PHOTOS - Construction begins alongside demolition at the center of EPCOT

Jan 11, 2021 in "EPCOT"

EPCOT Central Spine demolition and construction - January 8 2021
Posted: Monday January 11, 2021 10:48am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Alongside demolition at the center of EPCOT, construction crews are now working on rebuilding the eastern side of the central spine.

After being stripped down to the bare steel, we can now see new floor to ceiling windows already in position on what will become the new retail store replacing Mouse Gear.

We can also see framing for more glass units.

And more framing on the interior of the building.

Meanwhile on the west side, the structure still stands, but complete removal is expected in the near future.

Click the gallery for more pictures.

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lazyboy97o21 hours ago

Disney counts how many guests are in each queue. They know what percentage of throughput is single riders. The whole reason an attraction can open with space dedicated for a single rider queue is because that information is known and it can be determined whether or not one will be with the expense. You can’t compare an attraction without a single rider queue to one with a single rider queue. They wouldn’t be hitting the same numbers if they both lacked the single rider queue.

Chef idea Mickey`=22 hours ago

When I first asked I had no clue about branding the word Escape. Had I seen it I wouldn't of needed to ask anymore.

MisterPenguin23 hours ago

Everything's an LED!! Everything's an LED!!!

Centauri Space Station23 hours ago

It’s my favorite ride in the world currently and fits Epcot perfectly

Disney Analyst1 day ago

DCBaker1 day ago

A look at a few panels lit up on CommuniCore Hall.

Sir_Cliff1 day ago

I'm very curious to know what Disney's thought process is on running their water parks these days. Definitely agree, and the idea that they want to get moving on DAK and taking Dinoland offline as the next year or two are potentially going to be rough attendance-wise for the park either way makes sense. In general, I am also very curious to see just how Epic Universe changes attendance patterns across both resorts. There are a lot of different ways this could go, ranging from WDW feeling a noticeable hit to the market growing and attendance across the Universal parks changing more notably than attendance across the two resorts. I also wonder a little whether Universal has been finding its own audience rather than necessarily fighting over the same audience as Disney. Obviously there's significant overlap, but it wouldn't surprise me if over the past decade or so both resorts have increasingly carved out their own niche of consumers who prefer what each resort does best as the Orlando theme park market has continued to grow. I see he's at it again over (unfinished) work that apparently doesn't reach the heights of WDSP Toy Story Land.

osian1 day ago

Strangely, I've never ridden Test Track via Standby or Fastpass! I've always used single rider! Walk-on very often, otherwise average of about 10 minutes wait I would say. Longest I've ever waited is probably around 15-20. It doesn't make standby any longer though. Yes, single rider increases the operational capacity. It doesn't do that at the expense of standby. "Assume 90 single-rider guests ride per hour (one per two vehicle dispatches on average), which leaves 450 standby guests to ride." No, you're looking at that the wrong way. The 450 standby riders would have been 450 even if 90 hadn't been taken from single rider. Standby takes priority, if only 450 can be filled from standby then single rider is used, if there are any, to increase operational capacity/make the ride more efficient/getting more people to ride it. It doesn't have any effect on standby. 90 single riders don't "leave" 450 from standby, it simply means that only 450 could be found from standby so 90 filled in. (The entire length of the queue is not going to be exactly divisible by 3, and even it was, the batching staff wouldn't be able to trawl the entire length to find the best fit, Tetris-style, Single rider does, however, fill in the gaps Tetris-syle.). "So assuming a ride like Test Track and Frozen have the exact same throughput Frozen's standby would have a higher hourly throughput when compared to Test Track if they are running the same ratio." Only if you assume that Frozen's batching doesn't care about splitting groups up and fills every seat on every boat, and even then it would have the same standby capacity as Test Track, all other things being equal, it wouldn't surpass it. "My whole point is that the way we look at capacity (total attraction throughput) and the likely way Disney looks at attraction throughput (total attraction throughput) does not account for single-rider before determining their Lightning Lane distribution, hence shrinking the pie for Standby throughput." This is a problem with the way LL is distributed (which is a problem on all rides really!), not a single rider problem per se. Is it your point that the combination of single rider and LL is causing a problem for standy, so single rider would be OK if LL didn't' exist?

SplashJacket1 day ago

Missed my point. Per the Hourly Capacity resource from @MisterPenguin the Theoretical Hourly capacity of Test Trak is 1200 guests an hour according to the Hidden Magic category. The Operational Hourly Capacity is 1,080 guests an hour. So while theoretically, Test Track can handle 1200 guests an hour, in reality, it's only getting about 1,080 guests an hour. If we assume Genie+ allocates half the real-world throughput to Lighting Lane, that's 540 guests an hour that can experience the attraction using Lightning Lane. Because Lightning Lane always takes priority (they will dump the queue and go to an absurd ratio if it gets too long) and has a fixed distribution, we can take out the 540 from the total 1,080 guests riding an hour. This leaves another 540 guests riding. These 540 guests will be a mix of both single-rider and standby, whereas the original 540 was only Lightning Lane. Assume 90 single-rider guests ride per hour (one per two vehicle dispatches on average), which leaves 450 standby guests to ride. In my experience at Test Track, 90 single-riders seems like a low estimate. Alternatively, if we did not have a single-rider line, the total number of guests riding per hour would be 990 guests. As you can see, single-rider increases the operational capacity of the attraction. That said, if we assume the same Genie+ Lightning Lane ratio where half the capacity goes to Lightning Lane (usually it's more than half), then 495 Lightning Lane guests can ride per hour and 495 Standby guests can ride per hour. So assuming a ride like Test Track and Frozen have the exact same throughput (most the data online estimating capacity comes from someone standing at the exit and counting people) Frozen's standby would have a higher hourly throughput when compared to Test Track if they are running the same ratio. I'm not advocating for the removal of single-rider, but simply explaining a component of Test Track's (undeserved, imho) high waits. A counter-point could be that the single rider is removing guests from the stand-by line, but, personally, I have never even gone through Test Tracks single rider line since it's never short enough for the experience. Without the single-rider line, I simply wouldn't ride Test Track unless I had a Lighting Lane. Even if we assume 100% of singles would've gone in Standby, that would just return it to normal throughput split. My whole point is that the way we look at capacity (total attraction throughput) and the likely way Disney looks at attraction throughput (total attraction throughput) does not account for single-rider before determining their Lightning Lane distribution, hence shrinking the pie for Standby throughput. Once again, it's awesome that they have single-rider at Test Track, but the attraction's overall horrid capacity, likely ILL ratios, and single-rider component, means that the normal standby line has a very low throughput, contributing to high waits.

DisneyDodo1 day ago

…in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Hogsmeade at Universal’s Islands of Adventure Theme Park in Universal Orlando Resort

lazyboy97o1 day ago

Single Rider doesn’t interfere with Stand By unless it is being so horribly handled that it is slowing down throughput.

Bocabear1 day ago

I think a ride that is literally under a minute long would be a terrible idea inside Mt Fuji... WDW needs attractions that are longer...better experiences... But yes... I have often wondered why they didn't get LGB the German toy train manufacturer to sponsor a Germany pavilion attraction... powered train coaster across an idyllic German countryside ...like being shrunk down and riding through a toy train layout... It could be absolutely charming, hills, tunnels mountain with a castle on top...lower thrills, decent length, with an outdoor section to add some visual kinetics to the pavilion... kind of a perfect match

wdrive1 day ago

I think they have used that before, a good few years ago now

Rich Brownn1 day ago

If they want to tweak Disney's nose a bit they should use "Why visit a world, when you can visit a whole universe" :D