New Main Street U.S.A bypass to be built to address entry and exit congestion at the Magic Kingdom

[Next Big Thing]

Are we talking about MK in Orlando or DLP?

Surely with the Emporium on the West it is easier to send people out that way?

I'm talking about Orlando and yes i'm talking about behind the emporium. Currently, the Emporium is only used when, as stated, the park reaches a certain number of guests in the park. Otherwise, the main street bypass is open nightly.

Unlike the bypass however, behind the emporium is strictly an exit, whereas the bypass is two-way traffic.

 

[IMFearless]

I'm talking about Orlando and yes i'm talking about behind the emporium. Currently, the Emporium is only used when, as stated, the park reaches a certain number of guests in the park. Otherwise, the main street bypass is open nightly.

Unlike the bypass however, behind the emporium is strictly an exit, whereas the bypass is two-way traffic.

So sad to hear this.

Again it seems like putting "efficiency" firmly before "show".

 

[Next Big Thing]

So sad to hear this.

Again it seems like putting "efficiency" firmly before "show".

I agree that they shouldn't open behind the Emporium nearly as often (when they do it's normally only for an hour during Wishes rush), however the bypass side is completely themed now.

 

[IMFearless]

I'm glad that it is themed now.

I never would have believed this possible twenty years ago.

Honestly, I know it gets said a lot but what would Walt have thought?

As legend has it, he insisted on the Utilidors being included at Florida after seeing a Frontierland Cowboy wandering through Tomorrowland after the opening of Disneyland. He felt that ruined the futuristic look of the theme.

It's not really in keeping with his ideas is it?

 

[ShookieJones]

A question for @BigThunderMatt. I was stuck in the mess that @ShookieJones mentions here. Once they made the announcement that MESP was postponed, everyone jumped to their feet and tried going in opposite directions. This caused a complete standstill where no one on Main Street could move for a solid 20 minutes or so. I didn't see any crowd control CMs the entire time we were stuck, there was one PhotoPass CM that was doing his best to get people moving but he wasn't able to help much.

What is the standard procedure for Crowd Control CMs in the complete gridlock situation?

After things finally broke up, I made my way to the terrace where there were about 10-20 Main Street Costumed CMs standing there. I don't know if they were the assigned crowd control that gave up or if they were there for some other reason. Some had green wands, but not all of them did.

I asked why they were all standing there in a row on either side of the walkway by the Noodle station. The cast members are instructed to get to safety in any situation that involves thunderstorms. She mentioned: We cannot tell you the guest what to do, but she gave me the wink wink to say "prolly not a good a idea to be standing in the middle of main street during a thunderstorm".

 

[daisyduckie]

I'm glad that it is themed now.

I never would have believed this possible twenty years ago.

Honestly, I know it gets said a lot but what would Walt have thought?

As legend has it, he insisted on the Utilidors being included at Florida after seeing a Frontierland Cowboy wandering through Tomorrowland after the opening of Disneyland. He felt that ruined the futuristic look of the theme.

It's not really in keeping with his ideas is it?

I think it is in keeping with his ideas. I don't think he imagined the chaos and craziness of trying to get out of the park during the fireworks or parades. It wasn't safe!

 

[Next Big Thing]

I'm glad that it is themed now.

I never would have believed this possible twenty years ago.

Honestly, I know it gets said a lot but what would Walt have thought?

As legend has it, he insisted on the Utilidors being included at Florida after seeing a Frontierland Cowboy wandering through Tomorrowland after the opening of Disneyland. He felt that ruined the futuristic look of the theme.

It's not really in keeping with his ideas is it?

From this very thread:

It's not quite finished towards the end.

 

[note2001]

I'm glad that it is themed now.

I never would have believed this possible twenty years ago.

Honestly, I know it gets said a lot but what would Walt have thought?

As legend has it, he insisted on the Utilidors being included at Florida after seeing a Frontierland Cowboy wandering through Tomorrowland after the opening of Disneyland. He felt that ruined the futuristic look of the theme.

It's not really in keeping with his ideas is it?

Again it seems like putting "efficiency" firmly before "show".

Necessity is the correct term to use over efficiency. Increased park capacity requires a larger rate of flow otherwise a crush can/will occur. The MK is not designed to handle the quantity of people it now contains on an all too often basis.

I agree, if he were around today, Walt would be appalled at the idea of us walking through backstage areas, but then his solution seemed to border on extreme measures: who knows, he very well may have torn main street down and rebuilt it to handle the capacity we see.

Will the paved area behind the Emporium ever get the same treatment we're seeing on this bypass side? For now it's doubtful, but if Disney again bumps up capacity (which they probably will once the hub is completed) we may see it happen.

