Tuesday, February 26, 2013

PI Update: Zooming In On Those Plans

Last week's filing of plans with the South Florida Water Management District by Disney contained a lot of information about what's to come to Downtown Disney Disney Springs in the coming years.  That information was converted into a map by the Admin of the Park Rumors website and today we zoom in on that map and take a look at the far corner of Pleasure Island where Rock'n'Roll Beach Club and Motion used to stand.

A) At the time the PI clubs were closed and long before Hyperion Wharf was dreamed-up, the goal of DTD planners was to route pedestrian traffic away from Raglan Road and Mannequins and get them to the water quicker.  The plan was to route pedestrians in what was (still is) the restaurant service/waste area between Raglan Road and Portobello Yacht Club.  By doing so, pedestrians would make the turn to the west and immediately see the newly located No. 4 Bridge to the West Side where of course, seeing the blinking lights, they'd want to go. To make this happen though, Motion and RRBC had to come down.  The new Disney Springs plans still show the pathway routed that way with 1-2 retail locations in the former service area.

B) Original rumors told of a "lighthouse" looking restaurant in this area and later rumors told of a Schussler Creative Mahogany Bay Classic Old Boats and Good Food Restaurant to be located approximately here.  The two may be the same thing and the map does show two fingers reaching up towards the waterfront which could be for boats.  Interestingly, the rear of Portobello was renovated a few years ago and they replaced their rear patio with a blank wall. Whatever Restaurant B is going to be does apparently fit flush up against that wall.

C) The plans still show an outdoor amphitheater in this area. This was introduced with the Hyperion Wharf concept art.  The main walkway is at a higher elevation with stairs and a ramp leading down to the seating area which faces the water.

Disney Springs is supposed to have some type of railroad theme to it.  Pleasure Island, supposedly renamed The Landing, would surely have some sort of nautical theme to it yet have the railroad theme as well.  This should be interesting.  Looking at the plans, the Mannequins/8TRAX building stands as does the Adventurers Club building.  But the BET Soundstage part of the AC building does appear to be gone!    

2 comments:

  1. KB, do you have a sense for a time frame for completion in all of this?

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  2. Jeff, the doubling and later tripling of the size of Downtown Disney will take many, many years. We should get an announcement and time frame by April.

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