Any new rumors or news about the planned Haunted Mansion resort rooms

Cosmic Commando

Well-Known Member
They are a mess. I like Music most of all as its peaceful (sorta). Visited AoA last month while waiting for YOU to arrive and have our "How to use WDWMAGIC.com to bring TDO to its knees meeting?'' and found the place incredibly crowded and loud and cheap and tacky and already showing signs of neglect (don't believe they've truly cleaned the food court floor thoroughly since the resort opened).

These are motels with tacky large icons hanging around.

All Stars were fine when you could get them regularly for $40-60 a night to stay on property, but I believe the lowest regular rate is nw over $100 when you include tax and that is lunacy for all but the true addicts.
The computer in the 90's section of Pop has been in serious need of refurb since January 2006.
 

mousehockey37

Well-Known Member
Instead of AoA (which I dislike), I would have liked to see a resort with attraction or land themed rooms.
Haunted Mansion rooms, Pirates rooms, space rooms, etc. Much more interesting.

DLP has a western themed hotel that goes in-line with the park. I stayed in it back in 98. It was pretty cool. It looks like what the AoA rooms do now with the Little Mermaid rooms and such.

As for a Haunted Mansion themed resort, it'd be a neat idea, but ultimately, it's NOT the HM. The rooms could be extremely well, but as for making the whole resort that way, I dunno. It's sounds more like an AoA thing to do. This would also be where Disney would put the movie AND the ride stuff in, so there'd be 2 conflicting versions in one place.

If you wanted to have a resort to resemble something of that, you could have a place called something like: "The Hallow's Eve Lodge" and it could resemble the Tower of Terror and have elements from both the Tower and the HM. Not to say that they go together, but it'd fit the theme.
 

AEfx

Well-Known Member
They are a mess. I like Music most of all as its peaceful (sorta). Visited AoA last month while waiting for YOU to arrive and have our "How to use WDWMAGIC.com to bring TDO to its knees meeting?'' and found the place incredibly crowded and loud and cheap and tacky and already showing signs of neglect (don't believe they've truly cleaned the food court floor thoroughly since the resort opened).

These are motels with tacky large icons hanging around.

All Stars were fine when you could get them regularly for $40-60 a night to stay on property, but I believe the lowest regular rate is nw over $100 when you include tax and that is lunacy for all but the true addicts.

Yeah, overpriced is the problem. I think they are great (Pop, at least, where I prefer) and I'd totally stay at AoA. But When it's $100+ a night it's ridiculous, when on Priceline you can get Grand Cypress at that price.

Honestly, when looking for a place to just stay a night or two, I've actually had great experiences at the $30/night Motel 6 (West, East is shady I heard, LOL) right outside of the Studios. It's closer to Studios and Epcot than many on-property resorts, really clean, and has a nice staff. It certainly is not the ritz, but for $30 a night and that proximity to the parks (and you can park right in front of your room), it's a really decent value. I'd never tell anyone to spend a once-in-a-lifetime vacation there, but in a pinch - I'd rather stay there than $100+ a night to walk 20 minutes to my room at Pop, LOL.
 

Spike-in-Berlin

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I know, I wasn't criticising it but taking it purely at face value, it wasn't to my taste; I foud it weird walking around that they have music playing by the likes of Kate Bush and Billy Joel rather than songs or scores from the films represented at AoA. I really liked the different themes and facades but I probably wouldn't choose to stay there myself. I've stayed at all of the All Stars and still really love the Movies resort. Right now we're Port Orleans French Quarter regulars (which overall is probably my favourite place to stay) but having stayed at Wilderness Lodge one year, that gave me a very different perspective of the resorts, that place is amazing.

That's funny because exactly that's what annoyed my GF and me. When we lay at the Flippin' Fins Pool (TLM area) we were so p... off after 2 hours that we didn't hear any Disney music with the exception of Under the Sea once every hour and were pested instead with a lot of reggea (hello? TLM happens to take place in EUROPE, not Jamaica). Other TLM songs? Other Disney songs? Only at the Big Blue Pool because the Cozy Cone Pool played a mixture of songs from Cars and Cars 2 and Beach Boys (which I definitely like but they are not Disney).

But although there were some disappointments at AoA we still loved it. The landscaping and theming was superior to any other Value and I would really have enjoyed our stay if I not have nearly catched a pneumonia and had to stay a lot of time in my room in bed :( .
 

Spike-in-Berlin

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The computer in the 90's section of Pop has been in serious need of refurb since January 2006.

Why? Doesn't it work any longer? Perhaps they should reboot it. Or exchange the hard drive. I am always fascinated when I see that notebook and compare it to present ones, the wonder of miniaturizing. :)
 

FrankLapidus

Well-Known Member
That's funny because exactly that's what annoyed my GF and me. When we lay at the Flippin' Fins Pool (TLM area) we were so p... off after 2 hours that we didn't hear any Disney music with the exception of Under the Sea once every hour and were pested instead with a lot of reggea (hello? TLM happens to take place in EUROPE, not Jamaica). Other TLM songs? Other Disney songs? Only at the Big Blue Pool because the Cozy Cone Pool played a mixture of songs from Cars and Cars 2 and Beach Boys (which I definitely like but they are not Disney).

But although there were some disappointments at AoA we still loved it. The landscaping and theming was superior to any other Value and I would really have enjoyed our stay if I not have nearly catched a pneumonia and had to stay a lot of time in my room in bed :( .

I found it a strange choice to play such music when films like TLM and TLK have some of the most iconic Disney songs that most people who stay at the resort would more than likely be familiar with. And I hate Kate Bush's music so I was especially unhappy to hear that playing :p.

