The Plaza (or Hub) at the Magic Kingdom is undergoing a major renovation. When it’s down you’ll experience a more garden-like setting with much better crowd control opportunities. Early signals from Disney indicated work on the hub to be done in phases, but they’ve started working on the center of the plaza and show areas in the front of the castle while the new viewing garden areas are not yet complete. That’s good news as it means the project will probably be finished earlier.
In the meantime, we have Walt Disney’s Partner Statue in a box and temporary structures all over the place. That’s in addition to the walls and construction that was already making the hub a bit of an eyesore. Judge for yourself, but it’s definitely on the shy side of magical right now.
The end result of this construction will be a wider area leading from Main Street to the Hub. There will be two garden areas that can be used for fireworks viewing parties, expanded outside seating for Casey’s Jr and some much needed seating for the Ice Cream Palace and Starbucks. Plus the performance area in front of the castle will get a much needed tech upgrade.
Can’t watch the video? We’ve got photos below the jump:
Click on any image to view larger.
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- Main Street facades are behind the tarp again
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- Backstage alley getting closer to being readh
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- The Tomorrowland Terrace area restrooms are getting refurbished
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- On the Tomorrowland side, these viewing areas are nearly ready for paving
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- Just checking on our searpent friend. He’s good
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- Some additional trees have been added. Still a lot of dirt to be removed
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- The center of the hub is now under construction
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- Yep, Walt and Mickey are stuck in a box. It’s for their protection, really.
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- Even some of the small buildings are now ready to be demolished
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- What all this means is getting an unobscrubted photo is a challenge
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- The Crystal Palace side still lags behind. But it too is getting closer.
All together, this adds up to a magical new experience that I’m definitely looking forward to. I just feel sorry for all the guests who will have to avoid taking awkward selfies for at least a while longer.