Pop Century Construction

[WeatherbySwann]

Anybody know any news about the other side of Hourglass Lake? In January, there were buildings on the other side, but no decorations yet. Any news on construction and/or the opening of the other side?

BTW, if you get your room just where you want it, you can have views of Hourglass Lake, Tower of Terror, Swan/Dolphin, Wide World of Sports, and Spaceship Earth all right outside your door.

Anyway, news on Pop Century construction is appreciated in advance!

 

[mandy200587]

That is the legendary years and as of right now there is no word if they will ever will be completed.

 

[minnie61650]

The building of the 2ed half of Pop was halted after 9/11.

This was published in June 2006 from this website:
http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=eo060630bb
After the strong success of the All Star Resorts, it became clear to Disney management that more "value level" resort capacity at Walt Disney World would be a good investment. Having more inexpensive rooms on-site would bring more customers through the gates to stay for longer duration visits, rather than staying off site at the chain motels on the 192 and International Drive strips.
Construction for the new Pop Century Resort, began in late 1999 and continued at a steady, if not breakneck, pace for almost two years.
Located just South of Caribbean Beach Resort off of Victory Way, the new resort was expected to be the perfect place for sports teams to stay while competing at various tournaments at the nearby Wide World of Sports. The influx of amateur softball and baseball teams, cheerleading and dance squads, and fans of the Atlanta Braves (who make Wide World of Sports their Spring training home base) would certainly fill this new resort's rooms as soon as it was built.
Then came the tragedy of 9/11. As our nation mourned the loss of heros and innocent civilians to the dastardly attacks on New York and Washington (not forgetting the patriots on the flight that "failed" it's mission when it crashed in Pennsylvania), going on vacation to visit Mickey Mouse became much less important. More families stayed home or took shorter, local trips for vacation in the two years or so that followed.
Without the need for the extra capacity, construction on the Pop Century Resort buildings was put on hold and the buildings were mothballed. It wasn't until late 2003, just in time for the Christmas holiday week in fact, that the Classic Years (depicting the 1950s, '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s) half of the resort opened. The Legendary Years (depicting the decades from 1900 through 1940) remains incomplete and unopened with no published plans for completion.
-----------------------------------------

Here's a link to an article that talks about the unfinished section of Pop becoming suites:

http://jimhillmedia.com/blogs/jeff_lange/archive/2006/04/13/1813.aspx


Have fun at Disney!

 

[Disney*Dreamer]

Yes, but now they have restarted construction, and it will be all 1 bedroom family suites. After 9/11 there wasn't even any buildings. They had planned for standard rooms, but has since decided to do 1 bedroom family suites.

 

[mickeyfan2]

When we were there in May there is a completed building to the right. It is not painted. Also the common building is done too.

 

[Disney*Dreamer]

From Wikipedia

However, as of April 10, 2006, the MousePlanet website has confirmed that these rooms will instead be configured as family suites, identical to those now available at Disney's All-Star Music Resort, with a separate master bedroom, two bathrooms and a small kitchenette.

A few of the pop icons to represent these decades have already been revealed by the shape of the swimming pools in the design plans. The pool in the 1940s section is to be shaped like a highway sign, suggesting a "Route 66" motif. The pool in the 1930s will resemble a soda bottle, and the 1910s pool forms the outline of a crossword puzzle.

You can see two buildings here, just move up in the picture.

 

[lovegrumpy]

Yes, but now they have restarted construction, and it will be all 1 bedroom family suites. After 9/11 there wasn't even any buildings. They had planned for standard rooms, but has since decided to do 1 bedroom family suites.

That would be awsome. We love POP CENTURY

 

[Jedi_Galvatron]

Yes, but now they have restarted construction, and it will be all 1 bedroom family suites. After 9/11 there wasn't even any buildings. They had planned for standard rooms, but has since decided to do 1 bedroom family suites.