Yeah, I haven't stayed there myself so I'm not in a position to offer any definitive opinion of it, but what I saw at first glace was not enough to tempt me into wanting to stay there. I liked the theming, especially the elephant's graveyard in TLK section, but there were other things I wasn't so impressed with. But to each their own, French Quarter is pretty much the perfect place for us so it would take a lot to tempt us away from there.
 

WED Purist

Well-Known Member
(hello? TLM happens to take place in EUROPE, not Jamaica).

That brings up a funny point. Disney's version of The Little Mermaid isn't set in Europe, where Andersen hails from. In researching the themed queue for the new Fantasyland attraction, it became apparent that the setting for the movie wasn't clear. Prince Eric's castle looks kind of Mediterranean, but the only place mentioned in the movie is the Caspian Sea, but the biggest song in the movie has a Calypso feel. We actually went back to some of the original animators to ask where the film was set, and they had never thought about it. Up to this point, the setting has never been concretely determined.
 

Bolna

Well-Known Member
My big issue with the Value Resorts is the same reason I'm not a big fan of what was done to the Disneyland Hotel. It's decorations, not a themed experience. Yes, some of its is much better than others, but its still not an experience. Themed decorations are easy, mundane and part of the everyday, but an experience pushes beyond.


The Value Resorts are not themed, they are decorated. The do not seek to create their own experience of the theme, but merely remind you of the subject matter through decor.

Thanks for this post! There is such a difference between true theming and just themed decorating. That's what I hate about all those new rooms at the moderates (princesses at POR or pirates at CBR) as well, they are just decorated, not themed. And I consider this a step down from the story telling I love in the Disney resorts.
 

GeorgiaPinesRJB

Well-Known Member
That brings up a funny point. Disney's version of The Little Mermaid isn't set in Europe, where Andersen hails from. In researching the themed queue for the new Fantasyland attraction, it became apparent that the setting for the movie wasn't clear. Prince Eric's castle looks kind of Mediterranean, but the only place mentioned in the movie is the Caspian Sea, but the biggest song in the movie has a Calypso feel. We actually went back to some of the original animators to ask where the film was set, and they had never thought about it. Up to this point, the setting has never been concretely determined.

"Kiss the Girl" is a Calypso song too... but you're right, it is never directly mentioned. I always assumed it was the Mediterranean and Sebastin was just from the Islands, mon.
 

dopeylover

Well-Known Member
We were part of the survey they did back then. We were very excited about the possiblility. The mock-up was so cool. I assumed the idea had been canned, and they did AoA instead.

We were too, and I was really excited for them as well. We're booked into a Royal Room, which my DD will adore, but I wish they had gone forward w. HM rooms as well.
 

luv

Well-Known Member
AoA, like the rest of the Value motels, is bright, garish and a little nerve-jangling. But I do think it is slightly less tacky and is better themed overall than the other Values.

I wouldn't pay $100/night to stay there, much less $300, lol.

I'm sure that most families who actually care about getting some value for their money will be in offsite condos/homes. But there are plenty of women who will want so badly to stay in Disney hotels that they'll cough up the money and take their families to AoA.

Some people may even like AoA and not think it is garish and tacky. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. There is no accounting for taste. We all have different preferences.

I think it will do okay.
 

prberk

Well-Known Member
Which, to me, would still be better than AoA.

Like a resort with an Adventureland building, a Tomorrowland building, and so on, all with rooms decorated to fit the theme. (An expansion if what they did with the DL Hotel.)

I believe that this was already the case, only on a more original and well-done scale, with the original resorts surrounding the Seven Seas Lagoon (now known as "Magic Kingdom Resorts"), designed to mirror the lands in the MK: The contemporary goes with its neighbor, Tomorrowland; and the Polynesian goes with Adventureland.

So, the idea is good, but even better if done in a full-scale, non-cheesy way (like the original resorts). Truly immersive, and not childish.

I personally think that the furniture in all of these rooms (the survey ones and the completed ones at CBR) look childish, as opposed to truly immersive (like Poly, Fort Wilderness, and the original Dixie Landings, as well as Wilderness Lodge).
 

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
That brings up a funny point. Disney's version of The Little Mermaid isn't set in Europe, where Andersen hails from. In researching the themed queue for the new Fantasyland attraction, it became apparent that the setting for the movie wasn't clear. Prince Eric's castle looks kind of Mediterranean, but the only place mentioned in the movie is the Caspian Sea, but the biggest song in the movie has a Calypso feel. We actually went back to some of the original animators to ask where the film was set, and they had never thought about it. Up to this point, the setting has never been concretely determined.

I think it takes place in its own fantasy realm with a mix of real life influences, not exactly put in any place as that's irrelevant to the story and would limit what the movie could show.

Modern Disney fan obsession with pinpointing every DAC's exact time and location is something I'll never get.
 

wiigirl

Well-Known Member
Yeah, but good luck finding a cheap PATA hard drive and 168-pin RAM!

lol :p
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WED Purist

Well-Known Member
Modern Disney fan obsession with pinpointing every DAC's exact time and location is something I'll never get.

If you're going to develop an attraction, you have to have a back story. Since we were making a three dimensional animated movie, you have to know what the rocks, and trees, and ground, and things would look like.
 

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
If you're going to develop an attraction, you have to have a back story. Since we were making a three dimensional animated movie, you have to know what the rocks, and trees, and ground, and things would look like.

I'm not disagreeing with that, but designers as given artistic license to modify those elements to make the attraction more attractive. Even if it doesn't reflect reality 100%.

What I posted had to do more with fans online liking to say x movie took place here and when, even when the information given in the movie isn't completely clear.
 

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