If you’ve always dreamed of living in Sleeping Beauty Castle or the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, then a new Palm Springs-area community designed by Walt Disney Imagineering could be your dream home come true.
Walt Disney Imagineering — the secretive creative team behind Disney theme parks — will design the new Cotino master-planned community coming to Rancho Mirage just outside Palm Springs.
The new Cotino community in the heart of the Coachella Valley is billed as a “creative oasis” for Disneyland die-hards and Mickey Mouse fans looking for “new ways to make Disney a bigger part of their lives.”
The new Disney neighborhood around a 24-acre lake will feature estates, single family homes and condominiums as well as a senior section for residents 55 and older.
The Cotino development is also approved for a hotel, shopping mall, waterfront club and private beach area.
Disney envisions Cotino as the first location in a new Storyliving neighborhood concept with additional housing developments planned across the United States. The Storyliving communities “inspired by world-famous Disney placemaking” will feature Imagineering-designed architectural elements and backstories reflective of the history and culture of each location.
This isn’t Disney’s first foray into home building and community creation. Disney developed the Florida town of Celebration that opened in 1996 next to Walt Disney World.
Walt Disney dreamed of building a utopian town in the 1960s that would have been a test bed for futuristic city planning. Disney’s vision for an Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow eventually morphed into the Epcot theme park at Disney World.
The planned Cotino community also boasts a Disney connection with Walt and his wife, Lillian, once owning a vacation home in Palm Springs that he called his “laughing place.”
Cotino promises to be infused with Disney’s attention to detail and “special brand of magic.” The Cotino community association, waterfront club and private beach will be operated by Disney cast members — Disney parlance for employees. The dues-paying private membership club will offer Disney entertainment, live performances, seminars, cooking classes and wellness programming.
Recreational water activities on Cotino’s centerpiece lake will be accessible to the general public via a day pass.
Disney will not be the real estate developer, builder or home seller of the Cotino community or any future Storyliving project. Scottsdale-based developer DMB Development is developing the Cotino master-planned community. DMB’s past work includes Ladera Ranch, Rancho Mission Viejo, Silverwood (Hesperia), Lahontan (Truckee), Martis Camp (Truckee) and Santaluz (San Diego).
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