Walt Disney World has still not officially announced a restart of the paused Reflections – A Disney Lakeside Lodge hotel project, but we’ve been keeping a close eye on the construction site and it’s clear that a 10-story hotel will be built at Fort Wilderness on the former River Country water park site.

Reflections Fort Wilderness Hotel Construction Goes Vertical

We’ve been keeping an eye on the project since this summer when permits first indicated that work was on the way, followed by on-the-ground and aerial coverage of the first steps of construction.

While visiting the Magic Kingdom area resorts today, I also took the watercraft service over to Fort Wilderness to check in on the construction. In the last update on the project, we saw crews working with rebar in the first steps of the construction “going vertical”. During my visit earlier today, I noticed that concrete had been poured and the construction is officially vertical. In addition to the columns of concrete on the east side of the construction site, there was also a concrete wall erected toward the south side of the site. Here’s a look around!

The site now has two cranes, but as we reported recently, we can expect to see up to six cranes on site.

We can also see a concrete pour taking place – likely the first bit of foundation being poured for the 10-story hotel.

More rebar was being delivered as we were leaving.

At this point, the two timeframes that I would circle in the calendar to keep an eye out for an official announcement of the restart of the project would be the Brazil D23 event this weekend, or closer to the official opening of the Island Tower Disney Vacation Club project in December – sort of a “look what we have coming up next” sort of thing.

If not, look for a 2025 announcement for a project that should be completed sometime in 2026 or early 2027.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!