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

Professortango1

Professortango1

Well-Known Member
PiratesMansion said:
I missed this the other day, but I'm with @Touchdown on this. While I don't recall the how much of Magnolia Park was taken up by extended Mansion queue, the HM line was regularly bursting into the courtyard when I've been going in July. It's by no means a HMH-specific problem, and seemed relatively constant from ~11 to fireworks.

Perhaps this is just something people don't notice or think about as much if you've been a lifelong Disneylander, but seeing lines spill out onto already tiny walkways or into other areas really make the park feel much more crowded and adds to the sense that there are people everywhere. It's quite unpleasant and claustrophobic to me, and I wouldn't be able to fully relax in Magnolia Park if the HM queue was overflowing right behind me.

It's something I grin and bear about Disneyland, but the fact that much of the park feels like it's constantly bursting at the seams with people is not something I enjoy about the experience.

While other Disney parks also get plenty crowded, none of them really feel like Disneyland in this way, which honestly makes walking around them much more pleasant. Most parks, in fact, have at least a few rides with massive queue areas that are seldom used but kept aroud for this reason, so that the lines don't intermix wth regular pedestrian traffic. I understand that this is not necessarily a problem that may be fixable in every situation because of DL's age, size, and logistics, and that it still wouldn't necessarily be enough on days like NYE, but it would make the walkways a lot more pleasant and navigable during busy parts of the day without sacrificing any of the charm that exists within DL.

As much as I don't want Pirates to be on permanent LL, that is also a queue that needs to be expanded badly. I have no idea how they'd do it, but I'm certain that sooner or later they'll find a solution. The fact is that it's a mess much of the time, and it doesn't make the area charming, it makes it stressful, and I imagine that the park ops team will eventually find a solution. They need to.

This is not me advocating for Magnolia Park to be removed, or for trees to be chopped down, or that the area is done in a perfunctory way just to make it more accessible. This is just me stating that I understand the urge of DL to contain their attraction queues so that they don't spill out onto walkways constantly, because as much as some people may be used to it or excuse it, no one wins in that scenario.
Click to expand...
The solution is getting rid of Fast Pass and Lightning Lanes and all line skipping. Adding these queues took away significant portions of existing queues as well as made queues longer since folks were occupying two parts of the park at one time.

Pirates also had the extended queue by the Treehouse. I know Disney Dream Suite took part of that space for the elevator.
 
Last edited:
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
imagineer97 said:
What are everyone's predictions for the subtle changes inside once they're done? Guaranteed that something will be moved around or removed.
Click to expand...

I predict that they’re going to mess up the Hitchhiking Ghost scene. It’s much more likely they re going to ruin that simple, charming effect than it is that the projections will make it better or even be a lateral move. Or even worse, they go completely digital.

When you re talking about the hitchhiking ghosts, you’re talking about at least a Top 3 iconic moment on any attraction at Disneyland. Probably the most iconic moment. Any change shouldn’t be taken lightly. I really would like to believe that they respect DL history more then removing Gracey and Gibsons work especially when it’s still very effective.
 
Last edited:
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Also, starting to get a little more worried about the hanging skeleton. Just a few weeks ago I felt pretty good about him hanging around. I felt that if he survived the PC onslaught of the early 2020’s he was probably safe. BUT I’m not sure they can resist doing it as part of this long closure. I mean, if they re gutting the whole attraction this would be the time to make the change. May have been the plan the whole time.
 
Last edited:
Disney Analyst

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
Disney Irish said:
I wonder if this is in part due to what happened at Small World.

Anyways, I guess the question is since they are "gutting" it does that mean they are putting back HMH or return it back to regular HM?
Click to expand...

I believe I had originally heard from Dusty at MiceChat that they were taking the opportunity to do some extensive work on the infastructure of the ride itself, due to age, and not having any really significant downtime in its history for actual infrastructure work. Get it in a place to run for another 55 years.

So I guess I posed the question as I really don't believe they would need to gut the place for a new security system, with the security / safety upgrades just being one of the many things they are working on with this refurb time.
 
Disney Irish

Disney Irish

Premium Member
Disney Analyst said:
I believe I had originally heard from Dusty at MiceChat that they were taking the opportunity to do some extensive work on the infastructure of the ride itself, due to age, and not having any really significant downtime in its history for actual infrastructure work. Get it in a place to run for another 55 years.

So I guess I posed the question as I really don't believe they would need to gut the place for a new security system, with the security / safety upgrades just being one of the many things they are working on with this refurb time.
Click to expand...
Well if it be just for the security system, or if its for a bunch of other infrastructure improvement and also a new security system, the question is still since they are gutting it and removing all HMH items would they return HMH or go back to regular HM when complete.
 
Disney Analyst

Disney Analyst

Well-Known Member
Disney Irish said:
Well if it be just for the security system, or if its for a bunch of other infrastructure improvement and also a new security system, the question is still since they are gutting it and removing all HMH items would they return HMH or go back to regular HM when complete.
Click to expand...

The current word is closed through the August HMH start up, of course maybe they have hopes to get the ride finished earlier and opened for late Spring / Early summer?

But it would need to go down again by late July / early August for the new start date of Halloween Time.
 
Too Many Hats

Too Many Hats

Well-Known Member
Usually I'm an uptight reactionary when it comes to change at Disneyland, but I'm feeling very "progressive" regarding these Haunted Mansion queue renovations. The old entrance area was simply not workable for 21st-century crowds. Gut it. Completely reimagine the lawn. Make it spooky, for all I care. Sorry Walt.
 
VicariousCorpse

VicariousCorpse

Well-Known Member
duncedoof said:
I wouldn't be so worried about that. They essentially do that every Holiday season. If it comes back and stuff is missing / changed, you can be almost sure it's deliberate and mandated by someone high on the food chain.
Click to expand...
Every year the mansion comes back from the overlay, some things are off and not intended. There are so many things undocumented or changed over the years and to say its all deliberate is not true. For example, they messed up the lighting effect on the decaying bowl of fruit in the ballroom during the switchover and left it off for 13 years until someone noticed. Even to this day, every year is hit or miss whether this effect will get turned back on that year.

If they are doing a big tearout like the rumors say, unless they went in with fresh documentation on placements and changes for everything in the mansion; I would wager we are looking at more than a handful of unintended changes.
 
duncedoof

duncedoof

Well-Known Member
VicariousCorpse said:
Every year the mansion comes back from the overlay, some things are off and not intended. There are so many things undocumented or changed over the years and to say its all deliberate is not true. For example, they messed up the lighting effect on the decaying bowl of fruit in the ballroom during the switchover and left it off for 13 years until someone noticed. Even to this day, every year is hit or miss whether this effect will get turned back on that year.

If they are doing a big tearout like the rumors say, unless they went in with fresh documentation on placements and changes for everything in the mansion; I would wager we are looking at more than a handful of unintended changes.
Click to expand...
I was mostly talking about the obvious / noticeable aspects and set pieces. Yes, the overlay shuffles minor things around a lot accidentally and it will be the case here.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom