News New Haunted Mansion Grounds Expansion, Retail Shop Coming to Disneyland Resort in 2024

[mickEblu]

Right- HMH does more harm than good, the original Mansion is a masterclass in themed design. The overlay is like the Mona Lisa with tattoos and a nose ring. Then there's the damage the overlay does to the original show.

Modern Disneyland seems hell bent on destroying the work of the first and second generation of Imagineering. Doesn't Magnolia Park go back to the '60s?

Yes I believe so.

 

[PiratesMansion]

I opposed some aspects of Project Stardust because I felt (and still do feel) they were unnecessary. Redesigning Magnolia Park, however, while painful, is absolutely necessary IMO.

Just out of curiousity, what are those aspects of Project Stardust that you don't care for?

The queue only bursted into Magnolia Park during HMH. So if this is all because HMH and Genie + I have another reason to hate those two things. Other than that they used that little bit of space to the far right of Magnolia Park next to Mansion for a switchback or two. Of all the overflow queues that spill out in Disneyland this was amongst the least troublesome as Magnolia Park was/is its own little alcove and not on a main thoroughfare impacting guest traffic.

I was ok sacrificing the ambiance of Magnolia Park for 4 months a year to preserve beauty, history and atmosphere. The majority of the year MP was hardly impacted. Now 0 days a year will it have that atmosphere.

I'm telling you, and I'm not the only person who has done so, that it wasn't just HMH, it was happening with regular Mansion too at least in the past few years. I waited in that area for regular Mansion in the past two years at least. More than once.

I get wanting to blame everything on HMH, truly I do as a fellow regular Mansion purist. But it has gotten to the point (and perhaps this is a new problem that IS the fault of Genie+) that the queue going into Magnolia Park happened daily when I was there in the summer this past year.

 

[mickEblu]

I was just looking at some photos of the overflow queue in Magnolia park during HMH and there’s no way they will be able to fit all those crowds into this new queue, and with some of Magnolia park now being turned into seating for Tiana’s the only place to put them is going to be the pathway towards Pirates.

This may be helpful for busy days but it’s going to make things even worse on the busiest days.


View attachment 765589

Good point. It’ll still be spilling out.

 

[VJ]

The big update is that Christmas was removed, on the outside at least, and they’ve got some fun themed walls with lenticular portraits.

disneyland did NOT have to go so hard on construction walls of all things, but i'm so glad they did

 

[mickEblu]

Just out of curiousity, what are those aspects of Project Stardust that you don't care for?

I'm telling you, and I'm not the only person who has done so, that it wasn't just HMH, it was happening with regular Mansion too at least in the past few years. I waited in that area for regular Mansion in the past two years at least. More than once.

I get wanting to blame everything on HMH, truly I do as a fellow regular Mansion purist. But it has gotten to the point (and perhaps this is a new problem that IS the fault of Genie+) that the queue going into Magnolia Park happened daily when I was there in the summer this past year.

When you say it happened often are you referring to snaking around the fountain/ most of the area bad or using that bit of real estate right next to the mansion for a few switchbacks? If you mean the latter then yes, that happened often which I don’t feel altered the atmosphere much at all. If you mean the former then as a 10 year AP I’m going to repeat that that was a rare thing outside of HMH. Even during HMH I don’t think it was necessarily an everyday all day thing but I could be wrong about that.

Regardless, even if it happened 10 months of the year I would still be against this as I feel the area was worth preserving for reasons mentioned. Also as Vegas already touched on, the queue will still most likely spill out into the walkways.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Yes but it was still out the Mansion gate. Being a WDW kid, and a theme park nerd, you DL people are way to desensitized to lines spilling out into the Midway. That should not happen except for rare circumstances.

Unfortunately, WDW's Mansion line often extends past the gate too, sometimes requiring use of the former Keelboat dock.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Tokyo's Pirates has a larger interior queue space that can extend to a second level when needed.

I feel like this is what Disneyland needs, but not sure where it could go.

 

[Touchdown]

Unfortunately, WDW's Mansion line often extends past the gate too, sometimes requiring use of the former Keelboat dock.

Which should be fixed when BBTM gets done (if it gets done.)

 

[Vegas Disney Fan]

Unfortunately, WDW's Mansion line often extends past the gate too, sometimes requiring use of the former Keelboat dock.

I was thinking the same, I can remember getting in the FP line a few times over by Momento, and being thankful we weren’t getting into the normal line because it extended far beyond that down the walkway.

The ILL lines are probably the biggest problem now, they extend well beyond the old FP queues on several rides now, on both coasts.

