Walt Disney Imagineering reaches major milestone at Journey of Water Inspired by Moana with the installation of Te Fiti

Dec 09, 2022 in "Journey of Water Inspired by Moana"

Posted: Friday December 9, 2022 8:22am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

Walt Disney Imagineering has shared an image of Te Fiti, now in position along the trail at Journey of Water Inspired by Moana at EPCOT.

In a post on Instagram, WDI said, " This is a momentous milestone for the project team as we continue to bring this experience to life for EPCOT guests in Late 2023. Congratulations to the team of Imagineers and all of our partners that made this happen!"

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Bocabear17 days ago

but then again, it should have been instantly corrected before people started tripping over them...Anyone can see it would be a problem... That is the biggest problem when we do installations...people tripping over our stuff as we are working...and even if they are beyond the barricades we installed, they will still blame us... So we have become hyper aware of this issue...I am shocked someone at Disney did not see this and flag it .... and come up with something for it... Tiny bench surround, etc.

gianguy21 days ago

I could be completely wrong here, but I find it hard to believe the mounds were an intentional part of the design. It seems far more likely that there was an issue with the grading and they decided to just leave it as is / improvise something during construction. I've worked on similar projects (albeit, not in theme parks) and what we draw does not always reflect what's actually built on site. You can usually expect to see a lot of small discrepancies like this, especially when it comes to site work like pavement, lighting fixtures, etc., usually because something was overlooked during installation, not the design process.

Disstevefan124 days ago

LOL. This is why I love these boards! 🏆

_caleb25 days ago

*concrete

Cmdr_Crimson25 days ago

How bout this....😏

Disstevefan125 days ago

I don’t know what this means, but the mounds of cement the designers chose as lamp post bases in World Malformation in EPCOT was a tripping hazard and they looked ugly. It makes you wonder, did they run out of time and/or money and the cement mounds was just a cost cutting mistake? Maybe a CFTOD inspection flagged it and made them fix it? LOL! Whatever the reason, they are ending up spending even more money to correct it.

Cmdr_Crimson25 days ago

CntrlFlPete25 days ago

I found it crazy when I was there the other day in the way they had Pluto out in the walkway right across from Daisey (who was in one of the sections). Each time I needed to go through that area, I needed to dodge folks going between the two characters while the crowd is trying to walk in the walkway. Just looked/felt like a cluster that did not need to be.

SoFloMagic26 days ago

Or just ban double wide strollers

HauntedPirate26 days ago

That would make much more sense, and I sincerely hope your guess is correct and that there is work being done in that area to move the queue. Without a change in the queue placement, that walkway is going to be miserable during busier times. Even when it's not terribly busy, it only takes a few families and a few dozen people going each way to clog things up.

James Alucobond26 days ago

If you look back at the plan from when the festival center was still a thing, it did appear to include the M&G oriented in that way (see below for flow). We basically have the exit area on the right, and I suspect they're working on some variation of the proposed queuing area right now, though it might ultimately be a bit more of a straightaway that also provides backstage access rather than what was originally proposed. I could be wrong, though.

HauntedPirate26 days ago

That would definitely be a preferable area for that queue.

James Alucobond26 days ago

I'm hoping they intend to swap the queue to the opposite side between the M&G and Coral Reef once that area is done. They're doing a lot of paving over there that wasn't in the original site plan, so I have to imagine it's in support of the M&G, which also wasn't in the plan.

HauntedPirate26 days ago

I really wish they had better placement for the meet and greet. In its current spot, the line has a tendency to create a choke-point on that walkway when things are busy. Or when you have a couple of families with double-wide strollers and they don't see the need to move close to the side. ;)