Scrims on Main Street USA

[Buttercup]

I've been looking at other Disney sites with photos of several scrims on Main Street USA.
Right now it looks like the Chapeau (over near Tony's Town Square), the Crystal store, and the Main Street Bakery are all under very large construction scrims.

Crazy... last year at this time, the Emporium and Confectionary (among others) were under huge scrims. I wonder how long it'll take them to finish freshening up Main Street USA?!?!

Any idea how long these scrims are expected to be up? Anyone have any photos to share from this week?

[Melanie]

This pic up Main Street is from last Friday. Christmas should be gone by now. And yes, the Chapeau is under scrim as well.

What's bad about this as opposed to last year is that these scrims are just brown and well, ugly. At least the ones that were previously up were printed with the actual storefront and somewhat fit in.

As to how long they'll be up, I have no idea. I'm actually surprised there isn't one covering the ice cream parlor as well since it is under refurb until March, but maybe all it's changes are inside.

[Capt_redshirt]

Ive noticed that when they use painted scrim they plan on a long refurbish. maybe these will be just something short and sweet

[buzznwoodysmom]

Oh wow, that photo looks awful. Hopefully it'll be a quicky and the scrim will be gone real soon.

I don't think there were any scrims at all over our Christmas trip, and it looked great to finally see Main Street looking so clean and fresh! On our last several trips there were refurbs of some sort going on up and down Main Street.

[Melanie]

Oh wow, that photo looks awful. Hopefully it'll be a quicky and the scrim will be gone real soon.

It really messes up the view up Main Street to the Castle and that otherwise great photo op.

The one at the Bakery is strange in that it juts out so far and you can walk under it. I told my son while we were walking through that I felt like I was in NYC.

[buzznwoodysmom]

It really messes up the view up Main Street to the Castle and that otherwise great photo op.

The one at the Bakery is strange in that it juts out so far and you can walk under it. I told my son while we were walking through that I felt like I was in NYC.

Back in March there was one that stuck out far like that, and we could walk under it. I hated it. I guess they cleaned it up for Christmas because I don't remember seeing any construction/scrims during our trip. Back in March, and even last Oct. there was tons of work going on. So when in December I didn't see anything I thought they were done with Main Street, but apparently not. This big tan box in the photo is by far the worst I've seen of it. Makes the view of the castle horrible!

[Polynesian Dweller]

Yeah it's ugly and so was the one over the Canada Pavillion in Epcot and all the scrims on Main Street last year. But since the alternative is just to let the paint peel and wood rot this is the better choice.

[Ian]

From our very own News & Rumors forum, comes this Tidbit from Jason:

Ice Cream Freeze

1/7/12 The popular Plaza Ice Cream Parlor on Magic Kindgom’s Main Street USA closed earlier this week for the duration of Winter 2012. From January 4 – March 27, 2012 the dining location is closed for refurbishment. Neither the reason for the multi-month closure, nor alternative offerings during the closure have been reported.

So it looks like the scrim will be up until end of March time frame.

Yeah it's ugly and so was the one over the Canada Pavillion in Epcot and all the scrims on Main Street last year. But since the alternative is just to let the paint peel and wood rot this is the better choice.

No ... the better choice is to use the painted scrims they've used in the past that are far more visually appealing. I'm sure the switch to these ugly brown things is just one more in a long line of nickel and dime cutbacks WDW continues to foist off on guests.

But don't worry ... the 12% ticket increase they're sure to hand down later this year most certainly won't lead to painted scrims next year. Next year some bean counter will probably ask why they need scrims at all and we'll have a bunch of guys crawling around on a scaffolding right out in the open.

[Polynesian Dweller]

Painted would be better Ian but from a couple of pictures I saw elsewhere this looks like heavier material than just scrim. It makes me think that something bigger is going on than just painting and that might require something stronger and less porous than scrim. It might not be as silk screen accommodating as scrim is. After all, scrim is made for silk screening in theatres but other materials like canvas are much harder to print on.

[Melanie]

Painted would be better Ian but from a couple of pictures I saw elsewhere this looks like heavier material than just scrim. It makes me think that something bigger is going on than just painting and that might require something stronger and less porous than scrim. It might not be as silk screen accommodating as scrim is. After all, scrim is made for silk screening in theatres but other materials like canvas are much harder to print on.

If that's the case (and it very well may be canvas), I vote they put the pretty scrim over the canvas. Really can't be that expensive in the big picture.

[Buttercup]

Hey thanks for the photo Mel - guess I'll have a funky view of the castle this year. Oh well!

In my research online, and I completely forget where I saw this, but someone actually figured out the scrims at WDW down to a science. It seems they come in 3 parts:
1. The first phase is ugly brown canvas, just as a cover up.
2. Next comes an intermediate scrim that usually has some generic painting on it, like trees or sky.
3. The final version of the scrim they use is the one that is painted to look exactly like the building underneath.

The reason it takes them 3 versions is because in Step #1, they just need to put SOMETHING up there. Within a few days, they stick up a prettier one, and that's when the artists start to actually measure the building and canvas, and how to lay out the replica of the building onto the third and final scrim. Seems like a lot of unnecessary steps, but they do it!

Apparently the whole process takes about 2 weeks, so it wouldn't surprise me that by the end of next week that ugly brown one over the bakery is replaced with the final building-shaped one.

Still not ideal for a shot up Main Street, but oh well, it's a necessary evil I suppose!

[Polynesian Dweller]

Very interesting Buttercup. Thanks. Do you have a reference where we could read about it. I would be interested in learning more. Scrim is usually silkscreened not printed.

[Buttercup]

Hmm... let me do some surfing and see if I can re-find it. I'll send you a PM with the link if I find it because we can't post links in the forums here.
Stay tuned!

[Melanie]

Apparently the whole process takes about 2 weeks, so it wouldn't surprise me that by the end of next week that ugly brown one over the bakery is replaced with the final building-shaped one.

Still not ideal for a shot up Main Street, but oh well, it's a necessary evil I suppose!

Ah! Interesting. I'm going on Tuesday so I'll be sure to update on Twitter, and here of course.

And of course it's a necessary evil. No one is disputing that. It just seems like the improvements on Main Street have been ongoing since I moved here 2.5 years ago.

[Buttercup]

Oh for sure - like I said, Main Street was all clogged up with scrims this time last year, and the year before too. It sure is taking them long enough to freshen up some paint on the outsides of the buildings, eh?
And if they're working on the insides of the buildings, you'd think they could just cover the windows so nobody could look inside.
Weird.....

[Melanie]

And if they're working on the insides of the buildings, you'd think they could just cover the windows so nobody could look inside.

And that's exactly what the case is right now at the Ice Cream Parlor. They are covered from the inside with black. Thankfully no outside scrims/canvas.....yet.

[Ian]

You'd think, since the facade of most of the buildings haven't changed in like 40 years, they'd already have painted scrims for each building they could use?

I find it nearly impossible to believe they re-paint a new one every time they paint these buildings??

Although, I suppose exposure to the elements in Florida may make for a short shelf-life on something like a canvas scrim.

[ransam]

Buttercup, if you find that link, do you mind sending me the link through a PM? thank you very much.

[Stu29573]

I know this has been mentioned before but, didn't they used to do this sort of thing at night? It seems like scrims have become a way of life at Disney, and it didn't used to be that way...

[Patricia]

I know this has been mentioned before but, didn't they used to do this sort of thing at night? It seems like scrims have become a way of life at Disney, and it didn't used to be that way...

I agree with this.. I don't recall seeing these scrims years ago.

Maybe, it's because they can now.