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A Giant Wood-Look Otter Is Now Lying Across the Splash Pad at Disney's Lakeshore Lodge, and the Lazy River Loop Is Visible From the Air
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A Giant Wood-Look Otter Is Now Lying Across the Splash Pad at Disney's Lakeshore Lodge, and the Lazy River Loop Is Visible From the Air

Michael Travels
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Published
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Updated

Disney's next Walt Disney World resort has stopped looking like concrete and rebar and started looking like a theme.

Aerial photos taken this week by bioreconstruct show large themed structures now standing at Otter Springs, the splash area for younger guests inside The Wetlands at Disney's Lakeshore Lodge. WDWMagic published a set on Tuesday morning, August 18, and WDW News Today followed that evening with a closer look at the play area itself.

Overhead view of the Otter Springs splash pad with a large wood-style otter figure, turquoise slides and orange safety fencing
Otter Springs from above: a carved-look otter lies across the center right of the white concrete pad, with turquoise slides and crawl tubes staged around it and dozens of pipes still poking up out of the slab. Image: bioreconstruct, via WDW News Today.

There is an otter on the pad now

WDW News Today logged "several large, wood-style animal structures" installed on the concrete play surface. The one in the middle is hard to miss. The site describes a central figure that "resembles a stylized otter lying across the area, with a rounded body, head, paws, and tail assembled from angular, carved-looking sections."

Those figures, the site notes, "closely match the structures depicted in Disney's concept art for The Wetlands."

Around them, bright turquoise slides and enclosed crawl-through tubes are already positioned, with small green bridges or stairways connecting sections of the play structure. The pad is also studded with pipes, which WDW News Today reads as a sign that "more interactive fountains and spray effects will be installed."

The lazy river finally reads as a lazy river

High overhead view of the Wetlands courtyard showing the looping lazy river channel, planted palms and the large feature pool basin
The whole Wetlands courtyard in one frame. The Daydream River channel loops around a palm-planted island at center, the feature pool basin and its decking sit at right, and the Otter Springs pad is at bottom center. Image: bioreconstruct, via WDW News Today.

From above, "the looping channel of Daydream River is now easily recognizable," with concrete walls defining its winding path through the central courtyard and newly planted palm trees filling the islands it wraps around. WDWMagic described the same thing, calling the channel "well advanced, with its winding concrete path clearly visible from above and palm trees already planted along the banks."

Daydream River is one piece of The Wetlands. WDWMagic's rundown also includes Lakeside Lagoon, a zero-entry feature pool with a spiral waterslide; the Heron Shores and Otter Springs children's play areas; and Perspective Pond.

Perspective Pond, and the fireworks angle

Aerial view of a poured pool shell with pink-tan decking on a cleared peninsula beside a marshy lagoon
Perspective Pond on the Bay Lake side: the pool shell is poured, the deck is going in, and a small round spa basin sits at the lower edge. A silt boom runs along the marshy lagoon at left. Image: bioreconstruct, via WDW News Today.

Closer to Bay Lake, the Perspective Pond shell is poured and its deck is going in. This will be the resort's quieter recreation area, a leisure pool and a whirlpool spa, and its waterfront placement is meant to give guests views of the Magic Kingdom fireworks.

Above the waterline

Ground level view of a five-story guest wing with green metal roofing, balconies behind yellow safety rails, and contractor vehicles parked in front
From the parking lot: green metal roofing is on, balconies on this wing are still behind yellow safety rails and plastic sheeting, and the wood-beamed porte cochere canopy is at right. Image: WDW News Today.

The buildings are moving as well. Many guest room balconies now carry their permanent dark metal railings, and crews are installing gray panels and reddish-brown vertical accents in the spaces between them. The projecting roof sections show their finished palette: green metal above, wood tones underneath, dark supports holding it up. The porte cochere's long, angular rooflines are largely in place.

Along the Bay Lake shoreline, the A-frame Lake Houses now have shingled roofs, their windows in, and much of the exterior paneling hung. Disney has said the one- and two-bedroom Lake Houses take their cue from Brother Bear, pitching them as retreats built around the artists behind that 2003 animated feature.

What is still to come

Imagineering has its own reveal queued. In a teaser posted to Walt Disney Imagineering's Instagram account, reported by WDW News Today on July 21, an Imagineer pretends to catch the viewer sneaking onto the site: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. How'd you get behind these construction walls? Get otter here." The caption kept the pun going, telling followers "One way or an otter, you're gonna want to tune in to the next episode of Pardon Our Pixie Dust on YouTube August 25!" Given what the aerials just showed, the otter jokes were not subtle.

Disney's Lakeshore Lodge is scheduled to open in summer 2027 with 967 accommodations, from studios and suites up to the one- and two-bedroom waterfront Lake Houses. The design leans on Walt Disney's own interest in the outdoors, with artwork and detailing drawn from films including Bambi, Pocahontas and Brother Bear.

Sources

Image credits: aerial views of Otter Springs, The Wetlands and Perspective Pond, bioreconstruct, via WDW News Today. Ground-level view of the guest wing and porte cochere, WDW News Today.

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