Overview
- Crews removed sections of the in‑ground LED strips and have been filling the empty trenches with concrete around the central planter, with photos showing continued work from August 18 through August 22.
- The lighting first debuted in December 2023 but suffered outages, incorrect colors, cracked covers and heat damage soon after opening, which led to repeated repairs and safety barricades.
- Maintenance crews used a visible stopgap in June 2025 that pinned warped plastic covers to the pavement with decking screws and caulking after thermal expansion created tripping hazards.
- Walt Disney Imagineering’s original plan, described by lead Imagineer Zach Riddley, called for over 12,000 individually controllable fixtures to sync pavement effects with Spaceship Earth, a design now effectively abandoned by the concrete infill.
- Disney has not issued an official statement on whether the work is permanent, but the concrete fill removes the pavement effect, reduces ongoing maintenance and safety risk, and will change how the area is lit and choreographed at night.