As the Magic Kingdom park prepares for Walt Disney World’s 50th Anniversary, the entrance is seeing a whole new makeover, aimed at enhancing the guest arrival experience. Each mode of transportation has a new temporary path marked by construction walls and a temporary railing to lead guests to the MagicBand touchpoints.
Monorail
As guests exit either the Resort Monorail or the Express Monorail, they are greeted by a green construction wall on the right and several paths of temporary railing to the center and the right. Following the path made by the walls and the railing leads to the middle of the Magic Kingdom entrance and right up to the MagicBand touchpoints.
Ferry Boat
The Ferry Boat from the Transportation and Ticket Center lets off into the same spacious gathering area as before, but some green construction walls block the view of the Magic Kingdom gates. The temporary security checkpoint for bus transportation is also visible. Again, temporary railings guide guests under a covering, around the construction walls, and lead to a merge with the Resort Boats leading to the middle of the Magic Kingdom entrance and MagicBand touchpoints.
Off to the left, you can see a new metal structure that has gone up. It’s unknown what this will be used for (possibly a new security kiosk) but we’ll keep an eye on it as work progresses.
Resort Boats
There is currently one Resort Boat dock serving for all three Resort Boat lines – Gold, which services the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian, Red, which services Wilderness Lodge, and Green, which services Ft. Wilderness Resort and Campground. The new update will place the Gold boats in their own dock to the left of the main Green and Red dock, which will be more centrally located. At the moment, guests step off the boat into a security checkpoint covered by a temporary tent. After the security check, guests continue straight ahead toward the Magic Kingdom entrance and MagicBand touchpoints.
To the side of the current Resort Boat dock, construction on the new Gold Boat dock can be seen.
Buses
As guests arrive at the Magic Kingdom via bus, they are greeted by a temporary security checkpoint, covered by a temporary tent. After passing through security, rolling temporary hedges, a construction wall, and temporary railings guide guests to the right side of the Magic Kingdom’s entrance, requiring a longer stroll to get to the MagicBand touchpoints.
Walkway from The Contemporary
The entrance from the walkway from The Contemporary is exactly the same as it was before. No construction walls or temporary railings to navigate.
Why are there so many construction walls?
The construction walls are currently hiding the removal of the Walk Around the World personalized bricks. Security tents were also located here before construction. Several large chunks of these bricks have already been removed, while others still peek out around the Magic Kingdom entrance.
Over by the right-hand corner, the wood-framed outline could be the makings of a new planter or seating area.
Has this construction made getting into the Magic Kingdom difficult for you? Let us know in the comments below!
Are they going to be putting the personalized bricks back down & I heard there is something else going on around the leave a legacy tiles. Does anyone know about what is going on with this too? Families have paid lots of money in both places.
If I recall, the Leave a Legacy (at Epcot) will be moved elsewhere to an area outside of Epcot. I don’t think a location has yet been determined.
The octagonal pavers at the Magic Kingdom are gone and will not be reinstalled. When the pavers were purchased by families, they signed a paper stating that the pavers would remain on display until at least 2011. As it is much past 2011, they have gotten what they paid for. When it was announced that they would be removed, there was an option to purchase a commemorative replica, but that offer has since expired, as of the end of August 2019. More info can be found at the Disney blog page (https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2019/03/disneys-walk-around-the-world-bricks-to-be-retired-as-transformation-of-arrival-experience-continues-at-magic-kingdom-park/)