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

[PhotoDave219]

ok fine sore, i was typing in a hurry, fixed.

You should blame voice to text and Siri like I do.

 

[PhotoDave219]

Maybe Im wrong but I do not see how this new design is going to improve crowd control.. I can see guests getting "lost" on these walkways and not knowing which direction they want to go in lol. One of the biggest issues is everyone wants to go in different directions. They may as well just remove all of the planters because guests will still walk through them to get to where they want to go quicker...

Easy. Every try to navigate the hub during a parade?

 

[PhotoDave219]

For those who question WHY?

Well.

Every night during the summer, the entire area turns into a jam packed disaster. You cannot move. RECS cannot get through the crowds despite an escort. It is clogged beyond belief and guests cannot move in that area.... and thats the main entrance to the park.

So we start rerouting people and give them move options to move about and get away from the crowds. Makes perfect sense and is something that has been an issue for years.

Its something that I'm in favor of and happy thats going to happen.

 

[Matt]

For those who question WHY?

Well.

Every night during the summer, the entire area turns into a jam packed disaster. You cannot move. RECS cannot get through the crowds despite an escort. It is clogged beyond belief and guests cannot move in that area.... and thats the main entrance to the park.

So we start rerouting people and give them move options to move about and get away from the crowds. Makes perfect sense and is something that has been an issue for years.

Its something that I'm in favor of and happy thats going to happen.

Even in off-peak times the Hub is impossible to navigate leading up to Wishes. Glad they're doing something about it.

 

[rudyjr13]

For those who question WHY?

Well.

Every night during the summer, the entire area turns into a jam packed disaster. You cannot move. RECS cannot get through the crowds despite an escort. It is clogged beyond belief and guests cannot move in that area.... and thats the main entrance to the park.

So we start rerouting people and give them move options to move about and get away from the crowds. Makes perfect sense and is something that has been an issue for years.

Its something that I'm in favor of and happy thats going to happen.

Thank you! Agree 100%. Doesn't even have to be summer. Hard enough 2 weeks ago in slow Feb. to get around hub and Main.

 

[Gabe1]

A very small portion of the moat near the plaza and Casey's is being covered with more standing areas and walkways. It is unclear if it will continue to flow underneath or it will just look like it.

Supposedly new landscaping in the form of strategically placed trees that block views of fireworks has been cut but this does not mean there will be no landscaping. Lee posted a blueprint of what looks like pretty detailed flower beds and shrubs.

As far as current landscaping being removed - the drawings don't really indicate anything specifically but don't overlap with a large portion of the rose garden nor the topiaries near noodle station so it's conceivable that they could go or stay.

Thank you! Appreciate the update.

 

[Scuttle]

Just throwing this out there.... Why doesn't Disneyland need new walkways and a hub replacement? Isn't Disneyland

That's not really true though. By building more high profile attractions you only increase the MK's popularity and attract more guests. Then - since most of them only come once in a few years or considerably less - come time for wishes everyone still piles into the hub and Main Street - because that's the classic image of what the fireworks look like. Hardly any tourist is going to want to watch the nightly fireworks from Frontierland or Storybook Circus or anywhere else - even if you add a bunch of fountains and lasers and who knows what else to an area far away from the hub. And now since more people are in the park - the crowds just get worse.

New e-ticket attractions might serve to disperse crowds during the day but that's highly dependent on just how many more guests they bring in - my guess is they'd bring in enough people to mostly offset any dispersing effect they generate.

Now obviously the MK has to continue adding things to avoid being thought of as stale, but given what I've stated above it only makes sense that you'd see then doing exactly what they've been doing: focus a lot of infrastructure, efficiency, and improving the average guests experience and add new attractions at a fairly slow pace.

And briefly to address the argument that TDO should focus on the other parks more to draw crowds away from the MK 2 things. A- this is exactly what you are seeing. It's AK that got the next big expansion, as well as a host of nighttime entertainment and while whatever is in store for DHS might currently be on hold - that is inevitably going to happen. B - as others have stated MK is the flagship park and by definition will always be more popular regardless of whatever is built at the others. If someone only has a one time shot to visit WDW, unless they're exclusively teenagers (and even then a lot of the time) it's going to be the MK.

I for one am excited about this - it would've been better with the extra tall trees but it doesn't look to be removing all that much and the benefits are huge. I'm happy to see WDW spending so much at this point in the past few years on improving its ability to handle crowds, and it's operations, because it only makes it easier for them to build those high-profile e-tickets in the future - when the time is right.

