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

[Bolt]

This debate should have really happened two years ago, when it started...

 

[IMFearless]

The capacity of the park is manageable. It is just that everyone crams on to Main Street to see the fireworks or parade, and that area can become congested. And yes, I think guests should "accept" (which is a strange word to use) a themed walk through that takes them away from the congestion if they chose to go that way, instead of forcing them to push through the temporary crowded Main Street.

I honestly don't think any of us knows for sure What Walt Would Do, and that is is pretentious to think that we do. If someone has an opinion on something, they should be able to back it up without having to use Walt as some sort of shield, or to hold him up as some icon who only did everything perfectly.

I'm sorry if you felt I was using Walt to back up my opinion or to use him as a shield, that was not my intention, I was just trying to point out that using the backstage area as it was previously, would probably not be in keeping with everything I have been led to believe about the visions he originally had for Disneyland.

But, in my last comment, I was specifically replying to Next Big Thing about the use of the area behind the Emporium, not the use of the now nearly complete themed bypass on the East.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

An easy solution would be to do away with the parades, fireworks, and castle shows.

 

[IMFearless]

This debate should have really happened two years ago, when it started...

I can remember using that route in August 2011, so it has been going on for quite a while, that is really the basis for my complaint.

I think it's great that it has been addressed now.

The overcrowding situation did not become dangerous overnight, it developed gradually over many years, and the management have taken quite a long time to resolve the issue, in my opinion.

Disneyland was built from start to finish in 18 months, I believe:
Ground breaking 26th Jan 1954.
Grand opening 17th July 1955.

 

[Next Big Thing]

I can remember using that route in August 2011, so it has been going on for quite a while, that is really the basis for my complaint.

I think it's great that it has been addressed now.

The overcrowding situation did not become dangerous overnight, it developed gradually over many years, and the management have taken quite a long time to resolve the issue, in my opinion.

Disneyland was built from start to finish in 18 months, I believe:
Ground breaking 26th Jan 1954.
Grand opening 17th July 1955.

It's been in use a lot longer than 2011. The difference is it used to only be open during extreme peak times. Now it's daily. And themed.

As we already discussed, because of parade staging, there's nothing they can do about theming on the opposite side for the moment.

 

[IMFearless]

An easy solution would be to do away with the parades, fireworks, and castle shows.

Or perhaps they should alter the way they organise things slightly:

Perhaps make the whole of Main Street Fastpass viewing only for the 9pm parade, rope it off at either end once the bypass is open, and then only allow a safe number of guests onto that area. Once the parade has gone through at 9pm make that roped off area exit only.

This would allow the parade to go through the hub and for the crowd there to move, before the people from Town Square push forwards behind the parade.

It would also mean people who wish to leave the park from Main Street, right after the parade could do so, as there would not be a heavy flow of guests coming in from the town square end of Main Street.

The bypass could be used to head in and out of the other areas of the park during and immediately after the parade.

Once the parade has cleared the hub area and the area on Main Street has become less congested the cast members could then allow guests to move into that area again.

I'm sure once guests are aware of the bypass as an alternative it will help a great deal anyway though.

 

[Next Big Thing]

Or perhaps they should alter the way they organise things slightly:

Perhaps make the whole of Main Street Fastpass viewing only for the 9pm parade, rope it off at either end once the bypass is open, and then only allow a safe number of guests onto that area. Once the parade has gone through at 9pm make that roped off area exit only.

This would allow the parade to go through the hub and for the crowd there to move, before the people from Town Square push forwards behind the parade.

It would also mean people who wish to leave the park from Main Street, right after the parade could do so, as there would not be a heavy flow of guests coming in from the town square end of Main Street.

The bypass could be used to head in and out of the other areas of the park during and immediately after the parade.

Once the parade has cleared the hub area and the area on Main Street has become less congested the cast members could then allow guests to move into that area again.

I'm sure once guests are aware of the bypass as an alternative it will help a great deal anyway though.

