If you’ve been to Magic Kingdom lately, you may have noticed the multiple construction sites by the park’s front entrance and in the surrounding areas. All of this (much needed) work is being completed in preparation for Walt Disney World Resort’s 50th anniversary. The resort is getting a quite the facelift before its big day, so let’s check in on a couple of the projects.

As a part of the new arrival experience at Magic Kingdom, a good portion of the entrance is under construction. Most notable, a new structure has risen up along the waterfront. The new structure will most likely accommodate a new security screening checkpoint for guests arriving at a new boat dock area. So many new things!

More roofing has been added to the structure since our last update. We imagine that this portion of the roofing will be completed shortly.

Guests arriving at Magic Kingdom have been diverted around the construction site. Green scrim on fencing blocks guest from seeing the work happening. The best view of the site is from the monorail.

Another construction project we’ve been following closely is the long awaited guest walkway from the Grand Floridian Resort to the Magic Kingdom. This path would allow guests staying at the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian Resorts to forgo taking the monorail and walk to the park instead. We could see this as being an extremely convenient way to avoid some of the post-fireworks transportation crowds.

Unfortunately, progress on this bridge is moving at a snail’s pace. The bridge has been sitting onsite since August. A rotating mechanism will let the bridge to swing open allowing for boats and barges, such as the nightly Electric Water Pageant, to pass through. If you look at the rotating mechanism in the center of the above photo, you’ll see that an additional part has been installed.

What do you think about all of the construction happening around Magic Kingdom? Will you be using the new walkway? Let us know in the comments!