Disneyland has taken down the walls around its new Haunted Mansion extended queue area. Frankly, it’s pretty, but it seems relatively inexpensive, especially compared to the extended queue at Walt Disney World, which features interactive displays.
The new queue area is what Disney said it would be–gardens.
It’s just plants, some set pieces, and new and repurposed statuary from what was there previously.
The entryway leads to Master Gracey’s garden.
“Master Gracey. A fountain against the garden’s wall features the face of a sea maiden with unruly hair and startled eyes, as if she’s caught in a storm. Inside an old, wrought iron gazebo sits a bench, a well-read book, and astrological armillary sphere and a smoking pipe that has been left behind. It’s the perfect place for Gracey to rest and ponder his past.”
It’s really underwhelming. Most of this stuff is walls and plants. We knew that this was coming from the concept art, but it’s still just a garden queue. Not much of the $60 billion was spent here.
Madame Leota’s Garden Area.
Like Master Gracey’s area, it is mostly a wall, fountain, statuary, and plants. These are normal garden things, but they are not really interactive Disney areas.
“Further along the path, you’ll find the eccentric garden of Madame Leota, the resident Seer. It seems as if the entire garden is dipped in a mystical energy; as if every plant, statue, and trinket is under Leota’s spell. There is a small statuary of oddities – frogs, lizards, rats and a cymbal-playing monkey – all frozen in time like they are under an incantation. The garden has a repeating motif of fortune-telling orbs. The large oak tree that graces the center of the courtyard has been decorated by Leota with colorful ornaments, chimes and bells that ring out in the breeze.”
It’s literally a bunch of statues and garden balls. Is this the Haunted Mansion or Grandma’s house?
There are some exciting things happening too!
Guests with mobility devices can now use the main queue like everyone else. Then, after the ride, they will use a new accessible elevator that will take them back out. There is a special artwork gallery by Imagineering in this new area! So it’s something special that only those guests and their party will experience.
Madame Leota’s Somewhere Beyond store -opening this winter
This new store is based on a carriage house that once housed the famous Haunted Mansion carriage.
“Somewhere Beyond is a carriage house that used to store the same ornate carriage that now remains on the mansion’s front yard. It also contains a boudoir on the mezzanine level. At one point, it was home to the mansion’s head caretaker, but later Madame Leota took up residence. It is filled with her eclectic furniture including a crystal ball, feinting couch and the original parlor chandelier that Leota used in séances at the mansion.
When the first floor of the carriage house became a shop, Leota kindly lent her desks, cabinets and chests as antique artifacts to be showcased along with the merchandise. As a powerful medium moving between worlds, Madame Leota comes and goes a lot and is excited to welcome guests to her home, soon.”
Guests visiting Disneyland can now ride the Haunted Mansion without a virtual queue, but you can use the Lighting Lane Multi-Pass or Lighting Lane Premiere Pass.
What do you think? Comment and let us know.
Source: Disney Parks Blog
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