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RUMOR: Another “Bay Lake Tower” Vacation Club Wing To Be Constructed at Disney’s Contemporary Resort

While Caribbean Beach Resort will likely be the next Disney Vacation Club addition at Walt Disney World, supposedly Disney is already looking ahead to expanding their DVC presence at the Contemporary Resort with another Bay Lake Tower-type wing.

Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort
Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort

While still a few years off, early design has begun on a new tower for Disney’s Contemporary Resort. The exact location of the new wing is still in-flux right now, but the competing sites range from the planned site of the Persian Resort (a cancelled original hotel planned for the Walt Disney World Resort back in the 1970’s) and the space currently occupied by the convention center at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. The Persian Resort site seems far more likely at this time, but other sources are speculating that the convention center would be the site of the new addition.

Separately, the convention center is set to be removed in the coming years in favor of an expanded convention center at Disney’s Yacht Club Resort.

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Proposed site for 2nd Bay Lake Tower type wing at Disney's Contemporary Resort
Proposed site for 2nd Bay Lake Tower type wing at Disney’s Contemporary Resort

While the building would have a very different look from the existing Bay Lake Tower, it should have a similar height and size to that of the first addition made in 2008.

The new hotel wing would boast better views of the Magic Kingdom than Bay Lake Tower if constructed, as it would be even closer to the park. Rumor has it that the price point at this new wing would be much higher than Bay Lake Tower, rivaling or surpassing the Polynesian Village Resort DVC additions.

Again, the project is not formally announced by Disney, but is in the design phase at this time. The new resort wing could be more than 5 years from completion at this point and could easily be cancelled at any point prior to construction, but sources close to the project say it is as good as green-lit at this point in time.

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Tom Corless
Tom has been regularly visiting the Walt Disney World® Resort from the time he was 4 months old. While he has made countless visits in the last 28 years, he did not become a truly active member in the Disney fan community until the summer of 2007, when he decided to launch the WDW News Today website and podcast. Tom has since become an Orlando-local and is a published author on Walt Disney World. Contact Tom at [email protected]

20 Comments

  1. It seems that if the Persian site is going to be used it would be awfully far from the rest of the resort.

      1. Why would you think a DVC add-on resort would have it’s own amenities? BLT and VGF suggest otherwise. Kidani Village is an anomaly at AKL.

  2. Tear down the Contemporary rooms in the wing section like they did for BLT. Makes sense, name it Bay Lake Towers 2 and it would be just as close to the Contemporary as the existing BLT.

  3. Just close the parks, put in all vacation clubs, charge parking and admission, have lots of stores, strollers and some meet and photo sessions with Disney characters and call it quits. I know…kinda negative, but with all the growth of profit centers, where’s the added real estate with something FUN to do with these hordes of people??? They need a 5th park much more than they need more accommodations to cram people in. Just my 2 cents. Im certain some will disagree (especially Disney themselves$)

    1. David,
      They need to have rooms available for guests before they can build a fifth park. In Disney’s last quarterly earnings call to Wall St. they reported 90% occupancy of 28 Disney resorts, and that was including Four Seasons, and the Swan and Dolphin. They would need another roughly 5,000 rooms to accommodate another park. Disney way be on the path to the fifth park with this future announcement, and the construction at Wilderness Lodge.

      1. I’m not so sure. 5th park will come from the need eventually, or Comcast will buy some Reedy Creek land and do another one. The accommodations outside the Disney parks have grown…according to Osceola county, we’ve almost doubled since the last park (AK) built. Plenty of new resorts, just many of the guests are driving past Disney to hit the Outlet Malls, Universal and beaches. Traffic on I4 reflects this. Disney meanwhile has cut way back in the parks, as their crowds grow too, and services drop.

