Will the moat still be drained late April/May

[puffkin]

I can understand Disney wanting to make improvements but the amount they are doing all at once seems to be the problem. They are doing HUGE amount of construction at The Poly, Downtown and now Magic Kindom. It may not be a big deal to you and it may not be a big deal to people who are able to go yearly or even every other year but for people like us whom have saved for three years to treat our children for their first trip to Disney it becomes very frustrating. The chances of us being able to come back may be slim. AT best we may be able to come back in three years. If we could of had some advance info on this we could have waited to go to Disney. I am not normally a complainer but every where we have turned during our planing of this trip so far as led to MAJOR CONSTRUCTION!!! We never even found out about this until we had arleady booked. I was never even sent an information about the Poly and only found the info on these boards otherwise I would have never known until we go to the resort. We had decided against the Poly because of the amount of construction there that we only heard about through these boards. We then switched our reservation. We have limited our time downtown a quick dinner out because of the construction, and now (though it may not be a big deal to you) may not have the complete magical feel of my childrens first time laying eyes on Magic Kingdom!!! I have not expressed my disappointment to the children and continue my up beat feeings about our vacation. We are going to have a blast no matter what. But I can tell you for the amount we are spending and as much rearranging we have done to avoid the MASSIVE amount of CONSTRUCTION it is FRUSTRATING and we should be able to express this through these boards. Again I understand improvements but did they have to do the amount of constrution there are doing EVERYWHERE. Could they limit this to an area each year? I am not on the bussiness end of course so I could never answer that question. It is what you make of it and we are planing on a FANTASTIC TRIP!!! However there comes a time when you just need to VENT!!!!!

While I get the frustration, I think you are over reacting. To make that many changes to your trip because of the construction is really unneccessary and I can assure you, the kids could care less. They are at Disney World and will be so excited about that they won't care about a construction wall here or there. Disney is HUGE. The size of a city, with IMHO much higher standards. There is no way they could only do one area a year. Between the elements, technology changes, maintenance issues, etc...the parks and resorts would be falling apart at the seams in no time. And for all the walls that go up, there are others coming down, for instance the Mine Train area. A word of advice....sometimes the DISboards can swing heavily to the negative side about everything WDW...causing unneccessary angst and frustrations. Step back, take a deep breath, and have an amazing trip.

 

[Viva Las Disney]

We have limited our time downtown a quick dinner out because of the construction, and now (though it may not be a big deal to you) may not have the complete magical feel of my childrens first time laying eyes on Magic Kingdom!!! I have not expressed my disappointment to the children and continue my up beat feeings about our vacation. We are going to have a blast no matter what.

The negativity comments don't apply as much to the occasional complainers with specific concerns as much as the posters that are on the DIS daily complaining about every little thing Disney does.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about the construction, I took my first WDW trip last December and didn't even notice there were scrims on some of the buildings until I started looking at my pictures. Your kids excitement level will be so high they probably aren't going to notice let alone care if a building or 2 or a walkway or 2 are under construction.

There is a lot of construction going on at DTD but when I went it was mostly limited to the middle area and there was still a ton of open shops to wander through. I think you'll still enjoy it, I did.

In my experience attitude makes or breaks a trip. No vacation is perfect, if you focus on the positives you'll have a great trip, if you focus on the negatives you'll have a terrible trip. Attitude is everything.

 

[OhStuffandFluff]

The negativity comments don't apply as much to the occasional complainers with specific concerns as much as the posters that are on the DIS daily complaining about every little thing Disney does. Honestly, I wouldn't worry about the construction, I took my first WDW trip last December and didn't even notice there were scrims on some of the buildings until I started looking at my pictures. Your kids excitement level will be so high they probably aren't going to notice let alone care if a building or 2 or a walkway or 2 are under construction. There is a lot of construction going on at DTD but when I went it was mostly limited to the middle area and there was still a ton of open shops to wander through. I think you'll still enjoy it, I did. In my experience attitude makes or breaks a trip. No vacation is perfect, if you focus on the positives you'll have a great trip, if you focus on the negatives you'll have a terrible trip. Attitude is everything.

Amen!

