Disney introduced that the grounds of Haunted Mansion are increasing with a brand new immersive outside queue and retail retailer at Disneyland. This put up shares cut-off dates and particulars, idea artwork of the gardens and reward store, and our commentary concerning the badly-needed and overdue modifications to New Orleans Sq.. (Up to date June 20, 2024.)
The ‘spirited metamorphosis’ of the Haunted Mansion is now underway at Disneyland Resort as of Summer season 2024, and the additions will construct on the story and lore of the Haunted Mansion. The brand new grounds will immerse friends in “enhanced theming,” in addition to a brand new retail store adjoining to the attraction’s exit.
Native legend suggests the manor recognized in the present day because the Haunted Mansion was first constructed by a affluent sea captain. To today, the mansion’s employees faithfully maintains the glad haunting grounds. The expanded queue will tie into these tales and extra, together with new gardens impressed by Grasp Gracey, Madame Leota, and the one-eyed cat.
Every of the gardens will characteristic distinctive components starting from a water fountain and gazebo to themed statuary and landscaping. In actual fact, friends will have the ability to see a brand new greenhouse the place the groundskeepers for the Haunted Mansion develop their crops. The pet cemetery and horse-drawn funeral hearse will proceed to reside on the attraction’s grounds.
However wait, there’s extra! Along with the brand new queue, there’s a beautification challenge in New Orleans Sq. and a brand new place the place Madame Leota will materialize outdoors Haunted Mansion…
Disneyland felt it was time to proceed Madame Leota’s presence past the partitions of the Haunted Mansion with an all-new retail store.
The carriage home of the Haunted Mansion within the idea artwork above belongs to Leota, and shall be a standalone store between the present exit of Haunted Mansion and Tiana’s Bayou Journey. Disney is simply “dying” to inform you extra about sooner or later.
On the alternative website of Haunted Mansion, Disneyland may even make enhancements to the plaza adjoining to Tiana’s Palace Restaurant:
Disney acknowledges that this space across the former French Market is one which holds numerous recollections and historical past, and a sublime new park-like setting shall be a spot to chill out and benefit from the ambiance and dwell leisure below the shade of recent and historic bushes.
Disneyland will take the chance to assist enhance the accessibility of those areas which features a new elevator exit from the Haunted Mansion for friends with disabilities.
June 20, 2024 Replace: Haunted Mansion Vacation closed for refurbishment again on January 22 and work started on the reimagined grounds, expanded outside queue, and new reward store nearly instantly thereafter.
Partitions are up across the impacted space of New Orleans Sq.. You possibly can see a take a look at progress as of final month in New Orleans Sq. & Critter Nation Building Updates for Disneyland, which additionally covers work on Tiana’s Bayou Journey and every little thing else in that nook of the park.
Disneyland has not but offered a timeline for the work to wrap up outdoors or contained in the Haunted Mansion. Nevertheless, they’ve now offered a reopening date and particulars. Right here’s the announcement:
“Silly mortals, you’ll have the ability to socialize with Sandy Claws once more quickly, simply in time for the autumn season! Jack Skellington and the Halloween City denizens have put a spell on the eerie property with the merry makeover often known as Haunted Mansion Vacation, impressed by “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Earlier than Christmas.” Because the attraction’s reimagined queue expertise continues to materialize, Haunted Mansion Vacation shall be out there by way of digital queue solely when it reopens. ”
Disneyland signifies that Haunted Mansion Vacation will reopen by the beginning of Halloween Time at Disneyland season, which begins August 23, 2024. Nevertheless, at this level that’s not the official opening date. It’s our understanding that that is the drop useless date, or deadline for Haunted Mansion Vacation to open.
Disney desires to go away themselves some wiggle room, which signifies that Haunted Mansion Vacation might reopen even earlier. (We’ve heard rumors of an late July or early August reopening, however I believe that’s stretching it.) Proper now, I’d pencil in August 23, 2024 because the official opening date for Haunted Mansion Vacation, with earlier being a definite risk–however technically, later can be not out of the playing cards. This date just isn’t but formally official. Simply tentative.
As for why it’ll use a digital queue, that’s as a result of work on the bodily queue isn’t but completed–and isn’t forecast to be achieved by August. We don’t know when it will likely be accomplished, however Disney is working with restricted area over there, necessitating a digital queue at first. The excellent news is that it needs to be comparatively short-lived. So breathe a sigh of aid in the event you have been anxious {that a} VQ for Haunted Mansion can be the new-normal. It received’t.
In case you’re stunned that is taking so lengthy, it’s as a result of it’s truly a really important challenge in scope and scale. The whole entrance garden and outside queue was torn up, changed by a dust pit and pile till pretty just lately. Putting in an elevator and doing work on the queue will take a number of months, on the absolute minimal. It could appear to be a small challenge–and is within the grand scheme of issues–however elements past Disneyland’s management will simply necessitate a multi-month closure of Haunted Mansion.
It wouldn’t be in the least shocking to me if this whole challenge have been budgeted and accredited partly as a result of operational and upkeep cost-savings. Extra particularly, the quantity that might be saved by not working the journey for ~8 months and in addition not uninstalling and reinstalling the Haunted Mansion Vacation overlay. (If the common journey isn’t coming again in 2024, there’s zero purpose to take away Zero and co.)
