An oncoming hurricane is presenting a number of challenges to construction crews working on theme parks in Orlando, Florida. We take a look at just a few:
Walt Disney World is about to face a deluge of rain and wind to the park. Preparations are beginning as operations, security and clean up crews all go through protocols and procedures for a hurricane hitting a resort the size of Manhattan. Yet, for some reason, it seems like that old fiend Murphy is back at it again, throwing a wrench into even Disney’s best made plans.
How else can you explain that days before a Category 4 hurricane barrels through the area, a giant chunk of a building façade just happened to fall off at Disney’s Hollywood Studios? Luckily it collapsed before guests were in the park this morning, but what a strange thing to see! Now crews will have to try to repair an unexpected — and major — issue with a building before hurricane-force winds pummel the structure once more.
BREAKING: Hollywood Boulevard Closed Off After Portion of Store Facade Collapses at Disney’s Hollywood Studioshttps://t.co/LZVIfGoDJ2
— WDW News Today (@WDWNT) September 26, 2022
Meanwhile, if you want to know what a giant mess looks like, just call the construction crews working on Epic Universe a few miles away. With barren soil exposed all over the future theme park, Hurricane Ian has the potential for turning this into about 700 acres of pure mud!
On top of that unenviable issue, construction on all the buildings will have to pause as the storm passes through. And unfortunately for deadlines that need to be made, cranes and unsecured structures will either have to come down or receive fortification before Thursday morning.
Nearly straight-down aerial look at Classic Monsters land at left, and Super Nintendo World at right. In Universal's Epic Universe. pic.twitter.com/iIKHHKJkPb
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) September 17, 2022
Aerial overview of Universal's Epic Universe property.
1 Hotel site at Kirkman Rd and Universal Blvd
2 Ministry of Magic show building. Largest park building.
3 Warehouses supporting all of UOR
4 Day guest parking, partly paved for use now as construction parking. pic.twitter.com/YwwrllaGfA— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) September 17, 2022
Speaking of cranes, Blizzard Beach at Walt Disney World has a massive crane in place to work on one of the attractions during refurbishment downtime. A giant crane is exactly the sort of thing that construction teams are likely working to secure before 100+ mph winds could come bursting through the area. There’s not much more frightening to the security of the water park than that crane crashing down haphazardly.
Aerial look at Runoff Rapids in Blizzard Beach. Work in progress adding a conveyor belt for inner-tube return. (Sep 25) pic.twitter.com/qcGf2mhpcf
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) September 26, 2022
Less problematic for Disney is the construction zone that is much of Epcot. Although the soil is likely to become nearly unworkable for a day after the rain subsides, the cranes here are much smaller. Plus, the buildings and structures for the area are largely either secured or low to the ground anyway.
Aerial overview of construction at Journey of Water, and CommuniCore Hall and Plaza. pic.twitter.com/wMWwhXSro8
— bioreconstruct (@bioreconstruct) September 25, 2022
Whatever happens with those construction areas, we’re also going to get our first look at how well Tron’s fabric used for the canopy can withstand winds that rock Central Florida perhaps twice a decade. It was built with this sort of thing in mind and we definitely hope that it holds without issue. Should Tron’s fabric become damaged, it could potentially delay the project even longer… and that material is not going to be easy to replace at all.
Here’s to everyone crossing their fingers, even their toes, and saying a little prayer for Florida. Stay safe, everyone!
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