PHOTOS - Second Ferry boat loading dock under construction at the Transportation and Ticket Center

Fox&Hound

Fox&Hound

Well-Known Member
I think this is awesome! This + expanded seating at Pinocchio's + expanded seating at Casey's + new back alley behind main street + magicbands + renovated Hub= an easier time getting around Magic Kingdom. I truly believe that they want to keep the guest happy and safe before they tackle any major projects. Once they have some of this stuff worked out I think we will see other expansions at the other parks, but, I may be one of few, am happy to see Disney keeping their guests safe, rather than spending money on expansions to the parks that will just increase guest attendance. Don't believe me about safety? Try leaving the MK after the second firework show. Good for them! I applaud this decision!
 
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zulemara

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
The last year I worked there, in late 2012, they were actually using 2 docks at MK and 2 docks at TTC with all 3 ferryboats running. This meant there was never a ferry waiting at the hold points. It also meant you could be unloading and loading at the same time(at MK, not TTC).

The downside is the 2nd dock at TTC is not floating, which means the ramp gets very steep when the water gets low. If it's too steep, we couldn't use it due to wheelchairs and ECVs being unable to safely get up the ramp(there were incidents). If there is construction at the TTC 2nd dock, I would imagine the "new" dock is going to be a floating dock of some kind to get rid of the angle problem due to water levels.

It should also be noted they run 3 ferries at open and close, but it's the sheer amount of time it takes to get 600 ppl on and off a boat that takes so long. When they were using both docks, that process went quicker, but then because a guest doesn't see 500 ppl behind them loading, they would always ask "when are we leaving." When there's 500 ppl on the gangway it's pretty obvious we're leaving when they are all on the boat. There was debate about if it ACTUALLY made anything more efficient. I think if nothing else, it changed perception of the guests in a generally positive way as they wouldn't be forced to wait in the middle of the lake for 10 minutes while a boat unloads. The only delay in this process was usually when one ferry wanted to come into the 2nd dock and another was ready to leave. Only 1 ferry is permitted ot move in/out of the docks at a time so that would cause a momentary delay.

Also yes, ferries can dock at every resort, but they don't train on it anymore because they don't want to dig up the sand I guess. My good friend got to pick up guests at FW and drive them THROUGH the water bridge to MK. Oh I would have loved to do that! Only then can guests truly appreciate the skill required to drive those ferries.


Oh how I miss those boats..very very very much. I LOVED driving boats. Oh what I wouldn't do for one more trip through the water bridge on a ferry. Nerve wrecking but so accomplishing every single time.
 
A

Alitig1

New Member
JimboJones123 said:
Shame this wasn't up and running in January when the Monorails started going down.

Those 2-3 ferry backups at 11:30 were just sad. It really takes the wind out of a day to MK when it takes 90 minutes to get into the park. At that point it is meal time and Casey's is closed.
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I was there one day when the MOnorail went down and the line for the ferry was queued through many lines and they eventually opened the second dock at the TTC to let us on so we could get moving. I had never seen the second dock before and thought it was cool.
 
Z

zulemara

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
wow! that's more elaborate than I thought. Lord knows they need it that way. They need more bumper capability, otherwise you have to be REALLY careful with speed because those logs that were in the water...lets just say they bent back like they had been there for 40 years. It slowed down docking considerably. There was talk for a while of them adding a 4th ferry, but that wouldn't do any good without more dock capability. It would also give them better maintenance capability since it's very difficult for them to take a ferry out for refurb. If one is out for refurb and rails goes down, then a 2nd ferry has a mechanical issues, it's not a happy day for anyone.
 
Hoop Raeb

Hoop Raeb

Formerly known as...
Interesting side note to the dock at MK, this now blocks the west approach to docks for the smaller boats into the protected harbor. We were on a boat from Wilderness Lodge this weekend and it had to come in the east entrance and float over to the west side of the dock. Before it would come straight in. They've also submerged some no wake markers to separate inbound and outbound traffic. It's a lot more challenging for the boat drivers now!
 
kelknight84

kelknight84

Well-Known Member
Hoop Raeb said:
Interesting side note to the dock at MK, this now blocks the west approach to docks for the smaller boats into the protected harbor. We were on a boat from Wilderness Lodge this weekend and it had to come in the east entrance and float over to the west side of the dock. Before it would come straight in. They've also submerged some no wake markers to separate inbound and outbound traffic. It's a lot more challenging for the boat drivers now!
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When I worked there we were never allowed to enter from the ferry side even without the new dock. So it's not a big deal for the old timers still in watercraft. I did notice the two way traffic with the no wake bouys this past week and found that strange. We were almost always supposed to pass port to port anyways.
 
kap91

kap91

Well-Known Member
kelknight84 said:
When I worked there we were never allowed to enter from the ferry side even without the new dock. So it's not a big deal for the old timers still in watercraft. I did notice the two way traffic with the no wake bouys this past week and found that strange. We were almost always supposed to pass port to port anyways.
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I was going to mention this. I've rarely, if ever, seen boats enter from that side.
 
Z

zulemara

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
kelknight84 said:
When I worked there we were never allowed to enter from the ferry side even without the new dock. So it's not a big deal for the old timers still in watercraft. I did notice the two way traffic with the no wake bouys this past week and found that strange. We were almost always supposed to pass port to port anyways.
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yeah, the good ole days! It just means more sitting outside the break walls

Also for the previous poster, the MK castle is N, so they blocked the east side and now enter and leave on the west
 
mm121

mm121

Well-Known Member
Marc Gil said:
Good thing they're building a second landing. When the monorails are down, the Ferry Boats get insane. It's always good to increase capacity.
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dont know why they didn't do this years ago.
MichWolv said:
A few quick thoughts pop in my head:

4. Clearly this is in anticipation of the upcoming long-term monorail closing necessitated by construction of the new monorail route from TTC to the other parks, Downtown Disney, MCO, and the Port Canaveral Cruise dock. o_O
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love the dreams here.. to port canaeral would be super cool, though that would need to be a maglev so it could go way fast...

they could build a beach theme waterpark :) by the actual beach.
 
kap91

kap91

Well-Known Member
mm121 said:
dont know why they didn't do this years ago.


love the dreams here.. to port canaeral would be super cool, though that would need to be a maglev so it could go way fast...

they could build a beach theme waterpark :) by the actual beach.
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Maglev would be cool (and there actually is a guy trying to build one along the beach line - different story) but it is a common misconception the monorails can't go fast. Their speed is artificially governed and minus that I believe the top speed is around 120mph.
 
mm121

mm121

Well-Known Member
kap91 said:
Maglev would be cool (and there actually is a guy trying to build one along the beach line - different story) but it is a common misconception the monorails can't go fast. Their speed is artificially governed and minus that I believe the top speed is around 120mph.
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never said monorails can't go fast, just that mag lev's go faster, japan built a mag lev that can go 581km/h.. DAMN!! that would be to the coast in like 20 minutes.
 

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