Richard Petty Driving Experience to close

Monorail_Red_77

Monorail_Red_77

Well-Known Member
Passed by new parking at old speedway on Saturday. New stripes are going in and is looking very well. Jersey Barriers have been moved all the way back to the edge of the new parking with traffic cones blocking traffic from using new parking area. Looks like it could be in use within the next week or two. But, that's my opinion.
 
Rider

Rider

Well-Known Member
JoeCamel said:
So it looks like the trams will be looping or are they going to stripe the old road and have you walk all the way to the tram turnaround? Interesting....
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Hard to say at this point. It looks like they still need to change the split point on the right side and remove the old traffic lane. Lots of work to go.

But even if they don't extend the trams the distance doesn't look any worse than walking from a far point in one of the big middle lots.
 
Monorail_Red_77

Monorail_Red_77

Well-Known Member
Here are some google earth pics. Google Earth was recently updated on 2016-03-05. It shows the completed TTC revision after removing the Speedway. Look at all the extra parking. For those of you that have not seen this in person yet. The extended the row numbering to include alphas. For example "Ursula GG" row. Also notice they extended tram-ways a bit as well.

** 2015-02-18 **
2015-02-18 - TTC - SPEEDWAY - 001.jpg




** 2016-03-06 **
2015-03-06 - TTC - SPEEDWAY - 001.jpg


2015-03-06 - TTC - SPEEDWAY - 002.jpg
 
stretchsje

stretchsje

Well-Known Member
Too bad, I won't get to speed along a banked curve to get to my parking spot. That's MY definition of an upcharged "premium" parking experience.
 
roj2323

roj2323

Well-Known Member
MissM said:
Who are these poor people parked waaaaaaaay out in the very end of the row here? LOL The entire section of lots is empty, save for a few dozen cars parked way out in Guam. Is this where they put you if you make fun of $35 premium parking? :p
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Probably construction workers parking and being transported via bus elsewhere on property.
 
Monorail_Red_77

Monorail_Red_77

Well-Known Member
Here's a quick timeline starting at Feb 4th, 1995 and running through March 5th, 2016. You can see the parking footprint prior to any speedway development and through its removal.

Feb 4, 1995 - Hey ma, Look no speedway! You can see from the google road overlays where the speedway will be going.
1995-02-04 - TTC - SPEEDWAY.jpg


Jan 5, 1999 - You can see the bleachers setup for spectators. They are at the top and left side of the speedway. They actually had to close some of the parking lanes for this.
1999-01-05 - TTC - SPEEDWAY.jpg


Jan 17, 2014 - No more bleachers or races. Just the Driving Experience at this point. You can see the zig-zag area painted on the in-field area. this was for part of the Experieince. Google saw it and said, Hey lets put in some more road lines.
2014-01-17 - TTC - SPEEDWAY.jpg


Mar 5, 2016 - No more speedway but all the google road lines are still there. They're like ghost roads. ooohhhhhh.
2016-03-05 - TTC - SPEEDWAY.jpg
 
dgp602

dgp602

Well-Known Member
Look at the transformation of the Mickey pond! You can see the marsh and reeds taking over the ears and making them smaller as the years went on..!!

And as someone who is not a NASCAR follower, I have to ask "did this speedway actually hold races?" We have a speedway here in NH that holds about 100,000 people. I don't see nearly as many seats in the bleachers for that many spectators, never mind the parking as well. If the answer is no, then I must ask, was it worth it to build this raceway in the first place?
 
Nick Pappagiorgio

Nick Pappagiorgio

Well-Known Member
dgp602 said:
Look at the transformation of the Mickey pond! You can see the marsh and reeds taking over the ears and making them smaller as the years went on..!!

And as someone who is not a NASCAR follower, I have to ask "did this speedway actually hold races?" We have a speedway here in NH that holds about 100,000 people. I don't see nearly as many seats in the bleachers for that many spectators, never mind the parking as well. If the answer is no, then I must ask, was it worth it to build this raceway in the first place?
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Yes it did. They had IndyCar races there from 1996-2000. The track was designed to work like a street circuit race where basically only the track was there and then bleachers, concessions, etc. were all brought in temporarily for the race. They thought it might be the new low cost model of how to build a track but I don't think it ever caught on.
 
WDWtraveler

WDWtraveler

Well-Known Member
Photo update as of Friday, February 7, 2020. Some large oak and crepe myrtle trees along the border of the former WDW Speedway are being dug out for re-positioning. The east, south, and west perimeter around the former WDW Speedway had an earthen berm with large oak trees. After existing for decades, some of the large trees are being "boxed" for moving to another location. Not sure why this is being done now. Will miss the tree line along the Magic Kingdom entrance and exit roads. While some of the trees have been cut down, it's good to know these large trees will be re-purposed and are being saved.

See the overhead photos above on this page for the location on WDW property. As to why it is taking so long: probably better to keep them in place and only move once to the next location, rather than moving them into a tree yard then moving again.

When driving on the Magic Kingdom entrance road towards the parking lot, as your car emerges from the World Drive overpass, this is the view of the first tree line. These large crepe myrtle trees have been dug out in preparation for moving. The road on the left is the "turn around" road to the Speedway car maintenance and gas station.

IMG_2801.JPG


Along the Magic Kingdom parking lot exit road, the tree line is on the left side, where the majority of the oak trees have been dug out.

IMG_2803.JPG


Many of the oak trees have support wires to keep from blowing over during high winds before moving.

IMG_2807.JPG


IMG_2808.JPG
 
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Monorail_Red_77

Monorail_Red_77

Well-Known Member
WDWtraveler said:
Photo update as of Friday, February 7, 2020. Some large oak and crepe myrtle trees along the border of the former WDW Speedway are being dug out for re-positioning. The east, south, and west perimeter around the former WDW Speedway had an earthen berm with large oak trees. After existing for decades, some of the large trees are being "boxed" for moving to another location. Not sure why this is being done now. Will miss the tree line along the Magic Kingdom entrance and exit roads. While some of the trees have been cut down, it's good to know these large trees will be re-purposed and are being saved.

See the overhead photos above on this page for the location on WDW property.

When driving on the Magic Kingdom entrance road towards the parking lot, as your car emerges from the World Drive overpass, this is the view of the first tree line. These large crepe myrtle trees have been dug out in preparation for moving. The road on the left is the "turn around" road to the Speedway car maintenance and gas station.

View attachment 447564

Along the Magic Kingdom parking lot exit road, the tree line is on the left side, where the majority of the oak trees have been dug out.

View attachment 447565

Many of the oak trees have support wires to keep from blowing over during high winds before moving.

View attachment 447566

View attachment 447567
Click to expand...

it seems like it is taking forever to move these big oaks. They have been boxed up since at least last August roughly. Hey have temporary sprinklers running to each tree to keep them watered while they are being readied to move. The remainder of the Mickey lake will be dug our larger and no longer be Mickey shaped. The rest of the area will be deforested. This will be done to replace th wetlands area in the center of MK parking that is being cut down and paved over to enlarge the parking areas.
 

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