Along with all the above, the return of Haunted Mansion in 2025 will drive demand as locals make homecoming journeys to see their beloved attraction. If Disneyland have been actually savvy, they’d set up a few new results or an Audio Animatronics determine through the downtime, cowl it throughout Haunted Mansion Vacation in 2024, after which unveil it in early 2025 as a part of a advertising and marketing push for the return of Haunted Mansion.
By way of commentary concerning the unique announcement and modifications, my first thought is how badly that is wanted. Furthermore, it neatly repurposes area that’s presently underutilized (former FastPass kiosks and stroller parking) or improperly utilized (Magnolia Park).
We received’t be stunned to listen to from Disneyland followers who’re (naturally) skeptical of any plans to mess with the mansion. We additionally received’t be shocked if there’s disappointment that New Orleans Sq. is getting much more consideration whereas Tomorrowland languishes.
These are each completely legitimate viewpoints, particularly given the reverence for each the attraction and its land. If something in Walt Disney’s unique magic kingdom is sacred and needs to be handled with the utmost care and respect, it’s Haunted Mansion and New Orleans Sq..
And in equity, the modifications at Walt Disney World–each ongoing with Hatbox Ghost and beforehand with the interactive queue–don’t precisely instill numerous confidence. Fortunately, Imagineering’s infatuation with interactive queues has worn off–there’s an enormous distinction between interactive and immersive, and that is the latter. I’d argue that the present queue can be immersive, so hopefully this shall be extra of the identical, and Imagineers don’t get carried away with “story-ifying” the area to an absurd diploma.
Nevertheless, there are additionally the sensible realities of operations. And I’m guessing a few of those that are expressing shock or skepticism haven’t skilled New Orleans Sq. or Haunted Mansion on a busy day or night time–significantly between October and December.
Throughout peak season or the guts of Haunted Mansion Vacation’s run, it’s widespread for the standby queue to spill out into the walkway and overtake the whole thing of the Magnolia Park courtyard between the attraction and what is going to quickly be Tiana’s Palace Restaurant. That quaint space and its beautiful fountain are not possible to get pleasure from (and are something however serene!) once they’re overflow queue.
Clearly it’s not going to be related this 12 months, however if you wish to see true chaos, attempt to go by way of New Orleans Sq. in the direction of Critter Nation previous to the beginning of Fantasmic. It’s exceedingly tough to navigate, as two crowds collide: these for the nighttime spectacular and people for Haunted Mansion.
It’s protected to imagine that this can solely worsen as soon as the reimagined Fantasmic returns and Tiana’s Bayou Journey debuts. The nighttime spectacular and attraction will see renewed curiosity in 2024 and 2025, resulting in logistical issues that didn’t exist beforehand or presently.
As such, from an operational perspective, all of this makes an amazing quantity of sense and is happening in anticipation of a foul scenario getting worse. Frankly, it ought to have occurred again throughout Undertaking Stardust, which is the challenge geared toward widening walkways and enhancing visitor movement forward of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
Talking of issues that ought to’ve occurred, we’re nonetheless disenchanted that the reimagined Toontown didn’t get a walkway connecting to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Connecting the 2 lands would’ve been big from a crowd movement perspective, not directly lessening the congestion in each New Orleans Sq. and Fantasyland. Though it might’ve required relocating some backstage amenities, it might’ve been effectively price it in the long run. (It’ll must occur finally if different enlargement happens in Disneyland and annual attendance continues to extend.) However I digress.
From a thematic perspective, the jury remains to be out for me and shall be till seeing the way it materializes. When viewing Disneyland divorced of operational realities, New Orleans Sq. was just about excellent as constructed, with few alternatives for “plussing.”
I’ll admit that I haven’t been wild about lots of the modifications to New Orleans Sq. within the final decade or so, together with the transformation of French Market into Tiana’s Palace. (I don’t really feel too strongly about that, except for strongly believing they need to’ve spent extra money and time to interchange Hungry Bear with it.) However I additionally acknowledge that generally there’s stress between themed design and sensible realities of an operational theme park visited by hundreds of thousands of friends annually, in addition to their preferences and habits.
Finally, that is all a long-winded manner of claiming it’s necessary to view this Haunted Mansion space enlargement by way of the prism of precise theme park operations at Disneyland, and never simply within the vacuum of “pure” themed design or how this space used to exist and function 20 years in the past. So much has modified since then, together with however not restricted to annual attendance ranges, queue administration, stroller utilization, and crowd dynamics.
Suffice to say, the expanded grounds of Haunted Mansion are completely wanted and the purpose-built queue shall be an unequivocal enchancment over how issues work a lot of the 12 months, which is complete chaos and overtaking the Magnolia Park space. That was and is the sensible actuality of this portion of the park, and having a devoted overflow queue for Haunted Mansion ought to dramatically enhance visitors movement by way of this hall to Critter Nation and Tiana’s Bayou Journey.
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Your Ideas
What do you consider Disney increasing the grounds of the Haunted Mansion with a brand new immersive outside queue and retail retailer at Disneyland in 2024? Suppose this can enhance crowd movement and is required earlier than Fantasmic returns and Tiana’s Bayou Journey debuts? Do you agree or disagree with our evaluation? Any questions? Listening to your suggestions—even once you disagree with us—is each fascinating to us and useful to different readers, so please share your ideas under within the feedback!
