Jeez, a lot happened in two days.
What... is this in reference to? I have absolutely no idea what that is.
Yup. The aerial of Shanghai is at an angle that it lines up perfectly with the above section, but you're right. There's a slight sliver of the lower building there.
I was referring to this mockup I'd made earlier based on what pictures were available of the work at the time.
But now that we've got images of the view down World Drive (not to mention the new pic someone just took from the Poly), that my estimate was actually off. I thought the building would show a lot more. It seems that the view will be a heck of a lot better than I expected.
All right. All right. Let's settle this. I've thrown everything into CAD, so let's take a look at viewpoints and see if this is going to be visible from 20 spots in the park and not be hidden from the canopy anywhere, ever, in any way like everyone seems to be saying. (In the event anyone takes me seriously, let me make it clear I'm returning hyperbole for hyperbole.

)
I took the current satellite image of the area, the new satellite that was just posted of the current construction in Orlando, and the satellite of Shanghai's version. I got them all sized right so that the original could be traced and I could bring it over to the new construction and see where the canopy will sit (cyan).
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So that's where the canopy is. Now, let's look at Shanghai Disneyland and see if the box is visible from the side of the canopy. Unfortunately, there is no Streetview from within the park, and I have to go off of 360 images and an image search.
Pictures do show the building poking out. However, these views are from an elevated platform that rings the Shanghai Tomorrowland, as are most views of the ride's exterior. It makes sense. It gives the most epic vista. But no such platform exists in Orlando. Here's where those viewpoints would be from in the Magic Kingdom (yellow arrows):
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But, of course, thirty feet in the air. Of course, while we don't have an elevated platform, we do have the Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover. Fortunately, videos have been uploaded from earlier in the year of what a ride on the TTA/PM is like.
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From the initial exit of the station, we can see the track going higher than the show building from this perspective. Now, the canopy dips in the center, so there will be poking out in the middle. But this view and the earlier pic from the Poly shows something interesting. We'll get to that later.
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Funnily enough given a lot of the conversation we've been having, the building is blocked a number of times on the way towards Space Mountain by foliage.
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Again, approaching Space it seems that the building will bridge the two peaks of the canopy like it did from the center of Tomorrowland.
But this isn't the highest we can get in Tomorrowland. So let's take a ride on the Astro Orbiter.
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It's close. It's certainly close. But it looks like the building will bridge the canopy. Why do I keep mentioning that? Well, the Shanghai building appears to be a bit more of a darker shade of the Nothing to See Here Navy the back of the Orlando building is. But instead, this building is done in white and gray, more approaching the colors of the canopy itself. If the corner does not pop up, then the shape in the background fits more with the canopy structure rather than looking like a box. And the TTA and Poly pics seem to suggest that in high sunlight, the cladding takes on a much lighter look, almost white. This causes it to blend even better.
But this is all talk about high angles. What about low angles? Is the building visible on the regular elevation of Shanghai's Tomorrowland?
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From this lower angle, the building is completely invisible. And what viewpoint does this correlate with in Orlando?
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This is the viewpoint of between the TTA/MP and Tron. This is the approach of people to ride the ride, the most important viewpoint in terms of where you want to compose a cool vista. And once you get farther back on the ground level, you've got the elevated tracks to compete with.
The tracks already block Space from a lot of the land. The Tron building will not be seen from the ground of Tomorrowland, the places where the ride is visible getting a view of the canopy instead of the box. The entirety of the Speedway has the canopy between it and the building, with the high peaks blocking visibility.
To me, the most important parts of theming this building are the canopy being the visible portion within Tomorrowland and none of it being visible from Storybook Circus. So let's look at the circus.
I've mentioned numerous times how remarkable it is that despite the close proximity the current plantings block Space from view. And from the majority of the land it appears Tron is also invisible. There are three points where it isn't. The building slightly pokes out above the treeline from Dumbo, and there's the view that the pathway to Tomorrowland and Banstormer, which has been posted a bunch of times.
But all of these can easily be hidden with trees. One tiny tree blocked nearly the entirety from the TTA. It's not like you need an old-growth forest to hide it.
Something I hadn't noticed until seeing the latest aerial of the Orlando site is that the walkway is also completely gone. It will be reconstructed to go under the canopy. That's pretty cool.
Finally, the view from across the Seven Seas Lagoon.
Here's a new mockup of what it seems it will look like from across the Lagoon.
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So, from the Polynesian, the building will show between the peaks of the canopy, albeit in a matching color. Views from the Grand Floridian are an angle similar to the angle the Speedway is at, with the higher points of the canopy sitting in front of the building. And I've mentioned plenty of times the old growth blocking a lot of views from the Contemporary complex.
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This is a non-zoomed in view from the monorail. To the right you can see the forest I've been talking about, and it dwarfs the Tron building from the bottom half of the Contemporary and Bay Lake Tower.
So here's where the building will be visible from:
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It will slightly peek out in the distance behind Space Mountain as the bus turns into the MK bus stops.
-The above distant shot from the monorail when entering from the TTC.
-As a part of a group of whitish shapes from the Polynesian.
-As a possible part of the canopy from the TTA/PM and Astro Orbiter.
-A segment of the walkway and possibly the Railroad between edge of the Barnstormer queue and the canopy.
The canopy will block it from a number of places and it will be largely visible for what it is onstage in one barely visited corner of the park. All other clear views will be off-stage.