Those buildings have been there since 2001. The Legendary Hall (with unfinished number statues) and the two "guest areas" have been abandoned ever since. There are many pictures, videos, etc available all over the net. These buildings have been a "bad show" for quite some time now but new construction has NOT been started.

 

[minnie61650]

This thread has lots of photos and info:

Pop Century Legendary Years - New Photos - 3/01/2007


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1391731

As of May 2007 there has been no new construction but CanadianGuy thinks they will finish Pop by 2010.

.........
On another note, I think I'm pretty confident in saying that I think Disney has plans to finish 'Pop' and I think that will be done by 2010. We'll see if I'm right.

Knox

 

[Disney*Dreamer]

I can't seem to find where I read it, but I did read somewhere that they had restarted construction. If I find it I will post it.

 

[CanadianGuy]

As of June 1st.. .there was no new construction or any construction happening at Pop Century.

I was there in May of 2006, again in March of 2007 and stopped by on a recent trip in June of 2007. No change at all in the other side of the lake except the weeds and grass were longer.

It is my personal opinion (not based on any secret knowledge or anything) that it will be completed by 2010. We'll see if that prediction turns out to be true.

Knox

 

[spiceycat]

I think the rumor I saw was construction will began again in Oct.

but that rumor say that no family suites. the building will be finished as the orginial design stated.

after it is finished then Disney can change it to family suites?

or at least that was the rumor.

when they start back it will be real obvious - there were some building that didn't even go up. the plumbing is in the ground so some building are going there. but just not yet.

 

[PennConn]

Well I'll be staying at Pop Century in December, so I will report back here on what (if any) construction is taking place.

 

[WeatherbySwann]

Wow! I didn't realize this thread would get so big so fast! Thanks for all the news!

 

[Kat77]

Just so sad to see it left there unfinished... make a plan or tear it down! (now everyone chant: make a plan or tear it down!) I imagine we'd all be happy to see just about anything other than wasteful eye sore it has become.

Now, I personally LOVE the family suite idea because I have too many darn kids to fit into a single room and the ASM suites booked up much faster than we could plan ahead for!

 

[Disney*Dreamer]

Just so sad to see it left there unfinished... make a plan or tear it down! (now everyone chant: make a plan or tear it down!) I imagine we'd all be happy to see just about anything other than wasteful eye sore it has become.

I agree. Imagine how great that it would be if they would do something with it then put more activites in and around the lake.

 

[Davey-D-99]

Good aerial photos...
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v...t=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=8180064&encType=1


Video from YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSc1fG0ETeY

 

[Amapola]

On June 7 around 2 pm DH and I walked to the far side of the bridge to look at the Forgotten Years . We noticed a man walking on the roof of one of the abandoned buildings. Too far to tell what he was doing, of course, but we thought it was interesting. We looked around for a few minutes and took pictures of the Classic Years from the other side (pretty neat).

We thought it was also quite interesting that while we were walking back across the bridge (remember, this was broad daylight and we're just walking along quietly) a CM came up in one of those electric carts and zipped right by us. DH joked that we had probably triggered some sort of security alert . She drove to the end of the bridge, turned around and drove back, didn't even slow down to pretend to be looking at/for something . By the time she got back we were on the path to get to the 50's. Maybe she was just scheduled to drive down the bridge at that particular time of the day, of course, and I'm just being paranoid but we couldn't help thinking she was checking up on us .

 

[Mrs Grumpy]

Well I will go along with the wish that it will be completed in 2010 because that is when we are going back but I won't hold my breath either.

 

[G8RFAN]

Another aspect about construction but may have nothing to do with Disney's abandonment of that section of Pop for so long was that in the past 5 years we have seen the mind numbing escalation in construction costs/materials. All that concrete, glass, steel, lumber, and drywall, going to China, the domestic construction boom and the devastation of Katrina all contributed to skyrocketing costs. Since the "bust" we have seen sharp drops in materials and to someone like Disney, the economics a value resort may once work again (again speculation).