2015 was a busy year for the construction crews at Walt Disney World. Let’s take a look at some of the progress they made this year. The ‘before’ pictures (featured first) are from the middle of December 2014 and the ‘after’ pictures (always second) are from the middle of November 2015. Accurate enough for blogging purposes.

Magic Kingdom

The Speedway was demolished to make room for more parking. The expanded parking lot is now open and being used by the holiday crowds.

Disney has built a bypass to Main Street USA that runs backstage and has been in use for some months now when Main Street experiences higher than normal crowds (read: after Wishes).

Construction in the Hub is finally complete with expanded walkways and fireworks viewing areas.

Epcot

One of the most visible projects to be started in 2015 was the construction of a meet and greet location for Anna and Elsa in Norzen… I mean Froway… The Pavilion Formerly Known as Norway, that’s better.

Soarin’ is getting a new theater.

Hollywood Studios

The biggest gain (I mean loss) was the removal of the infamous Hat.

Disney also introduced a new “flex theater” that is currently hosting an atrocity known as Club Disney. The theater itself is called the Sunset Showcase and took over an area between Rock N’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror that was used for Cast Member parking.

Still no movement on Backlot Tour. It’s been over a year since it closed…

Animal Kingdom

Pandora is coming along… … … … … … slowly, but surely.

Rivers of Light should be completed in the coming months and ready for nighttime shows this Spring!

The New Harambe section opened up earlier this year.

We now have an expanded walking/photo op area in front of the Tree of Life.

Disney Outfitters has been expanded into a new building called The Riverside Depot.

Tiffins is going to be a new signature restaurant near Pizzafari.

So there you have it. A pretty busy year in the parks (not even counting Disney Springs). 2016 will truely be the year of a thousand construction walls, with a huge increase of activity at Hollywood Studios as Toy Story Land and Star Wars Land kick off this January. If there is something I forgot to include, just let me know in the comments and I’ll update the post.