New Trees Planted in Town Square

[frozenkioksman]

the one thing you can count on is Disney changing the trees and flowers regularly.
the castle hub will probably never get the full trees back due to the magic, memories and you display - the town square will probably get different trees towards the end of the year with halloween, i cant seem them keeping these types of trees with the decor.

it all has to do with the fireworks and getting as many people who love to crowd onto main street to see it.

 

[zooey]

Bring trees back to the Hub, too please. Actually, bring trees back to the parks, period! Future World needs them too.

 

[frozenkioksman]

Bring trees back to the Hub, too please. Actually, bring trees back to the parks, period! Future World needs them too.

but future world had the steel palm trees!!!

 

[Tiggerish]

On Main Street it is all to do with Wishes and Castle show viewings.

I guess I would consider myself a tree hugger!

Me, too!!

Such a shame that trees have disappeared from MK over the years. I still fondly remember the Hub as it used to be.

 

[gamedude]

Here are a few examples of DL's deforestation of the Rivers of America and Tom Sawyers Island for the installation of Fantasmic. At least the MK's Liberty Square, Frontierland and especially Tom Sawyers Island have much of their original growth preserved.

Many of the trees between NOS and the ROA no longer exist....

The same can be said for this stretch of Frontierland, and the present day TSI

In this pic, Pirates and the Treehouse are barely recognizable because of the trees...

I guess I would consider myself a tree hugger!

If these are your personal photos, they are absolutely wonderful!

 

[TP2000]

I guess I would consider myself a tree hugger!

I guess you are! :lol:

I say that because I have been thinking they need to trim the trees around New Orleans Square. Here's a current view of the Square, as taken from the Mark Twain as it approaches the area. You can barely tell there are even buildings back there, let alone an entire land with two huge E Ticket attractions in it (Pirates and Mansion).

New Orleans Square circa November, 2010

And from down at ground level or along the waterline, it's even worse. Here's a recent picture of the same area of New Orleans Square, as seen through busy river traffic of the Sailing Ship Columbia and three Davy Crockett Canoes as they wait for the two Rafts to cross in front of them around the riverbend. Traffic Jam on the Rivers of America!

But New Orleans Square, with two E Ticket attractions, a half dozen shops, three major restaurants, and two snack bars, is back there somewhere behind all those trees. And this recent shot is in winter, when some of the trees don't have leaves even!

I think it takes a balance of letting trees mature and fill in, but you risk losing sight of all the theme and architecture that goes into these types of areas. What they've done with the very young and small trees in the Town Square in WDW's Main Street is understandable, but it seems they picked specimens that still could have used five years of maturing before they made their appearance "Onstage".

Disney does a pretty good job with tree growth in all its parks, but sometimes they have to strike a balance of young and/or spindly looking trees to let the view in. The current mania over the super-pyro and projection light shows on the Castle don't help things any.

 

[FigmentJedi]

Did they ever plant those cottonwood seedlings/saplings that they received from Walt's Dreaming Tree in Marceline? I know that stuff like that was gifted to Disneyland and Disney World's horticulture department a while ago, but not sure what became of them.

 

[Brian Noble]

I figured anything negative can spark up a conversation on these forums.

Fixed that for you.

 

[tman2000]

Now if only they would bring back the trees in the castle hub.

Yes, it was so nice back then. What's the deal? Are there thousands more guests than there used to be? What did we used to do for fireworks?

You know what I think it is, and this is Disney's big problem, is that the nature of parents have changed. Parents used to come to Disney because it was nifty, and well, the kids liked it.

Now, yeah we have the same reason, but now we live in a hyper-planned, hyper-experience, hyper-concerned world. Parents have to recreate every and all Disney memories, making them perfect.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like the last generation of parents (baby boomers), came to Disney as non-experts and just let things happen.

Now, we're all so super good at seeing the fireworks every night.

I don't know, is this true? What can be done about it?

 

[steve2wdw]

I guess you are! :lol:

I say that because I have been thinking they need to trim the trees around New Orleans Square. Here's a current view of the Square, as taken from the Mark Twain as it approaches the area. You can barely tell there are even buildings back there, let alone an entire land with two huge E Ticket attractions in it (Pirates and Mansion).

New Orleans Square circa November, 2010

And from down at ground level or along the waterline, it's even worse. Here's a recent picture of the same area of New Orleans Square, as seen through busy river traffic of the Sailing Ship Columbia and three Davy Crockett Canoes as they wait for the two Rafts to cross in front of them around the riverbend. Traffic Jam on the Rivers of America!

But New Orleans Square, with two E Ticket attractions, a half dozen shops, three major restaurants, and two snack bars, is back there somewhere behind all those trees. And this recent shot is in winter, when some of the trees don't have leaves even!

I think it takes a balance of letting trees mature and fill in, but you risk losing sight of all the theme and architecture that goes into these types of areas. What they've done with the very young and small trees in the Town Square in WDW's Main Street is understandable, but it seems they picked specimens that still could have used five years of maturing before they made their appearance "Onstage".

