Magic Kingdom World Drive pond and future road changes

[rteetz]

The road expansion/changes have not been approved as of yet but they have filed plans for additional retention ponds in the area for the future work that they expect to start in 2020. This also includes the loss of the Mickey shaped pond in the MK parking lot. Thanks to @DanBoris for this find.

 

[rteetz]

https://www.wdwmagic.com/attraction...r-to-the-transportation-and-ticket-center.htm

 

[rteetz]

Permit filing suggests 11 acre expansion to the Magic Kingdom parking lot

 

[OSUZorba]

I understand the need, but don't like that they are going to knock out the wooded area. I like the feel of the MK parking a lot a lot more than say DHS or AK, which are just massive pavement wastelands.

 

[Hank Scorpio]

I hope they don't do anything in the proposed Phase III that impacts the pedestrian walkway between Poly and Shades of Green.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

They placed the top lift of pavement on the Floridian Place extension then other day. I expect they will open it soon.

 

[WDWnative]

They need to go to structured parking. Keep your car cool and use less space.

I understand the need, but don't like that they are going to knock out the wooded area. I like the feel of the MK parking a lot a lot more than say DHS or AK, which are just massive pavement wastelands.

 

[WDWnative]

All theme parks need to go to structured parking like Universal. Walking miles to hot cars after a long day at parks is oppressive and the environmental damage is huge. They could place structured parking and 2 new hotels at each theme park's current parking lots.

 

[DanBoris]

They need to go to structured parking. Keep your car cool and use less space.

Park garages are exponentially more expensive to build and maintain then surface lots. You don't build a garage unless there is no other option.

 

[writerguyfl]

Park garages are exponentially more expensive to build and maintain then surface lots. You don't build a garage unless there is no other option.

Or if you can get a sweetheart deal where someone else builds the garage and lets you use it for free and keep all the profits. That's how Disney got the Mickey and Friends parking garage at Disneyland.

"Even if the parking garage fills just half its spaces, it would still generate more than $35 million in annual revenue and easily hundreds of millions of dollars over the life of the structure.

That money all goes to Walt Disney Co. The city of Anaheim, which owns the garage and spent $108.2 million to build it, charges the company just $1 a year for the lease."
Source: https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-disney-anaheim-deals/

 

[Disco]

Whatever happened to the race track? Anyone know why it closed?

 

[rteetz]

Whatever happened to the race track? Anyone know why it closed?

Closed a long time ago now and was used for parking expansion.

 

[The Pho]

Whatever happened to the race track? Anyone know why it closed?

Officially the reason was for transportation infrastructure changes.

Many speculated that it was due to a few high profile racing accidents. It had nothing to do with the fatality on the track itself like many claim, the closure was announced prior that. It hadn’t been used for its original purpose in many years and likely just wasn’t pulling in enough money to maintain it.

 

[CheeseheadDave]

Officially the reason was for transportation infrastructure changes.

Many speculated that it was due to a few high profile racing accidents. It had nothing to do with the fatality on the track itself like many claim, the closure was announced prior that. It hadn’t been used for its original purpose in many years and likely just wasn’t pulling in enough money to maintain it.

I also heard that back when they were still holding races there, the noise from the cars was really disruptive at the campgrounds and they got a lot of complaints from that.

 

[sachilles]

There is more to it on the track. Ultimately not palatable for the larger race series to use. While a few businesses offered experiences at the track, the revenue was just not enough to justify it's use compared to parking.
I work in the racing industry, and there are a lot of ghost tracks in the country right now. Many big places have gone under as they just couldn't sustain the operating costs. Disney probably could have made it work if they really wanted to, but financially they have a lot of other things that made a lot more sense.

 

[drwadadli]

I saw that they are getting ready to open the Floridian Place to Floridian Way extension and have a question regarding that.

I think that roadway is needed when it comes to getting guests out of the area quickly when the park closes for the night. But…how do in-coming guests get into the MK parking lot? Floridian Place is four lanes until it merges in Floridian Way when it narrows to two lanes. By looking at Google Maps, there is no way for those guests to get into the parking lot. Floridian Way continues past the Grand Floridian Resort &Spa and the Polynesian Village Resort and then past the parking lot and Car Care Center before emptying out onto World Drive. But how do the guests go through the Magic Kingdom Toll Plaza? I see how they get to the Contemporary Resort and Wildness Lodge Resort via Seven Seas Drive. With all the recent construction around the toll plaza, it looks like they didn’t think that one through.

 

[unbanshee]

I saw that they are getting ready to open the Floridian Place to Floridian Way extension and have a question regarding that.

I think that roadway is needed when it comes to getting guests out of the area quickly when the park closes for the night. But…how do in-coming guests get into the MK parking lot? Floridian Place is four lanes until it merges in Floridian Way when it narrows to two lanes. By looking at Google Maps, there is no way for those guests to get into the parking lot. Floridian Way continues past the Grand Floridian Resort &Spa and the Polynesian Village Resort and then past the parking lot and Car Care Center before emptying out onto World Drive. But how do the guests go through the Magic Kingdom Toll Plaza? I see how they get to the Contemporary Resort and Wildness Lodge Resort via Seven Seas Drive. With all the recent construction around the toll plaza, it looks like they didn’t think that one through.

They simply make a u-turn on World Drive south past the toll plaza

 

[drwadadli]

They simply make a u-turn on World Drive south past the toll plaza

I was guessing that but that seems more like a pain-in-the-*** since the closed u-turn area is a mile down the road from the toll plaza (just before the Epcot Center Dr overpass).

 

[unbanshee]

I was guessing that but that seems more like a pain-in-the-*** since the closed u-turn area is a mile down the road from the toll plaza (just before the Epcot Center Dr overpass).

They removed the free way to get into parking. It was a good run while it lasted

 

[hertamaniac]

Whatever happened to the race track? Anyone know why it closed?

First a little backdrop....

The first IRL (Indy Racing League) race was held in January 1996 at Walt Disney World Speedway. The track was built by a IMS Events, Inc. which was a subsidiary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As such, it was dubbed as "The Mickyard". The track was also used for testing for quite a few IndyCar teams during the off season.

The track had temporary grandstands on the front stretch and the bathrooms were also temporary (or on a as needed basis). The parking logistics were very problematic since race fans shared the same parking lot at MK. They had MK guests park at EPCOT (which led to many being upset about the additional transport time to MK). They then flipped this parking arrangement to satisfy the MK guests more so than the race fans.

I believe that if the track had more permanent amenities (including night races, safer barriers) and a solid marketing campaign, it would currently be used by some of the major racing series. Ultimately, it appears to have been a budgeting decision to close the track which is sad because I went to the track many times (including the Indy Racing Experience) and thought the configuration was completely unique.