AKL permit applications are now online

[lisareniff]

The title should have read AKV. I thought this would have hit the boards already (maybe I missed the thread )...

This morning Mouseplanet posted a link to the water management permit application for AKL. Happy reading!

Animal Kingdom Villas details emerge

Plans filed with a water management permit application give an indication as to the building layout for the new Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas, the new Disney Vacation Club resort being built at the Animal Kingdom Lodge location. In addition to the conversion of 134 rooms on the existing Lodge's fifth and sixth floors, it looks like the originally announced total of 324 vacation homes on adjacent land may have been increased, unless the definition of "accommodations" differs between the number of rental units and what is considered an "accommodation" for legal purposes, as the environmental resource permit describes the project as "a 472-unit commercial development including roadway, utilities and storm water management system west of the existing Animal Kingdom Lodge."


A distinctively themed lobby, pictured in this artist rendering, and a new village of Vacation Homes will be part of Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas, a new Disney Vacation Club Resort located at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge at the Walt Disney World Resort. Image © Disney.

It appears that the resort will be designed as a group of multi-unit buildings under one long roof, arranged in serpentine fashion, basically amounting to a double horseshoe. For a good look at the proposed site plan, check out this document and go to page 15. For all documents related to the project, go to the South Florida Water Management District's permit search page and enter application # 061214-5.

Some excerpts from the permit's Executive Summary (with technical water routing information and references to cast-only structures removed) give an idea of what's to come at the resort:

"The proposed Resort site is broken down into the following areas:"

"Resort Building – There are 18 5-story beads and a check-in building that are all connected in the form of a chain.…"

"Savannah – The main attraction for the guests at the resort is the view of the free roaming animals in the Savannah. A majority of this area will be left in its natural state.…"

"Pool Amenity Area – This 1.5-acre area consists of two buildings, swimming pools and lounging areas.…"

"Tennis Court and BBQ Area"

Cast Parking and Osceola Parkway Re-alignment – Osceola Parkway is being shifted to accommodate extra parking spaces that the new resort is eliminating from the Cast parking Lot.…"

"Guest Parking – There are 472 proposed parking spaces. The first floor of each of the guest buildings will be reserved for parking…"

One interesting point is the mention of parking on the first floor of the guest buildings. The first-floor parking is not visible in concept art released by Disney, so either it was added since the drawings were made, it has been dropped from the project, or the parking will actually be underground. We'll have to wait and see. The new building is scheduled to open in 2009.

 

[pumpkinboy]

Very interesting viewing Lisa.

Here is the link to the Mouseplanet article.

Here is the PDF document with the signed plans on it.
The Mouseplanet article notes that page 15 has a good overview, but I think page 42 (drainage diagram) has the best overview.

It seems to be a reversed number 3 off to the west of the current lodge. In the middle of the "3" is a viewing area the juts out into the savannah, while behind it towards the north end is the feature pool. It looks like they are putting the parking underneath on the 1st floor so as to minimize the impact on the savannah. It also looks like it's gonna be a hike to the rest of AKL from the DVC section.

I for one am really excited about this prospect, possibly even excited enough to add to our current 495 points. Have fun looking at the sketches.

 

[tomandrobin]

Page 19 has a good layout of the pool area.

 

[dumbo71]

Funny how we all see diferent things. I thought it looked rather close to AKV????

Maps and drawings can be deceiving. I saw a SSR overview and the place looks monstrous. It is large but not nearly as large as the map makes it look.

 

[Olaf]

DS likes the looks of that slide.

 

[lisareniff]

Funny how we all see diferent things. I thought it looked rather close to AKV????

Maps and drawings can be deceiving. I saw a SSR overview and the place looks monstrous. It is large but not nearly as large as the map makes it look.

Talk about looonng hallways! I remember how long the AKL hallways were when we stayed there. The proposed AKV will have very long hallways...

Can you imagine walking from the end room to Boma?

 

[bjakmom]

I really hope that one of the buildings by the pool is a community center with great activities for the kids supervised by the WONDERFUL CMs who come on rotation from Africa !!!! - just like they have at AKL !