Journey of Water featuring Moana coming to Epcot

Sir_Cliff

Sir_Cliff

Well-Known Member
We've probably all said anything that can be said about the construction timeline for this project, but I do think the big difference for this project and the whole central spine is that they have seemingly been content to leave the centre of the park behind construction walls for years and years with little concern for guest experience. I think most people would cut them some slack for Covid-related delays, but at least according to Marni the plan was always for Moana to open in 2023. So, they planned to just have guests deal with paying full price to navigate around a construction zone at the centre of the park for 5 years or so from the very beginning. I think that shows a certain contempt for the customer and Disney's sense their audience will just deal with whatever the company throws at them.

Something is off at Disney when they seem to spare no expense on new projects to the point where the budgets are astronomical, yet they plan the actual construction of these projects as though they were struggling to scrounge up the money to finish them and living quarter to quarter.
 
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aladdin2007

aladdin2007

Well-Known Member
Sir_Cliff said:
We've probably all said anything that can be said about the construction timeline for this project, but I do think the big difference for this project and the whole central spine is that they have seemingly been content to leave the centre of the park behind construction walls for years and years with little concern for guest experience. I think most people would cut them some slack for Covid-related delays, but at least according to Marni the plan was always for Moana to open in 2023. So, they planned from the very beginning to just have guests deal with paying full price to navigate around a construction zone at the centre of the park for 5 years or so from the very beginning. I think that shows a certain contempt for the customer and Disney's sense their audience will just deal with whatever the company throws at them.

Something is off at Disney when they seem to spare no expense on new projects to the point where the budgets as astronomical, yet they plan the actual construction of these projects as though they were struggling to scrounge up the money to finish them and living quarter to quarter.
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this
 
tparris

tparris

Well-Known Member
dreday3 said:
I learned this weekend all of Epcot was built in 3 years? They broke ground in 1979, it opened in 1982.

I need to speak to a manager. ;)
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The time it’s taking Disney construction wise has little if not nothing to do with their ability to complete these areas, rather it’s a testament of their willingness to finish said projects. Almost nothing about this timeline seems unintentional to me, barring perhaps COVID shutdowns. However necessary those shutdowns may have been at the time, they most certainly did not need to be quite as drastic for such a long period of time. Keep in mind this is just my perspective on this stuff, I have nothing to base this on other than what I’ve personally gathered and speculated.
 
lazyboy97o

lazyboy97o

Well-Known Member
The problem with attributing delays to COVID is the greater context of Disney’s operations. Disney was not required to stop work by the state. Disney did not stop Reedy Creek Improvement District projects at Walt Disney World. Disney continued or resumed projects in places like California and France that were far more restrictive than Florida. I guess it’s possible that someone with just the right amount of clout in Florida was concerned about worker safety to only impact those projects.
 
danlb_2000

danlb_2000

Premium Member
I really hope they leave the back of this structure visible to keep it consistent with other recent attractions. ;)

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Disstevefan1

Disstevefan1

Well-Known Member
James Alucobond said:
Site plan shows planters in roughly the blue locations below, with the yellow rectangle perhaps reserved for a kiosk?
View attachment 670791
I do wonder if they'll face it with the same Spaceship Earth-esque paneling as the structure across the pathway.
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This structure can't possibly be staying?
I presume this will eventually go away when they are done building Moana in two or three years.
 
J

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
Disstevefan1 said:
This structure can't possibly be staying?
I presume this will eventually go away when they are done building Moana in two or three years.
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It is permanent. Presumably, it is a service building, and it has backstage passageways that run between it and the slatted bamboo wall behind it to allow cast to access various areas of Journey of Water.

We haven’t seen what the side facing toward the walkway to World Nature will look like yet, but we can see it will have significant planters on either side and a smaller planter in the middle, probably to visually break up the surface. A guess at the finish might be that they’ll use the same dimensional tile as CommuniCore Hall. To the right of the central planter, there appears to be space reserved for a kiosk. To the left, there’s nothing on the plan, but it would definitely be a nice place for some benches.
 
tparris

tparris

Well-Known Member
From today. Based on the progress we’re seeing with the concrete forms going in for the west SSE walkway already, I’d reckon they’re trying to get that walkway open as well as the one that will be in between Moana and its service buildings at some point before Moana actually opens. That would allow them to close off the current bypass so they can add back trees and landscaping like what was there before construction began. Although the area where the east bypass used to be hasn’t had any activity in months, so we’ll see. The last picture shows what I’m talking about. The purple line is the pathway they’re currently forming and what I believe will open in the next few months, based on the timeline from earlier this year on the east side. The red is where I’d imagine construction walls would be if said pathway opened, and the area outlined in black is where the current bypass is located, which would be closed off and landscaping would be returned.
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J

James Alucobond

Well-Known Member
tparris said:
From today. Based on the progress we’re seeing with the concrete forms going in for the west SSE walkway already, I’d reckon they’re trying to get that walkway open as well as the one that will be in between Moana and its service buildings at some point before Moana actually opens. That would allow them to close off the current bypass so they can add back trees and landscaping like what was there before construction began. Although the area where the east bypass used to be hasn’t had any activity in months, so we’ll see. The last picture shows what I’m talking about. The purple line is the pathway they’re currently forming and what I believe will open in the next few months, based on the timeline from earlier this year on the east side. The red is where I’d imagine construction walls would be if said pathway opened, and the area outlined in black is where the current bypass is located, which would be closed off and landscaping would be returned.View attachment 671257View attachment 671258View attachment 671259View attachment 671260View attachment 671261View attachment 671262
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Great pictures! Progress on the lighting fixtures and canopy looks good.

I still fail to see what the proposed re-routing would accomplish, though. It makes everyone walk farther through a narrower passageway for pretty much no payoff. It seems pointless to me unless they restore more simultaneously, like the passage between CommuniCore Hall and Journey of Water or part of the gardens. The only benefit is that they can begin work to restore some backstage plantings, but considering they haven't prioritized restoration of the equivalent backstage area near Cosmic Rewind, I don't see them rushing here either.
 
tparris

tparris

Well-Known Member
James Alucobond said:
Great pictures! Progress on the lighting fixtures and canopy looks good.

I still fail to see what the proposed re-routing would accomplish, though. It makes everyone walk farther through a narrower passageway for pretty much no payoff. It seems pointless to me unless they restore more simultaneously, like the passage between CommuniCore Hall and Journey of Water or part of the gardens. The only benefit is that they can begin work to restore some backstage plantings, but considering they haven't prioritized restoration of the equivalent backstage area near Cosmic Rewind, I don't see them rushing here either.
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I agree with you for the most part. The main reason I suggested what I did is because they’ve already begun putting in concrete forms for the walkway, which in the past they usually haven’t done unless they’re getting fairly close to opening the area. Rerouting does seem quite pointless, but I also don’t know why they would make the pathway now and let it sit for months unused.
 
No Name

No Name

Well-Known Member
I hope that one day this becomes the queue to a scenic thrill ride/transportation around the park.

Disstevefan1 said:
This structure can't possibly be staying?
I presume this will eventually go away when they are done building Moana in two or three years.
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Are you talking about the black building? That’s staying, it’s part of the concept art and site plans. I hope it won’t be visible, but looking at every other change they’ve made in the last 5 years it seems that they don’t care.
 

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