Cool Stuff Backstage as seen from Google

[Monorail_Red_77]

I was just looking at the DHS images on Nearmap and ran across this backstage...

View attachment 108544

Sweet find! I wonder if there was some planning there. Like maybe a CM is in our midst on this thread and giving us freebies???

CM Tom finds the Cool Stuff thread on WDW Magic site.
Next day at work.
CM Tom: Hey Mark watch this. I'm gonna leave this skull here.
CM Mark: Um, OK.

3 weeks go by.

CM Tom jumps on WDW Magic site again.

CM Tom: Hey Mark. See here. What we do backstage really does matter.
CM Mark: Um, OK.

 

[danlb_2000]

Sweet find! I wonder if there was some planning there. Like maybe a CM is in our midst on this thread and giving us freebies???

CM Tom finds the Cool Stuff thread on WDW Magic site.
Next day at work.
CM Tom: Hey Mark watch this. I'm gonna leave this skull here.
CM Mark: Um, OK.

3 weeks go by.

CM Tom jumps on WDW Magic site again.

CM Tom: Hey Mark. See here. What we do backstage really does matter.
CM Mark: Um, OK.

I am just waiting to find a huge sign on the ground somewhere backstage that says "HELP ME!".

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

Thought this was pretty cool. It's not of Disney, but it is still Google Earth. It is a FEDEX plane taking off from Orlando Int'l Airport. You can see the google satellite caught it several times as it was flying north.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

I am just waiting to find a huge sign on the ground somewhere backstage that says "HELP ME!".

That would be funny. Someone should stage that. A help me sign with an old animatronic lying beside it.

 

[Magenta Panther]

That would be funny. Someone should stage that. A help me sign with an old animatronic lying beside it.

Someone should hang a "Help Me!" sign on the Yeti in Everest.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

Looks like a Southwest 737.

I think you are right after looking at it a bit more.

 

[Tom]

Thought this was pretty cool. It's not of Disney, but it is still Google Earth. It is a FEDEX plane taking off from Orlando Int'l Airport. You can see the google satellite caught it several times as it was flying north.

View attachment 123346

View attachment 123347

Looks like a Southwest 737.

Definitely Southwest. FedEx planes have white bodies with purple tails (I see them fly over my house several times a day, in and out of IND). Also, I don't think the fly out of MCO. Miami is a regional hub.

 

[Tom]

FedEx has a hub at MCO, I drive past it all the time.

Oh OK, didn't know that. I've never seen it.

 

[Tom]

You can actually see it pretty well from Tradeport Dr.

If you can't see it from the DME bus, I've never seen it

 

[Twirlnhurl]

I stumbled upon this really cool blog. Thought you guys would enjoy these pics from Epcot's construction.
View attachment 93566 View attachment 93567 View attachment 93568 View attachment 93569 View attachment 93570 View attachment 93571 View attachment 93572 View attachment 93573 View attachment 93574

I didn't realize the Epcot parking lots were expanded sometime after opening. I know they added the Wonder lot at some time after the park opened, but these pictures definitely show the lots in the back were extended as well. Does anyone know when that happened?

 

[Goofyernmost]

I didn't realize the Epcot parking lots were expanded sometime after opening. I know they added the Wonder lot at some time after the park opened, but these pictures definitely show the lots in the back were extended as well. Does anyone know when that happened?

Can you be more specific. I don't see any really big difference, but, then I'm not sure where you are looking.

 

[Twirlnhurl]

Can you be more specific. I don't see any really big difference, but, then I'm not sure where you are looking.

In picture 93573 and picture 93574, the Discover and Create lots appear to have half as many rows as they do now. Compare the grass strip between the parking lot and the entry roads in those images to what is there today at Google Maps..

 

[yensid67]

If you want to see who owns what around Disney you can use the Orange County Property Appraiser map site, http://maps.ocpafl.org/webmap/. You can click on a property and get the details including the sale history. The property highlighted here was sold by Disney to Flamingo Crossings LLC (which is a Disney subsidiary) in 2011 for $100.

So, technically, Flamingo Crossing still has ties to Disney. Kind of the 'corporations' that bought the land for WDW!

 

[danlb_2000]

The undeveloped land, yes, but the land where the hotels are being built was sold to Jl-Fx Hotel Development LLC for much greater then a token sum. Of course that company could have some relation to Disney but that is un-clear at the moment.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

That is correct. I use the Orange County Prop site mentioned here. I then cross reference the organization name on the www.sunbiz.org site to see who is involved with company. Like maybe name is different but address is still at WDW official address or in the case of Flamingo. One of the LLC members is a Disney Company.

Same thing with Golden Oak Property..

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

Here's a comparison of one of the pics taken during construction of EPCOT. I did a capture of Google Earth in roughly the same orientation but taken in 2015. Looks the same to me as far as pavement outline up toward the front of the EPCOT entrance area. Now the back end of parking does look a bit bigger.

1980/81?

2015

 

[Goofyernmost]

Here's a comparison of one of the pics taken during construction of EPCOT. I did a capture of Google Earth in roughly the same orientation but taken in 2015. Looks the same to me as far as pavement outline up toward the front of the EPCOT entrance area. Now the back end of parking does look a bit bigger.

1980/81?
View attachment 123878


2015View attachment 123879

To me, it appears that there is less parking space then there was originally, not much, but a little more greenway between the lots and the entrance. That could be from the angle and closeness to the surface of the second picture. What I do see is that the lower right hand area of the parking lot (closest to the park) has also been taken over and no longer used for parking. If I recall that is where the start and finish line is for the marathons.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

Here's a few cool shots of a Mickey Sand Trap. This is in the Golf Course to the West of TTC Area. The Mickey is in the red circle.

EDIT: CORRECTED LOCATION OF SAND TRAP IN PIC ABOVE.

Here is a zoom shot of the same area in the red circle above.

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

Here's a weird Mickey Sand Trap. I wonder if it is a test area or something. This does not appear to be a guest area. It is located to the North of ESPN Wideworld of Sports. The Mickey Sand Trap is in the Red Circle.

Here's a zoom of the Red Circle above.

 

[danlb_2000]

Here's a weird Mickey Sand Trap. I wonder if it is a test area or something. This does not appear to be a guest area. It is located to the North of ESPN Wideworld of Sports. The Mickey Sand Trap is in the Red Circle.
View attachment 189781


Here's a zoom of the Red Circle above.
View attachment 189782

Interesting, it actually looks like an entire golf hole with two sand traps and a green. Based on the Google Earth images it was built sometime between 2/2015 and 3/2016.