Driving from Hurricane to Death Valley was fairly quick and easy. The only hitch was finding out that the Costco gas station was not opened on Sunday in Las Vegas, so I had to go elsewhere. I ate in Pahrump (meaning "water rock" because of its artesian wells and abundant water) before driving down to the park.
Driving by the Furnace Creek Inn (that's the fancy lodge overlooking Furnace Creek) was the first obvious sign that things are changing in the park. The inn was fenced off for remodeling, and similarly for the less pricey Furnace Creek Ranch below: both the store and adjoining restaurants had been razed, although the archway over the entrance to the village was kept.
There is a temporary (one hopes) metal hangar acting as a cafeteria by the golf course, and the golf pro shop now also acts as a tiny general store. There were lots of palm trees wrapped in burlap waiting to be planted. The spring fed pool was opened, and for $5 you could still get a day pass (8 am to 11 pm) giving you access to it and to hot showers.
According to the Death Valley 49ers newsletter, the park didn't get its act together either this year and was not able to open some of the campgrounds because of a shortage of staff. I was able to stay 3 nights at the Furnace Creek campground, but no longer because everything was booked closer to the weekend, and I missed the evening entertainment that the 49ers normally organize.
Scotty's Castle is still closed because of the 2015 flooding. See photos of the damage and the 2 min movie at the LA Times site. It will stay closed for another few years although they now have some limited flood damage tours.
As an aside, the time zones are funky in the quad state area (California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah). California and Nevada are in the Pacific time zone, while Utah and Arizona are in the Mountain time zone. But Arizona doesn't observe Daylight Saving except in the Navajo Indian Nation. Since I was there during the switch back to Standard Time, you really had to know where you were to know what time it was. Even my cell phone was often confused by this mess.