I.E. Disneyland! Not nearly as big but has a quarter more attractions and it handles crowds pretty well considering how small it is. If MK the kept tortuga tavern, diamond horseshoe, keel boats, swan boats, explorer canoes, skyway, and the freakin always closed noodle station open as well as open a major attraction every 7 years MK would be able to engulf the crowds no problem.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Just throwing this out there.... Why doesn't Disneyland need new walkways and a hub replacement? Isn't Disneyland

I.E. Disneyland! Not nearly as big but has a quarter more attractions and it handles crowds pretty well considering how small it is. If MK the kept tortuga tavern, diamond horseshoe, keel boats, swan boats, explorer canoes, skyway, and the freakin always closed noodle station open as well as open a major attraction every 7 years MK would be able to engulf the crowds no problem.

Disneyland doesn't line up with your calls for new big attractions either. The last entirely new attraction opened nearly 20 years ago in 1995.

 

[Scuttle]

Disneyland doesn't line up with your calls for new big attractions either. The last entirely new attraction opened nearly 20 years ago in 1995.

More recent than splash.

 

[MarkTwain]

Oh-kay, here it is, my final revision. No more suggestions accepted, I've spent way too much time on this thing. Feel free to point out anything that's wrong with it though for sake of accurate information. @wdwmagic , feel free to update any news articles or other links with this. @TheVisionarySoul , how's it look now?

Hub now:

Hub in the future:

You know the more I look at it, the more it really does start to look like Tokyo Disneyland's hub:

Which is a shame because I thought TDL's hub was much too sprawling and uninteresting. TDL seems to be the best at handling crowds of all the castle parks worldwide, but that comes at a major loss of intimacy and sense of place that make Magic Kingdoms and Disneylands such a pleasant experience. A "park," if you will.

 

[WDW1974]

I am sure there are several. The one they chose is not bad though.

I honestly don't have an opinion yet. Do I think this could be good in the end? Absolutely.

But I worry about everything from how extensive 2nd Street is really going to be to how green the Hub will be ... it can't be much worse than it is now. I am keeping an open mind until I hear more.

BTW, any of you Tweeters (like @WDWFigment ) is there any truth to a rumour I heard that fanboi fave HKDL Imagineer Andy Sinclair Harris is coming to O-town to work on this project?

Take care of yourself first. WDW isn't going anywhere.

Thanks. I am better ... somewhat. I sorta have my voice back. And I went almost five hours tonight without a coughing outburst. But without going to my ER or a clinic, I can't get into my doctor until Tuesday. And I have been ill for at least 12 days, likely two weeks. It just isn't any fun at all! ... Even the MK beats this!!! Hell, even DSP beats this!!!

 

[WDW1974]

Eh well this thread doesn't seem to know what it wants to be....it was starting to swerve in a somewhat positive direction.

Then I guess I showed up right in the nick of time!!!

 

[WDW1974]

They are building a proper bypass. It may not be themed as well as the Arcade in Paris but they are building one.

The Paris arcades are wonderful because they aren't simply walkways that are enclosed, but attractions in their own right that help set the tone, mood and period. I'd love to see artwork on this (I am not great with schematics), but Dr. Blondie is likely holding them for the day UNI announces its JP expansion.

 

[WDW1974]

I've just gotten some more info on the trees issue. Some trees are being saved and moved. Many new small trees will be added, but will be contained in tree pots that appear to be full planters. This will allow them to easily change out the trees when they get too tall with shorter ones. Lots of new flowers are going everywhere. And I mean everywhere. It's actually going to look pretty nice. Just wish the MK had taller trees and hedges to block the views from these new routes. But the good news is that the MK is getting some nice new trees, they're just smaller than I would have liked. Can't say too much now, as I just don't have time, but I'll post some more later. If you have any specific questions, try tagging me in a post and I will be sure to answer.

OK ... here kitty, kitty, kitty ... @TheVisionarySoul what do you know about what the second street will look like, how themed will it be? New retail and food? Or simply a bypass in the cast exec parking lot? How big a deal is this? And any word on infrastructure near the Castle for the Wishes replacement? And anything not yet answered if you know.

Generally, I don't like talking kitties ...

 

[the.dreamfinder]

The Paris arcades are wonderful because they aren't simply walkways that are enclosed, but attractions in their own right that help set the tone, mood and period. I'd love to see artwork on this (I am not great with schematics), but Dr. Blondie is likely holding them for the day UNI announces its JP expansion.

