The Transportation and Ticket Center needs a makeover. Desperately.

c-one

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So I've been thinking, lately, about how much I hate the Transportation and Ticket Center. It's the gateway to the Magic Kingdom, and gives you access to these really cool and unique forms of transportation (monorails and ferries!), and yet it has all the ambiance of a run-down commuter rail station in the suburbs. And people complain about the buses not being "magical" enough...

First of all -- all that concrete and those fluorescent lights have GOT to go. Ick. All of the great architects through the history of WDI, how did this get through?!

Plus, the signage is SO tacky. I'm admittedly critical here since I'm a designer by day, but ugh, these are terrible:

http://www.kippel.com/philip/images/portfolios/ttcentrance.jpg
http://www.guide-to-disney.com/magic-kingdom/transportation/photos/magic-kingdom-ferries2-big.jpg

Blocky shapes, colors straight out of the mid-90s, and unrefined fonts. I get that you need to be bold and clear when dealing with tourists, but this is just too much. Disney's designers get the balance right elsewhere (see: Epcot's heydey, Magic Kingdom's entrance plaza, the new DTD signs), why can't they here?

So what could be better? I'm kinda partial to the super-modern look of Hong Kong's Sunny Bay Station, which like the TTC, is kind of the transport gateway to the park.

http://www.aedas.com/Content/images/pageimages/MTRC-Sunny-Bay-Station-Hong-Kong-2.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3361/3475287740_dff7522320.jpg

The Hong Kong Disneyland station is really cool too, although it might be a bit too close to the Magic Kingdom station in motif. A classic, exaggerated Victorian look. Disney always nails this style.

http://www.disneybymark.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/IMG_0237.jpg
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_l_yk10bCu...AAj4/c1mfa4pCRuc/s400/Disney+Station+copy.jpg

What do you guys think? Am I just picking nits here? Honestly, the Transportation and Ticket Center is the single least "magical" place on property for me. Even the moving walkways from the Universal Orlando parking garage to CityWalk are nicer looking. It's just...cheap looking. There must be a better way.
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
What do you guys think? Am I just picking nits here?

No, you're not being picky.

What they need to do is go back to the roots of this design, and scrap all that tacky 1990's gew-gaws and add-ons they slapped on this thing. Go back to the mid-century modern design this had from the beginning, and update it with new LED lighting to replace the cheap flourescents.

It doesn't need to look like Versailles. But right now it's a 1970's design left to rot, and then saddled with tacky 1994 add-ons and garish colors. It has good bones, they just need to go back to the original design and then carefully update it with new technology and lighting.

The TTC has good bones, but they just added a bunch of 1990's flab to it and ruined it. Shabby maintenance hasn't helped things.
 

unkadug

Follower of "Saget"The Cult
No, you're not being picky.

What they need to do is go back to the roots of this design, and scrap all that tacky 1990's gew-gaws and add-ons they slapped on this thing. Go back to the mid-century modern design this had from the beginning, and update it with new LED lighting to replace the cheap flourescents.

It doesn't need to look like Versailles. But right now it's a 1970's design left to rot, and then saddled with tacky 1994 add-ons and garish colors. It has good bones, they just need to go back to the original design and then carefully update it with new technology and lighting.

The TTC has good bones, but they just added a bunch of 1990's flab to it and ruined it. Shabby maintenance hasn't helped things.

I agree, I love the 60's/70's retro architecture of the building, but they have ruined the lines with the additions.
 

menamechris

Well-Known Member
Hopefully, since the parking lot recently got some attention - this is also on their radar. Anyone can see it is hideous and tacky looking...
 

chrissyw14

Active Member
I like the Hong Kong Disneyland station, I think of Magic Kingdom with a classic, exaggerated Victorian look, and EPCOT with the modern and futuristic look.
 

ChrisFL

Premium Member
Yes I agree about HKDL's stations.

Theoretically they could do that to the TTA, by having the existing structure remain while they build a structure like that up around it, then remove the structure beneath.
 

rct247

Well-Known Member
I think it would be wonderful if they redid the TTC. I feel like there is a lot of wasted space at the TTC. So many ticket booths but I hardly ever see but maybe 2-4 of them open. The pathway to the Polynesian could be better marked. The entire main plaza could be under a shelter and the stations could be more open vertically.
 

The Empress Lilly

Well-Known Member
No, you're not being picky.

What they need to do is go back to the roots of this design, and scrap all that tacky 1990's gew-gaws and add-ons they slapped on this thing. Go back to the mid-century modern design this had from the beginning, and update it with new LED lighting to replace the cheap flourescents.

It doesn't need to look like Versailles. But right now it's a 1970's design left to rot, and then saddled with tacky 1994 add-ons and garish colors. It has good bones, they just need to go back to the original design and then carefully update it with new technology and lighting.

The TTC has good bones, but they just added a bunch of 1990's flab to it and ruined it. Shabby maintenance hasn't helped things.
Exactly this. Strip the gaudy 1990's circus signage.


