New Disney unnamed resort to open in ’22

Walt Disney World Resort is building a new hotel with more than 900 beds on Bay Lake where the former River Country water park was once located, the company said recently.

The unnamed deluxe resort, set to open in 2022, will be in between Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, Disney said in a news release.

The resort, which will be “nature inspired,” will be Disney’s 16th Disney Vacation Club property.

The site was once River Country, a water park that opened in 1976 until it slowly lost attendance and eventually closed in 2001.

“Walt Disney World is in the midst of our most significant expansion in the last two decades,” said George Kalogridis, president of Walt Disney World Resort, in a statement.

In addition to building several new rides at the theme parks — the biggest expansion being Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge that opens in 2019 — Disney is also adding 1,700 more hotel rooms.

The hotel growth includes a refurbishment at Coronado Springs Resort with a new 15-story tower overlooking the lake and the construction of Disney’s Riviera Resort that will be finished near Epcot in 2019.