A permit has been filed by Buena Vista Construction Company at Disney World in Orange County, Florida, and the address on the permit is reigniting the excitement over the prospect that Disney’s prepping to break ground on EPCOT’s once-talked about “Future World Hotel” inside the gates at Disney World’s second park.
Last month, Disney’s President of Parks, Experiences, and Products, Josh D’Amaro, welcomed fans to one of the last panels of the 2022 D23 Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center inside the location’s Hall D23. Every coveted seat in the house was occupied–all 7,000 of them–by eager and excited Disney fans who waited with bated breath to hear what’s in store for Disney Parks around the world over the next few years, this writer included.
D’Amaro talked about exciting projects in the works at Tokyo Disney Resort, Shanghai Disneyland, Disneyland Paris, and Hong Kong Disneyland. He shared exciting updates about happenings at Disneyland Resort, including the arrival of the Hulk and Mando and Grogu at the California parks, as well as the kickoff to Disney’s 100th anniversary celebration, which begins at Disneyland next year on January 27.
When D’Amaro mentioned Walt Disney World, the crowd cheered as many had arrived in Anaheim with their own projections about the D23 Expo reveals for Disney World. (After all, weren’t we all hopeful for the return of the Disney Dining Plan and a fifth park in Florida?)
D’Amaro went about his agenda, announcing some surprises for fans about “blue-sky” projects on the drawing board for Disney World, and with each new announcement, the boisterous crowd got just a few decibels louder. But by the end of his presentation, many of us in the crowd began to mull over his announcements and compare them with our individual mental lists of projections, as if it were second nature.
As we recounted what we were told, it became very apparent that the 2019 D23 Expo was EPCOT’s time to shine. While there were a few updates about EPCOT during the panel last month, the big news was largely for other areas. We had hoped we might hear some kind of firming-up or confirmation on plans that were rumored to be in the works in 2021: the first-ever Disney Resort Hotel inside the gates at EPCOT, Disney’s Future World Hotel.
The first talk of an onsite EPCOT hotel surfaced years ago in 2017, and some Disney super-sleuths dug deeper to find that the address mentioned for the location of the new EPCOT hotel was 1474 Avenue of the Stars on the Walt Disney World property, an address that corresponds to a location inside EPCOT. But during the 2017 D23 Expo, CEO Bob Iger furnished zero unveilings about such a hotel.
Talk of this mystery resort hotel at EPCOT continued and finally died down some, leading up to the 2019 D23 Expo, during which Disney’s execs shared huge news about plans to completely revamp the Future World section of EPCOT, as well as plans for a brand-new Moana-inspired attraction, The Journey of Water, a space-themed restaurant next to Mission: SPACE called Space 220, and even a new Mary Poppins-themed attraction that would be constructed in the United Kingdom pavilion on the World Showcase.
