Journey of Water featuring Moana coming to Epcot

[Anteater]

The RR for four years, partially due to the pandemic, since no construction could be done on Tron.
As for Pandora, can you truly not understand why that kind of construction took as long as it did?

Probably took at least half that time just to gather enough helium to keep those mountains up in the air!
It's a real waste of land to feature only two attractions, I gift shop and a QS restaurant. Had they played up the exotic plant and animal angle with documentation, they could have had a real attraction outside.

WRT to the WDWRR... There is NO EXCUSE. Sorry. That tunnel could have been built before the first slab was poured for the Tron Building.

 

[OG Runner]

Probably took at least half that time just to gather enough helium to keep those mountains up in the air!
It's a real waste of land to feature only two attractions, I gift shop and a QS restaurant. Had they played up the exotic plant and animal angle with documentation, they could have had a real attraction outside.

WRT to the WDWRR... There is NO EXCUSE. Sorry. That tunnel could have been built before the first slab was poured for the Tron Building.

Thank you for your structural engineering expertise. I guess it is what it is and that was the order they did it in.

 

[No Name]

Did we forget it took 7 years to complete Pandora, just a land within a park?
Are we forgetting how long the WDW RR is closed?

It took less than 6 years from announcement to opening and less than 3.5 of those were construction.

It's a real waste of land to feature only two attractions, I gift shop and a QS restaurant. Had they played up the exotic plant and animal angle with documentation, they could have had a real attraction outside.

This is the worst hot take I’ve ever heard.

 

[MisterPenguin]

It took less than 6 years from announcement to opening and less than 3.5 of those were construction.

Indeed.

Ground breaking: 1/10/14
Opening: 5/26/17

3.4 years.

Tho, a certain contingent loves rounding it up to four years.

 

[IveBeenJack]

Wire frames for rockwork installation as part of "Moana - Journey of Water" walkthrough experience spotted from Disney Skyliner nearby EPCOT.

 

[OG Runner]

Indeed.

Ground breaking: 1/10/14
Opening: 5/26/17

3.4 years.

Tho, a certain contingent loves rounding it up to four years.

Yet some like to round up to 6. It amazes me that some people on these boards are determined to
make it, we are better, because we built something faster.

 

[Bocabear]

Well....when you consider the entire WDW theme park and hotels, parking lots and transportation system were built within that timeline, 3.4 years seems like an awfully long time. and yes, other parks can do it faster...Used to be that the Disney attractions had better theming and integration... And Pandora is beautiful and all, but seems to be half of the story... It needs another attraction, or it needs the river cruise attraction to have a point other than just an environmental float-through...

 

[Phicinfan]

Well....when you consider the entire WDW theme park and hotels, parking lots and transportation system were built within that timeline, 3.4 years seems like an awfully long time. and yes, other parks can do it faster...Used to be that the Disney attractions had better theming and integration... And Pandora is beautiful and all, but seems to be half of the story... It needs another attraction, or it needs the river cruise attraction to have a point other than just an environmental float-through...

I don't disagree Disney over extends their building. However, I don't think it fair to compare building an entire new park, and not having to worry about visitors or handling them, or keeping things open and safe vs. just building with no limitations is fair.

It is much, much easier to build where no consumers are there and no risk to consumers exist, than it is to isolate parts of an active park, and having to handle those people on site as work is done.

 

[No Name]

Well....when you consider the entire WDW theme park and hotels, parking lots and transportation system were built within that timeline, 3.4 years seems like an awfully long time. and yes, other parks can do it faster...Used to be that the Disney attractions had better theming and integration... And Pandora is beautiful and all, but seems to be half of the story... It needs another attraction, or it needs the river cruise attraction to have a point other than just an environmental float-through...

Should they have opened it November 2016? January 2017? No, they wanted to open it Memorial Day weekend and they stuck to their plan. Considering it raised attendance over the following year more than any addition to a WDW park ever has, its hard to argue that decision didn’t work. I know obviously we want everything as soon as possible but Disney wants the biggest ROI.

Maybe they should’ve started construction a whole year later, just so online people could say they built it faster!

 

[BisonLion]

Well....when you consider the entire WDW theme park and hotels, parking lots and transportation system were built within that timeline, 3.4 years seems like an awfully long time. and yes, other parks can do it faster

Original construction didn't have near the permitting and other requirements that construction has required in the last 15 years (especially today). I would say it is safe to say permitting, regulations, and focus on safety have increased construction times by at least 3X. Not to mention that specifications/owner requirements are even more stringent than they were back then.

For example, when building Animal Kingdom, not only did Disney want various shapes (flora and other items) embossed in the concrete walkways in places, they wanted specific items in very specific places. That all takes time.