Disney does a pretty good job with tree growth in all its parks, but sometimes they have to strike a balance of young and/or spindly looking trees to let the view in. The current mania over the super-pyro and projection light shows on the Castle don't help things any.

Completely agree with the NOS trees. They definately need some pruning. There are some other areas at DL that suffer from the same problems...they're trees are TOO big. I also agree with the recent change-out of trees in Town Square at the MK. With Disney's expertise in moving large trees, I too, am surprised that the new trees are so small.

 

[steve2wdw]

If these are your personal photos, they are absolutely wonderful!

Yes they are....thanks. I took them in the late 70's and early 80's.

 

[Tom Morrow]

And the others were just starting to get some size....at this stage, I don't like these at all. They look more like shrubs. I'd like to know what MK management has against mature trees. MK has gone from theme "park" to theme "parking lot" over the last decade.

Well aside from removing trees from the hub, no, not really. With all of the exterior refurbishments, MK looks a lot more beautiful now than it did a decade ago.

That said I would like larger trees than this to be added, but its better than nothing.

 

[unkadug]

Anyone else remember this?

It looks SO magical at night with all the twinkling lights in the trees.

 

[sambahat]

There's also the issue of heat. Trees that provide shade can drop the ground temperature by 5 degrees (even more depending on the humidity). Surely there has to be an another solution to the viewing problem of Wishes rather than removing the trees.

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

Those aren't trees...those are shrubs. Now, give them about 20 or 30 years and they will be nice mature trees, if horticulture gives them a chance to grow for that long (the magnolias in front of the Epcot ticket windows are a nice example of what these can eventually look like).

But I'm not a big fan of this variety over the previous trees, namely because they will look still look like shrubs for many years. I'm guessing someone in horticulture got tired of needing to trim the old trees down to scale, hence why we now have the magnolias.

 

[devoy1701]

Those aren't trees...those are shrubs. Now, give them about 20 or 30 years and they will be nice mature trees, if horticulture gives them a chance to grow for that long (the magnolias in front of the Epcot ticket windows are a nice example of what these can eventually look like).

But I'm not a big fan of this variety over the previous trees, namely because they will look still look like shrubs for many years. I'm guessing someone in horticulture got tired of needing to trim the old trees down to scale, hence why we now have the magnolias.

I think you're right. I actually don't think these are magnolia grandiflora but a smaller variety (though I can't tell from the video). They appear bushier than the grandiflora at a younger age and have smaller leaves.

 

[sambahat]

I would have thought that a magnolia would be a poor choice for maintenance... not necessarily for pruning and trimming, but in terms of cleanup: leaves dropping and the red berries.

Does park operations make these decisions?

By the way, here is a picture of young Southern Magnolias (Magnolia Grandiflora)... which kind of look like the pictures in the video: http://www.boydnursery.net/index.php?crn=212&rn=425&action=show_detail


And yes... I do realize this is a bit of a nerdy discussion... so sue me.

 

[cblodg]

Anyone else remember this?

It looks SO magical at night with all the twinkling lights in the trees.

WOW! I had forgotten how fantastic that looked with mature trees.

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

this is true. many people park themselves on some of those spots very early in the evening.

Actually, I'm surprised that WDW management hasn't decided to put the trees back in, as it would encourage more people to purchase Wishes Dessert Party packages.

I'm all for it, if it means we get some greenery back in the hub and town square. The cement paradise is just not the same.

 

[devoy1701]

I would have thought that a magnolia would be a poor choice for maintenance... not necessarily for pruning and trimming, but in terms of cleanup: leaves dropping and the red berries.

Does park operations make these decisions?

By the way, here is a picture of young Southern Magnolias (Magnolia Grandiflora)... which kind of look like the pictures in the video: http://www.boydnursery.net/index.php?crn=212&rn=425&action=show_detail


And yes... I do realize this is a bit of a nerdy discussion... so sue me.

I had been doing some searches for it because I really don't think they are true Magnolia Grandiflora. The reason I say that is the builders in my neighborhood switched to the smaller variety during the latter half of the buildout (which looks really dumb now btw) in lining the road. They look the same, but the leaves on the smaller variety are a bit smaller and the tress themselves are a lot bushier.

Smaller is a relative term btw because they'll still get to be 20-25ft tall, but they don't grow nearly as wide. This website here says 8-10ft.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/trees-new/magnolia_grand-little_gem.html

Anyway. I think it's a variation called the Magnolia Grandiflora "Little Gem"...essentially a Dwarf variety of the Grandiflora, which judging by the dimensions I think it makes more sense with the Park Operations' mindset of sightlines today.

I haven't seen the trees in person and it's kind of hard to tell in the video. But seeing both varieties of the tree in person everyday and from what I can tell from the video, I think it's the Little Gem.

http://www.rareflora.com/maggran.htm

oh. and I agree with you on the maintenance thing if they are the full Grandifloras...I have one in my yard and I have to pick up leaves almost daily. The Little Gems don't seem to drop as many leaves though.