With construction halted around Walt Disney World theme parks and resorts, there is still some construction taking place on Walt Disney World property during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) closures. In this post, we’ll take a look at a few of the projects still taking place around the resort.

Magic Kingdom Parking Lot Expansion

There are two types of construction projects still taking place at the Walt Disney World Resort – Reedy Creek Improvement District (RCID) projects and third-party projects. As we noted earlier, construction on Disney-led projects has come to a halt, but the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a governing body of Walt Disney World property, still has projects taking place. The Magic Kingdom parking lot expansion is one such project.

As noted in the permit below, Disney is filing in a forest that use to act as a divider between the Villains and Heroes parking lots. By turning this previous wetland-type area into parking lot, RCID needed to rework some drainage into a new pond.

As you can see in the photos from @bioreconstruct below, work is still taking place during the indefinite theme park closures.

The Cove Hotel

Another type of project that is still underway at the Walt Disney World Resort is third-party construction. Because the Florida governor has deemed construction an essential activity, work can continue.

In the photos below from @bioreconstruct, you can see that work has progressed nicely on The Cove hotel, a new part of the Swan and Dolphin complex.

Refurbished McDonald’s

Another third-party project that continued construction past the park closures was the refurbished McDonald’s near Disney’s All-Star resort and Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

Tree Relocation Project

Another Reedy Creek Improvement District project that has had little to no fanfare is the tree relocation project taking place in the Magic Kingdom parking lot. Old trees that have been around since the Walt Disney World Resort opened are being relocated from the Magic Kingdom parking lot to various spots around property.

Here’s a relocated tree near the new entrance to Disney’s Hollywood Studios near the ESPN Wide World of Sports.

Disney’s Hollywood Studios Filmstrip Demolition

A large-scale RCID project that should be completed by the time the theme parks reopen is the demolition of the iconic Disney’s Hollywood Studios “filmstrip” entrance. While the entrance hasn’t been in use for some time now, Disney is finally demolishing the overpass that was previously in use by vehicles looking to get from Osceola Parkway to northbound World Drive.

Here’s a look back at the entrance.

And here’s a look at the demolition as seen from aerial photos from @bioreconstruct.

As you can see, some projects continue to take place around the Walt Disney World Resort, but don’t expect major projects inside the theme parks to have any significant progress once Walt Disney World reopens.

As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com for the latest Disney Parks news and photos. We’ll continue to bring you news and photos, where possible, through the Disney Parks closure due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) and will resume our normal coverage once the parks reopen to guests on July 11th!