New Orleans Square Plunging into Darkness?
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, 12-09-2013 at 10:51 AM (7738 Views)
The expansion of Club 33 won’t just cost regular park visitors access to the Court of Angels. The changes are also expected to impact New Orleans Square’s evocative Orleans Street.
Orleans is the street that cuts between Cafe Orleans (which the main Club 33 dining room sits on top of) and the French Market (on top of which the Club’s new lounge will be built). To provide access between the dining room and lounge, a new second story “bridge” is expected to be built crossing Orleans Street above the crystal shop and the perfume shop.
Installation is supposed to happen when Club 33 goes down for construction after the Christmas season. During construction, the two shops will remain open, but their doors that face Orleans Street will be closed to traffic, and merchandise removed from that side of the stores (presumably due to the vibration from construction).
The new bridge, according to one employee, “has New Orleans Square cast members in a tizzy. This bridge will be a disaster to the Square, as it will block sunlight to the shops and spoil the area’s design. It will obstruct the view of Orleans Street.”
I haven’t heard if this will be a closed or an open bridge. Each has their pluses and minuses. Any elaborate, enclosed bridge (like the one that crosses over Royal Street to connect the Club’s current entrance to the main dining room) would box the street in, plunging the back half into darkness.
Another possibility is an open-air bridge. There are currently French doors in the Club’s current Lounge Alley that open to wrought iron balconies. The easiest fix would be to retain the doors and replace the balcony with a wrought iron bridge. Although such a walkway would have far less impact on the Square’s architecture, the sight of booze-toting diners parading across it would be even more conspicuous. Then again, throw some beads around their necks and maybe Disneyland’s facsimile French Quarter starts looking even more like the original.