More Details & Concept Art Leaks for Downtown Disney’s Conversion to Disney Springs

Well, here we go again. You may remember when we “leaked” the original concept art and plans for Disney Springs in early 2013, but even with a formal announcement following that, Disney has remained very quiet through many stages of the construction process on this overhaul of Downtown Disney. Today, we have uncovered some recently released documents that point to more of what is on the way for Disney Springs.

The now confirmed back story of Disney Springs involves a town that grew around local springs. The Marketplace is essentially the suburbs where residents moved to as the town experienced a boom. The Landing is a commercial district with a train station, bottling co. (Morimoto Asia), dock, and a large ferry boat (Fulton’s). The Town Center is the shopping center of the area and will feature the bulk of the retail options for Disney Springs. The West Side feature remnants of the abandoned train tracks, but is a thriving entertainment district. Further speculative details on the back story can be found in our original pre-announcement story. It seems the original document is pretty much on par with the finalized back story.

Now, let’s get into some new details and concept art for the neighborhoods of Disney Springs, starting with the West Side:

• On the West Side, Food Truck Park (which will otherwise be known as Exposition Park) slated to open this Summer will now be opening by the end of November 2014.
• The abandoned elevated train tracks in that are will be called the Sunshine Highline. We still expect this to offer lounge and bar areas when completed.

• The new park that recently opened in The Landing next to the Boathouse is called Waterview Park. As you can see in the concept art above, there will be a fountain and more trees added soon.
• In the next 6 months, The Landing should open with 12 retail locations and 7 restaurants including the Boathouse and Morimoto Asia.
• The walkway between Paradiso 37 and the other stores to the West Side should be open by Thanksgiving
• BET Soundstage and the Adventurer’s Club locations have been confirmed as venues for new restaurants, so the Adventurer’s Club return rumor can now be ruled out.

The new, renovated area in front of Fulton’s and Portobello is Riverfront Square. Walls have come down in this area already:

We did not get much in the form of new details about the Town Center area, but we did get several new pieces of concept art for this area replacing the Pleasure Island parking lot:

Some notes on the Marketplace:

• The lake will be called “Lake Buena Vista”, because, believe it or not, it wasn’t called that already.
• The World of Disney expansion will come out towards Town Center, modifications inside of the store are already taking place
• More pedestrian bridges will be built over Buena Vista Drive leading guests to and from Hotel Plaza Boulevard.

So, what do you think?

• Category: Disney Springs, Downtown Disney, NOINDEX, Parks & Resorts, Walt Disney World Resort
• Tag: Boathouse, Morimoto, The Landing