Hands off the gorgeous 1971 design of the TTC! :fork:

It is beautiful, authentic, classic.

It is a fantastic architectural ensemble together with the Contemporary and Tomorrowland. If anything, Dinsey ought to restore these three to their 1970's look. A look that by now is old enough to cross over from outdated to classic. Even nostalgic. A restoration would lend a completely new layer of respectability and authenticity to the look of WDW. Let's see if Potter can compete with a mid-century American classic like that.
 

c-one

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
See, I guess I don't really like the clean 1970's look, either. I do generally like that style, but I don't think the TTC executes it very nicely in this case. But if they ditched the ugly 90s signage and the parking-garage-style fluorescent lights, I'd be content with that at the very least!
 

NewfieFan

Well-Known Member
Nope, you're not picky - I agree! The TTC is like a step back in time (but not the good kind of stepping back in time... more like, who let the 90s throw up all over this place?)!
 

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
I don't like the 1990's colors and signage, but I also don't like the "functional but very plain and unpleasing to the eye" look the place would have if it were cleaned of the 90's additions. Re-do the whole thing.
 

maxairmike

Well-Known Member
I also think the TTC needs a complete makeover, and there is something about the large, arcing roofs/cover designs that I love.

My ideal design would be something akin to the Hong Kong style (large arcing cover), with the support style of the Top Thrill Dragster station at Cedar Point. A cover that is an irregular oval/ellipse shape with three large steel support beams at an obtuse angle (like the image linked above, only not as far above the roof) on the long sides of the monorail station. To complement/contrast the angle of the support beams, the wall of the station could either follow the angle of the beams up to the platform, or be the opposite angle from the platform to ground level.

Of course, that would likely require a complete demo of the station structure that is currently there, so that kind of thing isn't likely to happen. A man can dream, though.
 

VoiceGuy07

Active Member
I agree that the TTC could use an overhaul. I always thought the colors and signage were rather generic, show little effort of theming, and are a little out of place.

It's kind of like the difference between Disney merchandise in Mousegears and Disney merchandise at the airport. I haven't been drinking and I hope that makes sense!
 

TP2000

Well-Known Member
Glad to see I'm not the only one who recognizes the TTC has good bones and a solid design language suffocating underneath that tacky 1990's overlay.

The TTC is the same vintage as most of the Disneyland Hotel. And out here in SoCal they are just finishing a comprehensive 3-year redo of the entire Disneyland Hotel. And you know what the Imagineers did with the old Disneyland Hotel? They ripped out all the 1990's contemporary "Disneyfied" overlays and went back to the original architecture and mid-century modern design aesthetic for the hotel, but updated it with new LED lighting and sleek new CM costumes and a saturated color palette with vintage artwork and fabrics and surfaces.

And the result is stunningly fresh and crisp and 21st century, yet also looks like something you would have seen showroom-new back in 1965. It's so hip it hurts, and they didn't have to do major surgery to get there. :cool:

They should get the exact same team of Imagineers that brought the Disneyland Hotel back to it's fabulous mid-century glory for the 21st century and ship them out to Orlando to work on redoing the TTC. There's a huge potential there, without using a single bulldozer to destroy the place.
 

c-one

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Worse - the TTC fails to perform it's mission. It is not a center of transportation. When one needs to move around in the evening - where are you told to go? Downtown Disney.
This is a very good point. The entire thing is a misnomer. From an urban planner's perspective, it's a nightmare. All the TTC is is the gateway to the Magic Kingdom and its three surrounding hotels. If it serves that role well, maybe we should keep it that way, but the name should be changed. It made sense in the MK/Epcot days when that was the center of the resort, but not anymore.

I also think the TTC needs a complete makeover, and there is something about the large, arcing roofs/cover designs that I love.

My ideal design would be something akin to the Hong Kong style (large arcing cover), with the support style of the Top Thrill Dragster station at Cedar Point. A cover that is an irregular oval/ellipse shape with three large steel support beams at an obtuse angle (like the image linked above, only not as far above the roof) on the long sides of the monorail station. To complement/contrast the angle of the support beams, the wall of the station could either follow the angle of the beams up to the platform, or be the opposite angle from the platform to ground level.

Of course, that would likely require a complete demo of the station structure that is currently there, so that kind of thing isn't likely to happen. A man can dream, though.
Yes. I love that look, too.
 

flavious27

Well-Known Member
Modern but not over the top, say like this:

Detroit_0030.jpg
 

Tom Morrow

Well-Known Member
I'm still struggling to see how the TTC would look good even with all the 90's stuff ripped out.
The TTC is the same vintage as most of the Disneyland Hotel. And out here in SoCal they are just finishing a comprehensive 3-year redo of the entire Disneyland Hotel. And you know what the Imagineers did with the old Disneyland Hotel? They ripped out all the 1990's contemporary "Disneyfied" overlays and went back to the original architecture and mid-century modern design aesthetic for the hotel, but updated it with new LED lighting and sleek new CM costumes and a saturated color palette with vintage artwork and fabrics and surfaces.
Is there any site with a before/after comparison?
 

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