Jim opens the door to stories behind the Walt Disney World hotel.
Walt Disney World's Shades of Green resort originally opened as a Disney-owned resort known simply as the Golf Resort in December 1973, with roughly 150 rooms.
The Golf Resort was originally a building located in the middle of the Palm and Magnolia golf courses and was meant as an amenity for golfers using the courses in 1971-72. It was designed with wood and volcanic rock to look like a two-story country clubhouse and did not have any guest rooms.
Guest wings were added in 1973 as part of Walt Disney World's Phase 2 expansion that was also meant to include three other Magic Kingdom resorts that were never built. It retained the name The Golf Resort, but was not generally considered a WDW resort because of its small size and not being on the monorail loop among other things.
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