Main Street U.S.A. hub redevelopment at the Magic Kingdom

jakeman

jakeman

Well-Known Member
ford91exploder said:
I am sure the horticulture team is horrified at what happened to the Hub, I fear they will not be allowed to do much, I expect the so called 'grassy' areas will be either astroturf or that rubbery mat material we now see in the place of mulch around trees at WDW.
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Are you seriously stating that you think they are going to astroturf the hub?
 
halltd

halltd

Well-Known Member
The plans that were leaked a while back clearly show "artificial grass" in the FastPass+ fireworks viewing areas. I'm not sure what the plan is for these areas during the day, but my guess is that they will look like lawn/garden areas that then people stand on for the fireworks (probably not accessible during the day). There's no feasible way to have people stand every night on real grass without it looking horrible. Plus, there are lots of very realistic artificial grass products on the market now. Besides, the majority of the landscaping on top of Mine Train is fake and it looks beautiful! I think if the fireworks viewing areas are necessary, this was probably the best way to accomplish it.
 
RayTheFirefly

RayTheFirefly

Well-Known Member
halltd said:
The plans that were leaked a while back clearly show "artificial grass" in the FastPass+ fireworks viewing areas. I'm not sure what the plan is for these areas during the day, but my guess is that they will look like lawn/garden areas that then people stand on for the fireworks (probably not accessible during the day). There's no feasible way to have people stand every night on real grass without it looking horrible. Plus, there are lots of very realistic artificial grass products on the market now. Besides, the majority of the landscaping on top of Mine Train is fake and it looks beautiful! I think if the fireworks viewing areas are necessary, this was probably the best way to accomplish it.
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What vegetation on the Mine Train is face?
 
jakeman

jakeman

Well-Known Member
halltd said:
The plans that were leaked a while back clearly show "artificial grass" in the FastPass+ fireworks viewing areas. I'm not sure what the plan is for these areas during the day, but my guess is that they will look like lawn/garden areas that then people stand on for the fireworks (probably not accessible during the day). There's no feasible way to have people stand every night on real grass without it looking horrible. Plus, there are lots of very realistic artificial grass products on the market now. Besides, the majority of the landscaping on top of Mine Train is fake and it looks beautiful! I think if the fireworks viewing areas are necessary, this was probably the best way to accomplish it.
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Fastpass viewing area while not ideal is not the same as astroturfing the whole hub, which is what is being implied here (not by you).
 
halltd

halltd

Well-Known Member
From what I can tell, the majority of the trees and all of the ground cover from about 15' above the ground up to the top of the mountain is all fake. I watched them installing the ground cover in big squares of snap together plastic panels. I was super impressed at how realistic it looked. In some places on the pathway around the attraction, you can see the edges of these plastic panels because they weren't all covered completely.

Here's a good article about it from the Orlando Sentinel. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trav...disney-roller-coaster-fake-20140528-post.html

As for the artificial grass in the hub, I'm really hoping they only use it on the FastPass+ viewing areas. As someone else mentioned, there's no need to have it anywhere else. I also doubt they'd do that.
 
RayTheFirefly

RayTheFirefly

Well-Known Member
halltd said:
From what I can tell, the majority of the trees and all of the ground cover from about 15' above the ground up to the top of the mountain is all fake. I watched them installing the ground cover in big squares of snap together plastic panels. I was super impressed at how realistic it looked. In some places on the pathway around the attraction, you can see the edges of these plastic panels because they weren't all covered completely.

Here's a good article about it from the Orlando Sentinel. http://www.orlandosentinel.com/trav...disney-roller-coaster-fake-20140528-post.html

As for the artificial grass in the hub, I'm really hoping they only use it on the FastPass+ viewing areas. As someone else mentioned, there's no need to have it anywhere else. I also doubt they'd do that.
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Really interesting article; I had no idea. Thanks!
 
msteel

msteel

Well-Known Member
George said:
I like the new color scheme too. I also loved the look back in the day with the trees, but I can see why the space was created.
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I got this far and thought something that could be expressed loosely as, "Who are you, and what have you done with @George?"

Then I read the rest and was reassured that you really are OK:

George said:
I think a simple solution is to have groups of 4 helicopters each on one corner of a festively decorated shade tarp hovering over different groups of overheated tourists. The festive decorations would be well done so that they would be considered visually superior to common trees and garden plants. Simple, safe, and effective. Plus, this could pave the way for incredibly dangerous, remote controlled dragon to come back if the helicopters can go say, 5 or 6 days without falling onto a group of guests.
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ford91exploder

ford91exploder

Resident Curmudgeon
jakeman said:
Fastpass viewing area while not ideal is not the same as astroturfing the whole hub, which is what is being implied here (not by you).
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As @note2001 stated in the original Disney video press release, Disney ITSELF stated that artificial turf would be used for this project, Which makes sense as you can put drainage basins underneath the artificial turf which will be needed to ensure this will not flood during heavy rain.
 
jakeman

jakeman

Well-Known Member
ford91exploder said:
As @note2001 stated in the original Disney video press release, Disney ITSELF stated that artificial turf would be used for this project, Which makes sense as you can put drainage basins underneath the artificial turf which will be needed to ensure this will not flood during heavy rain.
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In the viewing area, not the whole hub, but we'll have to wait and see.

Don't get too cocky just because you are partially correct about something for the first time.
 
jdmdisney99

jdmdisney99

Well-Known Member
Turf vs. Synthetic Grass
Natural-or-synthetic.jpg
 
Unplugged

Unplugged

Well-Known Member
Concrete? We don't need no stinking concrete! We got artificial turf for our $100/day FP+ using customers.

Didn't they realize that by maintaining wet grass, potentially muddy wet grass, could sell a ton of Mickey Pants in the Emporium?
 
note2001

note2001

Well-Known Member
So, other than "hub", is the term for the area in front of the castle a "plaza"? With traditional castles, what do they call the lawn and garden area out front, and how much pavement is there usually? Sorry - don't have any locally to go visit.

I realize Disney can never replicate the actual feel of grandeur a real castle must have, but you'd think they'd want to bring in some of it. Having a Main Street end with a bridge (even that's gone now) transitioning abruptly to a big open plaza isn't exactly regal.
 
note2001

note2001

Well-Known Member
dstrawn9889 said:
WAAAYYYYY too much foot traffic for the typical gardens
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Oh, no doubt. And I'm sure Disney isn't cheaping out on trees just because they can. I'm looking at the new images and to me it looks like they've not only added back in a few initial trees, but they also have a number of smaller side paths to create a garden feel near the fountains. Can't really tell what's up yet though. It's all a waiting game.

So does anyone know what those regal gardens with short, patterned shrubs are called?
 
RayTheFirefly

RayTheFirefly

Well-Known Member
note2001 said:
Oh, no doubt. And I'm sure Disney isn't cheaping out on trees just because they can. I'm looking at the new images and to me it looks like they've not only added back in a few initial trees, but they also have a number of smaller side paths to create a garden feel near the fountains. Can't really tell what's up yet though. It's all a waiting game.

So does anyone know what those regal gardens with short, patterned shrubs are called?
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I think they're just called gardens.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardens_of_the_French_Renaissance

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_formal_garden
 

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