The Waldorf Astoria now in Orlando

October 1st, 2009 ,Thursday, is the GRAND OPENING of the WALDORF=ASTORIA Orlando at Bonnet Creek. “William Waldorf Astor, heir to John Jacob Astor III, built the original 13-story Waldorf Hotel on the site of his Fifth Avenue mansion. Opened in 1893, the Waldorf immediately became the gathering place for the world's wealthy and society's elite. Four years later, Waldorf's cousin, John Jacob Astor IV built the adjacent 17-story Astoria Hotel. Separate, yet equivalent in grandeur and prestige, both The Waldorf and The Astoria were designed by acclaimed architect, Henry Hardenbergh, who in an act of great foresight added a three-hundred-foot-long marble corridor connecting the two hotels. This corridor, built to connect the two buildings, became an enduring symbol of the combined Waldorf and Astoria hotels - it is represented by the "=" in The Waldorf Astoria. The Waldorf=Astoria – Orlando is opening alongside a brand new 1,000-room Hilton, and the two hotels will share 150,000 square feet of convention and meeting space. The development is tucked in a pocket of land near Walt Disney World called Bonnet Creek Resort. Surrounded on three sides by Disney, Bonnet Creek was never sold to the theme-park company when Walt Disney secretly began acquiring thousands of acres in the area in the 1960s. There were 18 separate companies/corporations that were used to purchase in secret, the land now known as, the WDW property.