I don't think the new building at DHS is a theater after all...

[ToTBellHop]

Not sure what the big deal is with parking structures. I realize some people may not like them. However, they are a better use of land as compared to traditional parking lots. DHS already has a parking structure backstage anyway. So not really a big deal. I think if anything they would build another one near the existing structure, if possible. See yellow circle.

View attachment 101361

I don't understand what the big deal is either. It's a place to park your car. The extent of the theming has always been a banner with a character on it so you can find your car. If they can make the parking lot more compact AND make it so that the interior of my car will be 90 degrees instead of 210 degrees when I return AND have more room for actual theme park, I'm all for it.

I don't personally remember enjoying the MK parking lot as a kid, but that's just me. The excitement of seeing Cinderella Castle from the TTC as I boarded a ferry or monorail (they used to work back then!), sure. But the parking lot was like every other parking lot I've been to--big, hot, smelly.

 

[Next Big Thing]

I don't understand what the big deal is either. It's a place to park your car. The extent of the theming has always been a banner with a character on it so you can find your car. If they can make the parking lot more compact AND make it so that the interior of my car will be 90 degrees instead of 210 degrees when I return AND have more room for actual theme park, I'm all for it.

I don't personally remember enjoying the MK parking lot as a kid, but that's just me. The excitement of seeing Cinderella Castle from the TTC as I boarded a ferry or monorail (they used to work back then!), sure. But the parking lot was like every other parking lot I've been to--big, hot, smelly.

Well MK is a lost cause in that we're always going to have to take a ferry or a boat, but at DAK, Epcot and DHS? I say bring on the parking structures. If it is something that can all in one swoop keep my car cool, keep the walk to the park short and also provide more room for park expansion, then i'm all for it. I personally don't mind the look of parking garages tbh. When I see one, it just makes me think everything is nice and compact/organized as opposed to spread out to no end.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Well MK is a lost cause in that we're always going to have to take a ferry or a boat, but at DAK, Epcot and DHS? I say bring on the parking structures. If it is something that can all in one swoop keep my car cool, keep the walk to the park short and also provide more room for park expansion, then i'm all for it. I personally don't mind the look of parking garages tbh. When I see one, it just makes me think everything is nice and compact/organized as opposed to spread out to no end.

Given Epcot's supposed purpose, it should have had a parking garage since day one.

 

[GrumpyFan]

Again, they didn't paint themselves into a corner purposely. They thought production would take off in Orlando and MGM would be a working studio with a few rides. That concept obviously failed and after years of neglect, they're left with a huge mess to clean up.

This kind of says it all about DHS, and why they need so much money to fix it.
The "park" didn't start off with the design or intention of being a theme park. It was supposed to be a working studio, with the main "attraction" being live films and animated movies being produced and giving guests the chance to get up close to their development. So, where DCA cost $1+ billion to re-theme and make into more of a park worthy of the "Disney" name, this is going to take a whole lot more because they're practically re-building and/or re-locating more than half the park.

I am curious to see what becomes of some of the backstage costume and set design areas. Will these be stay or be re-located elsewhere on property? If they're moving, I wonder where their new home would be, MK area or in the area where bus and maintenance facilities are or somewhere else?

 

[IMFearless]

If it wasn't for the huge cost of replacing ToT, RnR and ST that remain very popular, it would almost make more sense to start again on a fresh site and use the former site of DHS entirely for backstage, training, renting out for event space. Obviously that wouldn't be cheaper, but it sounds more and more likely that the parts of the park that remain after the rebuild are going to be the minority, with the vast majority being new. Exciting times!

I have no problem with the garages either, there's lots of advantages. I was just pointing out that their introduction in some cases seems to have been due to lack of advanced planning on TWDC part, as opposed to them being chosen for any of the reasons people have mentioned they may be preferred. It's not a negative, they are correcting their past mistakes in a way, don't get me wrong, I'm glad it is happening.

How do the garages work out in Anaheim? I would imagine they require a fairly different approach in terms of directing traffic than in a situation like at DTD where people don't all arrive en masse within the first few hours. It must be more of a task filling in all available spaces when the traffic flow is high, in the post rope drop arrival time. What do they do in Disneyland?

 

[GrumpyFan]

The thread linked below has more information on the new space that's being built.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/dhs-new-flex-theater.898421/

In fact, this thread should either be closed or merged with the other.

 

[Unplugged]

Not sure what the big deal is with parking structures. I realize some people may not like them. However, they are a better use of land as compared to traditional parking lots. DHS already has a parking structure backstage anyway. So not really a big deal. I think if anything they would build another one near the existing structure, if possible. See yellow circle.

View attachment 101361

Asking as I honestly don't know (not a CM). What's that specific existing garage for anyway? I thought it was originally used by Animation staff when the Animation building was actually used as a studio. Since they stopped animation work in FL, what's that garage used for now? Couldn't this be the CM garage? (I don't know how many spaces are required verse how many they currently have.)

 

[JimboJones123]

Well MK is a lost cause in that we're always going to have to take a ferry or a boat, but at DAK, Epcot and DHS? I say bring on the parking structures. If it is something that can all in one swoop keep my car cool, keep the walk to the park short and also provide more room for park expansion, then i'm all for it. I personally don't mind the look of parking garages tbh. When I see one, it just makes me think everything is nice and compact/organized as opposed to spread out to no end.

Not to mention killing the tram system.

