What with covering the opening of this year’s International
Food & Wine Festival at Epcot on Friday, attending Disney World‘s 40th
anniversary celebration at The Magic Kingdom on Saturday as well as recording three brand-new “Unofficial
Guide Disney Dish with Jim Hill” iTunes shows with Len Testa, it’s been a busy
couple of days.
But before I left property and then headed back home to New
Hampshire, I wanted to make one quick trip. I wanted to wander out by Western Way
and see what – if anything – was going on with the Flamingo Crossings project.
Photo by Angela Ragno
You remember Flamingo Crossings, don’t you? That 450-acre
lodging-and-shopping district that the Mouse announced with great fanfare back
in November 2007?
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved
This was the project that Disney wants to build just west of
the interchange of State Road 429 and Western Way. If all goes according to
plan, this parcel will someday be home to 4000 – 5000 value-priced hotel rooms …
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved
… not to mention 300,000 – 500,000 square feet of retail
space. Which – because the Mouse has master-planned the entire Flamingo
Crossings complex to within an inch of its life – will be anchored by this
village-like town center.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved
Of course, that was before the economy tanked in the Fall of
2008. Which then made it difficult for all of the third-party developers that Disney
had been working to obtain the necessary financing to build all of the hotels
& restaurants that were supposed to make Flamingo Crossings so appealing to
price-sensitive WDW Guests.
Even so, Mickey figured that once the credit crunch had
passed, people would come flocking back to the Western Way project. Which is
why they pressed ahead with all sorts of site prep for Flamingo Crossings.
Which is why it’s a little eerie to drive around this end of
Western Way. By that I mean: The street signs are all in place …
Photo by Angela Ragno
… as are the crosswalks.
Photo by Angela Ragno
And as you roll around Flagler Avenue (which rings the
perimeter of the area where Disney hopes most of Flamingo Crossings’ retail space
will be built), you can see that the turn-offs for many of Western Way’s fast
food restaurants & casual dining establishments have already been paved
& graded. Plus some of the basic utilities are already in place.
Photo by Angela Ragno
A lot of Western Way’s Phase One landscaping has been done.
Photo by Angela Ragno
Disney’s even built spaces where the “Welcome to Flamingo
Crossings” entrance signs can eventually be installed.
Photo by Angela Ragno
But even though there are construction trailers on site …
Photo by Angela Ragno
… there are no signs that vertical construction is about to
begin on the Western Way project. If anything, given the number of signs that
up on site which mention that there are hotel, retail & timeshare sites
still available …
Photo by Angela Ragno
… or that there are hotel sites with Flamingo Crossings
access that have flexible terms …
Photo by Angela Ragno
… suggests that it could be quite a while before Disney’s
dream for Western Way becomes a reality. Especially given all of the talk lately
about a double dip recession.
Mind you, a few Company insiders that I spoke with this past
weekend are still hopeful that Flamingo Crossings will eventually get off the
ground. If anything, they kind of view the Western Way project as a
canary-in-the-coal-mine. At least when
it comes to the U.S. economy.
To explain: We’ll know for sure that we’ve finally passed
through the current period of financial uncertainty when third-party developers
again begin reaching out to the Mouse. More importantly, when the banks
indicate that they’re willing to help fund the construction of value-priced hotels
& restaurants out by Disney World’s western entrance.
But until that happens … Well, you can cross Flamingo
Crossings off of your list of possible places to stay during your next WDW
vacation.
Your thoughts?