UPDATE ADDED MARCH 8TH 2013! Click here to see photos of the new tower!
Disney fans who have been to the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World recently have noticed something new rising out of New Fantasyland. Located next to the “It’s a Small World” attraction, right where the old Fantasyland Skyway ride was, an adorable tower can be seen from Fantasyland, Frontierland and even from the Haunted Mansion cue. This addition comes as somewhat of a surprise to Disney fans as Rapunzel’s tower and village was never included in any concept art of New Fantasyland released by Disney. It all seems so mysterious because details have been hard to come by.
We are now able to see for ourselves, because the tower is peeping up from behind Imagineer construction walls. Despite the rumors, there will not be a meet and greet in this spot. Rapunzel will be found in the new Princess Fairytale Hall (where Snow White’s Scary Adventures use to be) when it opens in 2013. Therefore the tower area does not need to be a meet and greet because we will already have Princess Fairytale Hall for that purpose. In case you haven’t seen them, here are some of the beautiful concept drawings released by Disney of the new Princess Fairytale Hall scheduled to open in 2013.
So why the tower? Believe it or not Disney sources say this is where they will be placing new BATHROOMS. It seems so funny now that we know the truth doesn’t it? It actually makes a lot of sense if you think about it. When nature calls, and the kids have to “go” – this tower will be like a beacon in the night – letting us know that relief is not too far away. The new facility will include increased handicapped and family bathrooms, and is meant to replace the current bathrooms in the area by the Peter Pan’s Flight attraction. With those older bathrooms gone, my thoughts are that they will add an expanded interactive queue for Peter Pan, sort of like the one Winnie the Pooh has (only Pan themed of course!) Imagineers are also planning to expand the walkways to help with traffic flow between Fantasyland and Liberty Square on those crowded days. Having a meet and greet here would actually crowd the area with folks waiting to meet princesses. I hope this helps explain things – let me know if you have heard or seen any new information that I am missing! Personally, my thoughts are that maybe Disney doesn’t believe it’s very magical to brag about new bathrooms, so we are going to have to keep each other in the know on this one as things develop. Have a magical evening!
Video by Daniel Andersson and edited by Jeff Lange from MouseSteps.com
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9l1nCjXt77A
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Rapunzel’s tower is the kind of thing that Walt called “a wienne at the end of every road.” Walt designed the park with such visual draws to keep people moving. But there are two major errors that the current group of imagineers made that Walt would have vetoed. First, each wienne that Walt made had some meat to it. If there’s nothing at Rapunzel’s but comodes, people will be dissapointed. Second, the original Imagineers desidned the park archetecture to make the Haunted Mansion look far off to increase its sense of isolation and foreboding and they didn’t intend to have Fantasyland be visible from Frontierland because that would ruin the illusion of being in different worlds. Building this tower so that it can be seen from so far away ruins these things. It just really ruins them. If Walt would have approved of such things, then he would not have built the utilador system to keep Cow Boys from being seen in Tommorrowland and he would never had put that Chart House dining room as a bridge over the walkway from Liberty Square to Fantasyland for the purpose of visually separating the two areas. No no. The current group of imagineers, in a word, screwed up royally.
Mark since they’ve still got things under construction out there, I think I will wait until it’s all finished to decide if I agree with you! 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing your comments – I appreciate it!
Wow, you are actually right. i too want to see how Disney pulls off something like this, but then again the tower doent look like the friendliest tower around… And even if it a happy scenery, remember that the haunted mansion is a place of ” 999 happy haunts” and in the movie this tower is hidden in the forest along with Rapunzels village so maybe the vegitation will seperate the two sceneries and both will fit in perfectly
I think the “weenie with meat” thought is a valid one, but what can be worse then Cinderella castle in that regard! At least Sleeping Beauty castle in Disneyland has a walk through attraction! With that being said, I love the fact that they are concerned with the quality of scenery. I think they can mask the towers view from the mansion q with trees, etc. The bigger disappointment is 7 dwarves not being built before beasts castle and enchanted tales. The park is a logistical nightmare right now much like universal is where jaws was(at least since last I was there earlier this year) We are going to be stuck with fences,gates and one way paths until 2014? All so they could get their money making shops and restaurants open first?
Reblogged this on Mztressofallevil's Disney Doings and commented:
Isn’t it exciting to see all of the new expansion coming to light?
Thanks so much for the reblog, I really appreciate that. 🙂
I’m relatively Punzy obsessed and have been attempting to get at what’s really going on in this part of the expansion for a long time. According to Cast Members, Rapunzel is one of the most popular princesses in the history of the parks (based on merchandise sales). Her meet and greet was wildly popular until it was removed and made way for Brave. I think there will be at the very least a Rapunzel and Flynn M&G here in addition to the bathrooms, if not also a shop of some kind. One of the buildings has windows. You don’t put big windows in a bathroom. Though the Fairytale Hall theory is good, Rapunzel’s face was taken down from the preview wall (construction wall) outside the venue just a couple of days before the tower popped up. I think that’s a pretty interesting coincidence. Also, while dining at Be Our Guest in November we had a veteran server (formerly of Tony’s) at BOG tell us (as she wiggled her eyebrows) “It’s not just gonna be bathrooms. You’re gonna love it.”
