Disney's Pop Century and Art of Animation
The Story of Disney's Once Abandoned Resort by Sam. 10.27.21 In the book Disney War by James B Stewart (which is an absolute MUST read by anyone who's a fan of 'backstage' Disney), we learn a few things about the way the company once viewed on-property resorts. There was the super expensive Magic Kingdom resorts (Contemporary, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian) and then kinda just everything else. The first moderate resort built was Caribbean Beach in 1988, but then they did something interesting. Other than signing a 99 year lease for Marriott to operate the Swan and Dolphin, Disney decided to develop on-property budget resorts for people who know their plans might not include a lot of hotel-ing.. but instead, a lot more park hopping. Just get a look at that weird but oddly beautiful 1990's deco weirdness. If you look at the history of how the resorts were developed, it's clear that Disney didn't know if they wanted to be in the hotel business with both feet.