New Disneyland Parking Garage and Transportation Hub

[Phroobar]

This is a fun picture to look at, provided by Disney to the Orange County Register. I'll post it again just for impact.

I love that the new security areas are permanent, purposeful, and modern. In fact I love that the entire aesthetic of this entry is modern yet very lush. Although obviously they've obscured all the bus loading zones with too many trees and greens. The swoopy marquee at the entrance to the bridge is fun too.

This is a dramatic improvement than the entry areas built in the cheap and lazy Paul Pressler era of the late 1990's. So much better!

I like how the security buildings have a kind of Tron look from SDL. Now they need to reskin the M&F area to match.

 

[NobodyElse]

If you look at the site plan in the OP, you'll note that the heavily-forested area in the foreground is actually the USCIS rear parking lot (and perhaps the west edge of the building itself). It's beautiful, but I doubt it'll ever look like that.

Also, in the "Pedestrian Connector" (ramp) section, we see what appears to be several blue roofs. Because of this virtual angle, it's hard to tell if those are supposed to represent periodic large shade structures for the walkway, or some other (vending?) structures.

 

[TP2000]

Oh, sure, the trees are covering up the USCIS building. I forgot about that.

I have to say the USCIS employees and their clients are going to absolutely hate this when it's all done and open. Traffic will be heavy on Manchester and much heavier on Disney Way and it will be very difficult to get in and out of their parking lot for that building. The heavy construction phase of 2017-18 won't be fun either.

By 2018 the USCIS folks will wish they'd ended their lease early when they had the chance.

 

[SSG]

Oh, sure, the trees are covering up the USCIS building. I forgot about that.

I have to say the USCIS employees and their clients are going to absolutely hate this when it's all done and open. Traffic will be heavy on Manchester and much heavier on Disney Way and it will be very difficult to get in and out of their parking lot for that building. The heavy construction phase of 2017-18 won't be fun either.

By 2018 the USCIS folks will wish they'd ended their lease early when they had the chance.

Oh the folks working there will want to move in the worst way. Unfortunately, the GSA will have oversight of the lease and they are unlikely to be bothered by construction that impacts someone else's workday.

 

[TP2000]

Oh the folks working there will want to move in the worst way. Unfortunately, the GSA will have oversight of the lease and they are unlikely to be bothered by construction that impacts someone else's workday.

The company in the other big building next door, Sybron Dental, packed up and left quickly. I'm sure Disney made it very attractive to them to end their lease early and leave, and their big building is now rubble and dirt. But leave it to the Federal Government to miss a golden opportunity like that.

For those wondering, USCIS is United States Customs and Immigration Service. It's a regional service center for people (often foreigners) who have come into contact with the government for customs or immigration issues, and you can just imagine the human drama that plays out inside that building each day. Lots of lawyers also working there, or meeting clients there.

 

[SSG]

The company in the other big building next door, Sybron Dental, packed up and left quickly. I'm sure Disney made it very attractive to them to end their lease early and leave, and their big building is now rubble and dirt. But leave it to the Federal Government to miss a golden opportunity like that.

For those wondering, USCIS is United States Customs and Immigration Service. It's a regional service center for people (often foreigners) who have come into contact with the government for customs or immigration issues, and you can just imagine the human drama that plays out inside that building each day. Lots of lawyers also working there, or meeting clients there.

I just took a look at the GSA lease database and those folks are there until 2020

 

[SSG]

For those wondering, USCIS is United States Customs and Immigration Service. It's a regional service center for people (often foreigners) who have come into contact with the government for customs or immigration issues, and you can just imagine the human drama that plays out inside that building each day. Lots of lawyers also working there, or meeting clients there.

It's actually even more dramatic because it's an asylum office. These are people saying they can't go back to their origin country because they will be persecuted, jailed, and maybe tortured or killed if they return. Heavy stuff for the Happiest Place on Earth.

 

[TP2000]

I just took a look at the GSA lease database and those folks are there until 2020

Brilliant! Nice way to figure that out as it's a question many of us here have wondered. You deserve one day of free parking when it opens in 2018!

