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MK Main Gates getting new look! (Photo)
- Thread starter wdw71fan
- Start date
Foolish Mortal
Well-Known Member
Maybe there was a sign that said "Magic Kingdom left", so he was trying to turn around ?
threeyoda
Active Member
best I could find quickly online, but this is from 1972
Looks like a toll booth on the New Jersey Turnpike.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
Insiders say Merryweather approves of the new colour, but Flora does not.
devoy1701
Well-Known Member
on that....I can't believe how many NO STOPPING signs they have at the WDW arches now! and they all have flashing lights! When are people going to get a clue! I think the next move should be adding tack strips to the shoulders!
menamechris
Well-Known Member
I like the new color scheme a lot. Now on to TTC....
TP2000
Well-Known Member
best I could find quickly online, but this is from 1972
The blue Impala, plus the brown Chevelle (or is that a Pontiac LeMans?) and the red Volkswagen fastback are all messed up because they only had the four middle lanes open for Magic Kingdom tolls at the time. The far left lanes, plus the entire right half of the toll plaza was shut down and unstaffed, as noted by the lowered gate arms and red lights above those entry lanes. There does appear to be one lane of traffic queued for the furthest right lane, as that's likely for Hotel guests arriving. Cars approaching the toll plaza from the left and right lanes would not realize this setup until they got right up to the plaza area, and then they'd need to do some last minute stopping and swerving and merging.
The blue Impala is the worst, as that driver probably didn't notice the red lights above the closed lanes until the last minute and isn't headed to a Hotel, so he then had to back up a bit and turn a hard left to try and merge into the few middle lanes operating, begging forgiveness from the other lined up motorists who were lucky enough to approach the plaza from the middle lanes.
Even back in 1972 Disney management was cutting corners and reducing staffing where they could, even if it meant frustrated customers beginning their Magic Kingdom day in a confusing line of traffic. TDO '72 strikes again!
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
The blue Impala is the worst, as that driver probably didn't notice the red lights above the closed lanes until the last minute and isn't headed to a Hotel, so he then had to back up a bit and turn a hard left to try and merge into the few middle lanes operating, begging forgiveness from the other lined up motorists who were lucky enough to approach the plaza from the middle lanes.
Even back in 1972 Disney management was cutting corners and reducing staffing where they could, even if it meant frustrated customers beginning their Magic Kingdom day in a confusing line of traffic. TDO '72 strikes again!
Bingo...congratulations on being the first to see what was happening there. I don't, however, see that as cutting costs. There certainly aren't enough cars there to warrant having all of the booths open. If they ever planned on that they wouldn't have installed RED (lane closed) lights at all.
Also I believe that the original post said..."work in progress" or something along those lines. I'd bet that they do that painting at night, in segments.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
Bingo...congratulations on being the first to see what was happening there. I don't, however, see that as cutting costs. There certainly aren't enough cars there to warrant having all of the booths open. If they ever planned on that they wouldn't have installed RED (lane closed) lights at all.
Quite true.
But if the guy driving that blue '68 Impala had access to Twitter from his iPhone enabled rear-view mirror back then, he could have Tweeted about how Disney can't manage their toll plazas correctly.
Just because we can Tweet about it now, doesn't mean it's actually something worth talking about. And TDO isn't always the villain we (myself included) so easily make it out to be in 2012.
But it's a fun picture to look at! How funny that something so mundane as a theme park toll booth plaza circa 1972 could become interesting to us Disney fans forty years later.
janoimagine
Well-Known Member
I would pay big to get that old WDW logo in the left corner of the frame. I wish they would bring that back.
Goofyernmost
Well-Known Member
My first visit was 1983 and I couldn't begin to tell you what the toll booth looked like back then. I have no memory of it at all. I am in awe of people with that kind of memory.
Heck, it never even crossed my mind that it was worthy of taking a picture, so I would guess that it looked a lot like it did in 1972. Neat but nothing spectacular.
On the other hand....at some point...I must have changed my mind.
I think this was about 2006, but I'm not absolutely sure.
Heck, it never even crossed my mind that it was worthy of taking a picture, so I would guess that it looked a lot like it did in 1972. Neat but nothing spectacular.
On the other hand....at some point...I must have changed my mind.
I think this was about 2006, but I'm not absolutely sure.
wdwmomof3
Well-Known Member
I was just laughing about that!!
I really do like the new blue color that they are painting it. When we were there last time I was thinking that the pink color just didn't look like it fit with the park so this looks much better. I still think that they could make it look even more magical than it is though. The "Welcome to Walt Disney World" sign gets me more excited.
DDEPILLO
Active Member
Haha I was thinking the same thing
Captain Chaos
Well-Known Member
Hopefully that Magic Kingdom sign on the top of the toll plaza gets updated...
I take it there are some future steps that will be substantive, and not just aesthetic?
flynnibus
Premium Member