dstrawn9889
Well-Known Member
DWS - no longer active but here it is
Last edited:
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Major 2015 Pirates of the Caribbean Refurbishment Watch/Rumor.
- Thread starter Sped2424
- Start date
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- magic kingdom
Haymarket2008
Well-Known Member
Yup just got back today from my trip. Got to ride it once. Was down today and all of Monday. Although it was smooth sailing the one time I went. No build up at the end (haven't seen that in years) and it seemed to be in decent shape. At least externally it looked fine.
jimbojones
Well-Known Member
This site has lots of info on the landing strip
http://progresscityusa.com/2010/01/11/retroworld-the-lake-buena-vista-stol/
Mawg
Well-Known Member
Very enjoyable, thank you.
Horizons '83
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Great Read. Thanks!
Walt's vision is still amazing to me. While this never truly took shape, I love the idea.
dstrawn9889
Well-Known Member
dunno what happened with photobucket last night, but i fixed the image linkDWS - no longer active but here it is
janoimagine
Well-Known Member
It was only an STOLPort. Only suited for small aircraft. You would be in trouble trying to land a commercial jet. Right now it is being used as a parking lot for construction and gear ... you can see if from the Monorail beam on the way to or from Epcot.
Monorail_Red_77
Well-Known Member
STOLPort was active pre-EPCOT Monorail Beam. Correct currently it is being used for construction staging and modular buildings/parking. This is where the turrets are being built for MK Hub Project. Orlando Int'l Airport is what killed this airport mostly.
dstrawn9889
Well-Known Member
not really, since MCO was the stop for the short hauls that were to land at the STOLPort. what killed them is the increased volume of Aircraft landing at MCO BECAUSE Disney was right there.
janoimagine
Well-Known Member
More likely the fact that it couldn't land anything larger than a 20 Passenger Turbo Prop is what killed it.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Personally, and believe me this is just a thought, I don't think it was ever going to live long anyway. It was almost a necessity while WDW was being built. The chiefs in California were running back and forth across country constantly and it was really not practical to be landing in MCO and having to travel from there to the property constantly. Since it was a STOL it was never going to realistically deal with anything other then small private aircraft. Even the chartered planes that flew from MCO to there had an expiration date. It was only a matter of time before highways were built that made the drive from MCO easier and way less expensive then flying. I doubt that they could get much above 2000 feet in that time span.
I am surprised that they didn't keep it available for Executive planes even now, but, I guess maintaining that would be expensive and not really worthwhile. Now they have a very expensive place to put storage trailers, hidden enough that most people are totally unaware that it exists even though it is in plain sight if you know what you are seeing.
janoimagine
Well-Known Member
I think the main issue it is not used, even for executive level is one of safety, the landing approach was from the South West which had them flying right over the Monorail Beam. I am not sure if their is a HeliPad on property for execs or not.
dstrawn9889
Well-Known Member
any old parking lot will do for a heli...
RSoxNo1
Well-Known Member
This is the first time I clicked on a link referencing a landing strip that was safe for work.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
Judging by this picture I'd say that there is plenty of place to land a helicopter at the upper end of the runway near the old terminal building.
We went to MK on Wednesday and Friday for the first time since January 08. There was a bit of boat stacking but not really beyond the corner by the treasure. The mist was fine, I don't recall any mermaids (but I never noticed them in the fifteen years I've been riding the attraction), and all but the final cannonball splash was off on Wednesday. There were noticeable issues with audibility and the drop seemed more intense and wet than we remember, but it's been a while. Overall it seemed pretty good, save for the occasional temporarily closed message on the app, which seemed to plague every E-ticket this week. Everest was off Sunday morning, 7DMT was off all Wednesday evening (it may have been evac'd, as there was a train sitting on the crest for hours before the queued guests were booted after Wishes), and Splash was down for a good portion of Friday morning (even the train shut down briefly).
dstrawn9889
Well-Known Member
no, they finally said 'good morning' to George