Before I begin I want to give full credit for the rumor to Blog Mickey, and I recommend visiting the original article because it’s going to have more images and possibly more information than I’m going to cover.  But the old rumor of a 4th Monorail Hotel is back.

Years ago, there was talk that there could be a fourth Disney resort hotel on the monorail system. But that was back when they cut construction during the 1990’s due to the “uncertainty of travel.” When things like the Pop Century stopped and the area that was to be 1900’s-1940’s was halted for years. Then later they turned it into the Art of Animation.

Well there was reportedly another project that was announced around the same time The Grand Floridian was announced in the 1980’s that would have been the “Mediterranean”  or “Venetian” themed hotel. It too was supposed to be on the Monorail line/Lagoon.  According to an interview with Progress City, talking to “former Disney Imagineer and executive, Bob Holland, it was revealed that the project had predated him and had “always meant to be a hotel site.” (Around the 43: minute mark)

Before the construction on the other Monorail hotel stopped, they had moved some dirt on the site from excess fill used in the Port Orleans resort.  They had a “gateway” made from 2X4s that Mr. Holland indicated were there to keep trucks from hitting the Monorail beam as they were in and out of the site.

Holland also made sure to correct the rumor that it’s sitting empty because it isn’t “a buildable site.” He says that “it’s very buildable, like all sites in Florida it has some challenges, but there’s nothing wrong with it.” He also said “It’s the last great site on Seven Seas Lagoon, it demands…a very high end hotel. It should be another Grand Floridian or better.”

He went on to say when the project finally died, around 2003 or 2004, they had brought back the architect firm, Wimberly, Allison, Tong & Goo, that has done the Grand Floridian, to take another look at a hotel that would be the Venetian, (A working title) and it was going to have canals that would go into the Seven Seas Lagoon. However the company didn’t feel the market demanded it at the time.

(According to Wikipedia the name that was being used was the Disney’s Grande Venezia Resort)

So fast forward to why I’m mentioning this as a rumor that we could once again be seeing this hotel.

It turns out that 2X4’s have once again appeared in this area according to Blog Mickey.  It just appeared recently in that exact area.  An area that is “buildable” and is, according to the former Vice President of Resort Development, “the last great site on the lagoon.”

Since Disney is leaning towards Deluxe resorts to chase the $400k a year “whales,” even offering special priveledges like extra park time to those guests, it makes sense they would want something grander than the Grand Floridian.

What do you think? Comment and let us know.