Permits filed today. Shouldn’t take too long to build. I don’t think it’ll affect the EWP at all.
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Isn’t that canal also the access route for the Liberty Belle riverboat in Liberty Square?
I’m guessing that a bridge will be coming, will it be tall enough for the Liberty Belle to pass through or will it be a draw bridge of some type?
NO WAY!
This is awesome!
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Yes!!!
What makes you think it won’t affect the EWP?
If thee is a bridge, how are they going to allow the barges through, do you think it’ll be a drawbridge?
As much as I’d love this to be true, I can’t help but wonder if it’s what it seems. The permit said something about water. No mention of a bridge. What if it’s just a case of having to shore up the bank of the lagoon? It just seems to me that the phrase “GF to MK Walking Path” could be being used as a better description of the location than “between GF and MK”.
This is great news!!
Amazing!! We really wanted to be able to walk along the lagoon to MK. It seemed strange that we couldn’t when all they needed was a bridge over the access canal. So pleased this is going to happen😊
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The permit filed is a dewatering permit with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. All this does is allows WDW to pump ground and/or surface water out of the construction area. It gives no indication of any type of actual construction. Just the ability to get water out of the way which is extremely common in Florida.
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Exactly! I think people are jumping the gun here.
I’d prefer to see a construction permit before concluding this is a bridge. I mean, I really hope it is a bridge, I’d love it to be built. Just it’s think it’s too early yet. 
In Len we trust. 
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It’s possible I could be wrong. We’ll see.
A walkway has its challenges, especially at night with bugs and wildlife, besides getting across that canal.
OTOH, Disney’s got a goal to reduce carbon footprint, and this would take a chunk of riders off the boats and monorails. It would also open up walking from the Poly.
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This is just an Orange County permit, and “dewatering” implies temporarily draining or drying an area to facilitate construction of some kind. Any permanent construction is going to require a permit from the South Florida Water Management District, and because this involves navigable waters and adjacent wetlands, an Army Corps of Engineers permit as well. If neither of those have even been filed yet, any construction is at least a year away.
And before anyone plays the “Disney controls everything” card, no one worms out of a SFWMD permit.
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A cat who is an expert on the Florida construction permitting process - who’d have thunk it? 
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Also, he has great taste in food, drink, and women. But I digress…
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I worked for the local (Lee County, Florida) community development (planning, zoning, permitting) department for three years just out of college. So, yeah.
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Yes, but I so often try too hard™ and fail at, well, everything.
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Stop! You be nice to my friend or else!
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Except drinking, right señor gatito? Right?
My sense is that the plans are already completed, otherwise they wouldn’t have started the permit process.
I’ll ask around to see who knows what about this.
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There aren’t any permits as yet with the Florida Water Authority, which would be the usual place for a permit to appear before rumours started! This kind of permit would normally pass without comment.
(Someone noticed for instance that there had been one for the security enhancements at MK; it wasn’t until the actual construction permit was filed that anyone noticed).
This time round, a relative newbie over at WDWMagic saw this one and the floodgates were opened long before they would normally. As far as I know, that’s where this started.