The entire Hub project is geared toward helping with crowding.

You should have been there on the 40th anniversary in 2011. Back when the hub was smaller and the bypass wasn't a thing that got used. It was mayhem. People literally jumping over planters to get ahead of crowds, making for a VERY dangerous situation.

I think that was the day they realized they needed to do something because it truly was a safety issue.

 

[IMFearless]

I truly feel sorry for the cast members on Main Street, they have an extremely difficult task.

Hopefully, the management of that area will monitor the progress that has been made and will be allowed to make future changes more quickly if they are needed in months and years to come.

I personally quite like the feeling of being on Main Street with the rest of the crowd, I would generally choose to watch MSEP there as opposed to elsewhere on the route.

Obviously there comes a point where it goes from being busy crowded to being uncomfortable crowded, once people become uncomfortable their behaviour alters and it then becomes dangerous.

Hopefully the situation will be much improved once all of the work is complete.

I just hope the powers that be don't try and further increase park admissions to a point where the problem reoccurs again.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

Every time I see the bypass, I am AMAZED at the number of trees back there. It's really coming together nicely...and I hated this project when it was announced.

Management knows that trees are evil creatures whose only purpose in life is to block views of fireworks. Turn out, though, that's a good thing in this instance.

 

[Next Big Thing]

I truly feel sorry for the cast members on Main Street, they have an extremely difficult task.

Hopefully, the management of that area will monitor the progress that has been made and will be allowed to make future changes more quickly if they are needed in months and years to come.

I personally quite like the feeling of being on Main Street with the rest of the crowd, I would generally choose to watch MSEP there as opposed to elsewhere on the route.

Obviously there comes a point where it goes from being busy crowded to being uncomfortable crowded, once people become uncomfortable their behaviour alters and it then becomes dangerous.

Hopefully the situation will be much improved once all of the work is complete.

I just hope the powers that be don't try and further increase park admissions to a point where the problem reoccurs again.

It's a nightmare at times (working main street... mostly around Wishes). But it's something the CMs get used to. I enjoyed the busy environment when I worked there, hated when I got deployed to another part of the park as it's always much less busy and time goes by slower.

At this point though, continuing this whole conversation seems fairly pointless. They're gonna do what they're gonna do and at least they themed the bypass so that they can open it whenever they choose. Behind the emporium is another topic, but it's not something, under current capacity, is possible to avoid too much. The rest of the hub project will add some capacity, but that's about it. MK is in a weird situation right now. They can majorly expand the park to add more capacity, but with that comes more crowds, so the main street crowding won't be reduced at all. The overall park capacity will be, but I really think that MK is at a point that they could undergo 2-3 major expansions and still have major crowding issues exiting the park. Each time you add something to the park, the park will just gain more attendance.

Simply Put: Even if MK had astronomical capacity numbers, Main street will always be clogged because MAIN STREET AINT GETTIN' ANY BIGGER!

 

[IMFearless]

I completely agree with everything you've said there. Hopefully, management will allow crowds to stabilise at MK now. Adding more stuff at MK would seem counter productive in all honesty.

I think the best answer is to make the other three parks more attractive than they are currently, particularly at night, which seems to be on the agenda to some degree.

I would assume many guests hop from AK to MK of an evening, as it would be quite a worthwhile hop, so to speak. Maybe rivers of light will help out a bit by reducing that contingent.

 

[Next Big Thing]

I completely agree with everything you've said there. Hopefully, management will allow crowds to stabilise at MK now. Adding more stuff at MK would seem counter productive in all honesty.

I think the best answer is to make the other three parks more attractive than they are currently, particularly at night, which seems to be on the agenda to some degree.

I would assume many guests hop from AK to MK of an evening, as it would be quite a worthwhile hop, so to speak. Maybe rivers of light will help out a bit by reducing that contingent.

