Orlando Attractions Area News & Developments

[KJHburg]

Yes I am tourist but I usually avoid the theme parks but did go to Disney Springs.  I knew they were restricting crowd size but did not know they had temperature checks in order to get in and masks were required even outside.  anyway I walked around a bit.  Still new tenants coming in and all parking was in one garage the Orange one.  Like the green walls they have in many places.    Still have their Christmas trees up. 

Checked out the new earth friendly and solar power net zero McDonalds on the Disney  property too.  Was disappointed the dining room was closed but I did walk around it and got a shake in the drive through and parked.  McDonald’s Unveils Net Zero Energy-Designed Restaurant at Walt Disney World Resort

Edited January 10, 2021 by KJHburg

[spenser1058]

Replacement for the Villas At Grand Cypress with 10000 rooms announced:

https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202101/7961/

From Theme Park Insider 

[spenser1058]

1000 room convention hotel near Sea World moving forward:

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2021/01/04/new-1-000-room-convention-hotel-takes-next-step.html

From OBJ 

 

 

[klstorey]

1 minute ago, spenser1058 said:

Replacement for the Villas At Grand Cypress with 10000 rooms announced:

https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202101/7961/

From Theme Park Insider 

To be clear, the 10,000 rooms includes both the hotels and on-site vacation homes. This would put it smaller than Margaritaville, where 3,000 vacation homes are approved, most of which have three or more bedrooms. 

[jrs2]

Holy cow.

I drove by the intersection of Carrier Drive & Universal Blvd Saturday night and that plaza is gone and there is topped off a 4 story apartment complex that goes corner to corner on the entire tract of land called Republic Square, at 7488 Universal Blvd.  It's incredibly large and caught me completely off guard.  It's over 400 units.

It you haven't been by there in a while, you will be shocked when you see this thing.  I hadn't been by there in 10 months I think.  HUGE...or...YUGE improvement for a dilapidated development off Universal Blvd.  Wow.  This, plus the massive hotels up the street that Universal built is a big difference and impact on the area.

Bravo to the developer and to the County or City for making this happen- is this still city limits?

[spenser1058]

I think that’s still in the city.

[jrs2]

21 minutes ago, spenser1058 said:

I think that’s still in the city.

...then bravo to Dyer's team.  I'm telling you, it is shockingly large- and really changes the complexion of that stretch for the better- kind of like the Central Fla Pkwy stretch by Sea World...but in a good way...with that mix of hotels, apartments, restaurant and retail...

[codypet]

21 hours ago, jrs2 said:

Holy cow.

I drove by the intersection of Carrier Drive & Universal Blvd Saturday night and that plaza is gone and there is topped off a 4 story apartment complex that goes corner to corner on the entire tract of land called Republic Square, at 7488 Universal Blvd.  It's incredibly large and caught me completely off guard.  It's over 400 units.

It you haven't been by there in a while, you will be shocked when you see this thing.  I hadn't been by there in 10 months I think.  HUGE...or...YUGE improvement for a dilapidated development off Universal Blvd.  Wow.  This, plus the massive hotels up the street that Universal built is a big difference and impact on the area.

Bravo to the developer and to the County or City for making this happen- is this still city limits?

That plaza with the club that had a shooting every other week?

[spenser1058]

First look inside the Galactic Starcruiser resort at WDW:

https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202101/7968/

 

From Theme Park Insider 

 

There’s no opening date or prices yet.

 

[orange87]

Orange County hits the gas on dormant I-Drive pedestrian bridge project

A long dormant pedestrian bridge project slated for Orlando's popular tourist corridor appears to be back on track. 

For years, major stakeholders on International Drive have discussed the possibility of an iconic pedestrian bridge — estimated at $15 million or more — that would connect the four corners of I-Drive and Sand Lake Road. Well, now Orange County is seeking experts to help study the feasibility of such a project. 

In December, the county released a request for proposals for the International Drive Pedestrian Overpass Intersection Analysis and Overpass Conceptual Design Study. In short: The county wants a consultant to provide "project, planning, preliminary engineering and environmental analysis services" for the bridge, said county documents.

Article: https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2021/01/15/county-seeks-experts-for-this-major-i-drive-bridge.html

[codypet]

@orange87More Discussion here 

 

Edited January 18, 2021 by codypet

[spenser1058]

Can The Hall of Presidents be fixed in the age of the 24/7 news cycle?

Trump’s wild ride puts Disney’s Hall of Presidents in a predicament | Editorial
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/opinion/editorials/os-op-disney-hall-of-presidents-trump-editorial-20210119-kuwmxaidsrcfpgckmv3slac24a-story.html

From The Sentinel 

 

 

[spenser1058]

UPDATE: The Magic Kingdom’s Hall of Presidents is now closed but Disney says it’s just the usual process to add the 45th Audio-Animatronic figure, Joe Biden:

Disney: Hall of Presidents closed for refurbishment; Biden figure to be added
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/the-daily-disney/os-et-disney-hall-of-presidents-closed-refurbishment-biden-trump-20210120-6wj6u5q2hrafriwqw2laljgasm-story.html

From The Sentinel 

 

Some have suggested  that due to increasing polarization in society surrounding politics that the attraction is out of step with the escapist fare of a Disney theme park. At least for now, the company seems not to agree.

