LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – It’s no secret that Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground is getting a facelift, including new cabins.
For the first time, we were invited inside one of the cabins to get a look at what Disney guests can expect. The whole design process started with a competition.
“We got invited to this design competition to figure out a new way to do the cabins and we came up with a design that Disney liked,” said Friedrick Watkins Company President Jeff Friedrick.
Friedrick and Juan Quiroga, CEO of JCQ Services, Inc. collaborated to create J&J Venture Group, the company building Disney’s new Fort Wilderness cabins.
The cabins have an open floor plan, modern finishes and are energy efficient with the traditional Fort Wilderness features like the bunk beds and kitchen. There are more windows and large glass doors for indoor-outdoor living. There’s also additional built-in recessed lighting so the cabins aren’t as dark as the old ones.
If you look closely, you’ll spot some familiar characters including Mickey Mouse, Pluto, and Donald Duck. But two characters seem to be the main focus of the cabins: Chip ‘n Dale.
They make appearances throughout the cabins from the bunks, to the wall art and even the curtains.
While the new cabins look completely different from the outside and have a bit of a different floorplan on the inside, the builders had to use the same footprint as the old cabins at about 500 square feet of space.
That means replacing more than 350 cabins without closing Fort Wilderness campgrounds or interrupting visitors or wildlife.
“We would typically have a huge laydown yard with stacks of materials. But with this being an operating campground, we couldn’t take up that space,” said Friedrick.
So they modularized the cabins. Basically building all the pieces in their Orlando warehouse using a Framecad machine.
“The rolling of our own metal studs and printing those exactly to size, without typical metal stud construction where you have the guy in the corner with the chop saw cutting studs and creating a lot of trash and taking a lot of time. This allowed us to put every wall panel together for exact size and shape,” said Friedrick.
They deliver the pieces to Fort Wilderness, building the cabins like a puzzle, two at a time, loop by loop. And what about the potential for hurricanes? The manufacturers made sure the new cabins could withstand strong winds and wouldn’t flood.
“We use a system called Helical Piles minimizing impact on rain. It lifts up the foundation about three feet for each cabin. Giant screws go 20 feet in the ground holding the foundation,” said Quiroga.
Disney said this project has indirectly employed 500 people, with most of the subcontractors based in Central Florida. An innovative and sustainable way to keep the magic alive at Fort Wilderness Resort.
“It’s very exciting for us. It’s been long and hard work and creating a great impact for local contractors in Central Florida,” said Quiroga.
“The gratification that we get is that we’re producing something that people from all over the world will be staying in and their families will be enjoying their vacation because of the work we do. It’s cool to be able to participate in something great like this,” said Friedrick.
Construction is underway at Fort Wilderness Campgrounds with the first loop of new cabins opening to guests on July 1, according to a Disney representative with Facilities Asset Management but you can start making reservations now by clicking here.