 

[ChrisFL]

Asking as I honestly don't know (not a CM). What's that specific existing garage for anyway? I thought it was originally used by Animation staff when the Animation building was actually used as a studio. Since they stopped animation work in FL, what's that garage used for now? Couldn't this be the CM garage? (I don't know how many spaces are required verse how many they currently have.)

I "believe" it may be used for managers, higher-ups. I actually parked there once...I was a contractor and was doing....unofficial business (taking a CP on a date to DHS, decided to park there.....shhhh). Honestly I don't even know how we decided to go there in the first place instead of the main parking, maybe it was her idea.

 

[maxairmike]

Asking as I honestly don't know (not a CM). What's that specific existing garage for anyway? I thought it was originally used by Animation staff when the Animation building was actually used as a studio. Since they stopped animation work in FL, what's that garage used for now? Couldn't this be the CM garage? (I don't know how many spaces are required verse how many they currently have.)

The Animation building is still a fairly busy place, with offices instead of animation desks and creative space, and some of those CMs park there. The garage stays fairly full most week days. The main CM parking is still the Television lot, and even some of the folks that work in Animation or the other backstage buildings still have to park in Television.

 

[dstrawn9889]

this is what this building should be configured with....

 

[StageFrenzy]

this is what this building should be configured with....

It's like the Swiss army knife of theaters, I wonder if the scissors suck as bad as they do on the new knives?

 

[Unplugged]

The Animation building is still a fairly busy place, with offices instead of animation desks and creative space, and some of those CMs park there. The garage stays fairly full most week days. The main CM parking is still the Television lot, and even some of the folks that work in Animation or the other backstage buildings still have to park in Television.

THX! Good insight to the workings of the park. It helps put the conversation in a better perspective for those of us not in daily operations.

 

[doctornick]

Regarding parking decks at the theme parks, my main concern would be exiting at busy time. If you have a mass exodus after a show, the parking structures can be a real choke point, more than surface parking. You see that occur a lot at stadiums that have parking decks when sporting events end.

I don't really care about how the parking deck looks or anything like that.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Regarding parking decks at the theme parks, my main concern would be exiting at busy time. If you have a mass exodus after a show, the parking structures can be a real choke point, more than surface parking. You see that occur a lot at stadiums that have parking decks when sporting events end.

I don't really care about how the parking deck looks or anything like that.

There are ways to get around that if you are able to build multiple ramps to a highway, though. There's one parking garage at a nearby casino that has this and it's very effective after concerts (with ~10,000 people).

 

[Monorail_Red_77]

Asking as I honestly don't know (not a CM). What's that specific existing garage for anyway? I thought it was originally used by Animation staff when the Animation building was actually used as a studio. Since they stopped animation work in FL, what's that garage used for now? Couldn't this be the CM garage? (I don't know how many spaces are required verse how many they currently have.)

It looks to me like it is for CM parking. Not sure how full it gets, perhaps they are anticipating a larger CM presence once the park emerges from its cocoon.

 

[bakntime]

How do the garages work out in Anaheim? I would imagine they require a fairly different approach in terms of directing traffic than in a situation like at DTD where people don't all arrive en masse within the first few hours. It must be more of a task filling in all available spaces when the traffic flow is high, in the post rope drop arrival time. What do they do in Disneyland?

I've parked many times at Disneyland's HUGE parking structure (seriously that thing is unbelievable). It's not really a problem. The road to the garage splits into several lanes, where they have attendants (just like the current WDW parks), but they're inside the structure itself. Finding a spot is easy as they fill it row by row, directing traffic with cones and CMs who direct the cars. Getting your spot isn't really any different than at a regular lot with no garage.

Getting out can be slightly more of an issue, but ultimately, not really. If you think about it, there's only one or two ways (usually one) out of the current parking lots at WDW. The same is true of a parking garage. The garage doesn't really bottleneck any worse than the lots do. The ultimate bottleneck (the one that slows down traffic) is where the lot exist to the main thoroughfare. Cars can only leave the lot as fast as the highways around the lot can accept them. So I don't think a garage ends up being the problem.

 

[gwhb75]

Based on the tile of this thread, I thought you were going with some kind of Star Wars theme...."that's no moon...it's a spacestation".

 

[tirian]

When WDW was built, Disney brought in the world's best civic engineers and transportation experts to design the roadways. Disney sought those skills again for Epcot's construction. That's why the classic parts of WDW are easy to navigate and get around, whereas the newer parts are messy (unless you really like the string of red lights at DTD).

I've always thought that if the people who built the most efficient roadways in WDW chose lots over garages, they must have had a convincing reason for doing so. Back then, Disney spent whatever money was necessary to be the best. Lots probably weren't chosen just to save the budget.

 

[PhotoDave219]

I don't understand what the big deal is either. It's a place to park your car. The extent of the theming has always been a banner with a character on it so you can find your car. If they can make the parking lot more compact AND make it so that the interior of my car will be 90 degrees instead of 210 degrees when I return AND have more room for actual theme park, I'm all for it.

I don't personally remember enjoying the MK parking lot as a kid, but that's just me. The excitement of seeing Cinderella Castle from the TTC as I boarded a ferry or monorail (they used to work back then!), sure. But the parking lot was like every other parking lot I've been to--big, hot, smelly.

Okay, so I actually bought a thermometer and stuck it inside my car, in a shady spot In the console. My car averaged about 140-145 in the DAK/Epcot parking lots. Sunshade in the window & cracking the windows simply didn't prove to make much of an impact.

Should brought a cookie sheet & some dough....