Inspired By: Wilderness Lodge
Did you know that while Walt Disney World is a place of imagination without limits, many of the things there are inspired by real life locations or things? I recently got to see one of the locations that more clearly inspired Disney's Wilderness Lodge: Old Faithful Inn.
For today's blog, I want to share with you how Disney's Imagineers captured the feeling of a historic Western Lodge, while also adding their Disney touch.
Image: WDWKOOK/photobucket/Disunplugged board
But first, a little history:
Disney's Wilderness Lodge resort was opened on May 28th, 1994, but the idea of creating a Western themed resort had been kicked around for much longer than that. Walt was a great fan of Westerns and had wanted a Western themed resort much earlier, but the oil crisis in the 80s meant a pause in building any more resorts.
It wasn't until EPCOT was being built that the need for more resorts surfaced again and Wilderness Lodge construction began.
Now, Wilderness Lodge is a luxury Magic Kingdom area resort featuring a sweeping lobby with several fireplaces and teepee chandeliers, designed in what much of the literature calls a "Pacific Northwest" theme. Inside the lobby, you can find a "hot spring" called Silver Spring. This leads through the lobby and out to the pool and a geyser that erupts every hour on the hour. Sound familiar yet?
Now, let's turn our attention to Old Faithful Inn. Old Faithful Inn is a resort within Yellowstone National Park which was opened 90 years before the Disney version, in 1904. It is the largest log-constructed hotel in the world and in 1987, it received the status of National Historic Landmark.
We know Old Faithful Inn inspired Disney's Wilderness lodge, not just because the Chief Imagineer designing Wilderness Lodge visited it and Yosemite Lodge for inspiration, but also from the striking similarities in architecture.
This is a concept sketch of Disney's Wilderness Lodge:
The Master Architect series V: Urban Design Group Inc. 2003. Mulgrave, Victoria, Australia/The Images Publishing Group
And this is a photo I took of Old Faithful Inn:
Notice the flagpoles at the top of each building, and the gables.
And this is Disney's Wilderness Lodge again:
Image copyright: Disney
Moving inside, the similarities continue in the grand lobby. Both Old Faithful Inn and Disney's Wilderness Lodge have lobbies with lodgepole pine timbers and multiple balconies.
Here is Old Faithful Inn:
And here is Disney's Wilderness Lodge:
Notice the similarity in construction of the pillars on the balconies.
Obviously, Disney's Wilderness Lodge is built on a much grander scale while Old Faithful Inn is quite intimate. Other differences to note:
While Wilderness Lodge also has a tall fireplace, theirs sits in the corner and is made of rock strata meant to represent the Grand Canyon.
The centerpiece of Disney's Wilderness Lodge lobby is two totem poles. You will not find totem poles at Old Faithful Inn.
The flooring in Disney's lobby is in a Hopi "storm" design.
Disney's Wilderness Lodge pays much more homage to Native Americans. Throughout the lobby you will find designs important to Crow, Apache, Arapaho, Cheyenne, Ute, Kiowa, Navajo, and Comanche tribes.
Don't expect similar amenities at the two properties. You will not find a swimming pool or air conditioning at Old Faithful Inn. In fact, rooms at Old Faithful Inn are quite rustic and some don't even have an en suite bathroom.
Let's talk about that geyser, shall we?
Importantly, right outside Disney's Wilderness lodge, there is a geyser that erupts every hour on the hour. This is because right outside Old Faithful Inn is, you guessed it, Old Faithful.
Here are some geyser facts:
Disney's geyser is named Fire Rock geyser and is fed by Silver Spring, which conveniently starts inside the lobby of Wilderness Lodge.
Yellowstone's geyser is of course Old Faithful and is fed by underground water, and the Firehole river. Old Faithful is noted to have been observed by Lewis and Clarke (and Sacajawea).
Disney's geyser erupts every hour on the hour except between 10 PM and 7 AM. Because "Disney Magic"!
Old Faithful has never in its history erupted "every hour on the hour", despite stories. It's eruption interval has ranged from 53 to 93 minutes. Currently, it erupts roughly every 91 minutes, give or take 10 minutes, regardless of the time or the weather.
Disney's Fire Rock geyser shoots water 120 feet into the air.
Yellowstone's Old Faithful shoots water and steam 185 feet into the air. Unlike the Disney version, the water is a scalding 204 degrees Fahrenheit, and steam is up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Here is a picture of Fire Rock geyser:
And here is Old Faithful:
What is really neat is how the Disney Imagineers got the coloring of the mineral and calcite deposits just right both in the hot spring in the lobby, and in Fire Rock geyser.
One final note of homage in Disney's Wilderness Lodge is the name of its fine restaurant, Artist Point. This is also the name of a much-painted vista at Yellowstone National Park.
Perhaps you recognize the image:
Disney's Wilderness Lodge has truly become what Walt had wished it to be when it was still on the drawing board. It is an homage to the American West, all National Parks, and several Native American tribes. To be honest, having visited Old Faithful Inn makes me want to go back to Wilderness Lodge even more now and find the details I missed before.
Have you stayed at Disney's Wilderness Lodge lately? What did you love about it? Share your story in the comments or on our Facebook page, and we'll see you next week!
