I was looking at an old pre opening movie of WDW and they mentioned the old hotel plans. I know the Asian resort site became the Grand Floridian and the Venetian site was unsuitable for building but what about the Persian resort site?
also is it just me thinking or were the original hotel themes much more exciting than what we ended up with?
The oil crisis in the 1970's that took a hit on the economy took any chance of disney funding the project and the Iranian revolution got rid of any chance of sponsorship. the monorail was supposed to be built to it up from the contemporary through tomorrowland like at disneyland, however after the spur was built straight from the contemporary to the front of the park it cut off the proposed land from the rest of the resort.
The Persian is actually the one I would most have loved to see built. I think the Asian would have become a bit campy in public taste after a while, and renderings for the Venetian look almost ugly*. I also have an appreciation for Middle Eastern architecture which probably also influences my opinion. But I wonder how the general public would react to the notion these days of paying $400 for a night in a hotel based on, essentially, Iran.
Today I'm not sure I'd want to see a hotel based on this site, because it is directly across from Wilderness Lodge. If you go to the Lodge today, you'll notice that part of the resort's masterful theming allows you to walk virtually anywhere on the resort's grounds without seeing anything but wilderness (even looking for the Contemporary takes some effort). The Persian would have appeared to be smack across the lake from the courtyard.
*Granted, renderings of the Polynesian look similarly plain, so perhaps this is something that would have been addressed as the design was revised.
I don't know about that, the Magic Kingdom hotels are decent enough in theme, but then it is all subjective. I like what was built, but I do like the idea and mystique of the unbuilt resorts.Originally Posted by robbiem
I guess its probably the 'what if' part that adds to the unbuilt hotels. Who knows if they had built the Venetian, Thai and Persian we'd probably be sitting here looking at concepts for Wilderness Lodge and the Grand Floridian thinking that they sound much more exciting.
And, as for the Persian in particular, given the trend of adding characters to everything these days, maybe it could have ended up renamed the Agrabah hotel or something (rather than the more obvious and already in use Aladdin hotel).
I've always seen the resorts as an reflections of the Magic Kingdom's lands. The Polynesian mirrors Adventureland, Fort Wilderness and Wilderness Lodge represent Frontierland, The Grand Floridian sort of fits the turn of the century theme of Main Street USA, and the Contemporary is the extension of Tomorrowland.
The Persian site is kind of a weird one. It only makes sense if the Monorail is rerouted to go through Tomorrowland like originally planned (which is awesome), or like modern Disney management, you don't care about transportation. If something were to be built there I would also worry about how it would handle the sight line issue.
It bothers me when people selectively edit quotes to support whatever point they are trying to prove.
Thats a really good point i didn't think about before. i wouldn't want to see the resort behind space mountain, it would hurt the ambiance of the park.
Interesting. I've read quite a bit about the building of WDW, and I've never seen that fact. Where did it come from?
found it on "allears" but there are numerous places that cited similar info. essentially its part skepticism because little was actually confirmed about the resorts but early concept drawings clearly show a spur breaking off of the contemporary line and up towards the proposed asian resort and then others show that same spur circling back through tomorrowland to meet up with the Magic Kingdom monorail station. now im not sure how they would have gone through with this concept (maybe every second monorail on the resort line would hit the asian resort?) but it would have definitely been cool to see the monorail coming over tomorrowland.
Here is a picture where you can see the planned but unbuilt resorts and the station in front of the Persian Resort.
You may notice there is quite the buffer between the Persion and MK even World Drive is far more north south than today because of Space protruding eastward. Also the Persian wasn't going to be a tall building like the Contemporary of later built Grand Floridian. Also the Persian Itself sticks into Bay Lake moving it further from the MK.
Many plans exist but look at this picture. Would a blue dome be strange looking from Tomorrowland? It would of fit in Star Wars alright.
Be Cool Stay in School!
Very interesting - thanks, guys!
A Model Kingdom, 1968 - Progress City, U.S.A.
This post on Progress City, USA shows an early model of Phase I.
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