Didn't really know where to post this, but what is this new wall in HM's queue? Speculation is it's part of a new decorative crypt, but why put one there?
Photo from Miceage
Photo from Miceage
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Disney's Magical Brick Wall of Mystery
- Thread starter Animaniac93-98
- Start date
GiveMeTheMusic
Well-Known Member
It's probably OSHA fall detection related if I had to guess.
peter11435
Well-Known Member
I would second this.
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
My first thought: It looks like the first signs of a Disneyland version of the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom Haunted Mansion interactive queue? If so, ugh!
Second thought: Too decrepit for the pristine DL HM exterior. Really?
Third thought: No pumpkins this year for the HMH? When the pumpkins were first installed there for the original HMH, the classic "family plot" on the berm, AKA the Imagineer tribute gravestones that were originally in the extended queue in 1969 when HM first opened but soon after moved onto the hillside, were removed and sadly never returned.
Second thought: Too decrepit for the pristine DL HM exterior. Really?
Third thought: No pumpkins this year for the HMH? When the pumpkins were first installed there for the original HMH, the classic "family plot" on the berm, AKA the Imagineer tribute gravestones that were originally in the extended queue in 1969 when HM first opened but soon after moved onto the hillside, were removed and sadly never returned.
Californian Elitist
Well-Known Member
It's most likely for falk protection, as usual.
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
It looks stupid.
FerretAfros
Well-Known Member
It seems unlikely that they would need fall protection for that one spot, but not along the rest of the hill. As long as CMs don't need to regularly access that area (which might be why there are no pumpkins there this year), they should be able to fulfill the fall protection requirements with harnesses and occasional tie-in spots
I would guess that it's somehow related to the railroad tunnel and/or HM chicken exit that pass under that hill. It looks like a traditional vent structure, but I'm not sure why they would just now be adding one to the ~45 year old location
I would guess that it's somehow related to the railroad tunnel and/or HM chicken exit that pass under that hill. It looks like a traditional vent structure, but I'm not sure why they would just now be adding one to the ~45 year old location
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
Hmm, looking over the photos again, it's obvious what has happened here. They removed those huge trees looming over the extended queue. I've been wondering for years how long those could possibly last considering one was literally leaning precariously over the queue. All gone.
dweezil78
Well-Known Member
Yeah, if you enlarge the photo it looks like the brick wall extends all the way to the right and in the middle is covered with a fair amount of plant growth. I don't think it's new at all, just uncovered...
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
No, the walls are definitely new, but the big pine trees on the berm are gone and it looks as though what is there now is new. Unfortunately, I don't have many photos of that area, but this is how it used to look:
New:
New:
SpaceMountain75
Well-Known Member
Sad. I never would have guessed that Disneyland would stoop to Disney World's level of tree removal.No, the walls are definitely new, but the big pine trees on the berm are gone and it looks as though what is there now is new. Unfortunately, I don't have many photos of that area, but this is how it used to look:
New:
Vegas Disney Fan
Well-Known Member
Hopefully this was a safety issue versus a cosmetic issue, as old as DL is getting it's only a matter of time before the older trees have to be removed due to age.
TP2000
Well-Known Member
It was probably done as a safety issue. Disneyland has many 60+ year old trees, but sometimes they fall. There were several incidents in the early 2000's where trees suddenly fell down or dropped huge limbs at Disneyland, and people were hurt. There was a large tree in Frontierland near the Golden Horseshoe that fell over one afternoon about 15 years ago, ripping its root ball out of the ground and crushing a popcorn cart and injuring a few tourists. A few years later a big old tree in New Orleans Square in front of Café Orleans dropped a massive gnarled limb down onto people walking below, with more injuries.
http://articles.latimes.com/2001/may/05/local/me-59765
After the second accident and the media coverage it got, Disneyland began noticeably thinning and replacing many of the oldest and largest trees around the park. Sometimes it helped the park cosmetically, like the giant, ratty-looking and overgrown pines that used to be to the east of the Castle.
And those big old pine trees on the hill behind the Mansion queue didn't look healthy in the pics shown above. They looked like they had a disease or were being killed by bark beetles. That hill (which actually covers the Railroad tunnel past the New Orleans station) looks much better now. The newly planted ground cover needs a few months to grow in, and the semi-mature trees need a year or three to grow in and not make it so conspicuously fresh, but that will happen before you know it.
I would bet two churros this change was done for the safety of all those folks waiting in switchbacks below some very old, rather crooked, and likely unsafe old growth trees.
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SpaceMountain75
Well-Known Member
Interesting history, that would make a lot of sense as to why they removed them. I think a tree just fell over on the path from Frontierland to Fantasy Faire (more knowledge locals correct me if I'm wrong). That's been out of commission for a while now.
Californian Elitist
Well-Known Member
I remember a seriously old tree had fallen In Critter Country. Removing a few trees is no big deal, especially considering some of them are old and the parks has soon many trees.