New parking structure

I was also wondering what happen to the freeway. If only So Cal looked that green.

 

It's only the security area. Concept art always make everything else as trees. Notice the immigration building is covered in trees. If you look close you can see the bridge crossing Harbor. They should have taken out the Tropicanna and Camelot inn while they were at it. It's going to suck to rent rooms next to months of construction on the other side of the wall.

 

If only they decided to build stuff under the bridge, then the Harbor Blvd security point could be in the footprint beneath the walkway with access on the east side of the street to avoid the crosswalk, and elevators and escalators up to merge in with the other pedestrian flow. But I suppose that would be too elegant of a solution to a simple problem, so we'll get another surface-level checkpoint somewhere

 

Crosswalks don't break down.

 

Plus, there are places on the West side of Harbor. The Candy Cane (which does have its own shuttle, but only every half hour and it's simpler to walk), and some places south of Katella or north of Ball that some people walk from. So if the only security check on the Harbor side of DL was on the east side of Harbor, those people would have to use a crosswalk at some point anyway. Simpler just to split it into two areas: the security area for the new parking garage users (as shown in the artwork), and just west of Harbor for pedestrians staying at the Harbor Blvd. places.

Of course, this begs the question: if they'll be moving the east esplanade security area farther east (and into more permanent structures?), what will they do on the west side for the DLR hotel guests and the M&F parkers? Same position but more permanent structures? Presumably they could build a security structure at the bottom of the M&F escalators that you had to go through before getting access to the trams, but then what would they do for DLR hotel guests, or those who just want to come to DTD for a couple of hours (and wouldn't have gone through security)? I'm not sure anywhere but the current positioning works for the west side.

 

I haven't heard anything, but by the time all this is done I fully expect that all of DTD will be within security. Obviously that means setting up some additional checkpoints on the west side, but it would do so much to open up the feeling of the resort. The real trouble comes at Mickey & Friends, which doesn't have much extra space in the existing tram turnaround, so I'm not sure how they could process all those people efficiently

 

I'm guessing that the ticket booths aren't moving; Harbor pedestrian security will move slightly east into the shuttle dropoff/pickup area so it can handle both DL tram riders and Harbor pedestrians while being out of the way of those who took the bridge.

They could expand the drop-off lot so hotel shuttles could hang out there and be more convenient.

 

<I haven't heard anything, but by the time all this is done I fully expect that all of DTD will be within security. Obviously that means setting up some additional checkpoints on the west side, but it would do so much to open up the feeling of the resort.>

But what about people who are just coming to DTD for a movie or to shop or eat for a couple of hours? They'd have to go through security? I can't imagine locals who just want to go to DTD to hang for a while OR the business tenants of DTD would be crazy about that.

The DLH and GCH host a lot of conventions too, with people who don't even necessarily want to go to the parks. The GCH has security at the DCA entrance, but not at the DTD entrance, so they'd have to set up one there... not a great look. DLH would be even harder - they'd have to set it up right outside the Adventureland Tower... again, not a great look. Otherwise, any DLH guest could just walk into DTD and be inside the security zone. If anything, having to set up multiple west-side checkpoints would "close off" rather than open up the resort, I think.

 

Trust me. The hotels on Harbor and everywhere will go through the same security. Disney will not pay for extra employees so that people at HoJo and the Candy Cain don't have to back track. It behoves Disney to inconvenience the guests of all other hotels/motels in the area and group them with thousands of other guests. Disney is building a new resort. It will have at least 750 more rooms. They want to charge a premium. This validates that premium.

 

I really don't see the point of having security further away than the perimeter of the esplanade. Everything else seems unnecessarily complicated. The parks need to be secured, the outdoor mall...not so much.

 

Disney has successfully charged a premium for its rooms for many years while having everyone go through the same security. Those who value Disney hotel rooms for whatever reasons are willing to pay the premium, quite without any "less pain-in-the-butt security" advantage.

Those who aren't willing to pay the premium stay on Harbor and are still valued resort guests - and would only be ticked off by having to backtrack so far (it would make the walk from HoJo's a LOT longer, for instance). Why tick off your guests like that?

