Disney's Asian Resort was a planned resort to be located at the

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

Resort in

Lake Buena Vista, Florida Lake Buena Vista () is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. It is mostly known for being the mailing address for Walt Disney World—although almost all of the resort facilities, including all four theme parks, are physically located ...

. Its concept was developed in the 1960s and was expected to open in 1974, three years after its parent complex began operations. However, the 1973 oil crisis led to the cancellation of the project, in addition to

Disney's Venetian Resort Disney's Venetian Resort was to be a Disney-owned resort at Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, that originally would have begun operation on October 1, 1971. It was going to be themed after Venice, Italy, located on Seven Seas Lago ...

and

Disney's Persian Resort Disney's Persian Resort was a themed hotel planned for Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Due to the 1973 oil crisis, the project was cancelled, along with Disney's Venetian Resort and Disney's Asian Resort. Forms from 1978 ...

Theme

Inspired by the culture of

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, the hotel would have featured Thai furnishings and cuisine.

Architectural plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

s featured a large center building more than 160 feet tall with a restaurant on top comparable to the design of Disney's Contemporary Resort. Guest rooms would have been arranged in a square around the perimeter on three sides leaving the side opposite the Seven Seas Lagoon open. The original plan called for 600 rooms but was scaled down to 500 in later revisions. Two-thirds of the guest rooms would have had garden or lake views. Fifty suites would have been deluxe rooms themed after Thai royalty.

Planning and construction

During construction of the man-made

Seven Seas Lagoon The Seven Seas Lagoon is a man-made lake at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. Located south of the Magic Kingdom theme park, the Seven Seas Lagoon serves as a natural buffer between the Magic Kingdom and its parking ...

in the late 1960s, an empty, square-shaped plot of land was set aside near the lagoon's northwestern shore for the future Asian Resort, which had been advertised in Walt Disney World literature before the property opened in 1971. An access road named Asian Way was created to support the site. It was later renamed Floridian Way when it was announced that the Grand Floridan Resort and Spa was to be built on the site. Construction of the hotel was scheduled to start in 1974 with rooms opening by the end of the year. Disney's 1972 annual report stated that architectural designs were soon starting. Several models were built and land surveys were conducted. However, the hotel was never built due to the

energy crisis An energy crisis or energy shortage is any significant bottleneck in the supply of energy resources to an economy. In literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain time and place, in particular, those that supply n ...

bringing a downturn in tourism, which meant that Walt Disney World didn't need as many rooms, and the land stayed empty until

Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa is a Victorian themed hotel and spa located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. The property opened on June 28, 1988, as the ''Grand Floridian Beach Resort''. The name changed to ''Disney's Grand F ...

opened on the site in 1988. Since the Grand Floridian began operation, plans for an Asian-themed hotel at Walt Disney World Resort appear to have been shelved permanently.

References

* * {{Walt Disney World

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...