Disney Lakeshore Lodge opening in 2027 on former River Country site
Disney Lakeshore Lodge, a Disney Vacation Club resort, is under construction on the site of River Country, Walt Disney World’s former abandoned water park. See the latest construction progress from February 2026 with photos by @bioreconstruct.
Aerial photos by @bioreconstruct
Disney World’s new hotel: Lakeshore Lodge
A new Disney Vacation Club resort called Disney Lakeshore Lodge — themed to “the majesty of nature and its enduring influence on Disney artists,” the company says — will open in 2027 at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Fla.
Lakeshore Lodge will be located along the waters of Bay Lake near Magic Kingdom and adjacent to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground. This is infamously the same real estate where the River Country water park sat abandoned for years.
River Country photo courtesy of Disney
Aerial photo by @bioreconstruct
The photo below, captured in October 2025, provides a sense of place. At bottom is the future site of Disney Lakeshore Lodge. Across the water of Bay Lake is Disney’s Wilderness Lodge (left) and Disney’s Contemporary Resort. At top left, sitting upon the shores of Seven Seas Lagoon, is Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. At top right, barely visible, is the front of Magic Kingdom.
Disney previously announced (and began construction on) a nature-themed project called Reflections – A Lakeside Lodge for this same property, but paused construction in 2020. It’s unclear if Disney Lakeshore Lodge is simply Reflections renamed, or a new concept altogether; Disney did not attach the previously shared Reflections artwork in its announcement of Lakeshore Lodge.
The history of the River Country property
The land on which Disney Lakeshore Lodge will sit is notable in the history of Walt Disney World. It was originally home to Disney’s first water park, River Country, which opened in 1976 and closed in 2001. The abandoned water park sat dormant for years.
Photo courtesy of Disney
In October 2018, Disney announced a nature-themed resort would be built somewhere along Bay Lake as a Disney Vacation Club addition. Progress from there moved quickly. The following month, the company announced the resort’s name: “Reflections – A Lakeside Lodge.” The month after that, Fort Wilderness Pavilion (home of Mickey’s Backyard BBQ, a character dinner) closed permanently in preparation for the upcoming resort’s construction.
Image courtesy of Disney
Reflections was still actively in development in March 2019 when our editor, Matt Roseboom, visited Walt Disney Imagineering headquarters. He called the plans Imagineers showed to his tour group “unlike anything you’ve ever seen — if the best parts don’t get cut.”
By August 2020, upon Walt Disney World’s re-opening following the onset of the pandemic, Disney had halted construction on Reflections and the site once again sat neglected for several years.
Now, Disney Lakeshore Lodge is under construction for a planned 2027 opening.
Construction progress
Compare the @bioreconstruct’s photos over time to track the construction progress of Disney Lakeshore Lodge.
February 2026
The photo below shows just how close the Disney Lakeshore Lodge property is to the facilities and amenities of Fort Wilderness, with Pioneer Hall (home to the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue dinner show) at bottom right and the Tri-Circle-D Ranch barn at bottom left.
As details like roofing come into place, we can start to see how similar or different Lakeshore Lodge might be compared to the concept art from the canceled Reflections hotel.
In addition to the accommodations in the main towers, Lakeshore Lodge will include deluxe villas as an option for guests.
The pool area seems to include a small lazy river, harkening back to the days of River Country.
Construction is underway on a dock for Lakeshore Lodge, seemingly confirming the hotel will provide boat transportation to Magic Kingdom as the other nearby resorts do.
October 2025
Note the surrounding woods and cabins of Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort.
In the photo below, note Pioneer Hall at Fort Wilderness at bottom.
Seen from a different angle, Pioneer Hall is in top right of the photo below. The infrastructure for Lakeshore Lodge deluxe accommodations are visible, pretty much right next to the Fort Wilderness dock.
October 2024
2019 – 2023
For several years the future site of Disney Lakeshore Lodge was an on-again/off-again construction site for a project known as Reflections – A Lakeside Lodge. By 2020, construction was paused and the site was left unattended for years (again) until construction ramped back up for Disney Lakeshore Lodge.
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