As we continue combing through thousands of photos from this year’s D23 Expo, one detail on the perimeter of the Piston Peak National Park model caught our eye. Imagineers included existing buildings from Frontierland and Liberty Square around the edges of the display, giving guests a frame of reference for how the whole area connects. Next to the Haunted Mansion, that additional context revealed a new wooded pathway, one that appears to be a forested overflow queue for the attraction. Here’s a closer look!
New Haunted Mansion Overflow Queue Spotted in Piston Peak National Park Model
IN THIS ARTICLE:
- A new wooded pathway appears next to the Haunted Mansion in the Piston Peak National Park model.
- The path looks to be a new overflow queue, separate from the main walkways into Piston Peak and Villains Land.
The Piston Peak National Park model was a highlight of this year’s D23 Expo. The model spent all three days on display inside the Imagineering: Horizons pavilion, and was combed over by hundreds of attendees. Wisely, the Imagineers built the surrounding Frontierland and Liberty Square context right onto the display. That included a rough, unthemed rendering of the Haunted Mansion, sitting where the new Cars-themed land meets the existing Magic Kingdom. Nearby, a tree-lined path curves through the wooded area between the attraction and Piston Peak.
Specifically, the mansion’s awning covers its existing queue, built for the attraction’s current footprint. Meanwhile, a new path winds right next to it, slightly narrower and wooded on both sides. It sits next to the mansion queue and the main flow of guest traffic headed toward Piston Peak. The path looks self-contained, and it really doesn’t lead anywhere. Instead, it looks to be a down-and-back pathway that serves no functional purpose in Piston Peak. Given where it sits, we think Imagineers are planning a new overflow queue. It would let Haunted Mansion continue holding large crowds without spilling into or blocking the new walkways.
New Haunted Mansion Extended Queue
Haunted Mansion’s current extended queue setup has been in flux for most of 2026. The queue often extends beyond the entrance archways. It often runs along the Piston Peak construction walls toward the former Liberty Square Riverboat launch. Additionally, we’ve also seen work on a building that used to be part of the extended queue, but now sits in the Piston Peak construction site. That building is not represented in this model.
Eventually, once Piston Peak National Park and the new walkways open, they’ll send significantly more foot traffic past the mansion’s front door. A new forested queue path, built along the mansion’s perimeter, solves that problem. It gives Disney a way to hold hundreds of extra guests at a time without narrowing or rerouting the new thoroughfares.
The Story So Far
- In January, land clearing for Villains Land began encroaching on the Haunted Mansion’s outdoor queue.
- In July, we found new construction underway on a building tied to the Haunted Mansion’s overflow queue, built against the back of an existing Liberty Square facade near the former Mike Fink Keel Boat landing.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!
Could it be a pathway that will lead to Villians Land?
There is a far wider walkway next to the forested pathway. That wider walkway will take guests toward Villains Land. The area we are highlighting in this article is for an extended queue for Haunted Mansion