 

[ppete1975]

you could have a pool with this built in your backyard in like 2 days ... just saying

 

[ppete1975]

This looks very cool. Wish it was gonna be done for my upcoming trip.

when you going 2024? yeah prob not open,

 

[ppete1975]

5 people died building the Empire State Building

thats amazing when you realize how little safety equipment was used or how little people cared... i mean this was around the time when people hopped from beam to beam and threw hot rivets to each other.

 

[Disstevefan1]

5 people died building the Empire State Building

No construction project is worth losing someone's life.
Moana is not worth getting a hangnail over......

 

[Incomudro]

thats amazing when you realize how little safety equipment was used or how little people cared... i mean this was around the time when people hopped from beam to beam and threw hot rivets to each other.

View attachment 636765View attachment 636766

thats amazing when you realize how little safety equipment was used or how little people cared... i mean this was around the time when people hopped from beam to beam and threw hot rivets to each other.

View attachment 636765View attachment 636766

The construction of the Empire State Building was one of the most amazing builds in history.
It is a favorite of mine, and I myself have used it as a reference compared to other construction - such as the Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan who's agonizingly slow pace I watched from my desk in Brooklyn Heights.
But of course, what was allowed in 1930 would never be allowed today.
I can't imagine what present day safety measure would add to the build time of the Empire State Building were it built today.

 

[No Name]

The construction of the Empire State Building was one of the most amazing builds in history.
It is a favorite of mine, and I myself have used it as a reference compared to other construction - such as the Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan who's agonizingly slow pace I watched from my desk in Brooklyn Heights.
But of course, what was allowed in 1930 would never be allowed today.
I can't imagine what present day safety measure would add to the build time of the Empire State Building were it built today.

They were also in competition for the tallest building in the world, which the media deemed the “race to the sky,” so yeah they capitalized on that fervor. Kind of a different situation all around.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Diagon Alley took Universal 2.5 years to build (Jaws closed on Jan 2, 2012 and Diagon Alley officially opened July 8, 2014). I am not a fan of the Gringotts ride, but this project was extremely elaborate, from demolition to construction to opening in 2.5 years. Disney should be matching these standards. I don't think that's an unfair statement to make. This Moana walk-through is no Diagon Alley. For some reason, nothing happened at this construction site for a long time.

Land clearing began in October 2019 (Blog Mickey):

Then nothing happened for over a year until they started demolishing Innoventions West in December 2020:

Oooh! Vertical construction in June 2021:

Uh, six months later in January 2022:

March 2022, finally some progress:

"And now we come to the present" (name that quote) [photo from Bioreconstruct]:

It's plain to see that this process is taking way too long. If it opens in October, it will have taken three years to build. Velocicoaster took a little over two years. Same with Hagrid. And those were complex attractions, especially Hagrid. This isn't any of those things. It's a walking trail with fountains. They should be much farther along than they are. There's no denying this.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Journey of Water was scheduled to open in 2023... pre-pandemic schedule.

Altho, mostly due to being done along with the Toadstool Festival Center.

But still... it had a long lead deadline from the start.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Journey of Water was scheduled to open in 2023... pre-pandemic schedule.

Altho, mostly due to being done along with the Toadstool Festival Center.

But still... it had a long lead deadline from the start.

Exactly, why on earth did they expect it to take so long? Perhaps there was some dark secret under Innoventions that needed to be dealt with? We need Ridley Pearson to write the next Kingdom Keepers about this!

 

[WDWFREAK53]

Well....when you consider the entire WDW theme park and hotels, parking lots and transportation system were built within that timeline, 3.4 years seems like an awfully long time. and yes, other parks can do it faster...Used to be that the Disney attractions had better theming and integration... And Pandora is beautiful and all, but seems to be half of the story... It needs another attraction, or it needs the river cruise attraction to have a point other than just an environmental float-through...

In a park dedicated to the environment, ecosystems, and conservation...a relaxing river cruise through an alien planet that heavily relies on the ecosystem working together seems like the perfect addition to the park. Not everything needs a thrill or a "something goes wrong" or even a story that is laid out and explained perfectly. If the ride didn't have the huge wait times and was just a secondary attraction to ride (like Gran Fiesta Tour), it would be great. The only downside to the attraction is the lack of animatronics and how all of the creatures are screen-based. That is a huge miss IMO.

I do agree, however, that the land is lacking. To make it feel more cohesive to the other lands, a walkthrough "safari" type of attraction that starts off as part of a museum that explains the war and focuses on the Na'Vi culture and then you leave the military building and complete your walk seeing animatronic creatures (maybe have an interactive photo-op like Universal does with the Raptor), have some interactive flora and maybe have a small area with the glowing footprints as you leave.