That's exactly what they need to work on. Keeping people in the respective parks for full days. Right now people just do a few attractions, maybe head back to the hotel and then do MK at night. Epcot holds a ton of people for Illuminations, the difference between Illuminations is that the main viewing area for RoE is the entire lagoon. What people consider the "main" viewing area for Wishes is on Main Street, looking directly at Cindy's Castle.

Epcot has much more walkway room (not to mention a second park exit) while everyone watching in the hub and on main street funnel down all at the same time. It's just a nightmare.

 

[Cesar R M]

Defeats the purpose of a bypass: FAST egress not loitering.

but but.. disney is a business! they MUST merchandise!
I bet that if they could.. they put another M&G of Frozen.

 

[Cesar R M]

The capacity of the park is manageable. It is just that everyone crams on to Main Street to see the fireworks or parade, and that area can become congested. And yes, I think guests should "accept" (which is a strange word to use) a themed walk through that takes them away from the congestion if they chose to go that way, instead of forcing them to push through the temporary crowded Main Street.

I honestly don't think any of us knows for sure What Walt Would Do, and that is is pretentious to think that we do. If someone has an opinion on something, they should be able to back it up without having to use Walt as some sort of shield, or to hold him up as some icon who only did everything perfectly.

they could also block the crowd into "separated groups" or tiers.
And make the crowds move in blocks/tiers.
let the first block clear main street, before letting the second block move.. then force another group to use the bypass.

Management knows that trees are evil creatures whose only purpose in life is to block views of fireworks. Turn out, though, that's a good thing in this instance.

incorrect, the real enemies for TDO is benches.

 

[IMFearless]

That's exactly what they need to work on. Keeping people in the respective parks for full days. Right now people just do a few attractions, maybe head back to the hotel and then do MK at night. Epcot holds a ton of people for Illuminations, the difference between Illuminations is that the main viewing area for RoE is the entire lagoon. What people consider the "main" viewing area for Wishes is on Main Street, looking directly at Cindy's Castle.

Epcot has much more walkway room (not to mention a second park exit) while everyone watching in the hub and on main street funnel down all at the same time. It's just a nightmare.

Yes, I agree that Epcot is far better at absorbing crowds, that park has the complete opposite problem to MK.

In MK there are tons of popular attractions with fairly healthy capacities, but the park infrastructure is strained by the crowds.

In Epcot there is massive existing park infrastructure, which is more than capable of handling a much larger crowd, but there are too few attractions which are both popular and that have spare capacity.

 

[Millionaire2K]

I just realized that HS was built as a bypass for the MK.

 

[wogwog]

A neighbor here in Florida has kids who work at MK and told me the cast who work on the parade route trying to control the mobs will sport bright red vests, replacing the dark ones, this coming week in hopes that they will be more visible in the dark. People can't or won't see the light sticks now so how a bright colored vest will help is beyond me. But maybe MK is out of ideas to help move the mobs and will try anything.

 

[Next Big Thing]

A neighbor here in Florida has kids who work at MK and told me the cast who work on the parade route trying to control the mobs will sport bright red vests, replacing the dark ones, this coming week in hopes that they will be more visible in the dark. People can't or won't see the light sticks now so how a bright colored vest will help is beyond me. But maybe MK is out of ideas to help move the mobs and will try anything.

IMO, the lightsticks are easily visible, it's just so crowded and most tourists (especially internationals) don't seem to know what it means so they just ignore it.

 

[MagicHappens1971]

What does the bypass or exit behind the emporium look like? I've been there a few times when its open but I have no clue what it looks like.

 

[Next Big Thing]

What does the bypass or exit behind the emporium look like? I've been there a few times when its open but I have no clue what it looks like.

Picture what the bypass looked like before it got theming added to it. It's just a parking lot. A CM smoking section that backs up to Jungle cruise, main Custodial area back there and the Main Street Vehicles are also stored back there. The parking lot is used nightly as a staging area for MSEP.

The throughway goes from the CM only backstage gate by the Casey's restrooms all the way down towards the gate that MSEP comes out. A quick and easy out.