Grand Floridian to Magic Kingdom Walkway

[DVCakaCarlF]

From the front of the MK Train Station to the Lobby of the Grand Floridian Villas is aprox 1.3 Miles.

Oh wow...I think I just died a little.

 

[JoeCamel]

There also appears to be wiring on the top of the fixed bridge at GF. You can see it if you zoom in on picture #8 in the link above. I assume those wires will accommodate lighting.

The lighting should attract fish which should attract gators, nice - a wildlife trail......

 

[DVCakaCarlF]

No. From the train station at the front of the park to the Convention center at GF is about .6 miles and to the villas is about .9 miles.

Okay...I feel a little better.

 

[Captain Barbossa]

It’s less than a mile going to MK from the GF and a 1.3 miles going back.....

 

[larryz]

Once this opens, it appears it may take as many as three members to shlep out there to do this, in addition to the timing on the boats. They'll also have to cover this extra space for landscaping and maintenance and security. It may not end up actually costing the Walt Disney Co. more but if it doesn't, it means additional strain on a few different departments to absorb this cost with existing staffing.

You could do it with one person, who initially approaches from the GF side, walks across the bridge and secures the gate, then walks back across and secures the GF-side gate, then opens the bridge.

 

[nickys]

Google maps has Bay Lake Tower to the MK gates as 0.5 miles.

Looking at the map, I say it’s 0.5 miles from MK to the canal, and a fraction longer from the canal to the GF. 1.3 miles seems a bit far to me, but it depends where exactly the path is going from the lobby to the fixed bridge.

 

[Ripken10]

How are you measuring that? I measure it less than a mile.

I used mapmyrun and got similar numbers to you. But if you took a scenic route back...

 

[FutureCEO]

That's an amazing running path. If you stay at the Contemporary, can you still run to the MK canal like before (this would be before the park opens).

 

[nickys]

That's an amazing running path. If you stay at the Contemporary, can you still run to the MK canal like before (this would be before the park opens).

There were some reports saying they were turned back, but others who were able to get all the way through. I guess it depends just how early you go; you would need to avoid being considered as rope dropping really, really early I guess. But you could then run into security on the way back.

 

[peter11435]

That's an amazing running path. If you stay at the Contemporary, can you still run to the MK canal like before (this would be before the park opens).

Not without going through security and temperature screening in each direction. And obviously only after they open those checkpoints.

 

[nickys]

Not without going through security and temperature screening in each direction. And obviously only after they open those checkpoints.

What time do they start doing that though? If someone started at 6am, would they not be able to run right the way through? Unless the checkpoints are actually permanent barriers now, the one on the path from BLT used to just be a table and metal detector. Nothing actual blocking the path.

 

[Magic Feather]

The path is being temporarily routed via the Resort Monorail entrance ramp (with a temp security checkpoint that I believe is set to be close to the GF at first) while the new dock and security checkpoint construction is ongoing. The dock has seen its share of issues, and with reflections delayed indefinitely, it’s purpose (while still needed) is deferred at the moment.

 

[MisterPenguin]

From GF Lobby exit to main plaza in front of MK RR, I get .76 miles.

 

[wdwmagic]

The path is being temporarily routed via the Resort Monorail entrance ramp (with a temp security checkpoint that I believe is set to be close to the GF at first) while the new dock and security checkpoint construction is ongoing. The dock has seen its share of issues, and with reflections delayed indefinitely, it’s purpose (while still needed) is deferred at the moment.

Thank for confirming, makes sense.

 

[EdnaMode]

I have dreams of walking to/from Contemporary to Polynesian for Thai meatballs and of walking off a California Grill brunch by walking to/from Grand Floridian. This walkway can't happen soon enough for me. Thanks to everyone who is posting photos and updates!

 

[Magic Feather]

From GF Lobby exit to main plaza in front of MK RR, I get .76 miles.

View attachment 485798

I’m being nitpicky, but the path starts on the inside of the monorail loop, right by the orange-yellow smudge I added:

It keeps the path more like a “resort” path and less like a “Convention” path.

Also of note, like @MansionButler84 said, the current plan is to reopen the path with the GF, but the pathway has made such fast progress, that there is a current investigation to see if it could be opened before the Bubble bursts and if enough people would use it to warrant the extra staffing that would be needed to maintain the brief spot where guests would intersect the bubble.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I’m being nitpicky, but the path starts on the inside of the monorail loop, right by the orange-yellow smudge I added:View attachment 485849
It keeps the path more like a “resort” path and less like a “Convention” path.

Also of note, like @MansionButler84 said, the current plan is to reopen the path with the GF, but the pathway has made such fast progress, that there is a current investigation to see if it could be opened before the Bubble bursts and if enough people would use it to warrant the extra staffing that would be needed to maintain the brief spot where guests would intersect the bubble.

 

[nickys]

I’m being nitpicky, but the path starts on the inside of the monorail loop, right by the orange-yellow smudge I added:View attachment 485849
It keeps the path more like a “resort” path and less like a “Convention” path.

Also of note, like @MansionButler84 said, the current plan is to reopen the path with the GF, but the pathway has made such fast progress, that there is a current investigation to see if it could be opened before the Bubble bursts and if enough people would use it to warrant the extra staffing that would be needed to maintain the brief spot where guests would intersect the bubble.

There are just under 150 villas currently open at GFV and we don’t know what the occupancy rate is. And at the Poly there are less than 400 studios open, again no idea as to occupancy.

At an average say of 4 people per villa that’s just over 2.5 K people at full occupancy. From reports I’ve seen it’s more like 50%. And realistically how many people would do the walk every day, in both directions? I guess things depend on what kind of figure makes it worthwhile.

 

[MrPromey]

You could do it with one person, who initially approaches from the GF side, walks across the bridge and secures the gate, then walks back across and secures the GF-side gate, then opens the bridge.

Technically speaking, I agree but that's not how they do it in Epcot so I don't imagine that's how they'd handle it here. I have to assume they'll have someone there to keep people from doing something stupid and to answer questions about how long, etc. rather than just have them shouting over the canal to the person pressing the button.

Additionally, while it may not seem like a lot, I could see people standing out there getting really irritated if they had to wait for someone to close the gate on one end, walk back to the other end to close that gate, move the bridge, then go through the reversal of this process while they stand there and watch the whole time in additional to the time it takes the boats to travel through.

If this path ends up not getting used much, they might get away with one person. Otherwise, I don't think a single person will live up to expectations of the people staying at the Grand Floridian.

I could of course, be wrong, though.

 

[JoeCamel]

Technically speaking, I agree but that's not how they do it in Epcot so I don't imagine that's how they'd handle it here. I have to assume they'll have someone there to keep people from doing something stupid and to answer questions about how long, etc. rather than just have them shouting over the canal to the person pressing the button.

Additionally, while it may not seem like a lot, I could see people standing out there getting really irritated if they had to wait for someone to close the gate on one end, walk back to the other end to close that gate, move the bridge, then go through the reversal of this process while they stand there and watch the whole time in additional to the time it takes the boats to travel through.

If this path ends up not getting used much, they might get away with one person. Otherwise, I don't think a single person will live up to expectations of the people staying at the Grand Floridian.

I could of course, be wrong, though.

I don't know about people getting irritated, almost the same thing happens when the ferry docks but I do agree that this will not be a one CM station.