Hi Morgan!! Thanks so much for all this wonderful information – and exciting news! It’s going to be a great day when everything is complete and we can have even more to enjoy in New Fantasyland.
I agree!! Thanks for the pictures! It’s tough getting good stuff all the way up here!
Have they set a date for the Princesses in 2013 to open?
I have not seen any exact dates but I have heard “the spring of 2013.”
I personally think that Disney World is very confident if they want this tower to be there. If they want to add an unplanned scenery near the Haunted Mansion, the imagineers must all have this planned out, I want to say that this website is the only website where i’ve gotten the most information of the mysterious uprising of this tower. Thank you so much! I think that adding more to the Liberty Square is very intelligent considering they have only two attractions, the Haunted Mansion and The Hall of Presidents. But i think that there will be a M&G somewhere in the tower because i’m not sure a small tower would be enough to contain two bathrooms. I mean, there HAS to be some kind of M&G in there. I’ll be pretty annoyed if it’s just an empty tower with no use, but its still a breath-taking view! Plus, i think its really smart by adding new scenes about more recent princesses like Tiana, (in the Princess Fairy Tale hall) and Rapunzel. But remember, Disney takes in mind that just bathrooms arent enough, they could do a whole little thing in Rapunzels village about landmarks in the movie like The Snuggly Duckling, ( a bar in the movie), or maybe they’ll do something really beautiful like the lantern ceremony on Rapunzels birthday! but then again, i dont think the whole new Rapunzel bit is going ot fit in with the Liberty Square picture. But who would’ve thought that A haunted Mansion attraction would fit in a Patriotic scenery! Maybe Rapunzels new village will fit in along with the fact that both attractions are located in the forests. Disney imagineers never told us much informations about this mysterious village appearing, but maybe its time the imagineers let us imagine whats going to appear in this all-new exciting village on Disneys newest and unique, (in a good way ) princess!
Thanks Daniel! It’s so much fun to talk about. I was at WDW last week and from what I could see over the fence-this area will be completed in just a few months. A cast member told me there will be a rest area there too. I wonder if they will have pagers for Peter Pan now like they do for Dumbo? Who knows? I can’t wait to see! I will take more pictures on Monday. Be sure and friend me on Facebook!
This all sounds great!!!! So all these new attractions including Rapunzel’s should be finished soon? I will be at WDW this September and my daughter would be over joyed to see it all!!! fingers crossed Rapunzel’s will be done and she can meet her as well as Flynn!!
Hi Lori!
This is all speculation and rumors, but I was able to view the progress of construction yesterday. I can’t see inside the structure of course, but by looking at the outside – I wouldn’t be surprised if it is officially opened by next month at the latest. I will keep you posted, and the minute I get any new information – it will be posted here! I hope your daughter gets to enjoy everything on your visit!
Wonder if it’s a cell tower in disguise?
Eric that is the most brilliant idea I have heard yet! They really need a cell tower so that would be great!! Thanks for your comment!
In my opinion, to put Rapunzel’s tower right in the view of the Haunted Mansion, they might as well had painted it on the Mona Lisa, right behind her head. They ruined a great and historic piece of Disney art for a bathroom of all things. As a student of the Life, character and art of Walt Disney, I believe that Walt would have firmly vetoed this and that the so-called imagineers who decided to put it there would have never been in any serious position of influence in the Disney organization to begin with. If you look at it, the tower was rendered very well but the positioning, the composition, is totally out of place, and creating the composition was the thing in which Walt himself was a genius. The tower belongs somewhere else in Fantasyland and NOT half in Fantasyland and half in Liberty Square!
P.S. I believe that to change the original aspects of the Magic Kingdom, such as the remote and foreboding sense created by placing the Haunted off by itself, is to dishonor Walt. Many of these things were done for good reason, and they should not be changed.
Love the comments and thoughts! As a major fan of the movie, I would obviously love to see the tower poking through from every angle in the lands, but I was pleased to hear what you all thought about not seeing other attractions from different lands. I may throw some people off. I wanted to point out that maybe the imagineers DID think through this and thought it would be best to make the tower high enough for everyone to see. In the movie, Rapunzel was hidden. No one could find her because of the place of the tower. At the end of the movie, all was revealed. I think the imagineers did this purposefully as they created the place for the castle. They wanted EVERYONE to see the castle as a remembrance that Rapunzel was rescued! We cant ever forget it!