The Town Center construction

note2001 · Jul 17, 2015

This has to rank up there as being one of the most complex shopping mall developments ever done. Looks like Disney is building a whole new town (and they've named it as such!) They are either brilliant or completely nuts.

RayTheFirefly · Jul 17, 2015

Agreed that this looks super impressive. I wonder if the West Side is going to look kind of crummy right next to all of this...

Adam N · Jul 17, 2015

RayTheFirefly said:
Agreed that this looks super impressive. I wonder if the West Side is going to look kind of crummy right next to all of this...

Yes. It will.

jt04 · Jul 17, 2015

note2001 said:
This has to rank up there as being one of the most complex shopping mall developments ever done. Looks like Disney is building a whole new town (and they've named it as such!) They are either brilliant or completely nuts.

One of the major reasons I have been hoping they would do this right is that it can be an inspiration for other designers and urban planners. Miami is trying to completely reimagine itself but on a much bigger scale obviously. I find these projects on any scale fascinating. I vote on the side of "brilliant".

lazyboy97o · Jul 17, 2015

note2001 said:
This has to rank up there as being one of the most complex shopping mall developments ever done. Looks like Disney is building a whole new town (and they've named it as such!) They are either brilliant or completely nuts.

How is it complex?

George · Jul 17, 2015

lazyboy97o said:
How is it complex?

It is being built by nanobots using only stale hamburger and hot dog buns.

danlb_2000 · Jul 18, 2015

George said:
It is being built by nanobots using only stale hamburger and hot dog buns.

I hear Universal's nanobots only need the hamburger buns.

articos · Jul 18, 2015

BD-Anaheim said:
In the second photo from the bottom you can make out the new bridge that will cross over the waterway to the STK building, which then has the stairs up to original PI area. I really like the multiple elevations that this addition is creating. Hopefully the pathways extend underneath the existing bridge and around the backside of Edison, Paradiso, etc.

You can see the pedestrian bridge alongside the supposedly reused, rethemed railroad bridge, also.

jt04 · Jul 21, 2015

lazyboy97o said:
How is it complex?

I think they meant 'eclectic'. And it is complex when you consider all the vendors Disney had to weave into this, um, complex. Remember when some said Disney would never get or was having trouble finding businesses to buy in? Yeah, looks like that was wrong in a major way.

Anyway, even the SavePI blog is seeing the light and beginning to understand why this is superior to DTD for WDW. PI will still exist in form just not at WDW. It will be downtown which works better for PI type venues. And the Orlando Magic are investing heavily in Orlando also. Not to mention everything happening on Universal Drive and CW.

lazyboy97o · Jul 21, 2015

jt04 said:
I think they meant 'eclectic'. And it is complex when you consider all the vendors Disney had to weave into this, um, complex. Remember when some said Disney would never get or was having trouble finding businesses to buy in? Yeah, looks like that was wrong in a major way.

Anyway, even the SavePI blog is seeing the light and beginning to understand why this is superior to DTD for WDW. PI will still exist in form just not at WDW. It will be downtown which works better for PI type venues. And the Orlando Magic are investing heavily in Orlando also. Not to mention everything happening on Universal Drive and CW.

Spaces are leased out like at any other mall, nothing complex about it. Being good also has no direct relationship to complexity.

jt04 · Jul 21, 2015

lazyboy97o said:
Spaces are leased out like at any other mall, nothing complex about it. Being good also has no direct relationship to complexity.

I just think they choose the wrong word. I think they meant that that there is no other place like this with so many unique offerings in one place in the US. And it had to be extremely complicated to sew together so many competing businesses into one vision that is Disney Springs. We have yet to see how "complex" it truly is. And my hunch is there will be more added later. It continues to suprise me on a weekly basis and I thought I understood the scope of it.

danlb_2000 · Jul 21, 2015

jt04 said:
I just think they choose the wrong word. I think they meant that that there is no other place like this with so many unique offerings in one place in the US. And it had to be extremely complicated to sew together so many competing businesses into one vision that is Disney Springs. We have yet to see how "complex" it truly is. And my hunch is there will be more added later. It continues to suprise me on a weekly basis and I thought I understood the scope of it.