        1. Comcast just bought back 472 acres Universal sold off when it was owned by another parent company. Not sure they need to go into reedy creek. They also have that nice new deal with Nintendo and that could bring out some new areas. I think Toon Lagoon is dated and they need to hit that but what do I know. I think Disney needs to stop with the rides that just send you through scenes like the haunted mansion, Little mermaid and the countless other boring ones they have. Some more thrill rides would be good. Hooray Disney does great story telling but it develops at a snails pace. Let’s raise prices and then wonder why attendance is down!! I know let’s cut costs! like we don’t feel like they have their hands in our wallets form the word go! More rooms would be good because you can’t just say hey let’s go to Disney unless you live down there or are rich. I HATE the plan every little freaking minute thing Disney has become. I got an idea let’s increase ride capacity. That would be NICE!!!!!

  4. What do you think the impact will be on the already over crowed Monorail that a has to stop between every resort to allow for monorail traffic ?

    1. VERY long lines. Additional guests and no increases in transportation, attractions, entrances, are a big issue for guests..but not Disney. Disney knows people will wait about 45-50 minutes in a line before caring. This is why many entrances to parks (“turnstiles”) are closed, even on the busiest days. And why they cut registers at stores, or close sections of restaurants. And why they put fewer trains on monorail when it’s not very busy to save on staffing and costs on slower days. The only thing in favor of 2 hour lines is Disney wants you in their stores buying stuff. In my, and other cast members opinion, this shouldn’t be so. Disney can put a tiny bit into safety and guest experience and would win in the end. Upper management doesn’t see it this way.

      1. It’s a known fact not just at Disney, customers made slightly uncomfortable or irritated spend more money. Mostly in food.

        As far as this vacation club site, I’d love it to be used for park expansion instead of more rooms. Magic Kingdom is horribly crowded.

        Disney vacation club genius though. Pre-paid vacations, you don’t keep ownership, it goes back to them, and if your room isn’t rented, they rent it out as a hotel. I’m only jealous I didn’t win of it!!!

  5. I’ve long had a theory that Tomorrowland was going to expand into the undeveloped areas north and south of Space Mountain. With the high-end rooms discussed for this new resort, I could see Disney making it the point of a second entrance to the Magic Kingdom through the back of Tomorrowland similar to the International Gateway in EPCOT Center’s World Showcase.

    1. GREAT IDEA! Bob Iger isn’t that futuristic. There’s clearly not enough space for the growth in Orlando. A slow day at Disney Makes New Years Eve in New York City Time Square look uncrowded and clean.

    2. I know that this would absolutely never happen under Igor and Chapek but wouldn’t it be so cool if they built this DVC property and added the “back entrance” as already mentioned. Then expand Tommorowland around the resort so that it was physically in the park! Similar to the hotel at Tokyo DisneySea (I forget the name). They could charge big bucks for that and rich tourists and DVC members would definitely pay. I would if I had the money haha!

    1. The plot you are thinking of was slated for a “Mediterranean” or “Venetian” hotel at various points. The Persian hotel, which was rarely mentioned after WDW’s initial opening, was always designated for that plot north of the Contemporary.

  7. Unfortunately Bob Iger has his sites on profit for the company as a whole, and has left management in charge of the Theme Parks. I believe personally that if Michael Eisner were still CEO we would have had a fifth park by now, and the resorts to accommodate all the guests that come along with it. We was very much a Disney Parks guy.

    1. In Iger’s defense, Disney is making more on Frozen merchandise/day sold worldwide than their theme parks combined, and has become a media company only. So, it’s hard for them to love Disney Parks (it shows though) Eisner loved the parks, and hopefully next CEO will clean out horrible mid-management running parks, and look towards the future. Comcast/Universal is!

      So much investment in DVC, and next to none in making it worth going is short sighted in my opinion. There is a way to incorporate that land for both sorely needed theme park space, and upscale accommodations. Magic Kingdom is becoming a dump of stroller parking and scooters. Nothing fancy about it.

  8. The original design of the Contemporary Resort was perfect. A main tower with wings in a mini a-frame design perfectly complemented each other. The Bay Lake Tower is an albatross. At least it could have been built 4-5 stories shorter as to not compete visually with the CR. The current Disney management has lost sight of the original design intent of the entire property. Now it’s all about revenue, even if the parks and resorts are ultimately ruined in the process.

  9. The site in your photo is not the rumoured location. I have heard they will be either removing the convention center or the remaining garden wing.

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