The WDW Downtown Disney area has just started one of the biggest expansion in over 25 years with the change over to the Disney Springs. Before we take a look at work starting to change the future of the area, lets take a look at things going on right now The Mighty St. Patrick’s Festival! This festival, centered around the Raglan Road restaurant, spans both parts of the Westside area as well as creeps into the Marketplace section. With a Muppet’s Most Wanted fun zone for the kids, plenty of options for drinks for the adults, and some great music provided by different live bands it was a great way to celebrate the “holiday.”
As for what is being built for our future enjoyment…the entire DTD are is being redone and rebranded as Disney Springs. This new take on a shopping/dinning/entertainment district as announced here by the DisneyParks Blog is just starting it’s 2 years of hard work. Right now the main focus is on getting the Westside Parking Garage up so they can start expanding out into the existing lots.
While the Westside will stay pretty much the same, they are planning on adding a few expanded areas.
The biggest change will be the previous Pleasure Island area which will see the biggest changes…most of which we don’t know about yet.
The Marketplace area will be receiving some new bridges to connect current areas and cut down on walking time. Also one of the soon to be “expanded areas” include the Pollo Campero building that will be removed soon and the former Team Disney building that will become the Marketplace Co Op which will focus on the “pop up” type shops for Disney.
The way this area is changing, these updates will come as often as a major change happens.