Foundless Speculation

W

wizards8507

Active Member
Original Poster
*Disclaimer*
Please, oh please, do not pull the "rumor monger" card on me for starting this thread. My question is not in any way a claim of "future events" at WDW, nor do I have a second cousin who washes windows outside of TDO meetings who overhead anything. I'm simply wondering if this is POSSIBLE.
*End Disclaimer*

My question is for somebody who has strong knowledge of the layout of WDW as a whole. Would it be possible for something to happen (a new park, resort, whatever) that wouldn't be perceived by people driving on the roads or traveling through any "accessible" parts of the resort?

My thinking is based on Animal Kingdom, which, before Everest, really had no elevated structures and could have blended in quite easily into the horizon line if Disney hadn't told anyone about it. Basically, I'm curious as to whether there is enough land "off the beaten path" on Disney property that large-scale construction could go on without anyone knowing, at least in the early stages.
 
s8film40

s8film40

Well-Known Member
It's not so much a matter of being able to see it from roads. Yes as long as they kept the building height low this could be done. However it would be very visible from the air and with daily helicopter rides wouldn't be a secret long, not to mention permits, and use of equipment and materials.
 
D

DisneyJoe

Well-Known Member
I don't think so - as soon as land is cleared, we usually hear about it.

Don't forget those who fly over, and the "Characters in Flight" balloon at Downtown Disney that gives a view from 300 feet - and satellite images are being updated more frequently too...
 
wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
wizards8507 said:
*Disclaimer*
Please, oh please, do not pull the "rumor monger" card on me for starting this thread. My question is not in any way a claim of "future events" at WDW, nor do I have a second cousin who washes windows outside of TDO meetings who overhead anything. I'm simply wondering if this is POSSIBLE.
*End Disclaimer*

My question is for somebody who has strong knowledge of the layout of WDW as a whole. Would it be possible for something to happen (a new park, resort, whatever) that wouldn't be perceived by people driving on the roads or traveling through any "accessible" parts of the resort?

My thinking is based on Animal Kingdom, which, before Everest, really had no elevated structures and could have blended in quite easily into the horizon line if Disney hadn't told anyone about it. Basically, I'm curious as to whether there is enough land "off the beaten path" on Disney property that large-scale construction could go on without anyone knowing, at least in the early stages.
Click to expand...

Even if it doesn't get spotted by someone, there is always a human involved in these things who talks. It always happens, regardless of the location.
 
W

wizards8507

Active Member
Original Poster
Eh... I'l try to dream. I suppose the days of WDC creating shadow companies to conduct their operations in secrecy died along with Walt :(
 
Master Yoda

Master Yoda

Pro Star Wars geek.
Premium Member
s8film40 pretty much summed it up. There are far too many people looking from every angle (ground, sky, public reccors, etc) for Disney to keep a project of any size secret. We might not know what is being built but we would know that something is up.
 
Pioneer Hall

Pioneer Hall

Well-Known Member
I think corporate america and the regulations involved have changed so much that it would just be impossible. What Walt did to aquire the land in Florida would be unheard of today.
 
bugsbunny

bugsbunny

Well-Known Member
wizards8507 said:
*Disclaimer*
Would it be possible for something to happen (a new park, resort, whatever) that wouldn't be perceived by people driving on the roads or traveling through any "accessible" parts of the resort?

My thinking is based on Animal Kingdom, which, before Everest, really had no elevated structures and could have blended in quite easily into the horizon line if Disney hadn't told anyone about it.
Click to expand...

I distinctly remember being on top of Summit Plummit back in 1997 and being able to see a lot of AK and the Tree of Life way before the park opened a year later.

Disney builds everything big in terms of scale and height, so there is basically no way to sneak anything in these days.
 
Master Gracey 5

Master Gracey 5

Active Member
bugsbunny said:
I distinctly remember being on top of Summit Plummit back in 1997 and being able to see a lot of AK and the Tree of Life way before the park opened a year later.

