Main Street U.S.A. hub redevelopment at the Magic Kingdom

[ford91exploder]

Because the sight lines are horrid.

They go to the effort to deforest the area in the past 12 years and replace the trees with giant light poles that also get in the way much the same way as the trees did.

But the light poles are cheaper to maintain...

 

[ford91exploder]

The people commenting on the video about the Hub upgrades are more vicious then most of the posters here

Is the parks blog scrubbing machine at work yet?

 

[Goofnut1980]

I didn't take any pictures, but I was just there this past thursday, and out of the four flower areas surronding Walt & Mickey one of them was open. The Castle Turrets are still in the same stage they were, covered by a fabric that looks like a tree, and the taller things are covered in black tarp.

thanks!

 

[PREMiERdrum]

This is WDW that tech work is PERMANENT, It's been a long time since WDW cared about sightlines etc.

I won't even go as far as to crow about sightlines... a properly executed installation here wouldn't be inexcusable. However, the quality of the tech work itself (cable overhangs, unpainted junction boxes, etc) makes me *hope* that at least portions of this setup are temporary. Even a properly executed crossbar or ladder on the existing pole would be a huge improvement over what's there now.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

Here's an interesting find. While in EPCOT this past Sunday. The Mexico boat ride queue has a very interesting hand rail. It looks very similar if not identical to the new railing being installed at MK in the Hub and elsewhere. I'm not sure if the old railing is used anywhere else. But, since I have seen the new brass railing at MK Hub area, Bypass, Monorail exit ramp, etc. I picked up on this find quickly.
Mexico's railing looks to still be original installation and is holding up quite well. I wonder why they did not upgrade to this look sooner at an earlier Hub refresh.

Here's Mexico's queue hand railing. Taken Sunday Apr 26, 2015.

Below are a few pics of MK Hub's new railing taken March 14, 2015.

 

[ford91exploder]

I won't even go as far as to crow about sightlines... a properly executed installation here wouldn't be inexcusable. However, the quality of the tech work itself (cable overhangs, unpainted junction boxes, etc) makes me *hope* that at least portions of this setup are temporary. Even a properly executed crossbar or ladder on the existing pole would be a huge improvement over what's there now.

I very much doubt it, The 'old' tech work was of similar quality (or lack thereof) I agree most high school theater clubs productions have better tech work. I was always amazed at how poor the tech work was at WDW, (I have a few friends 'in the business' who do lighting and sound for shows and productions) and their work is much neater even for a one day installation.

 

[KDM31091]

I am sorry to kind of interrupt the flow of thought here but does anyone know when this will be 100% complete? Like all walls down, etc. I'm going at the end of October and would love if the hub was fully open.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I am sorry to kind of interrupt the flow of thought here but does anyone know when this will be 100% complete? Like all walls down, etc. I'm going at the end of October and would love if the hub was fully open.

I can't comment on 100% complete, but you could get lucky and get a fairly open hub in between different pieces of work. When I was at WDW last week, I went to the Magic Kingdom three times. The first time had a few construction walls. The second time had almost zero construction walls except for the partners statue, and the third time the entire place was construction walls.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

I can't comment on 100% complete, but you could get lucky and get a fairly open hub in between different pieces of work. When I was at WDW last week, I went to the Magic Kingdom three times. The first time had a few construction walls. The second time had almost zero construction walls except for the partners statue, and the third time the entire place was construction walls.

It's a new experience they are trying to up-sell. Construction wall roulette. Currently it can be experienced at all four parks on property. Fastpass+ is not required but encouraged.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

Ya know. They could put up some construction walls in the Germany pavilion and make it into an East and West Germany pavilion. They cold even use it in Marketing and spin it and say that they added a new country to World Showcase.

 

[betty rose]

Here's an interesting find. While in EPCOT this past Sunday. The Mexico boat ride queue has a very interesting hand rail. It looks very similar if not identical to the new railing being installed at MK in the Hub and elsewhere. I'm not sure if the old railing is used anywhere else. But, since I have seen the new brass railing at MK Hub area, Bypass, Monorail exit ramp, etc. I picked up on this find quickly.
Mexico's railing looks to still be original installation and is holding up quite well. I wonder why they did not upgrade to this look sooner at an earlier Hub refresh.

Here's Mexico's queue hand railing. Taken Sunday Apr 26, 2015.

View attachment 91040


Below are a few pics of MK Hub's new railing taken March 14, 2015.

View attachment 91041

View attachment 91042

I love the looks of the hub with the flowers and topiary's. It's coming along nicely. Can't wait to see it completed.

 

[PhotoDave219]

If the goal was to improve sighrlines so more people could watch the fireworks, really have to wonder Exactly what was the point. They sure as hell did not improve this by any stretch of the imagination.

