Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge has reached another major milestone on its way to opening next summer.
For the first time, guests can actually book an ordinary stay at Walt Disney World’s newest resort.
Disney Vacation Club Members gained early access to cash reservations for Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge on October 6, 2026, beginning a three-day rollout that will progressively expand booking access to Annual Passholders and then the general public.
Walt Disney World Annual Passholders can begin making reservations on October 7, while reservations open to everyone on October 8.
Disney Vacation Club Members participating in the first booking window must contact Member Services. Annual Passholders receive their early booking opportunity by phone, while general-public reservations will become available online as well as by phone beginning October 8.
The booking rollout is for stays at the resort after its official opening on July 1, 2027.
That distinction is important for Disney Vacation Club Members.
The October 6 window is for early rental reservations, rather than the normal process of using Vacation Points to book a standard DVC stay. Disney has separately announced a special Member “First Wave” experience that will allow qualifying DVC Members to stay at Lakeshore Lodge before its official opening.
That three-night experience runs from June 24 through June 27, 2027 and includes resort dining, theme park admission and other member-exclusive elements. Reservations for First Wave open November 7.
For everyone else, July 1 remains the important date.
Lakeshore Lodge will open along Bay Lake between Disney’s Wilderness Lodge and Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground, on property previously occupied by Disney’s River Country water park.
The site has had an unusually complicated road to redevelopment.
Disney originally planned another resort there called Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge. Construction began before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted Walt Disney World operations and development plans in 2020.
The project was subsequently placed on hold, leaving the former River Country site dormant for several years.
Construction eventually returned with a redesigned project that became Disney’s Lakeshore Lodge.
The finished resort will contain 967 accommodations, ranging from compact studios to multi-bedroom villas and waterfront Lake Houses.
Disney has used animated films connected with nature as inspiration throughout the property rather than building the resort around a single movie.
Duo Studios, designed for up to two guests, draw inspiration from Encanto. Deluxe Studios and one- and two-bedroom villas incorporate imagery and design influences from Bambi, while three-bedroom Grand Villas reference Fantasia.
The unusual waterfront Lake Houses are inspired by Brother Bear.
These freestanding accommodations will be available in one- and two-bedroom configurations and include full kitchens and washers and dryers. Disney has also revealed a Northern Lights-inspired lighting effect in the primary bedroom.
Other resort rooms take their inspiration from Pocahontas, which also influences the design of the main lobby.
That lobby will feature floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the surrounding landscape, a fiber-optic river effect built into the floor and a suspended blown-glass installation called Colors of the Wind.
Disney recently provided another look at the resort’s food-and-beverage lineup.
Moonglade will serve as Lakeshore Lodge’s signature waterfront table-service restaurant, while Bay Lake Provisions will function as the resort’s all-day marketplace.
Paint Out Point Bar & Grill will provide poolside dining.
The resort is also getting Branch & Brush, a lounge located just beyond the main lobby. Disney says the space will offer handcrafted cocktails and Bay Lake views, with a color-changing chandelier designed to evoke the four seasons.
Guests staying in qualifying Club Level accommodations will have access to The Artist’s Nest, an elevated concierge lounge with complimentary refreshments and views toward Magic Kingdom.
Recreation will be another significant component of the resort.
The Wetlands area will include a zero-entry pool, spiral waterslide, lazy river and a water-play area incorporating Pocahontas-inspired design elements.
Transportation plans are particularly important given the resort’s location.
Disney has confirmed water transportation to Magic Kingdom, giving Lakeshore Lodge a direct connection to the park across Bay Lake. Bus transportation will serve other Walt Disney World destinations.
Guests will also receive standard Disney Resorts Collection benefits such as Early Theme Park Entry.
Lakeshore Lodge’s opening is especially notable because Walt Disney World does not frequently add entirely new resort hotels to its inventory.
Although Disney has built new Disney Vacation Club towers and additions at existing resorts in recent years, Lakeshore Lodge represents the long-awaited redevelopment of a property whose Disney history stretches back half a century.
River Country opened there in 1976 as Walt Disney World’s first water park and closed permanently after its 2001 operating season.
After years of abandoned-water-park history, an unrealized Reflections resort and eventually renewed construction, the property is finally approaching its next chapter.
And as of October 6, that chapter is no longer limited to concept art and construction updates.
The first regular guests can now put an actual Lakeshore Lodge reservation on their calendar.
Annual Passholders get their opportunity October 7.
Everyone else can begin booking October 8.