Disney builds everything big in terms of scale and height, so there is basically no way to sneak anything in these days.
Click to expand...

Same here. In fact, one of the lifeguards pointed it out to us since it was a kind of a rainy day and visibility was low. It was impressive at the time and we were a couple miles away.
 
dreamfinder

dreamfinder

Well-Known Member
As mentioned by several, even if Disney did manage to somehow get a whole construction crew and design team to be completely secret about the project, something would get noticed. Trucks of steel girders or rebar driving around property, assorted heavy machinery, etc. Someone would see something.

Now if Disney were to open a new park in say, the middle of Siberia, then yeah. They might do shell corporations and such to by the land. But in a place that is already heavily traveled, any massive construction would be pretty gosh darn hard to keep secret.
 
mp2bill

mp2bill

Well-Known Member
s8film40 said:
It's not so much a matter of being able to see it from roads. Yes as long as they kept the building height low this could be done. However it would be very visible from the air and with daily helicopter rides wouldn't be a secret long, not to mention permits, and use of equipment and materials.
Click to expand...

Too true
 
Tom

Tom

Beta Return
wizards8507 said:
*Disclaimer*
Please, oh please, do not pull the "rumor monger" card on me for starting this thread. My question is not in any way a claim of "future events" at WDW, nor do I have a second cousin who washes windows outside of TDO meetings who overhead anything. I'm simply wondering if this is POSSIBLE.
*End Disclaimer*

My question is for somebody who has strong knowledge of the layout of WDW as a whole. Would it be possible for something to happen (a new park, resort, whatever) that wouldn't be perceived by people driving on the roads or traveling through any "accessible" parts of the resort?

My thinking is based on Animal Kingdom, which, before Everest, really had no elevated structures and could have blended in quite easily into the horizon line if Disney hadn't told anyone about it. Basically, I'm curious as to whether there is enough land "off the beaten path" on Disney property that large-scale construction could go on without anyone knowing, at least in the early stages.
Click to expand...

Everyone has been quick to say that building a new WDW theme park in complete secrecy would be impossible - and they're correct.

However, your first question deserves a different answer. You first asked if they could pull this off without people noticing from the "public" areas of property. Yes.

Sure, the news will figure it out pretty quickly, and then everyone who watches the new will know. But think about how many things happen at Disney that 99% of the population never knows about, no matter how much press it gets (monorail wreck, bus wrecks, deaths on property, new rides, etc).

There are hundreds (if not thousands) of acres of undeveloped property at WDW. Much of it is west of Epcot/Studios, between World Drive and the west property line. There's room for another park the size of AK (which is unrealistic) or two parks the size of Epcot.

They could very easily build a new theme park with 90% of their day guests having no idea they're driving right past it - other than noticing a few stray construction vehicles that didn't get the memo to stay off of World Drive.

It's no different than the massive amount of "backstage" work that goes on around you all day (laundry, sewage, tree farm, boneyards, electrical substations, cooling towers, etc). Disney's use of trees for masking lines of sight is amazing, and far reaching.

Aside from the 8 people who read the Sentinal, "most" people wouldn't know what was going on until Disney's marketing department really wanted them to know.
 
rct247

rct247

Well-Known Member
The only thing right now that no one seems to know anything about or is willing to talk about is what is going on in the Sound Stage 1 building next to Toy Story Midway Mania and the Backlot Tour at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
 
Tom

Tom

Beta Return
rct247 said:
The only thing right now that no one seems to know anything about or is willing to talk about is what is going on in the Sound Stage 1 building next to Toy Story Midway Mania and the Backlot Tour at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Click to expand...

I still say there's not much going on in there. The only building permits they've filed were for Restroom Work, Structural Work, Mechanical Work, Electrical Work, and "Structural Work for Curtains".

They were all filed months apart, and the most recent one was for "curtains", in May.

I think they're working on another next gen meet-n-greet or something else that requires a backdrop curtain of some sort, which could just be a perimeter curtain to hide the walls while they set up a temporary shop or show in there.
 

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