Disney’s Copper Creek to portray Pacific Northwest
The westward expansion of the United States is reflected in the latest Disney Vacation Club offering, right down to the railroad spike repurposed as a coat hook. The look of the Copper Creek Villas & Cabins, under construction at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge, mixes Pacific Northwest atmosphere with a “rustic elegance,” Disney officials said Wednesday.
When Copper Creek opens in July, it will be the 14th DVC property and the second based out of Wilderness Lodge. It will be brand new but with a historical theme courtesy of Walt Disney Imagineering.
“What we wanted to do, knowing that this resort would have been here for hundreds of years, is take materials that these settlers would have found on site and the rejuvenation and sort of regentrification of the area,” Mitch Miorelli, project manager, said. “It’s found objects that would have almost been artifacts from the mining area from the railroad. They would have been repurposed and built into their everyday houses and everyday construction.”
Wood décor is spread throughout the villas and cabins, from wall hangings and mirrors to headboards and beamed ceilings. Light fixtures are made from shards of colored glass and, above the dining table, a chandelier featuring a giant cog from a crane.
The new pool area will be themed after the fictional settlement’s quarry with cranes and large boulder walls.
The 26 Copper Creek cabins, set on the shore of Bay Lake, have wrap-around screened-in porches with indoor-outdoor fireplaces and a hot tub.
“We wanted to make it feel like the interior expanded into the exterior, so there’s floor-to-ceiling windows, really great views of Bay Lake,” Miorelli said.
The new cabins will join the lineup of unusual stand-alone lodging options on Disney World property. Other spots where guests can find more sequestered housing include the Treehouse Villas, the cabins at Fort Wilderness Campground and the waterfront bungalows at Disney’s Polynesian Resort Village.
Some Copper Creek cabins along the northernmost end of the row have views of Magic Kingdom fireworks and Disney’s nightly water parade on the Seven Seas Lagoon. The 1,400-square-foot cabins sleep eight people.
Cooper Creek will include 184 units, including three-bedroom “grand villas” that sleep 12 people.
“We did something that we haven’t done previously. We have five different accommodations types,” said Ken Potrock, DVC’s senior vice president and general manager. “We have studios, one bedrooms, two bedrooms, threebedroom villas, and we have these spectacular cabins along the lake.”
Potrock suggested that the cabins are unique ways to celebrate a milestone or to have a multigenerational vacation.
“They’re really, really exquisite kinds of experiences,” he said.