 

[PiratesMansion]

When you say it happened often are you referring to snaking around the fountain/ most of the area bad or using that bit of real estate right next to the mansion for a few switchbacks? If you mean the latter then yes, that happened often which I don’t feel altered the atmosphere much at all. If you mean the former then as a 10 year AP I’m going to repeat that that was a rare thing outside of HMH. Even during HMH I don’t think it was necessarily an everyday all day thing but I could be wrong about that.

Regardless, even if it happened 10 months of the year I would still be against this as I feel the area was worth preserving for reasons mentioned. Also as Vegas already touched on, the queue will still most likely spill out into the walkways.

I don't honestly remember if it used the whole park or not, but is the park really unaffected if even some of it used as queue? I feel like this is splitting hairs. If the park is commandeered by queue at all, it is not fulfilling its designed function.

90% of my park visits have been in July, when passholders (such as yourself, to my general understanding over the past several years) are largely blacked out, correct? So you may not have had much of an opportunity to see such congestion with your own eyes.

"It will spill out on the midway anyway" may well be true on busy days, but that does not negate the need for a more robust queue than what currently exists.

 

[mickEblu]

I don't honestly remember if it used the whole park or not, but is the park really unaffected if even some of it used as queue? I feel like this is splitting hairs. If the park is commandeered by queue at all, it is not fulfilling its designed function.

90% of my park visits have been in July, when passholders (such as yourself, to my general understanding over the past several years) are largely blacked out, correct? So you may not have had much of an opportunity to see such congestion with your own eyes.

"It will spill out on the midway anyway" may well be true on busy days, but that does not negate the need for a more robust queue than what currently exists.

I was blacked out in Julys the last few years but summers have been slower than any other season the last few years. That’s why they started offering all kinds of incentives to go to the park in summertime recently. Not saying what you saw didn’t happen but I certainly don’t think it was normal during summertime.

I don’t think it’s splitting hairs at all. The two different scenarios I described had very different impacts on the atmosphere of that area and neither impacted traffic on the main thoroughfare as I mentioned in one of my last posts.

 

[Homemade Imagineering]

Anyone have the video of the final closing announcement for HMH this year? Saw it online either here or X can’t remember

 

[PiratesMansion]

I was blacked out in Julys the last few years but summers have been slower than any other season the last few years. That’s why they started offering all kinds of incentives to go to the park in summertime recently. Not saying what you saw didn’t happen but I certainly don’t think it was normal during summertime.

It happened all five days that I was in the park this summer.

I don’t think it’s splitting hairs at all. The two different scenarios I described had very different impacts on the atmosphere of that area and neither impacted traffic on the main thoroughfare as I mentioned in one of my last posts.

Perhaps you are better at relaxing when queues are spilling out everywhere than I am.

 

[Disney Irish]

It happened all five days that I was in the park this summer.

Perhaps you are better at relaxing when queues are spilling out everywhere than I am.

I've gone at various times of the year, but mostly on random weekends between May and September. And it always was spilled over into Magnolia anytime I was there too.

 

[mickEblu]

It happened all five days that I was in the park this summer.

Perhaps you are better at relaxing when queues are spilling out everywhere than I am.

I described both scenarios and you told me you don’t remember if it was the whole park or not. So I’m not sure how to respond here. They have very different impacts on the area.

Lol, there are people everywhere at Disneyland. Are you telling me a few people in a couple switchbacks next to the Mansion wall would effect your time will you are on another side of the park or not even facing that direction as you face the train station? You’re losing me here. The many times I sat and ate my beignets in that area were more pleasant and less crowded than 90% of the restaurants/ eating areas in the park. But I guess you can continue to tell an AP who went to the park 150 times in the last 10 years what the atmosphere in that area was really like year round.

 

[PiratesMansion]

I described both scenarios and you told me you don’t remember if it was the whole park or not. So I’m not sure how to respond here. They have very different impacts on the area.

Lol, there are people everywhere at Disneyland. Are you telling me a few people in a couple switchbacks next to the Mansion wall would effect your time will you are on another side of the park or not even facing that direction as you face the train station? You’re losing me here. The many times I sat and ate my beignets in that area were more pleasant and less crowded than 90% of the restaurants/ eating areas in the park. But I guess you can continue to tell an AP who went to the park 150 times in the last 10 years what the atmosphere in that area was really like year round.

Ah, the selective misreading occurs again.

To me, if the park is being used AT ALL, whether or not it is in full, is an issue.

Yes, it would impact my ability to relax in the park if people are queuing effectively right next to where I'm meant to be "relaxing".