 

[Jeffxz]

So sad to hear this.

Again it seems like putting "efficiency" firmly before "show".

It is putting Safety above all else. I have been in several MK gridlock situations and it can be very dangerous. You literally can't take a step in any direction and tempers flare up badly. These situations are very bad and they should do everything they can to avoid them.

 

[IMFearless]

I think they've done a great job of it, and I agree with the fact that it was needed.

I firmly disagree that guests should be going into any backstage areas except in an emergency or as part of a tour.

Now that the area has been themed it is certainly not an issue.

 

[IMFearless]

It is putting Safety above all else. I have been in several MK gridlock situations and it can be very dangerous. You literally can't take a step in any direction and tempers flare up badly. These situations are very bad and they should do everything they can to avoid them.

I tend to think it is putting PROFIT before all else.

 

[NormC]

I tend to think it is putting PROFIT before all else.

No, if that were the case they wouldn't do anything to the bypass and would probably not even use it as often thus forcing you down Main Street past all the shops enticing you to spend money instead of standing in line.

 

[note2001]

I tend to think it is putting PROFIT before all else.

It's definitely not about the money. On numerous occasions I've wanted to be on Main street specifically to shop and have been forced through the bypass.

 

[Next Big Thing]

Will the paved area behind the Emporium ever get the same treatment we're seeing on this bypass side? For now it's doubtful, but if Disney again bumps up capacity (which they probably will once the hub is completed) we may see it happen.

It would be VERY hard to do it on that side imo. Management would fight HARD as there's a lot less room over there so they'd completely lose a parking lot (on the other side, a parking lot was gained when the Tomorrowland stage was torn down). It's also just a lot less practical because of the lack of room and everything that is done on that side. Sure, it could happen but there'd be a lot of unhappy people.

I will say that upper management is currently looking into replacing the backstage CM pathway (which is very curvy) with an actual gate in order to increase the amount of people that can get through on that side at once. They were actively collecting the numbers that came through every time we had that side open to see how much use it got and if it would be worth it to go through the trouble to move a shed back there to build the gate.

If it does happen though, consider that the first step in going that extra mile to potentially making it themed one day.

 

[Next Big Thing]

I tend to think it is putting PROFIT before all else.

Yeah, as @note2001 says, a lot of people want to shop and go down main street but get forced down the bypass. That's not a "profit" move. That's a safety move.

 

[IMFearless]

But cramming the park so full is driven by profit to some extent.

I would love to see the people mover upgraded to make it more than a ride, perhaps extending the route out of the park, behind Space Mountain and giving people the opportunity to exit the ride, and leave the park via a one-way speed ramp (think Space Mountain exit). It could bring guests right down towards the buses.

They almost need ways to get people out from the other areas of the park without going through Main Street.

 

[NormC]

But cramming the park so full is driven by profit to some extent.

The bypass has nothing to do with how many people are crammed into the park but it does help get them out faster and does not allow them to spend any more money.

They almost need ways to get people out from the other areas of the park without going through Main Street.

Exactly what the bypass does. You bypass Main Street.

 

[IMFearless]

I agree, I think it is a great solution, the level of theming is fine for what it is, essentially an over flow exit.

My objection has purely been to the use of backstage areas for this purpose.

Re-designing the park to allow the crowds to move safely is certainly a good idea.

I just think they should have made it more of a priority.

I agree that the area behind Emporium does not lend itself so well for this purpose, particularly with the parade setting off from this area. It makes more sense to keep people moving through the hub in front of the new fireworks Fastpass locations and then divert them via the bypass.

 

[Next Big Thing]

I agree that the area behind Emporium does not lend itself so well for this purpose, particularly with the parade setting off from this area. It makes more sense to keep people moving through the hub in front of the new fireworks Fastpass locations and then divert them via the bypass.

That's the main reason they honestly CANT do a bypass on that side. The current staging location for multiple MSEP float is behind the emporium. So unless they found a different staging area, it's impossible to do. Now if they were able to find a different area, then they could easily build something like the bypass out and just close it when the parade was going on (and reopen afterwards). Otherwise the parade stops anything like a second themed bypass from happening. I totally forgot about the parade having not been to the park since I finished working there.

 

[IMFearless]

Hopefully, once guests become aware of the existence of the bypass on the east side of Main Street, it will become something that they build into their touring plan.

If it is open at a set time each night from now on it will become something that people just use when it is useful to them.

I think part of the problem has been due to the hub being so congested that people leaving from the Adventureland side couldn't get to the bypass in any case, but once the hub has been finished it should make that a much lesser issue.

It was a much improved situation in March from what it was like last June.