Theming v. Decoration

 

[alissafalco]

Oh-kay, here it is, my final revision. No more suggestions accepted, I've spent way too much time on this thing. Feel free to point out anything that's wrong with it though for sake of accurate information. @wdwmagic , feel free to update any news articles or other links with this. @TheVisionarySoul , how's it look now?

Hub now:

Hub in the future:

You know the more I like at it, the more it really does start to look like Tokyo Disneyland's hub:

Which is a shame because I thought TDL's hub was much too sprawling and uninteresting. TDL seems to be the best at handling crowds of all the castle parks worldwide, but that comes at a major loss of intimacy and sense of place that make Magic Kingdoms and Disneylands such a pleasant experience. A "park," if you will.

Thanks for your work, it really gives us a better view of it all. Are you aware that almost every other unofficial Disney website has ripped off your photo shop pics and has posted them to their website?

 

[The Visionary Soul]

Oh-kay, here it is, my final revision. No more suggestions accepted, I've spent way too much time on this thing. Feel free to point out anything that's wrong with it though for sake of accurate information. @wdwmagic , feel free to update any news articles or other links with this. @TheVisionarySoul , how's it look now?...

Hub in the future:

You know the more I like at it, the more it really does start to look like Tokyo Disneyland's hub...

It's actually really damn close now. Congrats to you for really doing a great job on this.

That said, it's not perfect, but nothing in Photoshop will ever be. Here are other things that would need to change:

-No more swan boat dock.

-Lots more flowers and small trees in the other areas.

-Moat gets "thinner" near the new bridge. Imagine the shorelines just closer together the closer you get to the new bridge.

Besides that, it's pretty damn perfect. Great work!

 

[The Visionary Soul]

OK ... here kitty, kitty, kitty ...

Meow mix meow mix I deliver!!!

@TheVisionarySoul what do you know about what the second street will look like, how themed will it be?

So, you want to know about the second street... hmm, well, let's call it "Alternate Universe Low Budget Main Street". Eh, that takes too long to say. How about, "East Street?" To start with, this beautiful low budget "East Street" will only be open for crowd overflow, just like today. Unlike today, it will have very nice looking walls on either side of the street, preventing you from getting very close to the backs of the actual Main Street buildings. In front of those fake walls on "East Street", there will be some very nice lighting and landscaping, along with nice, and somewhat decent sized trees! (Imagine that!) Fake windows will be installed on the back of the real Main Street buildings, to give you at least something to look at. There will also be a couple themed billboards advertising Main Street's various businesses.

The East Street path itself will be paved with concrete (instead of the asphalt they have there today) and that new concrete will be fitted with steel rebar in the path, so parade floats can traverse the area. So far I have seen no evidence of any use for this new parade route, though with the new sound system they just installed, it is now possible to change which direction parade traffic flows in the area (even take different paths) and create very unique routes for different parades. This doesn't mean anything now, but if they would want to build a parade storage building off of East Street in the future, they could. Even with this new path, there will still not be enough room to fit full size floats through the gate between the Chapeau and Tony's Town Square. They are, however, trying to make that opening as large as possible, but it's still just not big enough.

New retail and food? Or simply a bypass in the cast exec parking lot? How big a deal is this?

There is no new retail or food that I know of for East Street. It's not that big of an expansion.

And any word on infrastructure near the Castle for the Wishes replacement?

I don't think the infrastructure for the new Wishes replacement show is part of this rehab. They have to figure out a better filtration system for the moat first. That water is the same water as the Jungle Cruise. It doesn't meet health code to throw it up in the air as it is. If they do a fountain show in the future for the hub (and I have no doubt they will eventually), I would expect them to separate the castle moat system from the rest of Adventureland's.

Generally, I don't like talking kitties ...

What about singing, dancing, talking mice with their own amusement park?

Either way, it was either space cat or an AVATAR avatar.

 

[MarkTwain]

Thanks for your work, it really gives us a better view of it all. Are you aware that almost every other unofficial Disney website has ripped off your photo shop pics and has posted them to their website?

Yes, I'm aware. -_- It doesn't bother me too badly though. I do far better site plans for a living and I like my anonymity on here anyway, so I won't be putting these in any professional portfolio. It'd be nice if they gave credit though.

 

[The Visionary Soul]

Yes, I'm aware. -_- It doesn't bother me too badly though. I do far better site plans for a living and I like my anonymity on here anyway, so I won't be putting these in any professional portfolio. It'd be nice if they gave credit though.

Well, thank you, Mr. Twain!