Disney's Treehouse Villas have stood between what are now the Old Key West and Saratoga Springs resorts for over three decades. However, yesterday Disney may have moved one step closer to replacing these icons of the past.
Opening in 1975, the Treehouse Villas were one of a series of developments constructed on property now home to Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. In 2001 renovations began on some of the Disney Institute common area buildings for incoporation into Saratoga Springs. Another portion of this development, the Fairway Villas, were subsequently razed back in 2005 to make way for what is currently "The Grandstand" neighborhood of Saratoga Springs.
Today the Treehouse Villas still stand and are clearly visible to golfers playing the Lake Buena Vista course and those who take one of the water launches along the Sassagoula River. Although the treehouses have been closed to guests for years, until recently they were used as residences for partcipants in the Walt Disney World College Program.
For years it was believed that the land upon which the Treehouse Villas currently stand could not be utilized for new construction. With this area of the Walt Disney World Resort designated as "protected wetlands", some believed that development was limited to refurbishment of the existing treehouses. A recently-approved permit would seem to contradict this line of thinking.
On February 4, 2008, the South Florida Water Management District approved a December 2007 application submitted by the Reedy Creek Improvement District (Disney's governmental body) related to a "Disney Tree House Rehab Project." The body of the approval letter reads as follows:
District staff has reviewed the information submitted December 27, 2007, for replacement of the existing treehouse units resulting in a decrease of fill in the flood plain and no change to the surface water management system.
Based on that information, District staff has determined that the proposed activities are in compliance with the original surface water management Permit and appropriate provisions of FAC Rule 40E-4.331(2)(b). Therefore, these changes have been recorded in our files.
The full approval letter can be viewed by clicking HERE.
To date we have been unable to locate any information regarding the December '07 application. Without that missing element, it is difficult to draw any conclusions regarding this particular project. While the approval letter references "replacement of the existing treehouse units", the term "unit" may or may not refer to the treehouse structures themselves.
Nevertheless, given the location of this property situated between two existing Disney Vacation Club resorts and Disney's penchant for overcoming regulatory obstacles, it is entirely possible that Disney has development plans for this corner of the World.
