WDW Speedway becoming... More Parking!

[Planogirl]

They could take this to a whole new level by making the construction itself an all new attraction. Just pipe in some Seven Dwarfs music and start handing guests a pickaxe. This would truly be cutting edge, as no other theme park in the world is offering such a hands-on experience to really make you feel as if you're part of the action.

"In an effort to immerse guests in a truly interactive experience, we welcome you to "Whistle While you Work" at our newly expanded MK parking area. Don your hard hat while we transform existing asphalt into... well, newer, better asphalt."

Now that would be some additional capacity

Someone already did something like this. Of course Disney could take advantage and actually build something.

See Diggerland USA:

 

[DisneyDetective]

Does the Magic Kingdom really need their car park expanded? I've never seen it full to capacity.

 

[3Gsandme]

Or, maybe that's the cheapest way to raze the speedway so it's not an abandoned eyesore like River Country. That might not be it, but if I wanted to demo something and have it not be an eyesore, that's what I'd do. Occasional parking at needed times and no ghost town speedway.

 

[rteetz]

Does the Magic Kingdom really need their car park expanded? I've never seen it full to capacity.

It has. It doesn't happen often but it does fill up. I think disney is prepping for the future with this one thinking attendance will keep rising.

 

[truck1]

Back before the Speedway, the Magic Kingdom lot had 12 areas, with a little over 12000 parking spots. Add the speedway and that number was reduced by around 2000 spots. Add in that the former Chip and Dale lot ( I forget what the new lots are called off hand. For those not sure, its the last lot on the heroes side, on the left heading towards TTC on the tram) which only had about 3 rows dedicated to cast parking, is now all cast parking and the same lot on the far side is all AAA or handicapped and they are now down about another 2-3000 spots for the average guests. Today, there are still 12 lots, but only 10 are available. Ive seen the lots recently pretty close to full to the point where the lot cms, were parking curbs and using 1 of the incoming lanes for parking. So Disney effectively took out about 1/3 of the available parking. Its simple math. Add in the NFL and the marketing in general, and they wonder why theres not enough parking spots, and people have to park at Epcot during peak seasons. In all honesty, the Speedway should never have been built there, it should have gone up to the area around ESPN.

 

[GoBears 1980]

The speedway used to be a parking lot originally.

Exactly..... it is going back to the original configuration of the parking lot as it was when the MK opened in 1972.

 

[DVC Mike]

This is what I was hoping for...

http://i235.*************************************NewMKParkingLot.jpg

 

[Reddog1134]

Was it actually a parking lot before?

I know Wikipedia isn't the greatest source but they say it was built on a "plot of land near the parking lot" but there's no mention of it replacing any parking except for when the used the temporary grandstands.

 

[circus4u]

Was it actually a parking lot before?

I know Wikipedia isn't the greatest source but they say it was built on a "plot of land near the parking lot" but there's no mention of it replacing any parking except for when the used the temporary grandstands.

I could have sworn it was a parking lot before too, but a while back, someone posted an aerial before and after and there was no parking lot. Too many years ago, but could have sworn it was parking lot. Somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain, at the time, I seem to remember the tram drivers talking about it during trips through the parking lot. Are Tram Drivers more reliable than bus drivers? Of course, the older I get, the more I live in a fantasy world too. Maybe that's why I feel home at WDW?!

 

[truck1]

Prior to the racetrack, it wasn't a paved lot like say Goofy lot is/was today. (sorry, I havent learned all the new lot names yet.)The top 4 lots,(southern most that you drive past if you follow the curve of the track) Daisy,Donald Sneezy and Bashful all had additional rows. The present entrance raod that runs around the track has been shifted north by a few hundred feet from its original location. The area that the track occupies was flat land and was all grass. It was overflow parking for when the MK needed it.

 

[soniam]

I wonder if this will also allow more parking for the Polynesian. It has limited parking, so sending some guests to park at the TTC or having employees park there would be good. Poly employees may already park in the employee lots by TTC though.

 

[Shamus]

The track was built mostly over open land but did take away the last 2-3 rows of parking. I would say no more than 750 spaces were lost.

As has been mentioned already, the new expanded parking is likely to allow for future expansion of the Poly which will include reconfiguring the North-West most section of the current MK lot into new parking for the Poly.

 

[TT77]

Back in the mid 70's when they were still trying to figure out Epcot what was going to be, there was a plan to merge the Magic Kingdom Express Monorail line with the Epcot Monorail line. I wonder if maybe doubling the size of the MK parking lot may be step 1 towards revisiting that plan?

Here's a look at a 1977 version of Epcot with the 2 monorails joined together, and the newsreel footage it came from at 2:56 on the video

 

[caisland]

Given the increase in staffing that probably is as much an issue as increased park attendance

 

[DVCcurious]

Just read the thread and realized you are talking about the Richard Petty Driving Experience, not the Tomorrowland Speedway.

 

[DisitDisitgood]

This has to do with the fact that during the past holiday season, many people were given a voucher to drive over to Epcot and ride the monorail over to Magic Kingdom.

It's the same reason that the Jungle Cruise Cafe is opening. They need to improve capacity now that New Fantasyland allows so many more people into that park.

It's more than just parking RC will be making road improvements in that area as well so some of the current parking will be lost. There is a lot of congestion in that area so expect more lanes and more over/under passes instead of lights or stop signs.

 

[Annadesu]

Hm, well... I guess that's good for people going with cars? But we always use the resort buses, so...