Disney World considered building one or two hotels inside the Magic Kingdom theme park in early 2024, according to court records obtained by Florida Politics through a public records request. The revelation came from a February 2024 deposition of Disney executive Josh Rimmer during the legal battle between Disney and Florida Republicans. The company has since abandoned the hotel expansion idea, with Disney stating it has no current plans for new hotels as part of the Magic Kingdom expansion.
“One or two hotel locations,” Rimmer answered when asked by lawyer Nicole Moss how many hotels Disney was considering. When pressed about whether these would be new hotels or development of existing properties, Rimmer replied, “New.” The hotels would have been located “within the same area that we’re expanding,” though Rimmer noted “there are no specific locations decided yet.”
“There are no plans for new hotels as part of the Magic Kingdom expansion. We’re focused on bringing to life all we’ve already announced, which you can find the details on at DisneyExperiences.com,” the company said in an email statement. The deposition took place when Disney and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District were engaged in legal warfare after Gov. Ron DeSantis took control over Disney World’s governing board and appointed new members, wresting control away from The Walt Disney Co.
Rimmer described the Magic Kingdom expansion as “still under development” and said it “included new attractions and redevelopment of existing attractions and potentially new hotels.” Disney officially announced plans for a Villains Land and two new “Cars” attractions in August 2024 at the D23 fan expo, representing Magic Kingdom’s biggest expansion in the park’s history. However, the company made no mention of new hotels during that announcement.
The potential hotel project would have positioned Disney to compete with Universal, which opened its Helios Grand Hotel inside the Epic Universe theme park. Disney World tourists currently can stay at the Grand Floridian or Contemporary resorts, located a short walk or Monorail ride from Magic Kingdom, but no hotel exists inside the theme park gates. Disney has said it plans to spend roughly $60 billion over 10 years on its U.S. and international theme parks and Disney Cruise Line.
“It would be the most popular in-demand hotel in Walt Disney World from Day 1. Without question,” said Len Testa, co-author of The Unofficial Guides and co-host of The Disney Dish podcast. However, Testa warned that Disney must be strategic about location, theme, and pricing for any hotel project to succeed. “The location has to be perfect. There are places where a Magic Kingdom adjacent hotel would work and places where it wouldn’t,” Testa said.
“The second thing is it has to have a great theme. It can’t be just a generic hotel. Then the third thing is the price has to be appropriate,” Testa explained. He noted that a hotel with poor views of attraction infrastructure would not work, citing Pirates of the Caribbean as an example. “They’ve got to hit on all three things there to make that hotel a success. And I kind of think that’s why they haven’t done one to this point,” Testa said.
University of Central Florida associate professor Carissa Baker, who studies theme parks, emphasized that both the hotel rooms and exterior would need proper theming to integrate with the surrounding land. Disney has successfully built hotels inside theme parks internationally, including the Fantasy Springs Hotel at Tokyo DisneySea. “It’s just special to be able to say that you’re staying inside” a Disney theme park, Baker noted.
Florida Politics first requested Rimmer’s deposition in October 2024 and only recently received the records. The Walt Disney World Resort, located about 20 miles southwest of Orlando, opened on October 1, 1971, and employs more than 77,000 people across its four theme parks, two water parks, and 31 Disney-owned resort hotels spanning approximately 27,000 acres.