricanes, but to bring it up to code is too expensive, so they can't have guests stay there. So they have cast members live there. If they tear them down they can't rebuild because it is protected land now.

 

[SueM in MN]

They are not wheelchair accessible which is why they aren't being offered to the public anymore.

That is given as a reason for not offering them to the public, but it is not actually true.
If they were renovated, they would need to make a few of them wheelchair accessible according to ADA guidelines (not all would need to be accessible). And, if it was not technically feasible, they would not be required to make any accessible (there is a loophole in the law - it can't be required if it's not possible to do it).

 

[clkelley]

Another reason I've heard is that the land that they are built on is protected land. To make them "guest ready again" they would have to practically rebuild them and therefore can't because only a certain percentage of renovation is allowed on protected land.

 

[boomhauer]

On the boat to DTD from Port Orleans last month, you could see inside one of them. It looked like a messy teenager lived there.