There seem to be several who agree with this, and I don't necessarily disagree, but I also think it that closing the East entrance is a big middle finger for all the visitors who can't afford to stay on-site. When the Eastern Gateway was proposed, I estimated that it would add half a mile of walking distance every time we wanted to enter or leave the park, so 1-2 miles each day. That really adds up over a few days! If Harbor is no longer walking distance, are those thousands of visitors going to park in the new parking garage?
I totally agree with you about guests taking the brunt of it. I would imagine Disney or more likely ART could bus Harbor guests to the west entrance.
I am still thinking back to Erin Glover's first Eastern Gateway announcement, they talked about all misc transportation infrastructure at the East gate moving out of its current location to across Harbor. I STILL believe Disney wants to move all the hotel shuttles, ART, taxis, security etc to free up land. Since I am not local my geography is a little (okay a lot) fuzzy but moving the bus areas and closing the gate seems like it opens up land adjacent to both DL and DCA? I believe they had plans for that land.
Why would Disney continue to allow offsite Harbor hotels closer access to their parks? Especially when those hotels have been threatening to fight/sue Disney and threw a big wrench in their master plan. The other thing is while those hotels have premium access, the real estate values are inflated.
Now it seems instead Disney has had to alter their master plans for Downtown Disney, the new hotel, plowing expensive and profitable businesses, etc. I can't imagine this west side plan is remotely plan A. Its like plan D or G. It's a complete cluster. This makes me think Disney is sacrificing to STILL do what they want with land at the East Entrance. They wanted to free it all up and free it all up, they will.
Yes, I am speculating, but I can't fathom why Disney is ripping out so much of their own to move ahead with their plans and keep it on schedule. Would they intentionally hurt Harbor businesses, no. But, if they get hit hard in the process, Disney I think can and should say, "did your business take a hit? We ripped up half a perfectly good mall instead of using land we owned and footing the bill for a bridge for YOUR guests, tough freaking Mickey bars..."