In 2024, Disney considered building hotels inside the Magic Kingdom, records show

Behind the scenes of Disney World’s biggest expansion in the history of Magic Kingdom, the company was considering building one or two hotels inside the theme park, a company executive said under oath in early 2024.

That’s according to court records Florida Politics obtained through a public records request. A hotel inside the gates of the Magic Kingdom would likely be the most popular place to stay in Disney World, if Disney did it right.

But somewhere between February 2024 and the present day, Disney apparently nixed the hotel expansion idea.

“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 when asked to comment on the deposition for this story.

The possibility of a new Magic Kingdom hotel was revealed by Todd Rimmer, a master-planning executive with Disney Imagineering, during a February 2024 deposition. 

Rimmer was in the hot seat when Disney and Florida Republicans were at legal war with each other.

Disney and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District — otherwise known as Disney World’s government — were suing each other after Gov. Ron DeSantis took control over Disney World’s governing Board and appointed new Board members, wresting control away from The Walt Disney Co.

Florida Politics first requested Rimmer’s deposition in October 2024 and only recently received the records.

Rimmer’s deposition showed Disney appeared to be trying to compete with Universal, which opened its own Helios Grand Hotel inside the Epic Universe theme park last year.

Disney World tourists can currently stay at the Grand Floridian or the Contemporary resorts, just a short walk or Monorail ride away from the Magic Kingdom. But no hotel is located inside the Magic Kingdom to offer guests stellar views of the iconic theme park. 

In his 2024 deposition, 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.”

“And you referred to hotels; how many hotels are being looked at?” asked lawyer Nicole Moss, who represented the state-controlled Disney World governing Board.

“One or two hotel locations,” Rimmer answered.

“And would these be new hotels or development of existing hotels?” Moss asked.

“New,” Rimmer replied.

“And where would they be located?” Moss asked.

A Disney lawyer objected to the line of questioning. 

But after a brief pause, Rimmer answered by saying, “Generally, it’s within the same area that we’re expanding. There are no specific locations decided yet.”

A few months later, in August 2024, the company officially announced plans to build a Villains Land and two new “Cars” attractions for what will be Magic Kingdom’s biggest expansion in the park’s history. Disney, however, did not mention any new hotels coming when the announcement was made at the D23 fan expo that year.

The company has made clear it is investing heavily in its U.S. and international theme parks and in the Disney Cruise Line. Disney said in 2023 it planned to spend “roughly” $60 billion over 10 years.

Disney fans would certainly be clamoring for the opportunity to stay the night inside the Magic Kingdom if a hotel ever became a reality.

“It would be the most popular in-demand hotel in Walt Disney World from Day 1. Without question,” said Len Testa, who wears several hats in the Disney fandom. He is the co-author of The Unofficial Guides, runs TouringPlans.com and co-hosts the podcast The Disney Dish with Jim Hill.

But Disney also needs to be strategic in any hotel project and pick the right location at the right price with the perfect theme, Testa warned, which might explain why Disney World has never built a hotel at the Magic Kingdom.

“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.”

For instance, a hotel with a less-than-stellar view of Pirates of the Caribbean’s infrastructure just wouldn’t work, Testa said.

“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. “It’s such a huge commitment that getting it wrong is a big risk. So they have to be absolutely certain on all three of those things.

Not only would the hotel’s rooms need the right theme, but the exterior of the hotel would need to be themed to fit into the land for the rest of the guests, added Carissa Baker, a University of Central Florida associate professor who studies theme parks.

Even though the Magic Kingdom is missing a hotel inside its gates, Disney has successfully integrated a handful of hotels into its theme parks abroad, like the Fantasy Springs Hotel at Tokyo DisneySea, Baker said.

“It’s just special to be able to say that you’re staying inside of a theme park,” Baker said. “Rather than just leaving the park at the end of the day … now you open your window, and you’re still in the park, and you could say, ‘I slept inside Disneyland Paris or Epic Universe or Tokyo DisneySea.’”

Baker acknowledged that a Villains-themed hotel could have been a good opportunity for some Disney spooky magic.

For the record, Baker said she is still dreaming of Universal to open a Harry Potter hotel.

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Editor’s note: This story was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism, which provides grants and other support to independent journalists and news organizations.