Magic Kingdom - What a Mess!

[Polydweller]

Once upon a time, the construction and refurbs would have been planned..much better.

I agree, MK is a mess and there is really no need for this to happen.

Can't say I agree with you. Twenty plus years going and never a time without construction of some sort. Refurbs seem to be going on as always. Not much they can do except do nothing and then people complain about the lack of maintenance. Then they do maintenance and put up scrims and people howl.

I guess they could close the place for four months every year but then the people who love to go at that time of year would complain. Guess they can't win.

 

[Annadesu]

I imagine tons of construction would take away from the "magic" of the park, but at the same time, I think Disney goes out of their way to make it have as little impact as possible. At the themeparks around here (New England area), they just put up walls and you have to deal with it. At Disney, I notice they will paint the walls, put up posters about the new rides, etc. So atleast it peeks my curiosity, a bit.

 

[Mousemommy1]

I imagine tons of construction would take away from the "magic" of the park, but at the same time, I think Disney goes out of their way to make it have as little impact as possible. At the themeparks around here (New England area), they just put up walls and you have to deal with it. At Disney, I notice they will paint the walls, put up posters about the new rides, etc. So atleast it peeks my curiosity, a bit.

Agreed fellow New Hampshirite!!
I remember looking at all of the posters about the 7 dwarves mine ride, and other Fantasyland rides that were on the walls. I spent quite a bit of time analyzing those actually!
I guess I'm even entertained by walls.

 

[goofyernmost]

i did not and to this day do not blame people who waited their whole lives and saved for years to see the castle for being totally pissed off with the pepto cake.

It is still the worst thing disney ever did in the parks...and that includes the bling, the wand and even the hat.

reminds me of when we were there 15 years ago during the 25th wdw celebration. You know, where they transformed cinderella's castle into a giant pink nightmare, ala a huge birthday cake?

People were complaining like crazy! People squawked and moaned that they had waited and saved for years to take a trip to disney and get a family photo in front of the castle! The traditional castle! Not this pink...thing!

My husband and i just shrugged our shoulders. Yeah, we were there for our honeymoon, and my dream trip but hey, it was a celebration! 25 years! And i have amazing photos of a pink castle reminiscent of something you would find in the game candyland.

Happiness is what you make of it. Disney is all about suspending reality. Honestly, if you can suspend reality long enough to believe in fairy princesses, talking animals and lifelike feats of fantasy, then you should be able to suspend it long enough to look beyond what walt disney called "progress."

wow! Just... Wow!

I know that a lot of people found the Castle Cake to be "hideous", but look at it. It is a masterpiece of creativity, color and excitement. Anyone that bases the enjoyment of their trip on gazing on an artificial castle, should be able to transfer that to an artificial cake.

Disney must have spent millions on that overlay. It represented the time when Disney was willing to spend cash to excite the guests and give them something different to see. After the supposed "fail" of the cake, I doubt they would be willing to go that far out on a limb ever again for a group of people that cannot appreciate the fact the this is supposed to be a fun theme park, not a mausoleum.

To address more of the current construction...lets put a little perspective into this.

First of all the area that the New Fantasyland construction covers does not really have much impact on the rest of the park. The only area directly touched was Toontown and that was pitiful to begin with. With the twin Dumbo ride and the Goofy Coaster operating even that area has been somewhat revitalized. The wall surrounding the construction site pretty much completely covers the mess and if concentrating on what IS available to do it almost becomes invisible.

I was there just a couple of weeks ago and the only ride down in all of MK was BTMR, again a fun ride...but I hope no one spent thousands of dollars to just go on that. There is no view from the OLD skyway building that lets you see anything other than what is directly in front of you. The old Skyway exposed everyone to the behind the scenes view of roof tops and attraction buildings. Yet, no one complained about that.

The matched with building skim on the outside of the bakery on Main Street is a minor distraction at it's best. Realistically, how much time do you spend on Main Street other than a pathway to the heart of the park? If it blocks ones view to the castle it is only because one is standing behind it instead of stepping out into the street. And if you're shopping, then you are in the stores and it is completely out of view. I feel that one really has to work at it to make anything going on something that could potentially ruin a trip.

JMHO!

 

[disneynutz]

You can expect that construction/refurbs/changes are always going on at Disney.

Attractions, resorts, rooms, pools, roads, WiFi, TV, parks, transportation, something is always going on.

Some things are more disruptive to the guest experience than others and Disney isn't big on making announcements about their schedules.

Last week we were staying at the Yacht Club. Storm-A-Long Bay was more than 50% closed due to maintenance and they are replacing the building siding using air hammers and sky lifts. Nothing more exciting than looking out your window at a couple of guys on a lift, hammering on your wall.

I would rather that they keep things working and looking magical, then not taking care of business.

Bill

 

[Colleen27]

Your forgot to mention all of the scrims on Main Street.