I don't see anything more unique here then any other high end shopping area. Most of the new shops are brand names that can be found in other places. Some of the restaurants are going to be unique but you can find a lot of unique restaurants at City Walk also. I also don't see any attempt to sew anything together. They intentionally decided on a theme that wouldn't put any limitations on what could be there. If you are surprised by the scope, then you clearly haven't been paying attention since they are building exactly what they said they were going to build.

Personally, I like these sorts of shopping areas and am looking forward to visiting this when complete, but I don't see this as something that is terribly unique.

lazyboy97o · Jul 21, 2015

jt04 said:
I just think they choose the wrong word. I think they meant that that there is no other place like this with so many unique offerings in one place in the US. And it had to be extremely complicated to sew together so many competing businesses into one vision that is Disney Springs. We have yet to see how "complex" it truly is. And my hunch is there will be more added later. It continues to suprise me on a weekly basis and I thought I understood the scope of it.

There is no "sewing together." The spaces are leased out just like with any other mall.

George · Jul 22, 2015

jt04 said:
One of the major reasons I have been hoping they would do this right is that it can be an inspiration for other designers and urban planners. Miami is trying to completely reimagine itself but on a much bigger scale obviously. I find these projects on any scale fascinating. I vote on the side of "brilliant".

One can only hope. Did you know that no cities had downtown areas before Downtown Disney? I hope this makeover does the same thing vis a vis springs and water shooting.

George · Jul 22, 2015

lazyboy97o said:
Spaces are leased out like at any other mall, nothing complex about it. Being good also has no direct relationship to complexity.

This is also correct. The original design had a layout that was so complex that in testing people would get lost for days. After it was discovered that 10% of guests would never be able to find their way out of the complex complex and would most likely expire penniless and hungry only a feet from food at the door step of Earl of Sandwich (this was learned during computer simulations of people shopping the originally proposed shopping center) it was decided that a simpler shopping complex was indeed better.

jt04 · Jul 22, 2015

George said:
One can only hope. Did you know that no cities had downtown areas before Downtown Disney? I hope this makeover does the same thing vis a vis springs and water shooting.

I can say that no downtowns function as they could/should. There are no EPCOTs as Walt envisioned or anything close. Miami is making an effort. And they are bulding a city from scratch in one of the gulf states. Not sure how that is going.

lazyboy97o · Jul 22, 2015

jt04 said:
I can say that no downtowns function as they could/should. There are no EPCOTs as Walt envisioned or anything close. Miami is making an effort. And they are bulding a city from scratch in one of the gulf states. Not sure how that is going.

EPCOT was a Garden City, and Garden Cities were built before EPCOT. New Urbanism also takes a lot from the same traditions.

jt04 · Jul 22, 2015

lazyboy97o said:
EPCOT was a Garden City, and Garden Cities were built before EPCOT. New Urbanism also takes a lot from the same traditions.

My point stands that so far it has not worked well. That could change as new technology allows.

lazyboy97o · Jul 22, 2015

jt04 said:
My point stands that so far it has not worked well. That could change as new technology allows.

Technology has nothing to do with the viability of Garden Cities.

jt04 · Jul 22, 2015

danlb_2000 said:
I don't see anything more unique here then any other high end shopping area. Most of the new shops are brand names that can be found in other places. Some of the restaurants are going to be unique but you can find a lot of unique restaurants at City Walk also. I also don't see any attempt to sew anything together. They intentionally decided on a theme that wouldn't put any limitations on what could be there. If you are surprised by the scope, then you clearly haven't been paying attention since they are building exactly what they said they were going to build.

Personally, I like these sorts of shopping areas and am looking forward to visiting this when complete, but I don't see this as something that is terribly unique.

It is unique at least in the US. There are other efforts but all do not have the features DS will have.

The Town Center construction

note2001

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