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New Fantasyland construction photos, plus more from the Mansion queue

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Published: August 2, 2011 at 5:53 AM
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - I spent a few hours at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom this weekend and wanted to share with you some photos of the ongoing construction of the park's new Fantasyland.

You can see the emerging Beast's Castle as you approach from the direction of It's a Small World.

Fantasyland construction

Keep walking, just behind Dumbo, and a fuller picture of the new "Be Our Guest" restaurant site emerges.

Be our Guest restaurant construction

Disney's tried to obscure much of the construction with trees, in addition to the construction wall. But the wall continues to promise a "2012" opening date for the project.

Fantasyland construction wall

Continuing down the path toward the teacups, you can see more of the Little Mermaid ride's facade.

Little Mermaid ride construction

In addition to the Fantasyland construction, I got my first in-person look at the new additions to the Haunted Mansion queue.

Interactive Haunted Mansion queue

I liked the detail of the skulls and bones on the xylophone, not to mention how your touch elicits sounds from this musical crypt.

Mansion organ

But take a closer look at the nameplate on that organ keyboard around the corner:

Ravenscroft

"Ravenscroft." A nice tribute to the voice of the Haunted Mansion.

Master Gracey's grave

I got a kick out of Master Gracey's grave.

Madame Leota's grave

As well as Madame Leota's. "Dear Sweet Leota, Beloved by All. In Regions Beyond Now, But Having a Ball." Nice touch.

Readers' Opinions

From Daniel Etcheberry on August 2, 2011 at 8:08 AM
I will not go to Magic Kingdom until the new Fantasyland is open.
From Sylvain Comeau on August 2, 2011 at 1:11 PM
The new queue is a lot of fun. We were letting people pass us in line just so we could spend more time enjoying it.
Robert, what did you think of the new interactive Hitch Hiking Ghosts? What ghastly things did they do to your body?
From Robert Niles on August 2, 2011 at 3:03 PM
Love the animation clarity and range of motion on the new hitchhiking ghosts. A huge upgrade over the old method of handling that effect.
From James Koehl on August 2, 2011 at 5:32 PM
It was raining lightly when we were there, and they had the interactive graveyard roped off. We could see it, but couldn't get close enough to touch the interactive stuff. We were already wet from walking in the rain (as was everyone else in line). Any idea why they roped it off? If we wanted to get close and get wetter, why not let us? If we didn't want to, we could have stayed under cover in the line.
From 76.29.123.92 on August 3, 2011 at 10:25 AM
I was just at Walt Disney World for six days and completely forgot you were on your summer tour. I didn't see you though.

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