PHOTO - New ground clearing taking place behind Harambe in Disney's Animal Kingdom

Jun 04, 2014 in "Africa"

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Construction behind Harambe

Posted: Wednesday June 4, 2014 1:00pm EDT by WDWMAGIC Staff

Construction walls have been visible in Harambe between Mobassa Marketplace and the entrance to the Wildlife Express for a couple of weeks. But a new image from aerial photographer Scott Keating shows just how extensive this area is.

The cleared land stretches all the way along the east side of Harambe, behind the Asia walkway, to a backstage service road. In total, the area being worked on is bigger than the original Harambe. Originally, this piece of land was full of trees.

The park has recently significantly extended Africa with the new Harambe Theatre, and it looks like they may not be finished. Nothing has been announced for this area, nor is there any reliable speculation on what is happening. Anyone know more about the plans for this area?

Aerial view of the cleared land in Harambe

Discuss on the Forums

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Cesar R MNov 11, 2014

if you are asking me, then you should not be participating in this thread.. just saying.

Master YodaNov 11, 2014

I will make sure to get right on rejecting every technological advancement since the bronze age and go back a hunter gather lifestyle.

Victor KellyNov 11, 2014

Asphalt gets recycled now, it does not go a landfill. Yes and the footprint of the parking area is smaller, allowing more ground level green area, which will mean less reflection and absorbtion of solar radiation. Speaking of carbon footprints, I love this part....How much was produced by making your car, your house, your lawn mower, weed whacker, clothing, shoes, furniture, processing your food, growing your food, getting your food to the market, making your electronic devices like you are using right this second to read this post, powering all your gizmos? What about your carbon footprint going to Disney, spending time in Disney, then the trip home? Your carbon footprint arguement for Disney means little when compared to what needs to happen to support us in daily life.

sshindelNov 11, 2014

Catching up on this thread. I totally think that Disney is making the wrong choice in relocating Be Our Guest to a location in Harambe. Thematically it just doesn't make sense. Wait. Sorry. I had to go back 4-5 extra pages. Cool, the new area is coming along nicely.

Next Big ThingNov 11, 2014

You should go back a page or two. @WDWtraveler posted a bunch of pics.

NeXuS1000Nov 11, 2014

For Soarin, I'm mostly interested in getting the land clearing behind the existing structure verified. I don't think there's been any photo confirmations of it yet. As for Norway; I don't believe it's been explicitly denied anywhere that the Frozen makeover could result in expanding the attraction building, so I'm mostly curious to see if any land clearing has been taken place. Also, aerial images are per definition awesome and should never be disregarded, you negative nancy! :D

RSoxNo1Nov 11, 2014

Thanks for sharing this. Looking at the pre-construction photo on wikimapia we can see the changes to the area: http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=28.358807&lon=-81.591425&z=19&m=b Has anyone ridden the train recently to get a peak at the area as well?

raymusiccityNov 11, 2014

What's the topic of this thread again? ......

Cesar R MNov 11, 2014

:facepalm::rolleyes:

Cesar R MNov 11, 2014

well, you can add tons of planters on the sides of parking garages.

MichWolvNov 11, 2014

Quick-service in this case refers to the way you order and receive your food, not whether there are walk-ins available. Even table-service doesn't mean you need a reservation. I would have no qualms if they decided that BOG, despite being a QS restaurant, would start taking reservations like the TS restaurants do. I think that having a separate system for BoG QS is ridiculously confusing.

MichWolvNov 11, 2014

Now that one I'll give you. The restaurant is a success. The lack of communication about its lack of availability is terrible.

MarkTwainNov 11, 2014

I agree completely, the reservation QSR is a terrible system. It's not really "quick service" anymore if you have to reserve it weeks or months in advance… If the restaurant can't meet up with lunch demand to the point they feel reservations are necessary, they should just switch it to TSR. Then at least it would be honest and straightforward, and a system guests are used to using.

BrerJonNov 11, 2014

I'm not against the concept, I too think they should do that at the Veranda, if they can prove it works first before publicising it. What I'm against is advertising a restaurant as being one thing to draw guests in, but bait-and-switching them to it being something completely different once you've got their money. In the real world, people complain about companies that use false advertising, but when it comes to WDW it seems most people line up to say how marvellous Disney is for doing so, and defending them at every turn.