Plus, Disney doesn't have to pay for extra employees by splitting up east side security into two locations. You need X-number of security personnel to process y-number of people per hour. You can either have all those people at one location, or split them between two, both of which would have plenty of traffic. You don't necessarily have to hire more people overall - just split them between the two locations (not necessarily 50/50, but at the level that makes sense for each).

 

That lush painting doesn't show security being east of the bridge, but then that style of depiction tends to be soaked in artistic license. The only point I see to having bridge security is that it makes it quicker to take banned items back to the garage. If I were king, I'd leave security where it is and put a little souvenir shop/food stand in the current bus/shuttle area. We can't have an exit that is without a souvenir shop. We just can't! And, a food stand would keep some meal money from crossing Harbor.

 

Since the illustration shows security east of the bridge, I assume there will be security there. But I also guess that they'll keep a second area west of Harbor (but east of where it is now, so that the bridge-walkers can be descend west of that point) for Harbor hotel guests.

 

So, you're saying that I'm not King? What a blow to my Tuesday morning.

 

You can always go to that bathroom on the side of Alice in Wonderland and feel like one...

 

The security will be under the blue awnings/roofs near the center-right of the image. There's no detail of what the security will actually look like (tables, metal detectors, etc) or the hordes of guests waiting to get through, but the security area is shown pretty clearly. Actually, I suspect that's really the only part of that area that will stay relatively true to the concept art; the rest of it looks far more "optimistic" or vague-to-hide-details than what the end result will likely be

 

Oh, I thought those were walled buildings. I see now.

 

Sorry if I missed this somewhere in the thread...but what is the purpose of having security so far away from the parks? Is it because there will be more space near the new garage? Or they want to open up the esplanade for some reason?

 

It isn't known, but it gives them tighter control of the bridge walkway and it's a shorter walk for people to take banned items to their car.

 

They are trying to create a safe zone within the whole resort. This would most likely be the first step in making sure that everyone coming from the new structure or surrounding hotels thru the east gates are already screened thru security.

the question in everyone mind is how the people staying in some of the hotels on Harbor will access the resort without having to walk all the way down to Disney way then enter into the new security area just north of the new parking structure.
Some people believe that Disney will maintain one small gate with security at street level for those hotel guests or anyone that misses the new pedestrian gate on Disney way as they travel north on Harbor.

someone did notice that if you look at one of the more detailed art released it shows that the elevated pedestrain bridge has a small walkway along side it that leads into the new security area. This could very well be the path that will need to be used by guests. At the end of the path they might have a small security point. Once the guests goes thru that they are inside the secured area for the New east gateway. From there they then proceed to walk on the elevated bridge.

The whole point is to have everyone entering the resort on the east side to already be pre-screened. Also Disney and Anaheim want to eventually eliminate the need for guests to walk across harbor to access the resort. There has been excessive issues with safety and traffic because of that sidewalk. Guests do not necessarily stay within the crosswalk area when crossing. Another problem is that many guests do not pay attention to the change in light and they continue crossing after it has changed and creates a safety issue for pedestrian and cars. the cars then sit and wait and traffic backs up

I imagine that eventually even the west side security point will change and be moved. Most logical thing would be to transfer it to the Mickey and friends tram area. Then all small open access points to the resort will be closed off and only specific entrances kept. They would have to determine how many of those access point would need to remain and if hotels will be within the secured zone or just DTD and the parks.
If the hotels do not need to be within secured areas then the security check points more logical locations would be

1) between ESPN zone and Rainforest cafe
2) between ESPN zone and AMC theater in the area sometimes used for Holiday events.

the only other access into DTD from street level that would require some rethinking would be the walking path from Mickey and friends that travels along the tram route and the guests using the Grand to cut thru to DTD.

the Grand to DTD can easily be resolved with a simple security point like the one used to access DCA from the hotel.
The walking path from Mickey and friends can be closed off and only be open for exiting in the evenings since most guests only use it at end of day because of overcrowding of trams