"The grounds near Disneylands Haunted Mansion will be expanded to accommodate a larger outdoor queue and a Madame Leota-themed retail shop, theme park officials announced on Tuesday.
Construction on the new project will begin in January 2024, with the new additions expected to build on the story and lore of the Haunted Mansion."
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Karin
Exciting to always see something new but I have questions...
so based on the concept art - it looks like the fountain will now be part of the HM property - and the land from that point towards the mansion. they will reduce the fountain size but it will still be inside the brick walls. And the back gazebo looks like its intended to be a greenhouse but will be used as extended queue. It does look like the entire queue may be tweaked - not just added to the other side of the current wall.
I'm looking at the store placement and wondering how will that fit? You have the exit to the attraction, the ADA access to the HM attraction (that's where folks enter the ramp to the left of the ride exit in the drawing), and now the store. Especially if Port Royal is no longer a HM store and it all comes to Madame Leota's store. That could be a tremendous bottleneck. Add to that if Lightning Lane backs up pretty far. Interesting - unless they make the lightning lane queue somehow more accommodating inside the walls of the garden.
thats another question - will they keep two stores? Hmmm.
and finally - this is the sign for Disneyland for the next few years - place making improvements. Not too many other changes in footprint. Tiana's Bayou yes - and maybe if they decide on something for Tomorrowland or the old Boat lagoon with SW plaza. Other than that no other real spaces at Dland. This is a long game though - 5 to 10 years.
"[Disneyland] has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid." - Walt Disney
this is cool news but -
Tomorrowland refresh, when?
Avengers e-ticket, when?
The Tomorrowland Refresh seems to always get a back seat to other ideas. I'm on the side of some others who think its because they get better bang for their buck with changes elsewhere that all ages can enjoy. If they redo Tomorrowland you're most likely looking at a similar situation to 1998 - closing the entire land. Even if Space Mountain is not being changed out - if they plan to gut Innoventions and maybe Nemo/Autopia (which I doubt will ever happen) the amount of space needed for safety walls will impact the rest of the land. That's a lot of people no longer being soaked up by the land - AND - a lot of CMs being reassigned or out of work.Originally Posted by NickP
On Avengers I don't know. They had the original idea of a similar experience as Flight of Passage. Then they changed it to a simple video simulator with King Thanos (which I think technologically is a cop out) but who knows at this point. Some say if they are building the gift shop then construction must not be far behind - but given the track record of how fast (or slow) projects have been moving at the resort I think they don't have enough builders with skills to make it happen soon. Maybe by 2028? they have to announce it then from there maybe 3 years...
"[Disneyland] has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid." - Walt Disney
Its already hard enough now if you are trying to go from or to the train in that area because of cutting of the path where the fountain is and around it on one side but this seems like it could make it worse with expanding the seating area out for Tiana's with it. Hopefully they will make the path big enough for traffic flow but not sure I have much faith in it since the art for it doesn't exactly give the best idea on it all. If its a lot of walking between tables that is terrible.
A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!
According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"
the art shows so few tables I cant imagine thats accurate. its either just casual seating or there will be more tables. HOWEVER - I saw FreshBaked's video on Youtube (weekly construction video) that showed CMs around the old seating area of the FM - AND ALL THE TABLES ARE SMALL ROUND ONES! kind of like cafe tables for two or three people. YIKES! can you imagine the amount of shuffling that will go on? Someone definitely left Operations out of the loop on that one.
"[Disneyland] has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid." - Walt Disney
Unless they screw the tables in the ground there will be lots of tables moved about for sure and chairs. I'd like to say that I hope its better than we think with how its looking and sounding so far but those doing this stuff at this point are not very good at thinking of all these things that we as guests do or can see being issues.
A crowded day at Disneyland beats a busy day of housework!!
According to my princess, its not Star Wars land its "You stole my goats away from me!!......in progress land"
i guess with all the other changes coming to the parks we have to just wait and see. the art isnt the same and the drip, drip, drip of updates doesnt give us enough big picture view (i cant remember what was shown 2 videos ago).
"[Disneyland] has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid." - Walt Disney
Yeah I was really just asking rhetorically. They have had a recent history these little projects over the much needed and even announced projects.
I won't hold my breath for either, especially considering all of the layoffs, financial cutbacks, etc.
