The invited designers were given just three weeks to prepare their entries, and some of them were unusual to say the least. A completely underground hotel was suggested, so that the natural beauty of the area could be retained. I’ve no idea how that linked in with the Americana theme, nor how the design of a completely clear hotel made entirely of Perspex and glass fitted in.

More obvious was the idea of a hotel shaped like an aircraft carrier, which its Austrian designer though represented America’s and its perceived military strength. Not surprisingly, this idea wasn’t considered suitable for a Disney Resort.

A Fantasia-themed hotel, complete with a giant iconic Sorcerer Mickey figure was much more likely to be approved. The design was reminiscent of Walt Disney World’s All-Star and Pop Century resorts, but this too was eventually rejected. One that was almost built was The Hotel Fantasia. It would have been a grand, Las Vegas-themed resort but in the end the company decided that they couldn’t afford it and the magnificent Disneyland Hotel as well.

In its original plan the Sequoia Lodge hotel would have been called the Forest of the Giants. Instead of the collection of mountain wilderness lodges that the resort holds today, its first incarnation had the buildings actually located in the branches of giant sequoia trees. The ‘trees’ proved costly and fraught with safety issues, but the name survived to the final product.

Many of the more fanciful ideas for Disney’s Paris hotels included a huge Goodyear blimp atop a tower, a cruise ship sailing on a sea of grass and an abstract, red circular hotel surrounding a small marina.

One concept that came close to making the final cut was a New Orleans themed resort. Disney approved it but had, as expected, various suggestions for amendments. However the Italian architect refused to let Disney alter his design in any way and the project was scrapped.

We may yet see the four “Nature Villages” that Disneyland Paris officially announced in 2003. The Ranch, Sport Water and Earth areas were to have been built near the Davy Crockett Ranch, some way away from the parks (the majority of DLP’s accommodation is within easy walking distance of the main entrance). These four discrete mini-resorts would offer relaxation, access to nature, and sporting activates in a woodland environment, introducing the Disney experience to guests who may not necessarily want to visit the parks.

And one final note about DLP. There has been talk of two new resorts next to Paris’ Walt Disney Studios - The Flamingo and the Palm Tree. These would apparently be moderate value, “fun” resorts. Will they ever get built? We shall see…

While the soon-to-open Hong Kong Disneyland has recently started taking bookings for its Disneyland Hotel and Hollywood Hotel, a third resort is already being planned to be built between them these two fairly soon. And Tokyo Disneyland is rumoured to be getting its own version of Disneyland Paris’ Disneyland Hotel, right at the entrance to the Japanese park. If everything goes to plan this hotel should be open to guests by 2008.

Not all of Disney’s discarded hotel ideas were for their theme parks though. During his first week at the company in 1984, Michael Eisner investigated the possibilities of building a Mickey shaped hotel at the Disney Studios in Burbank, California. This wasn’t to be a dusting off of John Hench’s classic three-ring “hidden Mickey” design that had at one time been planned for Disneyland, but instead would have been a hotel shaped like the traditional full Mickey Mouse figure, the kind you might see on a watch. He would have had a leg on either side of Buena Vista Street. The idea didn’t get very far but it might have been fun to see a model!

And whatever happened to the Disney Vacation Club’s Newport Coast Villas? This project was announced in 1994 on the Californian coastline near Laguna Beach. It would have resurrected and combined the Mediterranean and Venetian resorts planned from Walt Disney World - see part one of this article for further details of those stories.

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However Disney eventually sold off the land and while the Newport Coast Villas were eventually built, it wasn’t by Disney. They became a Marriott resort.

Of course Disney hasn’t only planned for guests to stay at their properties, there have been some plans for actual communities, and I’m not just talking about the town of Celebration near Walt Disney World. We all know of Walt’s original plans for EPCOT to be an actual working City (or Community) Of Tomorrow, but the company also drew up little-known plans for WDW to feature a town of its own back in the mid 1970’s. Lake Buena Vista Village would have been a small residential town, complete with a downtown shopping and entertainment area. This retail section eventually became what we now know as Downtown Disney. Some residential properties were built but the idea of selling them as homes had long since fallen through. Another idea was to make them retirement homes for the elderly but that too was abandoned, and the buildings eventually opened to the public as the Vacation Villas, Fairway Villas, Club Lake Villas and Treehouse villas – collectively the Walt Disney World Village Resort. This would later become the guest housing for the Disney Institute, situated where Saratoga Springs has been developed now.

One of my favourite hotel projects was the one Disney came up with in the mid-nineties. It intended to build a 47 storey Disney Hotel / Vacation Club property in New York’s Times Square, complete with pixie dust twinkling around the outside of the building. Michael Eisner still regrets not following through with this idea, but he and the rest of the board saw it as an incredibly risky venture at the time, as Times Square and its surrounding streets was a very seedy area. Eventually it was decided that the gamble was too large, and Disney pulled out. In hindsight of course, it would have been a wonderful idea – visitors could see a Disney show on Broadway and then carry on the overall experience by staying in the Disney Hotel. Eisner apparently regards it as the most important business decision that the company has got wrong during his leadership.

There’s even an Internet rumour that Disney has been in talks with the Chinese space agency about setting up a permanent hotel in outer space. Hmmm.... It sounds great, but I don’t think I’d fancy a character breakfast in zero gravity!

Perhaps Disney’s most ambitious idea for housing guests was to have been a theme park made up at least partly of attractions that would have actually incorporated hotels in their design. And that long hoped-for park will be the subject of my next column.