The Hitchhiking Ghost
02-02-2015, 11:52 AM
Just got back from a wonderful 9 night trip. Going down we knew that for the first time we'd be missing the holiday decorations, and we knew there would be some construction going on, but wow, I had no idea how much.
Magic Kingdom:
-Scrim is up on the Art of Disney Store on the right side of main street. It looks nice enough, but for me the magic of Mainstreet is looking down (from either direction) and just absorbing the night lights of mainstreet.
-Castle crane: was still up as of Saturday 1/31. While they would lower it during Wishes, it was up most of the day. Although it looks like they are getting pretty close to getting all the lights down.
-Castle hub: knew this was going on, just didn't fully appreciate how big the impact was going to be, with construction walls going basically all the way from Casey's corning, past Crystal Palace and all the way to the left turn to Adventureland. Lot of great photo spots lost. Plus all the construction walls in the around the inner ring, emptied moats etc. Certainly detracted from the Castle.
Animal Kingdom:
This surprised me the most and I wasn't prepared for it.
-Avatar land: Ok, knew about this, and pulling into AK parking lot you can't miss the 4 huge construction cranes in the old Camp Mickey-Minnie area, but surprisingly, once in the park, not really visible or noticabel.
-Tree of life area: Totally surprised me. I knew they were doing renovations to Flame Tree BBQ, but there is an entire area surrounding tree of life that has construction walls, have no idea what they are doing.
-Expedition Everest: This disappointed me the most. I don't know what they are doing, but they had construction walls all around the lake that sits in front of Everest. Really distracted from the views. Also the monkey island was closed and being worked on. That great view of Everest from that area was totally blocked off. Anyone know what is going on. Appears that it has nothing to do with the ride itself but the lake and lake area near it.
Hollywood Studios:
-Sorcerer's Hat: Still had a wall around the hat. As of 1/29 it was down to primarily the brim on the base of the hat and some of the ears.
-Streets of America: On Sunday the 25th there were still some signs of Osborne, but by the 29th that looked to be all gone. One back building (faces Lights Motor) looked like it might have been missing part of its facade.
EPCOT: only park I didn't really notice any visible construction.
Downtown Disney: Wow, what a mess. One I had no idea it would be that bad and two, for a Monday night I couldn't believe how packed it was. Very disappointed, made shopping there very difficult. Made worse by the fact that high winds that day kept the boats from running from POR to DTD, so we had to drive.
So not to be a Disney Downer, but anyone doing some vacation planning, just be prepared to see a lot of signage and construction walls.
After this trip, my early mindset is that a future trip will be 4-5 years out, not until all the major renovations are completed. I know its a necessity, but I just don't like looking at it.
Magic Kingdom:
-Scrim is up on the Art of Disney Store on the right side of main street. It looks nice enough, but for me the magic of Mainstreet is looking down (from either direction) and just absorbing the night lights of mainstreet.
-Castle crane: was still up as of Saturday 1/31. While they would lower it during Wishes, it was up most of the day. Although it looks like they are getting pretty close to getting all the lights down.
-Castle hub: knew this was going on, just didn't fully appreciate how big the impact was going to be, with construction walls going basically all the way from Casey's corning, past Crystal Palace and all the way to the left turn to Adventureland. Lot of great photo spots lost. Plus all the construction walls in the around the inner ring, emptied moats etc. Certainly detracted from the Castle.
Animal Kingdom:
This surprised me the most and I wasn't prepared for it.
-Avatar land: Ok, knew about this, and pulling into AK parking lot you can't miss the 4 huge construction cranes in the old Camp Mickey-Minnie area, but surprisingly, once in the park, not really visible or noticabel.
-Tree of life area: Totally surprised me. I knew they were doing renovations to Flame Tree BBQ, but there is an entire area surrounding tree of life that has construction walls, have no idea what they are doing.
-Expedition Everest: This disappointed me the most. I don't know what they are doing, but they had construction walls all around the lake that sits in front of Everest. Really distracted from the views. Also the monkey island was closed and being worked on. That great view of Everest from that area was totally blocked off. Anyone know what is going on. Appears that it has nothing to do with the ride itself but the lake and lake area near it.
Hollywood Studios:
-Sorcerer's Hat: Still had a wall around the hat. As of 1/29 it was down to primarily the brim on the base of the hat and some of the ears.
-Streets of America: On Sunday the 25th there were still some signs of Osborne, but by the 29th that looked to be all gone. One back building (faces Lights Motor) looked like it might have been missing part of its facade.
EPCOT: only park I didn't really notice any visible construction.
Downtown Disney: Wow, what a mess. One I had no idea it would be that bad and two, for a Monday night I couldn't believe how packed it was. Very disappointed, made shopping there very difficult. Made worse by the fact that high winds that day kept the boats from running from POR to DTD, so we had to drive.
So not to be a Disney Downer, but anyone doing some vacation planning, just be prepared to see a lot of signage and construction walls.
After this trip, my early mindset is that a future trip will be 4-5 years out, not until all the major renovations are completed. I know its a necessity, but I just don't like looking at it.