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

SpaceMountain75

SpaceMountain75

Well-Known Member
B9WiJjRCUAA5PWv.jpg-large.jpeg
Looks like the Tomorrowland side of the hub has been refilled with water.
Photo by @bioreconstruct
 
gmajew

gmajew

Premium Member
I was hoping this was done by last week of March but does not look like it will happen. It is a needed upgrade though.
 
FerretAfros

FerretAfros

Well-Known Member
I'm confused by that planter in front of the Noodle Station bathrooms. There had been a tree there that was removed a couple years ago, and now they're putting some sort of landscaping back in that location

Google Earth image dated 1/22/13, showing the original tree:
130122.jpg



Google Earth image date 1/17/14, showing the tree has been removed. If you look closely, you can even see the shape of the former planter by the new pavement
140117.jpg

I'm not complaining that they appear to be giving us more greenspace, I'm just confused why it was removed in the first place. From what I can tell, they knew about the hub changes when the tree was initially removed (possibly needed a different footprint for the planter) which makes me wonder why they didn't just replace it right away, rather than having a couple years with just more pavement there; it's not like they were waiting until the other areas were complete to do this work
 
Sage of Time

Sage of Time

Well-Known Member
FerretAfros said:
I'm confused by that planter in front of the Noodle Station bathrooms. There had been a tree there that was removed a couple years ago, and now they're putting some sort of landscaping back in that location

Google Earth image dated 1/22/13, showing the original tree:
View attachment 82373


Google Earth image date 1/17/14, showing the tree has been removed. If you look closely, you can even see the shape of the former planter by the new pavement
View attachment 82374
I'm not complaining that they appear to be giving us more greenspace, I'm just confused why it was removed in the first place. From what I can tell, they knew about the hub changes when the tree was initially removed (possibly needed a different footprint for the planter) which makes me wonder why they didn't just replace it right away, rather than having a couple years with just more pavement there; it's not like they were waiting until the other areas were complete to do this work
Click to expand...
perhaps to make things uniform? Good detective work. :)
 
ABQ

ABQ

Well-Known Member
I'm not sure of the exact placement of the planter near the restrooms, but didn't someone state that the new bridge to the hub on that side at least was to be considered safe for emergency vehicles, presumably entering via the east bypass. Perhaps the new planter is just a bit further towards Tomorrowland to allow for unencumbered vehicular access?
 
kap91

kap91

Well-Known Member
JediMasterMatt said:
It is a very winnable situation. It's just one that years of neglect have forced their hand into not even attempting.

At the very heart of this issue is the entire resorts lack of capacity. The "need" for the Hub refurb is born out of the ever increasing load that the MK has to pull. As a result of it, every ride and attraction in the MK has to pull even more weight than ever before. Things that use to be a "cherry on the sundae" like parades, fireworks, and meet-and-greets have been pulled into front line duty for the entire resort and are now "manifest destiny" guaranteed to all guests with a FP+ reservation. But, that of course is why they have to carry the weight now. If you can't fit everyone into the rides and attractions they want to experience during the day and the offer of a return time for an attraction that people don't want to experience (like Stitch) isn't enticing people, offer them up a reservation for one of those "cherries" I mentioned earlier. Of course now, you need to guarantee those cherries happen - so you can't take them offline.

Look, I completely understand that any ride or attraction going offline impacts peoples vacations. The sad fact is that WDW has used the excuse of not wanting to due refurbs, updates, and enhancements under the guise of wanting to make sure poor little Sally-Sue and Jimmy-Joe's once in a lifetime visit isn't tarnished for so long that attendance increases have gotten to the point where MM+/FP+ was created out of "necessity" and now they can't pull things offline to do even necessary work (like the current situation with PotC).

There is no reason why the parks in Orlando couldn't be run the same way the parks in Anaheim are if the parks had more ability to share the capacity load. If you are not familiar with what is going on with the ramp up to the 60th Anniversary for DL, take a look at the Disneyland Resort forum. Currently, Sleeping Beauty Castle is behind a scrim, World of Color is offline, several rides and attractions are down and the world <pun intended> on the West Coast is still spinning.

For use as a particular barometer, tune into our very own Mike S's thread for his current 1st visit ever to DLR: http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...y-world-fans-first-trip-to-disneyland.895564/

He's hitting DLR at its worst and let's watch what his impression of the place is when he runs into the perfect storm of refurbs. My guess, is that he will still come away with an outstanding time.

The situation in Orlando is such that if you pulled a similar load away from any of the parks, things would fall apart quickly because there isn't enough meat on the bone remaining.

The solution to WDW's problem is simple. Return to the method that has always worked. Grow capacity at a rate that exceeds demand. Add new rides and attractions that guests want to experience and prune away those that they don't want to. The shame of an attraction like Stitch or Imagination or don't shoot me, Maelstrom, is that they should've been plussed or pulled out for something different ages ago.

Instead, we get the nuclear wasteland that is the Hub with it's FP+ corrals.
Click to expand...


I don't disagree...but considering how long Disney didn't build anything new at MK (and the other parks as well but less so), which I largely blame Eisner not Iger for but that's another debate, they're in a position now where it's virtually impossible to do all that needs to be done in a quick enough time frame. The number of attractions (rides!) at each park basically needs to be double what it is, especially at the MK...and it needed to be that way five years ago. I know Disney and WDW make billions, but what all needs to be done will cost even more than that, even if they could do it for Universals price - and stockholders would impeach all of management if they decided to do something epic like that all at once.

I do maintain that WDW management gets the issues and they're taking a very long view plan to address it. MyMagic+ and next gen is the bandaid that deals with the current problem in an immediate fashion. The capacity increases to walking areas and key attractions are second and mainly address issues with the first. Also various infrastructure improvements around property (monorails, ferries, bus stations, parking garages, etc). This all dramatically improved efficiency and sets the foundation for a slow build out...it's going to take decades, and that sucks, but all indications are that Disney is doing anything but slowing down their building. People were sure nextgen was the end all 2billion dollar flip and nothing would ever get built again. Instead they're ramping up and building more than we've seen in literal decades. My magic+ wasn't even done and we have Disney springs, pandora, what looks to be a complete overhaul of DHS, frozen, and two ride expansions all happening concurrently. I don't remember a time in history outside of when a new park was being built that that many new attractions were being worked on. I know it's not all what is needed, not all what people want, and people have concerns about quality (which I can't say anything to except wait and see) but it certainly doesnt resemble a company that is reticent to invest in the parks. Theres just so much to do, and only so many resources you can practically spend. And of course they like to make the balance sheets look as good as possible, which slows it down more, but I would fully expect more Epcot, and possibly more MK stuff as the next projexts on the horizon after DHS. I mean they're not stupid, they see the success of the other Disney parks, and recently they've seen the success of universal (though this turnaround has been in place since before potter - I'm sure it increased their motivation)

In short I think they are returning to the method you suggest, it's just a very slow ship to turn. I know, I know, I'm deluded and snorting pixie dust, no need to tell me.
 
note2001

note2001

Well-Known Member
hpyhnt 1000 said:
Oh, did more walls come down? Sorry. I can't tell because my view is blocked by the Great Wall of Strollers.

Snark aside, it is looking pretty nice thus far.
Click to expand...

I could have sworn I saw in the blueprints that they were installing an underground parking garage for these all terrain mini-person vehicles. Hmm... maybe the lift got stuck.
 

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