While many guests question why Walt Disney World hasn’t built a new park in almost twenty years, it is also noteworthy that there has been a lack of new Disney resorts hotels. From 1988 until 2004, Disney built a new resort hotel at least every other year without fail. Since 2004 there has only been one new hotel, which is Disney’s Art of Animation. Disney’s Art of Animation’s construction has a complicated history. The resort hotel was started in the early 2000s as it was going to be the other half of Disney’s Pop Century, but the project was halted by the lack of tourism due to the September 11th attacks. So, really the last time Disney started and finished a resort hotel project was 2004. Why is this? Why is it that with seemingly increasing crowds Disney is hesitant to build a resort hotel?
One answer is that CEO Bob Iger isn’t invested in the theme parks division the same way former-CEO Michael Eisner was. CEO Bob Iger clearly has a better grasp on leading The Walt Disney Company overall, but it could be argued that his one weaknesses in managing the company compared to Michael Eisner is his understanding of the theme parks. Michael Eisner revolutionized Walt Disney World. In the 21 years that Michael Eisner ran the company, two new theme parks were built, and twenty Disney resort hotels were built at Walt Disney World. In the 11 years that Bob Iger has ran the company, no theme parks have been built, and only one resort hotel has been built at Walt Disney World. Michael Eisner is certainly a polarizing figure among Disney fans, but one good thing could be said about him. He understood the growing need for space with ever expanding crowds.
Another answer to why Disney hasn’t built any new resort hotels is the increase in third party resorts willing to pay to build on Disney property. A great example of this is the somewhat recently built Four Seasons Orlando. If Disney knows they can get high quality third party companies to build resorts for them, then it is less risk for them. Sadly, these third party hotels aren’t the same no matter how much Disney theming these resort hotels try to pack in. A true Disney themed resort hotel has something special about it, and Disney relying on the third party resorts to maintain the Disney standard can be a risky move.
Third, and probably the most logical reason why Disney hasn’t built any resort hotels recently, is that they cannot increase the guest occupancy at their resort hotels until they create a fifth theme park. The parks are packed as they are now, and if Disney starts adding a number of new resort hotels before a new theme park is built it is going to get even more crowded in the already extremely crowded four parks. Disney’s brand relies on a good guest experience, and if the parks are at capacity every single day, then that guest experience suffers, and then Disney loses that reputation.
The real answer to why Disney has only opened one resort hotel in the last 12 years is probably a combination of all of these speculations.
