articos
Well-Known Member
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!
The right most lane of the toll plaza was always left open for Contemporary and Poly hotel guests, Ft Wilderness, service vehicles and cast members. This was a pretty typical photo of the time in the afternoon. That flat roof is still there, hiding behind the arches. Wish the signage was too, but that's long gone.
