News Hatbox Ghost coming to Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion

[Disney Analyst]

This lights on video shows me that there is clearly a similar amount of room here as Disneyland… so why could he not go there?

 

[peter11435]

This lights on video shows me that there is clearly a similar amount of room here as Disneyland… so why could he not go there?

View attachment 886534

Space was never the issue

 

[LittleBuford]

I wish they’d left him out of the WDW version entirely. I’ve never understood the appeal, and the controversy that’s been generated by his placement just isn’t worth it.

 

[MerlinTheGoat]

This lights on video shows me that there is clearly a similar amount of room here as Disneyland… so why could he not go there?

Prior to his installation, the physical areas were identical at both DL and WDW. They had to expand the balcony to make the space larger at DL. This expansion I think included them doing work on the "roof" behind the balcony. I don't know what supposedly prevented them from doing this at WDW since again these spaces appeared to be the same before his installation. No one who claims to know what prevented this has ever elaborated. Perhaps the space inside of where this roof was located contains something that caused issues, something that wasn't a problem at DL.

If there was an actual issue with putting him in that location (and for the record i'm not sure I trust this to be the case regardless but maybe we'll learn specifics someday), then they really should have just put him in the attic proper. It would require a bit of rearrangement/removal of some of the props, which I think has been done in the past before anyway (they used to have mechanical pop-up ghosts instead of the portraits scattered around and the bride herself has also moved). That's where they had him originally anyway.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I would prefer him inside the actual attic. I don’t really love the placement at Disneyland much.

 

[𝐌𝖆𝖓 𝖎𝖓 𝐖𝖊𝖇]

At least they're aware of the controversy. The hope now is that with enough complaints and the prospects of a new bride for Orlando all is not lost for their Attic reunion. Unlikely, but it's not zero.

 

[Disney Analyst]

I would prefer him inside the actual attic. I don’t really love the placement at Disneyland much.

The attic is too intimate and busy already imo. I like that he’s a moment just outside the attic.

 

[𝐌𝖆𝖓 𝖎𝖓 𝐖𝖊𝖇]

The attic is too intimate and busy already imo. I like that he’s a moment just outside the attic.

Busy with "litter theming" that only serves to spoon-feed backstory so Constance Hathaway works. Strip that all back to its more eerie original version and Hatbox would have a proper place again.

 

[HMF]

Perhaps the space inside of where this roof was located contains something that caused issues, something that wasn't a problem at DL.

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[HMF]

At least they're aware of the controversy. The hope now is that with enough complaints and the prospects of a new bride for Orlando all is not lost for their Attic reunion. Unlikely, but it's not zero.

I will take the new bride if it means moving HBG into a better place but I am not really a fan of the new DL Attic and it's story (or lack thereof.)

 

[UNCgolf]

I wish they’d left him out of the WDW version entirely. I’ve never understood the appeal, and the controversy that’s been generated by his placement just isn’t worth it.

I think the way he currently exists in the WDW version detracts from the ride rather than enhancing it.

 

[FigmentFan82]

I’m personally not bothered at all by the WDW placement. You see him, he does his thing, and you move on.

 

[ToTBellHop]

I’m personally not bothered at all by the WDW placement. You see him, he does his thing, and you move on.

Same. He’s pretty cool. Inasmuch as he’s distracting, your glance is drawn away from a floating candelabra. That gag is already featured at the start of the ride.

 

[UNCgolf]

Same. He’s pretty cool. Inasmuch as he’s distracting, your glance is drawn away from a floating candelabra. That gag is already featured at the start of the ride.

It's the endless hallway as a whole, though, not just a floating candelabra. It would have made more sense to replace the hallway entirely with him than have them right next to each other, although that would have been a huge mistake to me.

I think that area of the ride was better without his presence.

To be fair, I'm also not the biggest fan of the figure overall. It's way too bright and doesn't fit well with the rest of the attraction.

 

[LittleBuford]

I think the way he currently exists in the WDW version detracts from the ride rather than enhancing it.

I find him too cartoony and modern. I know he’s based on original designs, but he just doesn’t harmonise with the other figures.

 

[Marc Davis Fan]

I find the HBG to clash aesthetically and emotionally with that part of the ride. As has been discussed previously, there was a carefully-crafted emotional buildup, without the ghosts fully visible until after Leota, which coincides with the tone becoming lighter (comedy being more heavily sprinkled in). And then the ghosts become even more visible - and the tone even lighter - in the graveyard.

At Disneyland, HBG is a transition to the graveyard. Its placement by the Endless Hallway at WDW breaks (for me and many others) the emotional journey of the Haunted Mansion experience.

A key point of Disney design philosophy is that seemingly small things can matter a lot. This idea should be particularly attended to when it comes to WDW's Haunted Mansion - one of Imagineering's crown jewels and often considered the definitive version of that attraction.

 

[HBG2]

HMF tipped me off that the HBG discussion was waking up again over here and suggested I stop by. So yeah, pretty much everything I wanted to say about the WDW HBG I've said at the Long-Forgotten blog, but the main issue that forced the placement where he is, is money. The thing is HEAVY and needs a sturdy place big enough for both the figure and a place behind him where they can scoot him in for repairs. At DL they beefed up the flooring, etc., on the attic porch and the gable behind him, which they could have done at WDW also, but the budget wouldn't allow for both the figure itself AND the substructure work, so the EH tableau was the only feasible alternative. Apparently the floor there was either sturdy enough or was more easily strengthened. The Imagineers weren't happy about the placement and went out of their way to give a "read" to the ghost that could be shoehorned into the 3-act play that is the HM. Muddy footprints pointing to and away from the door, lots of baggage, etc. = He's not part of the retirement community but a recent interloper (or party crasher, if you will) just now moving in, and therefore he avoided the curse or the cosmic sticky wicket, or whatever it is that has all the others stuck and in need of Leota's help.

 

[HBG2]

And if you ask me, they should have put in the Man in the Web instead of the HBG. That way, each US park would have a distinctive character with a similarly mysterious origin. Foxxy has been complaining about the Disneylandification of WDW for a long time, and in the case of the HM it's dead on target. Let WDW HM be WDW HM.

 

[𝐌𝖆𝖓 𝖎𝖓 𝐖𝖊𝖇]

HMF tipped me off that the HBG discussion was waking up again over here and suggested I stop by. So yeah, pretty much everything I wanted to say about the WDW HBG I've said at the Long-Forgotten blog, but the main issue that forced the placement where he is, is money. The thing is HEAVY and needs a sturdy place big enough for both the figure and a place behind him where they can scoot him in for repairs. At DL they beefed up the flooring, etc., on the attic porch and the gable behind him, which they could have done at WDW also, but the budget wouldn't allow for both the figure itself AND the substructure work, so the EH tableau was the only feasible alternative. Apparently the floor there was either sturdy enough or was more easily strengthened. The Imagineers weren't happy about the placement and went out of their way to give a "read" to the ghost that could be shoehorned into the 3-act play that is the HM. Muddy footprints pointing to and away from the door, lots of baggage, etc. = He's not part of the retirement community but a recent interloper (or party crasher, if you will) just now moving in, and therefore he avoided the curse or the cosmic sticky wicket, or whatever it is that has all the others stuck and in need of Leota's help.

I'm of the opinion that they just shouldn't have done it at all. (If they couldn't do it right) Would rather he not exist in MK's Mansion. There's also no reason (other than $) why they couldn't have made a lighter weight and smaller footprint version.

 

[PizzaPlanet]

Have there been any updates on WDW getting the updated bride?