I do remember the first plan for the Avengers e-ticket was supposed to be a Quinjet flight to Wakanda. Then at the last D23 it was supposed to be a multiverse theme, with King Thanos as the villain, sounded like it was going to be Star Tours as far as different destinations. I know on the surface it sounds a bit lazy but I like the idea of multiple stories, destinations, adds to the re-ride factor. I kind of assumed that Rise of the Resistance set the bar as to what the e-ticket would and could be as far as immersion into the land. Would definitely help shed some of the genericness of Avengers Campus.
Whatever the case the attraction needs to be next level compared to the laziness of the Spider-man attraction.
As to another star tours type - I'll have to pass. Can't ride those.
Sent from my motorola edge (2022) using Tapatalk
"[Disneyland] has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid." - Walt Disney
Is GG:MB not the E ticket ride for Avenger's Campus? I don't think that land necessarily needs a third ride. Galaxy's Edge has two, and I'd say that once the thrill of being inside the Millennium Falcon wears off, Webslingers is actually better than MF:SR. Cars Land has three rides and they all have a minimum height, which I think is a mistake given the young age of kids who still seem to like those characters. If there's something new in AC, I'd like to see something like the old space in Innoventions with exhibits or something interactive that doesn't require a moving vehicle and is more inclusive.
I personally don't really have any issues with the layout of Tomorrowland or any of the attractions individually. Is it one cohesive story like Disney is doing in some other lands or parks. Maybe no, but everything there is still pretty popular. Maybe Star Tours could be reimagined into something non-Star Wars and some rotating scenarios could bring other characters and locales into MF:SR. Not that I think Disney would ditch a Star Wars attraction any time soon, but if there's an IP in the future that fits that type of attraction, maybe.
so SWGE was actually supposed to have 3 rides when it opened. The Bantha walkaround ride was nixed as they began construction due to budget issues. Avenegers campus was always supposed to have the E-ticket associated with it thats why the building there is so large - it was always intended to house the entrance to the new attraction. GG:MB is for the most part a step-child. It was there, rethemed, and then comes along for the ride of the rest of the land. if you look - most lands do have 3 rides or attractions. some more - but the only one with two for along time has been Hollywoodland. The promise of a third never materialized - though they do have Animation building and Philharmagic. Carsland has three, Boardwalk has 5 (mermaid, goofy, zephyr, jellyfish, symphony swings), grizzly river has three (rapids, soarin, interactive trail), and so on. on the Disnyland side some have only 2 but I think the usual is 3 attractions (rides and walk throughs) and then one restaurant (counter service usually) and one snack/quick serve. I know HongKong with Frozen area is having one for frozen, one for Tangled, and two for Pan - but its like one giant land all tied together.
The common thought around tomorrowland is that its not updated. not fresh. and now that Launch Bay is more of a pay-for-play setting instead of one for all guests - thats a lot of space that goes nowhere. i dont think from an attraction mix anything would change with the big three - Buzz, Star Tours, and Space Mtn. Ther others may stay to give little kids something to do. That leaves the big question - if you are going to do something what would it be to Innoventions. How long are they willing to try and pry the dollars out of people's wallets to get them to do Terrace - or even DVC - to have that exclusive lounge. We all know that higher-end dollar has been in the sites for a while.
"[Disneyland] has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid." - Walt Disney
I don't think it matters how many rides each land has, they don't have to be equal. It's not like Galaxy's Edge had a third ride and it just didn't open. The plans changed. If the additional ride in AC is the Quinjet concept, meh. At this point I feel like Disney does dark rides better than motion rides. If I want to watch video screens, USH specializes in that.
I'll be interested to see the expanded HM queue. I waited in it on a very hot day just before the overlay closure. I could tell they'd repainted some stuff. And the umbrellas were nice when they were there, but it seemed like they started something and then stopped. It seems like the ride stays popular when both versions are running, so this should be a plus. And the new exit elevator will be great if it's in a location where you don't have to fight your way back to the stretching room going opposite traffic.
Really COVID happened to really mess it up for sure for DW and DL. And how they are going to be take like forever to get their parks back on track. Feel bad for those who had to lose their jobs though no fault of their own as there are so many hard working people.
Ready for September to Remember!
i want to see a better design before final judgment. Are they going to redesign the entire queue or just the addition? the art makes it look like all of it - so will the attraction still be open? and to put an exit elevator in the general area of the current exit, and the new store, where does all of that fit? (unless the exit elevator is behind the store and dumps you in). The elevator has to be on the park side of the train tracks. That means they may have to expand the unload area to make that happen. If you go all the way back to load - you're still on the outside of the train tracks in the show building. Hmmm
"[Disneyland] has that thing - the imagination, and the feeling of happy excitement - I knew when I was a kid." - Walt Disney
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