malice
Well-Known Member
Magic Keyholders who parked at Gardenwalk
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Long live the Eastern Gateway or how I learned to love the Anaheim City Council after the election.
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Disney Irish
Premium Member
If I remember the original plan correctly, and this just looks to be a revised version of the original plan, one of the levels of the new Pumbaa structure will be for CM parking. And I suspect that part of the existing surface Pumbaa lot will remain, at least for now, and they will use that for CM parking.
But I do agree that they should turn the Ball Rd CM surface lot into a structure.
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
Thanks for this visualization. I had to go back and re-read that blog post, but it does specifically call out "a portion of what is currently the Manchester cast member parking lot" as opposed to the old Pumba-based plan. I hope we get to see sooner than later what the configuration will really be. (A bit more wedge-shaped I imagine?). I also wonder what will become of the previous plans for dedicated freeway access, etc.
One thing about the original plan was that this building was leased through 2020 or 21 and the area couldn’t be used. USCIS has moved out of the building now that the lease is over and Disney has total control with the area.
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Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
Right, isn’t this the building they just took full ownership of? Sounds like the stars have aligned.
NobodyElse
Well-Known Member
You may or may not be thinking of the warehouse on the other side of the 5 freeway, but yes, it's good that they have options with USCIS building now.
Disneyprince22
New Member
I believe this is the building they are now using as TDA East.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
The plan was always that the Manchester lot was going to be used for the new transportation hub. As the current surface lot currently called Pumbaa isn't being used for anything other than overflow for CMs I don't think there was any reason for them to call it out in the blog post. Overall I wouldn't put too much focus on which plots of land are being used at this point, just that it covers the original plots of land already discussed, ie the two surface lots and the old Carousel Inn land.
As for the freeway access I suspect long term its still part of the plan, as it was brought up during the City Planning meetings last year. Whether it'll be part of this initial build out starting in fall 2026 remains to be seen.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Correct, its being used for TDA. One idea thrown around these parts was they could vacate the existing TDA building and move completely over to this building and use the old TDA building as future expansion for DL. But don't know if that is even being considered by Disney, its not even a rumor at this point. But would be interesting if it was for future expansion prospects, imagine what they could do with more land on the north side of DL.
DLR92
Well-Known Member
Maybe move structure that houses the railroads and monorail futher up north against ball road and the freeway.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
That seems like a lot of work for very little payoff as its already up against the 5 offramp to Harbor.Maybe move structure that houses the railroads and monorail futher up north against ball road and the freeway.
I have not seen anyone comment on this but I am curious about why they are closing Monsters already in early 2026 when construction on the Easter Gateway is not starting until the fall of 2026 (and then I'd guess they would start with the parking structure). Could it be that this area of the backlot will become a temporary access point to the esplanade while they are building the new entry? And once they have completed the new entry they will start on Avatar? I am super curious about the sequence of when they are doing all of this without interrupting current operations too much.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Its unknown by anyone here the exact sequence of events, but its not really that much time between Monsters closing and construction starting on the Eastern Gateway, 6 months at most. My assumption has always been that they could do the Eastern Gateway and Avatar construction at the same time. As a majority of the Eastern Gateway land is pretty much just flat land and ready to go without much prep and very little demo (only the USCIS building if that is going away which is unknown at this point). Its the Backlot that requires the most demo and prep time to setup before construction can start. This is why I suspect that Monsters is closing early, as its going to take time to demo it and the surrounding buildings and prep the land, which can take 3-6 months.
I suppose it could be a used as a temporary walkway to the Esplanade after demo until the bridge and entry way is built, but that seems less likely to me. But who knows, just may happen that way.
Either way its going to be interesting to watch.
DrStarlander
Well-Known Member
Great point. The construction sequence is fascinating if you consider that they need to maintain pedestrian access from Harbor Blvd. to the esplanade throughout the process, and they need to maintain bus drop off (somewhere) and then post-bus pedestrian access.
I think your hunch is a good one that in a Phase 1, the Monsters, Inc. land will be demo'd and after maybe 6 months of demo, grading, asphalt work and temp walls, be available as temporarily pedestrian access and bus drop off. This allows them to, in Phase 2, wall off the north side of the bus drop off to build the bridge, elevator, security, etc., at the same time garage is going up.
Then, once the garage and bridge and security and esplanade are done, in Phase 3, the Monsters, Inc. area can be walled off and become part of the Avatar construction site for 2+ more years.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
It'll be interesting to see in what sequence stuff gets done. My only issue with this idea is that it seems like a whole lot of extra wasted construction to build a temporary bus drop-off and walkway in the Backlot in this scenario. Not saying it won't happen but just seems like very little benefit for what amounts to a small amount of time it'll be needed.
I do still think its possible they can do both projects in parallel, and still have a walkway for guests. For example the bridge will likely be constructed offsite and then trucked in and installed over the course of a couple nights. As Anaheim IS NOT going to have them shutdown Harbor for several weeks to months in order to build and install a bridge onsite. As Harbor is a major thoroughfare for the City. So all that is 100% going to be constructed offsite and trucked in to be installed with as minimal of an impact to Harbor traffic as possible, likely limited to nighttime work only. Similar to how they did the pedestrian bridge for Pixar Pals.
I also suspect that the CM Manchester lot will be closed as soon as possible so they can start on the new transportation hub. As they'll get both the bridge and new transportation hub done as soon as possible so they can move that traffic sooner rather than later.
The new garage doesn't have to be finished right away for everything else to be built and opened. Unless of course as some guessed there will be a direct walkway from one level of the garage to the bridge, which I still have my doubts is even part of the plan. So assuming that doesn't happen the garage doesn't need to be finished in order for the new transportation hub and bridge to open.
Also remember that it was only 16 months total time from construction start to opening for the Pixar Pals including its walkway and bridge. This is why I think they can do both, as the timeline makes it where if they start both at the same time the EGW will be finished by early 2028 (at the latest) and Avatar summer 2029. Because otherwise that means Avatar is not opening until 2030 at the earliest if not into 2031 due to starting after the EGW is finished, and I can't see that happening.
Disney Analyst
Well-Known Member
Could they move bus drop off to temporary bus stops elsewhere?
There’s also the question of what is actually being swallowed by the avatar expansion. Perhaps the actual bus area won’t be impacted, until they are ready to build the new entry experience, and just need to take over the tram loop for now, to get started on avatar.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
I'm sure they could be moved elsewhere temporarily. It all depends on Anaheim being ok with the bus traffic being on the roads more than they are now, even if temporarily. Some of us discussed back in the day the idea of the buses temporarily being moved off to the west side, such as allocating Stitch or one of the other lots. This was before Pixar Pals was built, but don't see why they still couldn't do it.
I've also recently questioned just how much of the old hub is being taken up by the Avatar expansion, and how much of an impact it really will be necessitating the EGW to be completely finished. Which is why I go back to my original thought that both can be done at the same time, with little impact to guest flow to the esplanade (outside of safety).
Old Mouseketeer
Well-Known Member
That's the Esplanade. The hub is in front of the castle.
Disney Irish
Premium Member
Can’t tell if you’re joking or not.
I’m talking about the Harbor Transportation Hub, sometimes called the bus loop, Harbor tram loop, the Harbor Bus Drop off, and a few other names we’ve used over the years. So no not the Esplanade. I just shortened it to hub for quick posting, the context of the conversation should have keyed you into what I was talking about.
If you have an issue with the use of the word “hub” in this discussion as you think it should only be used for area in front of the castle then take it up with Disney, they call it the transportation hub.
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