Disney Gives Behind-the-Scenes Look at New Fort Wilderness Cabins

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Cabins will soon be popping up at The Cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort. Ahead of their arrival, Disney has shared a behind-the-scenes look at these cabins and how they are being built. These cabins are coming through the help of Orlando small business owner Juan Quiroga. Quiroga’s first job was as a window washer. This summer, he will be helping Disney build over 350 new cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort.

“Starting my business with my mom and overcoming my fear of heights on that first job taught me that to succeed, sometimes you have to face your fears head on,” said Juan, who runs JCQ Services. “It’s so exciting to be part of this venture and see how it’s bringing together the expertise of local businesses like ours to create something truly exceptional for Disney.”   

The new cabins will be opening at Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort this summer. They will provide Disney Vacation Club Members and other guests at Fort Wilderness ways to enjoy the natural beauty that has made this resort magical since it opened in 1971. Ahead of this transition to new cabins, a project team is actually creating these cabins just a few miles away from Walt Disney World.

The new cabins are being built in a discreet warehouse in Orlando, Florida. They were designed by Walt Disney Imagineering and Disney World’s Facility Asset Management. The process of building each cabin is an intricate one that combines multiple talents and disciplines. Each cabin is a standalone unit so this project isn’t an ordinary hotel room renovation.

“We worked to develop a pre-fabrication strategy to allow construction of the components of each cabin off-site in Central Florida. This approach assures minimal construction disruption at Fort Wilderness and assures a high level of quality in the construction of each of the new cabins,” said Dean Huspen, Executive Architect with Walt Disney Imagineering. Upon their delivery, the pieces will be assembled to bring together this innovative life right at the cabin sites.

Those who have stayed at the cabins before will find that there will be same of the elements that are already loved. The cabins will continue to sleep six guests and they will also include a private patio, bedroom, and a spacious living room. These cabins will also be dog-friendly, just like before.

The new bonus features for the cabins include a stove in the kitchen, larger floor-to-ceiling windows to allow more sunshine and views of the forest in, and artwork that pays tribute to the history of Fort Wilderness. This even includes nods to the former River Country water park.

The construction of these new cabins is happening through a unique process that was developed in collaboration with two local Florida small businesses, JCQ Services and Friedrich Watkins Company. Each company employs 150 people and are among the 8,500 small business that The Walt Disney Company employs throughout the country. 2,500 of these small businesses are in Florida alone.

Sustainability is at the forefront of the approach to the construction process for these new cabins. Jeff Friedrich, owner of Friedrich Watkins Company, shared that technique that is being utilized limits metal waste to less than 1%, which can also be recycled for other uses.

“By using a cutting-edge machine that reads plans designed by Walt Disney Imagineering, we’ve created customized metal studs to save time and minimize waste,” Jeff said.

The work that continues rabidly on the cabins is jut one project among many projects on the horizon for Disney Experiences around the World. The new cabins will begin opening their doors to guests on July 1st. Reservations are now available. What do you think of these new cabins at Disney’s Fort Wilderness? Are you going to stay at them? Share your thoughts and opinions in the comments below!