But seriously, thanks for looking into that for us.

 

[TP2000]

It's actually even more dramatic because it's an asylum office. These are people saying they can't go back to their origin country because they will be persecuted, jailed, and maybe tortured or killed if they return. Heavy stuff for the Happiest Place on Earth.

Yikes. About two months ago I drove into that parking lot after a visit to the park to see the progress on the demolition of the Sybron building. In the parking lot there were men who definitely looked like lawyers talking with their clients who appeared to be from overseas. There was a guard at the front door eyeing everyone, including me. Everyone's faces and body language looked miserable. The whole vibe seemed heavy and creepy.

Knowing that it was an immigration office I said a quick prayer thanking the man upstairs for the great country I am blessed to live in. And then I went back to snooping on Disney's construction project.

 

[Curious Constance]

Knowing that it was an immigration office I said a quick prayer thanking the man upstairs.....

You mean, Ted, from accounting?

 

[Curious Constance]

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/disney-725945-harbor-bridge.html

Why don't I see the actual bridge?

 

[NobodyElse]

Why don't I see the actual bridge?

The world may never know. ;-)

But, if you follow the path to the left-hand side of the picture, you might notice what looks like 6 pillars or posts. That would be the area of the Harbor crossing (actual bridge). Since we know that there is artistic licence involved here, and they are concentrating on showing us the security area, don't count your chickens that the actual bridge will feature those characteristics.

 

[SSG]

Why don't I see the actual bridge?

It's like The Dress

 

[NobodyElse]

The world may never know. ;-)

But, if you follow the path to the left-hand side of the picture, you might notice what looks like 6 pillars or posts. That would be the area of the Harbor crossing (actual bridge). Since we know that there is artistic licence involved here, and they are concentrating on showing us the security area, don't count your chickens that the actual bridge will feature those characteristics.

 

[Old Mouseketeer]

I just took a look at the GSA lease database and those folks are there until 2020

Brilliant catch! I would never have thought of that. Thanks.

 

[Phroobar]

I just took a look at the GSA lease database and those folks are there until 2020

That should be right about time for another parking structure.

 

[lazyboy97o]

The world may never know. ;-)

But, if you follow the path to the left-hand side of the picture, you might notice what looks like 6 pillars or posts. That would be the area of the Harbor crossing (actual bridge). Since we know that there is artistic licence involved here, and they are concentrating on showing us the security area, don't count your chickens that the actual bridge will feature those characteristics.

There is actually probably not a lot of artistic license in this rendering. It looks a lot like a rendering out of Lumion with the sketch settings applied. Disney has rather aggressively transitioned to using BIM (Building Information Modeling) instead of CAD, specifically utilizing Revit. To put it very simply, BIM is a smart digital model of almost everything that will go into the building. "Blueprints" are derived from this model and it can also be export to visualization software for renderings or animations. This centralized system means everything from all of the different "blueprints" to your pretty images are all aligned and consistent. It is possible that this coordination is not being utilized to generate the released images but that means employing two teams with one doing nothing but nearly duplicating the work of the other.

 

[MoonRakerSCM]

We had to deal with the USCIS last year when my dad's green card renewal was lost in the mail (he's Canadian, I'm dual). Believe me... these people are definitive government scum... and people who have to deal with them will be excessively bad moods and very unpleasant due to the hell they're being put through by the office.

Imagine the worst experience you've personally heard of someone having at the DMV, and multiply it by 10.

 

[TP2000]

We had to deal with the USCIS last year when my dad's green card renewal was lost in the mail (he's Canadian, I'm dual). Believe me... these people are definitive government scum... and people who have to deal with them will be excessively bad moods and very unpleasant due to the hell they're being put through by the office.

Imagine the worst experience you've personally heard of someone having at the DMV, and multiply it by 10.

If it makes you feel any better, the USCIS employees are in for horrible traffic and construction mess all around their office for the next two years, followed by another two years of tourist gridlock until their lease expires and they move away. Just make your Dad a nice batch of Nanaimo Bars and let him know that good news.

 

[Phroobar]

I bet the USCIS office looks something like this inside.