Photo Update: Hub enhancement construction at Magic Kingdom

By Banks Lee

It’s been 11 months since Disney announced plans to remodel the Hub area at Magic Kingdom. I visited the park this week to get a look at the construction progress.

Several new elements will be added to the Hub once the project is done, including sculpted gardens, additional pathways, expanded restaurant seating and a new viewing area for fireworks and other performances. Here’s a look at a completed video rendering Disney released last year:

[hr]

Looking at the work being done from Crystal Palace, you can see lots of concrete work has been done for the walls lining the pathways and many lamp posts have been added.

[hr]

The moat around the Hub has been drained once again to continue work on the new bridges.

[hr]

Speaking of the bridges, details are emerging on the new bridges on both sides of the Hub.

[hr]

Looking toward Cinderella Castle from the Tomorrowland Terrace. The crane is still up for taking down the holiday lights.

[hr]

As you can see in this panoramic shot, walls are up around all of the planters in the central part of the Hub as work is being done to them.

[hr]

The planters have been taken out completely in the central Hub area. According to the video rendering, new ones will be placed.

[hr]

The Partners Statue is currently behind walls while the central Hub construction is ongoing. There’s no word on how long it will be covered.

[hr]

This structure has appeared on the left side of the Rose Garden. We don’t know what this will end up being, but looking at the video rendering, it could be either one of the new castle turrets/walls or maybe a new food stand. We’ve been told that it is a temporary parade/fireworks control station.

We reached out to Disney for an update on the construction timeline but they said they have nothing to report at this time. Going by what they said when the project was first announced, it should be finished sometime this year.