Edited January 21, 2021 by spenser1058

[WAJAS]

Redevelopment of an old hotel property on I-Drive. The developer is also moving their headquarters to the area.

Orlando International Drive property sold to Atlanta's Del American Real Estate Group - Orlando Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

[spenser1058]

It turns out it won’t be Universal that’s the next to add a new gate in Central Florida. Instead,it will be... Legoland!

Peppa Pig is coming to town:

https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202102/8043/

From Theme Park Insider 

[bqknight]

On 2/25/2021 at 6:51 PM, spenser1058 said:

It turns out it won’t be Universal that’s the next to add a new gate in Central Florida. Instead,it will be... Legoland!

Peppa Pig is coming to town:

https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202102/8043/

From Theme Park Insider 

Kind of confused why this is a separate gate. It's only 5 acres big, which is probably smaller than most themes lands within most top-tier theme parks.

[spenser1058]

28 minutes ago, bqknight said:

Kind of confused why this is a separate gate. It's only 5 acres big, which is probably smaller than most themes lands within most top-tier theme parks.

TPI discussed that in a follow-up article:

https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/202102/8048/

 

[dcluley98]

Universal's Epic Universe construction is back online. 

From Universal’s Official Blog, they are restarting construction effective immediately.

https://blog.universalorlando.com/destination/universals-epic-universe-is-back/

[shardoon]

They should have never stopped to begin with. Now they are gonna have to spend so much more money with the ramp up. 

The same can be said with the poor decision of the airport to shelf the phase 1A portion of the airport. Air travel is bouncing back so much faster ( at least in Orlando) than initial projections. We will be spending a lot more money in the short term re-ramping up construction on that phase. 

Edited March 3, 2021 by shardoon

[dcluley98]

That's not really how it works for Universal. They will still have to do start-up for each phase of vertical construction no matter what the timeline is, since it is entirely different contract/projects for the other phases and mostly all different contractors. They continued with the civil/sitework/infrastructure component during the pandemic to finish the civil/site in preparation of releasing the vertical packages. This was a smart move.  

They delayed the start of next phases of vertical construction due to cash flow concerns. The schedule was already pretty accelerated previously pre-pandemic to compete with Disney and finish around other projects such as convention center area projects and the road work in the area. However, after the pandemic disrupted the timelines for other work and gave them no incentive to stick to the accelerated schedule, it made sense to wait out the next phases and resume after cash flow was more stable again.  Realistically, not knowing pricing components, their new contracts could actually be cheaper than pre-pandemic due less competition from other concurrent projects and less labor demand from trade contractor community. We don't really know. 

[aent]

20 hours ago, dcluley98 said:

That's not really how it works for Universal. They will still have to do start-up for each phase of vertical construction no matter what the timeline is, since it is entirely different contract/projects for the other phases and mostly all different contractors. They continued with the civil/sitework/infrastructure component during the pandemic to finish the civil/site in preparation of releasing the vertical packages. This was a smart move.  

They delayed the start of next phases of vertical construction due to cash flow concerns. The schedule was already pretty accelerated previously pre-pandemic to compete with Disney and finish around other projects such as convention center area projects and the road work in the area. However, after the pandemic disrupted the timelines for other work and gave them no incentive to stick to the accelerated schedule, it made sense to wait out the next phases and resume after cash flow was more stable again.  Realistically, not knowing pricing components, their new contracts could actually be cheaper than pre-pandemic due less competition from other concurrent projects and less labor demand from trade contractor community. We don't really know. 

But they laid off most of the creative team and those who were designing and oversee the project. It seems its going to take a bit of time to rehire that. I highly doubt any new contracts are going to be cheaper, unfortunately, in the last 3 months construction costs are skyrocketing more than ever before due to huge increases in material costs and shortages.

[dcluley98]

http://www.turnerconstruction.com/cost-index

But what do they know? 

[aent]

1 hour ago, dcluley98 said:

http://www.turnerconstruction.com/cost-index

But what do they know? 

Apparently not the price changes since Biden took office. As I said, in 2021 prices have literally been skyrocketing. I do work in construction, and not a day goes by where I'm not being notified of material price increases the last couple months.

[dcluley98]

Perhaps you would be more comfortable with the latest data from the Federal Government BLS. 

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/WPU80

https://data.bls.gov/timeseries/WPSFD43&output_view=pct_1mth

I suspect not, however, given your comments. 

[jack]

6 hours ago, aent said:

Apparently not the price changes since Biden took office. As I said, in 2021 prices have literally been skyrocketing. I do work in construction, and not a day goes by where I'm not being notified of material price increases the last couple months.

Prices have been skyrocketing since last summer and have not slowed. Its purely Covid related with a dash of collusion if you ask me.