Disney filed a permit that reveals plans for a new backstage parking lot at Typhoon Lagoon. The application was filed with the South Florida Water Management District recently. It covers a 4.81 acre site just north of the water park, off East Buena Vista Drive. Plans call for a new roadway, a fenced-in gravel lot, two dry retention ponds, and more. Here are the details and how it could help with crowds.
New Backstage Parking Lot at Typhoon Lagoon
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- Disney has filed for a permit modification covering a new backstage parking lot at Typhoon Lagoon
- The project includes 258 total parking stalls, two retention ponds, and drainage swales
- Site plans show the work sits on the same parcel as a previously permitted laydown area
Disney filed paperwork that notes the project consists of a new roadway leading to a fenced-in backstage gravel parking lot. The stormwater system supporting it includes two dry retention ponds. Four main conveyance swales will support the system.
The site sits just north of Typhoon Lagoon’s main entrance area. A location map included with the application (pictured below) shows the project boundary wrapping around an existing backstage building and gravel lot already in use behind the park. Typhoon Lagoon Drive, the main entrance roadway, runs along the eastern edge of the site.
The filing references an existing South Florida Water Management District permit, tied to a project Disney calls the Typhoon Lagoon Laydown Area. That permit dates back to 2013. Disney is asking to modify the existing authorization for new use. The parking lot expands on infrastructure that has supported the park’s operations for over a decade.
Parking Capacity and Site Details
Plans attached to the application detail the numbers behind the project. The lot is designed to hold 251 standard parking stalls plus 7 ADA-accessible stalls. That’s 258 spaces total.
Existing impervious area on the site sits at roughly 7,800 square feet today. The completed project would bring that up to about 97,500 square feet, or 2.24 acres, once the roadway and lot are built out.
Stormwater runoff from the site is set to discharge into a nearby canal. The two retention ponds will support the water management efforts. Swale systems wrap around the perimeter of the new lot and feed into those ponds.
The property falls within the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District. Plan notes on the drawings confirm the project must comply with the 2024 editions of the EPCOT building codes. As always, the Florida Fire Prevention Code and other state and local regulations also apply.
The new lot sits opposite a cluster of existing parking areas south of the water park that support cast and guest parking needs today. Disney’s permit application doesn’t specify how the new lot will be used, but it is very likely that it will be a new Cast Member parking lot.
With busy Summer operations often leading guests to park in the grassy overflow area marked in blue below, it’s possible that this new lot, marked in green, will replace the existing Cast Member lot marked in yellow. That would allow more guests to park on a surface lot versus the grassy lot nearby. It won’t completely eliminate the need for the grassy lots on the busiest of days, but it could certainly help.
Timeline and Next Steps
The plans show a revision history stretching from an initial issue date in March through a June 19th update. That points to several rounds of agency questions ahead of the July 13th submission. A pre-application meeting between Disney’s team and the water management district took place back in February.
The permit remains under agency review, and construction has not yet begun. We’ll continue watching for updates as it works its way through the approval process.
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