Disney announces Storyliving, residential communities designed by Disney Imagineers

And no, we’re not talking about a timeshare.

If you’ve ever watched a Disney parade and thought, “I never want to leave,” well, congratulations — Mickey Mouse is apparently listening. Disney is officially in the real estate business, and it’s building full-blown residential communities across the United States under its Storyliving by Disney brand.

Yes, real neighborhoods. Real homes. Real mortgage payments. The magic has a price tag.

Storyliving by Disney is a developing portfolio of master-planned residential communities designed by Disney Imagineers — the same creative minds behind the theme parks — and managed day-to-day by Disney cast members. The concept is essentially what would happen if Disney looked at traditional suburban development and said, “We can do this better, and also more on-brand.”

The communities aren’t theme parks. Disney has been pretty clear about that. There are no roller coasters in the backyard and Cinderella isn’t showing up to your HOA meetings (though honestly, that might improve them). Instead, the idea is to bring Disney’s signature attention to detail, community programming and hospitality to everyday residential living.

Think beautifully landscaped common areas, curated amenities, lifestyle programming and that unmistakable “everything works and everyone is nice” energy that Disney somehow manufactures at scale. Whether that sounds like a dream or slightly unsettling is entirely up to you.

The first community out of the gate is Cotino, located in Rancho Mirage, California, in the sun-scorched, spectacular Coachella Valley near Palm Springs.

Cotino is the flagship of the Storyliving concept, and Disney is not being shy about it. The community features a Crystal Lagoon — a massive, resort-style man-made swimming lagoon that serves as the centerpiece of the neighborhood. There’s also a Grand Destino clubhouse with dining, fitness and wellness facilities, and all the amenity programming you’d expect from a company that essentially invented the concept of “the experience.”

Homes at Cotino start in the mid-$1 millions, so it’s not exactly a community for the budget-conscious. Disney is offering a mix of single-family homes and condominiums, with options across various price points — though “various” is relative when the floor is seven figures in the desert.

Sales have been underway, with residents already beginning to move into some phases of the development. Early reviews from buyers have been, predictably, enthusiastic. People who want to live in a Disney-branded community are generally the kind of people who enjoy living in a Disney-branded community. Shocking, we know.

The second announced community is Asteria, set in Pittsboro, North Carolina, a town southwest of Raleigh in the Research Triangle region. And this one is a significantly bigger swing.

Asteria is planned for approximately 4,000 homes, making it a substantial master-planned development by any measure. Sales are expected to begin in 2027, so there’s still time before the Imagineers officially open the gates on this one.

The Raleigh-Durham market is one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, with a booming tech and life sciences sector drawing transplants from coastal metros at a healthy clip. Pittsboro sits close enough to that growth corridor to be attractive while still offering more land and relatively more breathing room than downtown Raleigh or Chapel Hill.

Details on Asteria’s specific amenities and pricing are still rolling out as the project develops, but given what Disney has established with Cotino, expect the full Imagineering treatment — thoughtful design, community programming and cast members keeping the neighborhood experience running smoothly.

Here’s where it gets genuinely interesting and, frankly, a little surprising from a PR standpoint: Disney is also developing an affordable and attainable housing community near Walt Disney World in Florida.

The project is aimed at addressing the significant housing crunch that affects workers in and around the Orlando area — a very real problem in a region dominated by hospitality and service-industry employment. It’s both a goodwill move and, let’s be honest, a smart workforce strategy. When your theme park runs on cast members and those cast members can’t afford to live within a reasonable commute, that’s a you problem.

Details on the Florida project’s scale and timeline are still emerging, but the inclusion of an attainable housing component in Disney’s real estate portfolio is a notable departure from the luxury positioning of Cotino and the market-rate scale of Asteria.

If the idea of a community designed with Disney’s level of intentionality — well-maintained, amenity-rich professionally managed and programmed — sounds appealing, then Storyliving is probably worth watching closely. The Imagineering pedigree is legitimate, and Disney has decades of experience creating environments that people genuinely love to be in.

If, on the other hand, the thought of living somewhere with this much corporate brand identity baked into the infrastructure gives you pause, that’s a reasonable reaction too. There are real questions about what it means to have a single entertainment company serve as the architect, developer, operator and cultural programmer of the place you call home.

But hey — the lagoon at Cotino looks incredible, and Pittsboro is a perfectly lovely part of North Carolina.

Disney’s been in the business of selling dreams for over a century. Apparently, now they’re selling the zip code, too.

Storyliving by Disney communities and project details are subject to change as developments progress. Pricing and availability vary by community.