 

[horse11]

Thank you all for you words of advice and comments. We already have it in our heads to be positive. As far as the kids are concerned I never even mentioned anything to them about anything negative. We are all still very excited. I have already mentioned that a trip is what you make out of it and we still plan to make this one to remember. It just seems that this year there is so much construction every where. Since I have not been to Disney since 2001 I just do not know if that is normal. I never seen any construction when we went back then. As I said though it is what it is and you guys are right the kids will probally be jumping out of their skins. Thanks for letting me vent but more importantly thank you for your reasurance.

 

[Shanora]

Perspective for you. We just got back from our very first trip EVER to WDW, and it will most likely be our only (well at least for the children). I knew about the construction, and it hardly was a blip on my radar while there. I was a little disappointed the moat was empty, but as of a few pictures I've seen today, its now full (at least in some areas if not all). So we missed on seeing that, but my children have NO idea it was supposed to be full (my guess is my 14 year knows it was supposed to be, but my 8 and 5 year old have no clue). Seeing the castle to me, was AMAZING, and while I seen the cranes up in the early am, by the time things got going around the castle they were down and out of sight.

We also went to DTD, and yes there was construction, but we still took in all the sights, and checked out a few places, went to Planet hollywood for lunch. Had a great time. Yes there were wall up, and I could see them working on The Rainforest Cafe out across the water, it didn't take away from the magic of that area either. I have pictures I took cause the Volcano was erupting… was pretty awesome!

Try and go down with an open mind, try and NOT see all the little thing that Disney is doing to make it a better place…. because they truly are just that, little things.

 

[tinkpower]

Thanks for the update. Where could I see those pictures?

 

[La2kw]

Universal built the two-story, E-ticket Transformer's ride in a year. Disney can't built new sidewalks in a year? Well they could, but are choosing not to.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Complainers? Yes, tarps, construction equipment, walls, etc., plus the numerous other changes? Just not very appealing. IMO Yep, I'm not ecstatic, over the new norm, nor the results of the gabillion $$$$$$, that Disney's spent.

Yes, we are changing our vacation habits and spending our money elsewhere. I'm sure, it won't bother Disney, even a little bit. I'm a bit disappointed, but...c'est la vie.

 

[sretav]

They started refilling the moat Friday while we were there and, honestly, the construction walls barely even registered. The Hub is under construction but only the 2 corners by Main Street are walled right now and it didn't even phase us or affect our pictures of the castle.

The ones around the 7DMT are almost all down and my only thought at seeing them was how New Fantasyland will be even cooler once the sounds of the riders and the woosh of the trains start happening.

 

[andyman8]

Just some updates from folks I've talked to on the boards, Twitter, and on blogs. The crane and Confectionary scrim are completely gone! The first week of April they had a lift putting the finishing touches on the Castle's new paint job, but that is now gone. Because of that, they have been able to fill the moats about 3/4 of their depth. They are filled entirely on the west side of the Castle but they have put up an inflatable dam on the east side separating the filled area with the still-dry construction area near the old smoking area by the Plaza as construction continues on that area. Once they have the construction in that area completed (which should be by the end of the month in time for the 7DMT media event at least Disney hopes), they'll remove the dam and fill that section with water. Of course, this expansion will require the moats to be drained on multiple occasions so this is not the last time we'll see the moats drained but they should be partially to mostly fill at least through Independence Day.

 

[Minniekins]

Interesting, should look great when done, but I'm impatient, lol! I wonder how far along they will be just after thanksgiving for the Xmas season? I'm hoping the castle and the surrounding area will be looking nice again and close to done by then!

 

[ConnieB]

We were there a few weeks ago. From what we were told, the moat will be empty until before Christmas 2015. The construction is supposed to be completed "by the holiday" is what we were told. I was hoping they met Halloween, but I assume it will be Christmas as well.

Anyone planning a onece-in-a-lifetime only trip in the next year and a half is in for a rude awakening. That hub is going to be a mess.

We already reduced our next Winter's vacation from 10 days to 4 days (just to get our "fix"). If we were not guiding a new family through their first (poor souls) vacation, there is NO WAY I would go, within the next two years at least...and I am a Disney JUNKIE. FP+, construction, Downtown Disney, construction...no thanks.

I LOVE the mouse, but I'm saving my money until it is....done?!

As long as there is imagination in the world, Disneyland will never be completed. Walt Disney. (I'm gonna guess that goes for all things Disney, not just land. )

And before anyone jumps....there are quite a few wordings for this quote from Walt....whatever the exact wording, the context remains the same.