The Resorts That Never Were: Before the Grand Floridian (Ep. 74)

Before the Grand Floridian, Walt Disney World had some very different plans for the shores of Seven Seas Lagoon. Jim Hill and Len Testa explore the Venetian, Persian, and Asian resorts that never welcomed a guest, along with the financial and construction problems that reshaped Disney’s hotel ambitions. Along the way, they connect those abandoned ideas to the Grand Floridian’s beginnings and the Polynesian’s new overwater bungalows.

Original Air Date: March 1, 2015 (estimated)
Original Title: Disney's Grand Floridian and Magic Kingdom resorts

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Polynesian’s Bora Bora Bungalows revive a waterfront cottage idea discussed decades earlier.
• Project Florida’s master plan uses Seven Seas Lagoon to connect the Magic Kingdom with an ambitious collection of themed hotels.
• The proposed Venetian Resort promises Italian canals, but difficult ground conditions complicate its future.
• Plans for a Persian Resort intersect with a proposed Iranian pavilion at EPCOT and the upheaval of 1979.
• The Asian Resort’s Thai-inspired design and U.S. Steel’s role reveal how different Disney’s original hotel expansion might have looked.
• The 1973 oil crisis forces difficult choices between additional hotel rooms and new theme park attractions.
• Dick Nunis’s early 1980s hotel plans set the stage for the Grand Floridian before Michael Eisner arrives.
• The Electrical Water Pageant, transportation routes, and parking pressures offer more clues to the resort’s changing shoreline.

For this episode’s full show notes, click here.
View transcript here.

HOSTS

• Jim Hill: X and Instagram @JimHillMedia | jimhillmedia.com
• Len Testa: Bluesky @lentesta.bsky.social | Instagram @len.testa | touringplans.com

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Jim Hill and Len Testa trace the unbuilt Magic Kingdom resorts and the plans that paved the way for the Grand Floridian.

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