The Piston Peak Tower Crane Is Moving at Magic Kingdom, and Its Jib Appears to Reach Over a Liberty Square Walkway
Magic Kingdom spent its 55th birthday with a new moving part on the skyline. On Thursday, October 1, Blog Mickey watched an operator sit in the cabin of the Piston Peak National Park tower crane during the 9 a.m. hour while the jib swung around the construction site. The outlet says it was "the first time we've seen it moving since crews installed it last month."
Blog Mickey did not see the crane lift anything yet. The hook hung empty in its photos, and the outlet says it seemed like the operator "was simply trying to point the crane into the wind."
The crane rising behind the former Liberty Square Riverboat landing on October 1. Photo: BlogMickey.com
A jib that reaches over the walkway
The most striking photos come from Liberty Square. Blog Mickey says several of those frames put the long white jib above the old Liberty Square Riverboat landing, where it seems to stretch out over the walkway guests use in front of it, "at least for a few feet."
That reach is the point of a tower crane. Blog Mickey notes that the jib sweeps a wide circle around the mast, and that the crane is expected to cover every corner of the Piston Peak construction site once lifting begins.
A worker seated in the crane's cab high atop the blue mast on October 1. Photo: BlogMickey.com
Visible from around the park
With most of the site hidden behind construction walls, Blog Mickey calls the crane "the easiest part of the work for guests to spot." From Adventureland and Frontierland, its photos show the mast poking up past the trees, while other shots catch the jib over the Haunted Mansion queue, the Hub and Fantasyland rooftops.
In elevated shots Blog Mickey took from Disney's Contemporary Resort the day before, on September 30, the blue mast rises behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and one of them frames Cinderella Castle and Tomorrowland in the same view.
The crane behind Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, seen from Disney's Contemporary Resort on September 30. Photo: BlogMickey.com
What the crane is there to build
Once it starts lifting, Blog Mickey says the crane will help raise Piston Peak National Park's show buildings and themed elements, including its two Cars attractions, Cars Ridge Run Rally and Miss Fritter's Daredevil Spin-Along. Disney has not announced an opening date for the land or either ride.
Here is the project's recent timeline, according to Blog Mickey:
- February: A Disney filing said infrastructure work for Piston Peak National Park and Villains Land would be done by 2028.
- July 25: The first piece of the crane's blue steel base showed up in the excavated site.
- July 28: The base got its concrete foundation.
- September 23: A Notice of Commencement from Walt Disney Imagineering covered general construction at a new site address near the Haunted Mansion.
- September 27: Aerial photos showed the finished crane, its jib already reaching out over the work zone.
- October 1: Blog Mickey saw the crane moving for the first time, with an operator in the cabin.
The crane, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Cinderella Castle from Disney's Contemporary Resort on September 30. Photo: BlogMickey.com
Sources
Image credits: BlogMickey.com.
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