Current status of the Disney Springs Project

Jul 10th 2013 at 8:04

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If you've not already seen, we announced back in March that a major redevelopment was about to take place at Downtown Disney. This was then confirmed by Disney to be a modernization of the popular shopping and dining area, and a rebranding to 'Disney Springs'. 

We've been following the progress of the initial work, which has started a lot faster than expected. In comparison, when Disney announced the failed 'Hyperion Wharf' project, nothing really took off at all, other than Pleasure Island being closed.

So what's been happening, what's closed and what can we expect to see happen soon? Lets take a look.

Car Park Closure

Last Saturday (July 6, 2013) parking lot 'H' was closed to guests. This area is designated on the plans as being a new bus terminal with approximately 12 stops.

It's expected that Parking lot C and D will be the next to close later this year. This area will be changed into a new multi-level parking garage, allowing a lot more cars, in a smaller amount of space. This is the first time Disney have really resorted to using parking garages, however it makes sense given the limited amount of space at Downtown Disney, most of which is parking. By creating two multi-level garages, they will free up a huge chunk of space, allowing for more shops, restaurants and scenery to be built.

There have been rumors flying around that the second new car park will span either parking lot O/P/Q or L/M/N, creating a second garage. If Disney wanted to, they could probably create one large parking garage to the side of Downtown Disney, eliminating the current car parks completely and providing a lot of free space.

Saratoga Springs Walkway Closure

We reported last week that the walkway between Downtown Disney and Saratoga Springs was closing, which as of Monday June 8, 2013 it now has. This is to make way for a new expansion of the Village Lake. During the closure Saratoga Springs guests can still use other forms of transport to get to Downtown Disney, such as the boat service and busses.

Once the Village Lake expansion has been completed, a new bridge will connect Saratoga Springs back to the area. A new bridge across the corner of the lake will also provide an easier way of getting to shops in the corner of the Marketplace area.

Pleasure Island / West Side Bridge

Work on a new bypass bridge between West Side and Pleasure Island also started a few days ago, and will run from Paradiso 37 along to Characters in Flight. 

So there we have it. Work on Disney Springs is in full swing. It's likely that we'll start to see some big changes towards the end of the year. Whilst the project is not expected to be completed before 2016, there are a number of large building changes to make, including completely new structures.

As always, WDWFans will provide updates throughout the construction.

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