Walls are up all around what is currently Pleasure Island and work is expected to begin in some sections of the Downtown Disney Marketplace next month, but Disney Springs construction is about to get a lot messier and Disney is ready for it.

With several of the parking areas in Downtown Disney set to close over the next few weeks, you can expect visiting any section of the area to be a hassle anytime after noon for quite some time. In fact, the first parking structure won’t even be completed and open for Disney Springs until the Fall of 2014.

The first lot that will be constructed will be on the West Side, so the amount of parking spaces on the West Side will be greatly diminished for the next year. This work is expected to begin any day now.

Disney is aware that there will be several days over the next 15 months when Downtown Disney lots will not be able to accommodate everyone who visit. The current plan is to offer overflow lots across the street at Team Disney, Casting and SunTrust on certain afternoons to allow Guests to have convenient parking. Disney will also offer a shuttle service for Guests who park at Team Disney to make it easier for them to get to the West Side.

Even with all of this planning in place, guests may still want to utilize Disney transportation to get to Downtown Disney, or even maybe a taxi cab.

In the meantime, Disney is doubling the amount of cast member parking in the Hess lot across the street, so cast members should not be affected by this construction. Disney has also added communication tools for Cast to help them know where to park, including text messaging, a parking hotline and signage along Buena Vista Drive that will let them know when Cast parking in lot P is full.

So, what do you think of this parking plan? Will you still visit Downtown Disney during this construction project or will you wait for the new parking structures to open?

Tom Corless