New neighbor construction update w/photos

We got a chance to meet one of the horses in February. A CM asked us of we wanted a tour (of course we did) and she brought out one of the Percherons and introduced us and then talked about their schedule and care. Very informative, a huge powerful animal that was gentle as a puppy.
 
Has anybody heard if they are considering changing the name to something a little better than Reflections?
 
Has anybody heard if they are considering changing the name to something a little better than Reflections?
Disney put out a press release with an artist rendering when they announced the name, Reflections- A Disney Lakefront Lodge. When they go through all that, the name is pretty set.

j
 


And so it begins.

Demolition begins at old River Country site

river-country-demolition-reflections-dvc-hotel-4-1068x712.jpg


j
 


Pulled this from another WDW forum. Supposedly, it was posted on a DVC Facebook group and deleted soon after. Take it with a grain of salt, but it... it doesn't look good. :sad:

I'm assuming the purple building is Pioneer Hall, and you can see there are little cabins that take up almost all of the Fort beach. I think the new TCD is there sort of under the word "plumbing", but does it look like there are at least a couple new buildings at the Fort near Pioneer Hall? They're nondescript, so they must not be part of Reflections. Starting at the water, the first one would be boat rentals, then the trading post, then...?

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Such a shame... if they just dialed it back 10%, it wouldn't have been very intrusive to the Fort.
 
Hard to tell, If that addition on the beach is just for the new resort or to be shared. Looks like bungalows to me. The original reports indicated that MOST of the beach at FW would be lost, and this does certainly follow that description.

The new TCD plans did look like they were in the location you described, so this certainly matches up so to be honest I won't be surprised if this actually is the rendering for the new resort and that is in fact what we will now be looking at from the porch of Trails End.

Sad, but we'll still need to wait and see the official release.
 
And what’s not readily visible in this glamour rendering is the huge amounts of parking that are behind the building and that will noxiousky intrude on the peacefulness of the Fort.

It’s disappointing that with all of the land they own, the best their architects and planners could come up with is something that so significantly impacts another very popular resort.
 
Looking at that rendering again, it’s a bit odd how they delineate the site with trees. Maybe it’s just as part of the drawing, but could they be looking to dedicate the whole Pioneer Hall area to the new resort and then “allowing” Fort guests the right to use it? So something like Hoop Dee Do or the carriage rides would be listed as part of Reflections amenities. Good Lord, I hope it was just a poor rendering job.
 
I was over at the Magic Kingdom yesterday (staying off-site at Jetty Park Campground) and spent some time boating over to Fort Wilderness to check things out. Bottom line is, the old River Country water slides have been reduced to a pile of rubble, lots of utilities have been located and marked around the Pioneer Hall area, and some silt fences have started to go up along the RC edges.

First here is the water slide trash heap. I apologize for the quality of the some pictures but they were taken from the boat while moving at full cell phone zoom.



Here is a close-up:



More pix:





Around the boat dock, some sand pushed around and netted off











Some temporary parking has been established behind Trails End. This is looking back towards the Settlement TP in the distance with the lake to the left. My back is to the RC ticket building. For demolition workers?



More in next post.

Bama Ed
 
Some of the double silt fencing is up. This picture is from the sidewalk that goes to the charter fishing boats at the far end of Clementine's beach. On the RC side of the wire fence there.



Near here on the very corner of the fenced kid's playground are some cypress knees which to me is an indication that this area is definitely wetland.



As the drawings indicated, the playground will likely be in the construction zone (hopefully relocated?).



On the TCD side of Pioneer hall, just some stakes to indicate the construction limits and utility flags.



The start of the walking trail to WL is blocked off.



Flags all over and in rows - a rainbow of flags.











Keepin' it rolling.

Bama Ed
 
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Flags everywhere.



My back to loops 400 and 100 looking ahead with the Settlement bus loop to the far right looking toward WL. This road will be extended in a straight line, according to the plans, and the new TCD will be built on the left side of the extension.



A lot of the stakes just say "LOC" which I guess is to locate the edge of the construction zone. Will probably be the mesh orange plastic fencing?



Down on the backside of the marina building along the shoreline is what appears to be a staging area.



I walked down the dirt road beside the Settlement TP towards Marshmallow Marsh and looked for any signs that the new Mickey's BBQ would still be built back here. No flags, no stakes, no nothing.

Then I got back on the boat and headed back to the craziness in the MK.



Oh. And I did manage one of these while I was there.



Bama Ed
 

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