While they did manage to improve people flow, they managed to make the sidelines worse. You have these giant poles that stick up everywhere in the middle of the castle.

The part of the project I'm looking at and criticizing is complete as far as I know.

 

[Sage of Time]

To be fair, the horticulture team does do an amazing job in the perimeters they are given and seem to update planters often.

Here's hoping. It feels like they did about half of it... some of the patterns are in there, but not the whole flower bed. Maybe they're waiting for the project to wrap up at the end of the year.

After seeing the offending rigs in person last week, I have to believe that they are temporary in at least some respects. That level of visibly shoddy installation, including the cable runs and utility boxes, would be inexcusable for a Cedar Fair or Six Flags park. The poles themselves look to be permanent, but the tech work at the top *has* to be redressed or at least cleaned up before the project is complete. Right? RIGHT?

I agree and hope you're right.

 

[note2001]

If the goal was to improve sighrlines so more people could watch the fireworks, really have to wonder Exactly what was the point. They sure as hell did not improve this by any stretch of the imagination.

While they did manage to improve people flow, they managed to make the sidelines worse. You have these giant poles that stick up everywhere in the middle of the castle.

The part of the project I'm looking at and criticizing is complete as far as I know.

I laugh at how cleverly the CGI designers hid the poles. You can see the shadows of them in that video very well, but have to look hard to see the poles themselves. From what I've seen in pictures those poles are pretty nasty.

When young I asked my dad once why there were no electric poles and lines in Disney. His response was because they got so many storms in Florida it made more sense to keep it all underground (this was before we started seeing suppressed lines in developments.) It was magic to me that they could hide the stuff like that. Apparently, somewhere in time with the newer imagineers coming along and trying to put on bigger, more impressive shows, Disney forgot that giant telephone poles and theme parks don't mix, unless it's in an area intended to have that visual clutter such as AK. Hm... They could at least add a themed tarp to them Or an invisibility cloak?

I am not looking forward to seeing them this summer: Tink's zip-line irks me, these poles will drive me to the edge of insanity.

I have to wonder if the imagineers have lost their touch to look beyond design and function to not just see the story from the guest's perspective, but to predict what they will feel. Joe Rhode knows how to do this, but he may be the last of the old ones. The new imagineers all use computer modeling to predict outcome and tell the story. Not the same thing at all.

 

[betty rose]

I laugh at how cleverly the CGI designers hid the poles. You can see the shadows of them in that video very well, but have to look hard to see the poles themselves. From what I've seen in pictures those poles are pretty nasty.

I asked my dad once why there were no electric poles and lines in Disney. His response was because they got so many storms in Florida it made more sense to keep it all underground. I was so impressed, it was magic to me that they could hide the stuff like that. Apparently somewhere along the lines with the newer imagineers coming along and trying to put on bigger, more impressive shows, they forgot that giant telephone poles and theme parks don't mix, unless it's in an area intended to have that visual clutter. They could at least add a themed tarp to them

I am not looking forward to seeing them this summer: Tink's zipline irks the h3ll out of me. [overreact] I fear these poles will cause me to rage to the point of bringing in the lumberjacks to saw them down. [/overreact]

I guess I look down more than up, trying not to trip over anything...so the hub, for me...is a glass half full instead of half empty.

 

[note2001]

I guess I look down more than up, trying not to trip over anything...so the hub, for me...is a glass half full instead of half empty.

Perhaps in person, but when taking photos, we're not looking down. We're trying to compose a half decent scene. It's far easier to ignore large telephone poles in person, as most of us see them every day they blend in with our normal lives and our brains filter them out. The camera is not as forgiving.

 

[betty rose]

Perhaps in person, but when taking photos, we're not looking down. We're trying to compose a half decent scene. It's far easier to ignore large telephones in person, as most of us see them every day they blend in with our normal lives and our brains filter them out. The camera is not as forgiving.

Understand...I don't take the photo's in the family...I really never thought about that, for all the photographer's out there, I hope the poles come down.

 

[marni1971]

I am sorry to kind of interrupt the flow of thought here but does anyone know when this will be 100% complete? Like all walls down, etc. I'm going at the end of October and would love if the hub was fully open.

Permit wise November. In essence end of August.

Remember they've got the stage to do yet.

 

[Sage of Time]

Permit wise November. In essence end of August.

Remember they've got the stage to do yet.

What exactly are they doing to the stage? No hope in them getting rid of those tacky arches, right?

 

[JediMasterMatt]

What exactly are they doing to the stage? No hope in them getting rid of those tacky arches, right?

I asked my Cast Member friend from the Castle Shows management team the question about the "golden arches" last November and she wasn't sure if they were going away; but, said the stage was going to be revamped.

Those arches look awful up close.