Yes, you're an AP. But you, an AP that has as far as I can tell been blocked in July for some time, ARE telling me that my experiences didn't happen and that they can't possibly be true because you'd unwilling to allow for any nuance or wiggle room when it comes to your personal arguments. As always, if it didn't ever happen to you, it couldn't possibly have been the case for anyone else, even though I'm not even the only person who has made those same arguments. Yet again.

 

[mickEblu]

Ah, the selective misreading occurs again.

To me, if the park is being used AT ALL, whether or not it is in full, is an issue.

Yes, it would impact my ability to relax in the park if people are queuing effectively right next to where I'm meant to be "relaxing".

Yes, you're an AP. But you, an AP that has as far as I can tell been blocked in July for some time, ARE telling me that my experiences didn't happen and that they can't possibly be true because you'd unwilling to allow for any nuance or wiggle room when it comes to your personal arguments. As always, if it didn't ever happen to you, it couldn't possibly have been the case for anyone else, even though I'm not even the only person who has made those same arguments. Yet again.

If anyone is selectively misreading it’s you. I literally told you in a previous post that I’m not saying you didn’t see what you saw but that I doubted it was like that on average in July as summers have been slower than the other seasons. But then again, you can’t even tell me what you saw! Lol. You said you didn’t remember. I’m getting some pushback from you and others that the atmosphere of the area wasn’t as I described. And it’s ironic as every time I ask questions people either forget exactly what their experience was or agree that most of the time the people weren’t spilling out all over the park. Also the people questioning me are not APs who went to the park as often as I or made a point to sit in that area on many visits. In case you forgot, as this conversation has spanned over a week now, my original point was that on average year round Magnolia Park was a pleasant place to be. It was more often pleasant than it was not except for during HMH at peak times. Essentially, what you are trying to tell me in response to this point is that your experience in July or other random visits is more indicative of what that atmosphere of the park was like than the 150 visits I had over 10 years on many different seasons, days of the week, times of day etc. But again, you don't remember and apparently a few people on the far side of Magnolia Park in a crowded theme park with 40,000 people is too much for you too handle even if its much less crowded than most other areas of the park. Even if you're facing the train station lol. Still scratching my head on that one. The only conclusion I can come to on this is that you haven't spent enough time there and don't really understand what I'm talking about.

Why is it an issue though if it’s not impacting the main thoroughfare and hardly impacts the atmosphere of the area on average?

I’m sorry you’re really being obtuse on the “relax” thing and I don’t feel this part of your argument is being had in good faith. Why would it be hard to relax in a beautiful shady area of the park with a canopy of large mature trees that on average in my experience was less crowded/ busy than most of the rest of the park? I literally described a situation where there are a few people in two switchbacks next to the perimeter of the Mansion and you are not even facing them and you’re saying that would impact your ability to relax? Please name me three areas of the park you like to relax at or have a snack.

In regards to your last line It’s really amazing that you’ve come to this conclusion from this conversation. I’m the one that’s gone to the park 150 times in 10 years. I’m the one who’s gone on record saying I made it a point to people watch and relax there for years. I’m the one actually providing specific scenarios and asking all the questions. SMH. Never mind dude. Don’t answer that question I asked earlier about where you like to eat snacks. I’m good.

 

[SuddenStorm]

It's a shame seeing more of that area get altered- we've already lost a lot of planters over there the last 7 or so years.

Magnolia Park goes back to the '60s- and I think there is inherent importance in having 'park' areas at Disneyland. Especially ones that are actually beautiful, the one in Toontown is hot and miserable.

I'd be in favor of them removing the astro turf lawn at the front of the Mansion queue and the HM Fastpast distribution area and reconfiguring the queue area to be more effective but leaving Magnolia largely untouched.

 

[SuddenStorm]

Tokyo's Pirates has a larger interior queue space that can extend to a second level when needed.

I feel like this is what Disneyland needs, but not sure where it could go.

There is that intended apartment/former art gallery/Suite/current overpriced dining experience above Pirates. And the two stairways leading up to it. I'm sure it's theoretically possible to have the queue go up there on business days with some remodeling.

 

[PiratesMansion]

There is that intended apartment/former art gallery/Suite/current overpriced dining experience above Pirates. And the two stairways leading up to it. I'm sure it's theoretically possible to have the queue go up there on business days with some remodeling.

The only logical location for an extended queue, really.

Wish we had more of an indication of whether or not that particular super pricey dining experience is still filling up or not.

Presumably they could open other uber pricey dining locations far more easily than they'll find other places for that queue to expand.