I understand that construction is necessary for bettering the park. And I understand rides refurbs are also necessary. My trip is coming up over Memorial Day. I booked at this time to avoid many closures since they are typically done during off peak times. I never would have thought that at the end of May, 2 headliners would be down and scrims would STILL be up on Main Street. We all know that the Fantasyland construction is happening, so work related to that is no shocker. While it's all necessary, it is disappointing that some of this couldn't be spaced out a bit.

Yeah, this. We were there in January and got to experience a completely unprecedented number of closures and construction projects, including two of the four evening shows and a number of attractions. That's a trade-off we've made willingly for traveling in the slow season, and one that I don't intend to make again as the parks weren't nearly as slow as they've been in years' past.

But now we're planning for Memorial Day, a time when crowds are near-peak. I absolutely did not expect to have multiple headliners closed and buildings still behind tarps for this trip! And as this is going to be my first experience with 9 & 10 level crowds I'm rather concerned about how having so many construction projects combined with so much heavier traffic will affect our overall experience. If the scrims and cement work and ride closures made random weekdays in January feel crowded, what will a holiday weekend in May feel like?!?

 

[larryz]

When there's nothing new or rides start to get run down...people complain.

When there is construction...people complain

And when people complain...people complain...

 

[mom2rtk]

And when people complain...people complain...

Ba... Da.... BING!

 

[maxiesmom]

Your forgot to mention all of the scrims on Main Street.

I understand that construction is necessary for bettering the park. And I understand rides refurbs are also necessary. My trip is coming up over Memorial Day. I booked at this time to avoid many closures since they are typically done during off peak times. I never would have thought that at the end of May, 2 headliners would be down and scrims would STILL be up on Main Street. We all know that the Fantasyland construction is happening, so work related to that is no shocker. While it's all necessary, it is disappointing that some of this couldn't be spaced out a bit.

It doesn't look that bad. The scrims are so well done they really blend in with the rest of the buildings.

Try to remember that Fantasyland is going to take years to complete. They really can't put everything else on hold for that long.

 

[Dznefreek]

Change is inevitable and expansion occurs. This just goes to show it is not all magic like people would like to believe . . . .

 

[jdb in AZ]

Walt Disney said that Disneyland will never be finished. Which means we can pretty much count on some area or another being under construction and/or refurbishment. And WDW will have to keep adding as well, or people would complain that DLR gets all the new stuff.

California Adventure has been wall-to-wall construction walls, and Carsland won't be open in time for Memorial Day. But once it does open, the park(s) attendance will jump(!) as all the locals go check it out. We'll be in DLR in a few days and I look at it as a trade-off. Lower crowds before the big surge.

Meanwhile, we don't get to WDW as often as DLR so we'll wait til the new Fantasyland expansion is finished (and the crowds have had a chance to disperse somewhat.)

 

[disneydeal]

MK has construction EVERYWHERE. so what to do? all of you cry babies please send me your tickets and reservations to me
i'll use them
and you can get in your and drive right out of disney to maybe go to aor maybe sit on the couch
at home and watch a little tv while the rest of us have
FUN at disney....

peace out.

 

[k5thbeatle]

To the Op, just to clarify, are you making a point that the construction on the new projects could have been a little more "tidy" and considerate of the guests during the process?

Thanks,

 

[mousejunkie98]

And will continue into 2014 apparently (I believe that's when the centrally located mine train ride will be completed)

The Mine Train is scheduled to open in the first half of 2013, NOT 2014.

 

[mom2rtk]

The Mine Train is scheduled to open in the first half of 2013, NOT 2014.

My understanding was late 2013, possibly early 2014. Has that changed?

 

[CamoMama]

My understanding was late 2013, possibly early 2014. Has that changed?

Everything I've read points to the mine train opening in spring 2014, but I can't find anything now to confirm that.

 

[mesaboy2]

My understanding was late 2013, possibly early 2014. Has that changed?

This is consistent with what I've read. Maybe the PP has a source they can provide.

 

[popsynic]

It doesn't look that bad. The scrims are so well done they really blend in with the rest of the buildings.

Try to remember that Fantasyland is going to take years to complete. They really can't put everything else on hold for that long.

 

[AlohaLily]

The one thing that I appreciate about Disney is that they try to cover up their construction projects when they are able to. Granted they cannot cover up a crane but anyways.

Why not focus on one part of the world that needs to be re-constructed or refurbed and put all the effort into that, then move on to something else. Then perhaps people who are having their first trips to WDW may not feel like "everything is closed" or "there is nothing to do".

Who knows.

 

[maxiesmom]

I was at WDW last month and saw it all live and in person. I don't think it looks bad.

The other options are not to do any maintenance and have people complain, or to shut the parks down for days at a time so that people don't have to look at a painted facade. And hear people scream and hollar about the parks being closed.