Is there a purpose to all the water around disney world at this point?

[pa. dad]

I first attended Disney World around 1985 or 1986. To remind me of what it was like then, I bought a 1986 guidebook online.
One thing I noticed is that back in the early days, they were using the water from their manmade lakes in a lot of ways:
-swimming
-Water skiing and other water sports
-the water was feeding the River Country water park
-the water was being used at the discovery island animal refuge (that closed when the Animal Kingdom opened up)
- and of course there was a lot of people on the beaches.
- the 20.000 Leagues ride used a small manmade lake for its subs.

It seems that today the water is just a backdrop and it really isn't used for much other than pretty backdrop to photos.
The water can't be used for a waterpark anymore. It rusts out the subs so no more 20000 Leagues or nemo subs rides. It really hasn't been used much for swimming in years. The recent tragedy surely will end any beach access either.
So why dont they just remove it and make the parking lot closer to the MK or put in some more rides or make the roads wider or do something with the space now? They really are not getting much productive use out of it for many years. The original design had that water serving many purposes but that doesn;t seem to be the case for quite a while now.

 

[Number Six]

Drainage is pretty important.

 

[Forum Jumper]

If I remember my history of this park, it is built on swamp land. Any places that don't have water on them have been built up, out of the water. No doubt it will be interesting to see what they do in future about native animals and water.

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

I imagine it's for scenery and water transport to and from parks.

Really, WDW was built on swamp lamp. If you dig in Florida, you will hit water.

 

[owynn]

the dirt dredged to create the Seven Seas Lagoon was used as fill for the Magic Kingdom.

 

[mom2rtk]

When you build on a swamp, you're going to have a lot of water. I believe it's pretty critical to the local ecosystem.

 

[chmurf]

I'm sure those who pay in excess of $500 a night to stay at poly, gf and contemporary would be absolutely thrilled to have a 5000 cars parking lot view

 

[Praying Colonel]

My guess is it would be virtually impossible to drain all the water on WDW property.

And even if they could, my additional guess is state and federal environmental regulations would make it impossible.

 

[Claire&TheBoys]

Bay Lake is a natural lake - it's always been there. Seven Seas Lagoon was dredged to provide the top soil to cover the "first floor" of the Magic Kingdom a/k/a the Utilidors, and the park was built on that fill dirt.

Central Florida (all of Florida, really) is primarily wetland and swamp. You can't just fill it without environmental mitigation. In Florida, for every amount of concrete you have, you're required to have drainage ponds of a certain size. Our church built two new buildings 5 years ago and we had to put in a huge drainage area, which despite flooding rains at times, has never held any water because it's right next to an inlet of water. Yet we were required to have a drainage "pond."

No way could they find enough dirt to fill in the lakes, no way could they mitigate such a loss of a water environment as large as Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon.

Besides the ugliness factor of having these prime resorts facing a ginormous parking - no way would they do that.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I'm sorry..... did I just read a post suggesting we plow over a lake with concrete because it might have an alligator?

What next? Level the rain forest due to mosquitoes?

Talk about over the top killing the planet.

in any case, I am pretty sure it was part of the contract that Disney has to leave a certain amount of land undeveloped and I think lakes and forests count.

Oh and beware those trees and undeveloped Forrest areas. They contain snakes.

 

[CAS239]

Ecosystem would be the big think. Can you imagine how many people would be in an uproar at the idea of just turning the surrounding water into a parking lot or just grass just from an ecosystem side.

They also still use the water for transportation and you can rent boats to use on the water

 

[Skywise]

Don't give 'em any ideas.

In the Las Vegas mega-resorts they use to setup park-like areas, waterways and decorative styles. Treasure Island had a moat around one side, Bally's had a garden like entrance.

All have been paved over because - waterways and park-like areas are non-revenue generating space. (Most of the TI moat is gone with a small section around the entrance remaining and Bally's has been completely replaced with a shopping mall.)

 

[pa. dad]

I'm not saying make the whole thing a parking lot although Disney Springs could use more parking frankly. there is a multitude of other uses beyond its current use which is almost nothing.

 

[Angel Ariel]

A portion of Disney World property is required to be maintained as wilderness preserve land. Filling in Bay Lake and Seven Seas would, I imagine, require them to construct other lakes of those sizes somewhere else on property. I don't see that happening.

 

[HopperFan]

I first attended Disney World around 1985 or 1986. To remind me of what it was like then, I bought a 1986 guidebook online.
One thing I noticed is that back in the early days, they were using the water from their manmade lakes in a lot of ways:
-swimming
-Water skiing and other water sports
-the water was feeding the River Country water park
-the water was being used at the discovery island animal refuge (that closed when the Animal Kingdom opened up)
- and of course there was a lot of people on the beaches.
- the 20.000 Leagues ride used a small manmade lake for its subs.

It seems that today the water is just a backdrop and it really isn't used for much other than pretty backdrop to photos.
The water can't be used for a waterpark anymore. It rusts out the subs so no more 20000 Leagues or nemo subs rides. It really hasn't been used much for swimming in years. The recent tragedy surely will end any beach access either.
So why dont they just remove it and make the parking lot closer to the MK or put in some more rides or make the roads wider or do something with the space now? They really are not getting much productive use out of it for many years. The original design had that water serving many purposes but that doesn;t seem to be the case for quite a while now.

Google earth Florida. Water, LOTS of it. Swamps, LOTS of it. It's a huge environmental sanctuary.

VERY VERY complicated process for Disney to build and/or impact the water management. For every inch they pave they must protect.

Water is there because the state mandates water/drainage. Complicated. They own a large amount of land not near Disney - protected.

Florida has a MAJOR department all about water management as they do the department that closely regulates wildlife. Very different than most the contiguous states.

All the screaming to remove the gators ....... which is absolutely ridiculous ..... Disney is closely monitored and larger gators can only be handled by the State at their discretion.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

Seriously? A parking lot?

I think there is more than enough concrete in our world, thank you anyway.

As for purpose, I'm guessing if you asked the fish, birds, deer, and other wildlife(yep, even those gators and snakes!) that they could come up with several purposes.

And for my own selfish reasons, I can't imagine a trip to WDW and not see that beautiful lake.

Look I know what happened was a horrible horrible thing, I can't even imagine having to go through that with a child. It was still just a freak accident.

 

[Skywise]

I'm not saying make the whole thing a parking lot although Disney Springs could use more parking frankly. there is a multitude of other uses beyond its current use which is almost nothing.

I've gotta think there's got to be some engineering solutions that could be made to both keep the gators and other dangerous vermin out of the lake and make it safe for swimming so the beaches are all viable again.

The problem is the WDW heads don't think on that scale or want to undergo that much effort (because it surely would have an environmental impact of some sort). They've got the money engine and they're just trying to figure out how to keep it going and speed it up.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

Drainage is pretty important.

We get a lot of rainfall and of course Tropical storms/hurricanes. Yes, drainage is very important. That is why you see many large retention ponds in Fl.

 

[Accident]

It seems that today the water is just a backdrop and it really isn't used for much other than pretty backdrop to photos.

Actually it's a very big part of the ecosystem in florida, especially central florida. It would be a negative enviormental impact to not have the water.. And the water was there before, it was just shifted around to maintain the balance that nature needs.

 

[P'colaBeachBum]

Ecosystem would be the big think. Can you imagine how many people would be in an uproar at the idea of just turning the surrounding water into a parking lot or just grass just from an ecosystem side.

They also still use the water for transportation and you can rent boats to use on the water

Yes..we are losing enough of Fl to concrete as it is.