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Disney's Lakeshore Lodge Opens July 1, 2027, and the First Look Inside Includes an Encanto Duo Studio and a Fantasia Grand Villa for 12
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Disney's Lakeshore Lodge Opens July 1, 2027, and the First Look Inside Includes an Encanto Duo Studio and a Fantasia Grand Villa for 12

Michael Travels
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Since Disney renamed the project in November 2024 the answer to "when does Lakeshore Lodge open?" has been a year, and since April a season. As of today it is a date: Thursday, July 1, 2027.

Disney dropped the day into a new entry on its running "Letters from Lakeshore" page, and then buried the lede under something shinier, the first renderings of the rooms themselves. "The countdown is on! Disney's Lakeshore Lodge opens July 1, 2027, at Walt Disney World Resort, and we're celebrating the news with an exclusive first look inside the guest rooms before reservations open in early October," the post reads.

A small thing worth noticing: Disney has not swept the old wording away. The introduction at the top of that same page still promises "the grand opening of Disney's Lakeshore Lodge in summer 2027," and the renderings Disney published today carry a corner watermark reading "Under construction - projected opening Summer 2027." The date is in the body copy only, which is roughly how Lakeshore Lodge news has arrived all year, one postcard at a time.

The resort sits on the south shore of Bay Lake between Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge, on ground that was River Country until the water park shut for good after the 2001 season. WDW News Today notes the project was first announced in 2018 as Reflections, A Disney Lakeside Lodge, stalled during the pandemic, and came back in 2024 under the Lakeshore Lodge name. July 1 is 308 days from today.

The Lake Houses get the Brother Bear treatment

The headline room type is the one Disney has been teasing longest. The one- and two-bedroom Lake Houses are freestanding, A-frame, and exclusive to this resort, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the water. They sleep up to five and eight guests respectively. Each comes with a full kitchen, in-unit laundry, and a private porch looking out over the water.

Inside, the artwork is built around Walt Disney Animation Studios' Brother Bear, leaning on the film's Alaskan setting. The detail Disney closed on is a light fixture: "Inside the primary bedroom, a striking Northern Lights-inspired lighting feature will cast a peaceful glow as night falls."

Encanto, Bambi and Fantasia split the studios and villas

Hotel room rendering with a queen pull-down bed beneath a large lit painting of a house on a purple mountainside surrounded by yellow butterflies, with wood shelving holding pottery and a toucan figurine and burgundy woven wardrobe doors alongside
The duo studio, built for two, hangs a lit Encanto painting, mountainside house and yellow butterflies, over the bed. Image: Disney (artist rendering)

Disney is splitting 967 rooms across eight room types, and five animated films carry the theming between them. The duo studios, sized for two guests, take the "vibrant spirit" of Encanto. The deluxe studios sleep up to four and go to Bambi, with what Disney describes as "original concept artwork pulled from the archives." The one- and two-bedroom villas stay with Bambi and sleep up to five and nine, adding full kitchens, washers and dryers, and private patios.

Hotel room rendering with a king bed under an abstract forest painting and an open sliding door onto a balcony with cafe chairs, looking across water toward an A-frame resort silhouette that resembles Disney's Contemporary Resort
One of the Bambi villa bedrooms answers the question everyone asks about a Bay Lake room. That looks like the Contemporary across the water, with a second tower behind it to the right, though Disney did not label the view. Image: Disney (artist rendering)

The biggest rooms go to Fantasia. The three-bedroom grand villas sleep up to 12 and carry multiple bathrooms, a full kitchen and a private patio facing Bay Lake.

Pocahontas covers the standard rooms, and there is a lounge above the treetops

Hotel room rendering with two queen beds, pale lavender walls, a carved wood accent wall, and a floor-to-ceiling mural of a waterfall falling through a slate canyon with autumn leaves drifting through it
The resort studios sleep up to four and pull their palette from Pocahontas, including a full-height waterfall mural beside the beds. Image: Disney (artist rendering)

Alongside the villas, Lakeshore Lodge will have resort studios sleeping up to four and resort studio king rooms sleeping up to two, both inspired by Pocahontas. That is the same film driving the lobby, where Disney has already described a fiberoptic river lighting up the floor and a blown glass Colors of the Wind sculpture overhead.

Guests in select club level resort rooms get a lounge with a genuinely good name. The Artist's Nest is, in Disney's words, "a concierge lounge perched above the treetops, offering personalized service, complimentary refreshments, and exclusive views of the Magic Kingdom fireworks."

At the top of the resort room lineup sits the Hidden Willow Presidential Suite, which sleeps up to six and has two bedrooms and two full bathrooms, with a full kitchen, a washer and dryer, and Artist's Nest access included.

How to book, in three waves

Reservations open across three days in early October, and Disney is staging them by who you are:

  • Tuesday, October 6: Disney Vacation Club members can book early rental reservations through Member Services at (800) 800-9800.
  • Wednesday, October 7: Walt Disney World Annual Passholders get the same early rental window, at (407) 934-7639.
  • Thursday, October 8: all guests can book online or at (407) 934-7639.

Note the wording Disney used for the first two days. Those are "early rental reservations," Disney Vacation Club language for cash rooms rather than points stays, though Disney has not spelled that out. Disney has not published rates.

Sources

Image credits: all renderings by Disney, published on the Disney Parks Blog and marked as artist renderings of a resort still under construction.

Mentioned in this story

Check out our guides for more on each place in this story:

Disney's Lakeshore Lodge

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