Downtown Disney Rumor Calls For New Name, Closure of Planet Hollywood, And Opening Of A Parking Garage
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| This document, SFWMD Application #130215-8 is where the rumor gains its hold over previous rumors |
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Nearly four years after the closure of Pleasure Island and two and half years since the Hyperion Wharf redo of Pleasure Island was put on hold the theme park rumor site ParkRumors.com has broken the silence on what may come to the shopping and entertainment district. The confirmation that ParkRumors is pointing to is a recent application with SFWMD named the 'Bvd Corridor Stormwater Project' that seems to be looking at the groundwater drainage at the shopping and entertainment complex. This would be the first step in any type of major remodel. The document submitted to the water management district with the specifics of the new master planned are sealed but the letter submitted with gives us some insight.
We already shared news of a rumored new restaurant in the works for the area near T-Rex but if the ParkRumors story is true these two restaurants would no longer open to a surface parking lot and instead lead into a new district. The new district would go into the parking area where the current Pleasure Island parking is. This new area would be known as the Town Center. Pleasure Island would take on the name The Landing while the Marketplace would once again be named The Village Marketplace, a name it had in the early years of the shopping complex. West Side would be the only area to keep its current name. The Downtown Disney name itself would be dropped for a more luxurious sounding name Disney Springs.
The rumor gets more interesting though with Planet Hollywood being re-themed and renamed The Observatory. The bus station that is currently at the north end of the complex would shift to the center (where it actually currently is due to 'repaving' though I have to wonder if this might actually be a traffic study in disguise to see how shifting the buses here affect their schedules). The bus station would also add many more terminals than the current one has. The rumor also states that a parking garage is planned for the surface parking area in between Marketplace and the road with the north end of the current surface parking becoming a back of house facility area.
Save Pleasure Island, one of the leading sources for accurate rumors regarding Downtown Disney, points out that the new layout would allow for what is currently Pleasure Island to become just one option in getting from Marketplace to WestSide. This new layout would essentially create a new two way flow from the north end to the south end of Downtown Disney. The flow of pedestrians between Marketplace and WestSide has been an issue since WestSide opened in 1997.
The infamous traffic problems that plague the roads around the complex would also be addressed with a new flyover that would allow for traffic not heading to Downtown Disney, err Disney Springs. There have long been rumors a Downtown Disney specific I-4 off ramp. The theme park blog Wakefield Report mentioned this in a November, 2012 story and cited the cost sharing of this new off ramp between WDW and the government as the main reason for the Downtown Disney remodel being put on hold.
Another theme park rumor site, DisneyGossip.com actually laid out a plan that is very similar to the ParkRumors story back in April, 2014 with one major difference. The new area that the Park Rumors story calls the Town Center would actually be two stories tall according to the DisneyGossip story, similar to how CityWalk at Universal Studios Orlando is laid out. Also the parking garage would be shifted to the area that the ParkRumors has set aside for the buses. The DisneyGossip story though calls for this garage to be in a second phase, so it is possible both stories are correct and that the bus station would actually be underneath this second phase parking garage.
Most signs point to something being announced in the next few months (also expect a Disney Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom major announcement to be a part of that or close to that date as well). So until then what do you think? Are you happy to see Planet Hollywood being remodeled What do you think of the new Downtown Disney name?
