Disney Lakeshore Lodge Will Open on Bay Lake in Summer 2027 With 967 Rooms and Waterfront Lake Houses
Disney Vacation Club has shared the first real detail on Disney Lakeshore Lodge, the nature-inspired resort proposed for the shores of Bay Lake. The 967-room property is projected to open in summer 2027 and will introduce one- and two-bedroom Lake Houses, a first for Disney Vacation Club.
Disney Lakeshore Lodge finally has substance behind the name. Disney Vacation Club has shared its vision for the nature-inspired resort proposed for the shores of Bay Lake at Walt Disney World, confirming a projected summer 2027 opening, 967 themed accommodations, and a category of room the club has never offered before: waterfront Lake Houses.
The project was first announced in November 2024 with little more than a name and a stretch of shoreline. This is the first time Disney has put a room count, a room mix and an opening window against it.
Key Details
- What: Disney Lakeshore Lodge, a proposed Disney Vacation Club resort
- Where: Along the shores of Bay Lake, Walt Disney World Resort
- Projected opening: Summer 2027
- Size: 967 themed accommodations, from studios to multi-bedroom villas
- New room type: One- and two-bedroom waterfront Lake Houses
A Resort Built Around Disney's Animated Wilderness
Disney Vacation Club describes the resort as a celebration of the connection between nature and imagination, drawing on Walt Disney's own affection for the outdoors. The stated touchstones are the animated films that leaned hardest on landscape: the forests of Bambi, the colored winds of Pocahontas and the glacial peaks of Brother Bear.
That is a meaningfully different register from the two lodges Walt Disney World already has. Wilderness Lodge is a national park lodge in the Pacific Northwest tradition, and Animal Kingdom Lodge is built around live animals on savannas. Lakeshore Lodge is being pitched as Disney artistry applied to the natural world rather than a recreation of a real place.
Our rate tracking for August 2026 put the lowest nightly rate at Disney's Wilderness Lodge at $380, across 75,919 priced room-nights.
Architecturally, the promise is light. Expansive floor-to-ceiling windows are meant to pull the landscape indoors, and the design leans on warm natural materials and earthy palettes rather than the dark timber that defines the resort's existing lodge properties.
"We're excited to share our vision for Disney Lakeshore Lodge, a place where the magic of Disney storytelling comes alive through the beauty of the natural world," said Bill Diercksen, senior vice president and general manager, Disney Vacation Club.
Lake Houses Are the Genuinely New Thing
The headline for Disney Vacation Club members is the Lake House. These are one- and two-bedroom accommodations positioned directly along the waterfront, sold on enhanced privacy and uninterrupted water views. Disney Vacation Club has built bungalows over the water at the Polynesian and cabins in the woods at Copper Creek and Fort Wilderness, but a dedicated waterfront Lake House category is new to the club's portfolio.
The rest of the inventory follows the familiar ladder, studios at the accessible end, multi-bedroom villas for larger families, all 967 units designed with families in mind and finished in the upscale style the club has moved toward at its newest properties.
Why Bay Lake Matters
Location is doing a lot of work here. A Bay Lake shoreline puts the resort in the Magic Kingdom bubble, alongside the Contemporary, the Grand Floridian, the Polynesian, Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wilderness. Disney Vacation Club specifically calls out night views of Magic Kingdom fireworks from the resort's premier position on the water, which is the kind of sightline that historically commands the highest points charts in the entire system.
Disney Vacation Club now counts more than 250,000 member families across 17 resorts, having launched in 1991 on a points-based model rather than the fixed-week timeshare structure that dominated at the time. Lakeshore Lodge would be its next Florida addition.
What Disney Still Has Not Said
Everything commercially decisive remains unannounced. There is no points chart, no sales start date, no confirmed pricing and no word on whether cash rooms will be offered alongside member inventory. Disney also has not named the resort's dining venues, pools, recreation or the design details that will make the nature theme concrete, the company says those will be shared in the coming months. Note too that Disney continues to describe the resort as proposed and the opening as projected, language that leaves room to move. For members planning a 2027 stay, the practical takeaway is a summer 2027 window and 967 rooms to aim at, and a wait of several more months before there is anything to actually buy.
