Haunted Mansion Refurb

[Haymarket2008]

So, on the topic of the refurb.... it sounds like this is not an extensive closure. But previously, we had heard that HM would be getting a version of the Hatbox Ghost like DL had gotten -- is that on the table anytime soon for MK?

There is a video of a panel with the Imagineers who designed the Hatbox Ghost all but confirming that it will definitely arrive in WDW at some point on the near future. They talked about the fact that DL & WDW's Mansions' were produced at the same time and that there was going to be a Hatbox Ghost installed in Florida, but when it was yanked from California, they didn't install him a few years later in Florida. So he still has one more Mansion to come home to.

 

[Daveeeeed]

EXACTLY!!! that is sort of what Disneyland Paris did at their Mansion...it is at the exit, though the tone of the Paris mansion is decidedly creepier than ours... but that is exactly where the graveyard should have been...

Phantom Manor is the only thing in the end of Frontierland in Paris. Judging from when I was there there's a lot of room even taking the water into consideration. Hm in MK simply is in a terribly crowded location. HM would need to be pushed up so that people from Fantasyland don't run into it as it would be an even larger bottleneck. I guess they could tear down the divider, but why? The interactive queue only makes things better, not worse. And if we remove it from FP+ then hello huge wait times for Space, Splash and Big Thunder. Not to mention Peter Pan. FP+ relies on people being redistributed throughout the park, so far it is working in that sense, but I would prefer just having all Standby.

 

[Phantom Mickey]

Phantom Manor is the only thing in the end of Frontierland in Paris. Judging from when I was there there's a lot of room even taking the water into consideration. Hm in MK simply is in a terribly crowded location. HM would need to be pushed up so that people from Fantasyland don't run into it as it would be an even larger bottleneck. I guess they could tear down the divider, but why? The interactive queue only makes things better, not worse. And if we remove it from FP+ then hello huge wait times for Space, Splash and Big Thunder. Not to mention Peter Pan. FP+ relies on people being redistributed throughout the park, so far it is working in that sense, but I would prefer just having all Standby.

Regarding FP I couldn't agree with you more. I suppose FP makes sense in limited considerations but it has been a big line stopper for the regular ques. We went on Test Track and had to STAND in Que for an UNBELEAVABLE amount of time as the Fast Pass que had an UNENDING line of people tracking through. The regular Que was at a DEAD STOP - what is wrong with that picture....
Haunted does not need a Fast Pass lane, all people need to do is schedule their own times. That way you don't waste time having to be somewhere at a certain time and miss other attractons.

 

[peter11435]

They added that position, but it was not originally there after the inclusion of FP+. As I said, they've made changes and tweaks as necessary.

There's a reason Disney removed paper FP from the HM years ago, and why it wasn't included on Midway Mania or Mermaid at DCA. FP affects different ride systems in different ways, and the reasons are too complex to get into.

You information is incorrect. That position has been there since day one of fp+. It was not added later.

I am well informed about why FP was originally removed from the haunted mansion. And yes, some attractions, mansion and pirates included, do not need Fastpass. But, Fastpass and Fastpass+ has no effect on an attractions capacity. If vehicles are being dispatched empty while there are guests waiting this is a result of cast members not doing their jobs properly. It is not because of Fastpass.

 

[5thGenTexan]

Anyone have any pics of the current queue situation vs say 1992 (the last time I experienced HM). My first trip to WDW was 1985 and the second was 1987. What were wait times for HM, POTC, BTM, etc then way before any thought of FP. My memory may be clouded, but it sure didn't seem like 20 minute waits back then,.

 

[Horizons1]

Nothing major being done. The height of the balcony is being changed and there are supposed to be fans installed for the queue since the ones already present only blow hot air...

 

[WDWtraveler]

Photo update as of Friday, July 8. The scaffolding and construction scrim covers the entire Haunted Mansion. A portion already has the photo overlay....expect the rest to be applied soon.

 

[Speedy71]

Come on Disney add the hat box ghost already!

 

[DisneyJayL]

That must be rough. So many rides have implied death. JC, HM, GMR, TOT, Indy, Star Tours, Dinosaur, Energy, American Adventure.

Yeah, kinda. Implied death better than actual death!

 

[DisneyJayL]

That's why they have It's A Small World...

That's true and it's one of my favorites. I have five kids who love the Haunted Mansion. Including my one year old.

 

[seabreezept813]

Because they're hideous and actually ruin the experience. Nothing like standing outside in the 100 degree FL heat and being forced to listen to children and adults obnoxiously beating, screaming, and concocting other disorder because they're incapable of waiting in a line without having something at their finger tips.

I usually agree with you, but it's Disney let people have fun. It's not a library or even a museum. I'll take people being loud in line playing games over chanting tour groups.

 

[NearTheEars]

You information is incorrect. That position has been there since day one of fp+. It was not added later.

I am well informed about why FP was originally removed from the haunted mansion. And yes, some attractions, mansion and pirates included, do not need Fastpass. But, Fastpass and Fastpass+ has no effect on an attractions capacity. If vehicles are being dispatched empty while there are guests waiting this is a result of cast members not doing their jobs properly. It is not because of Fastpass.

I can confirm this. I excitedly went the week FP+ and magicbands launched for APs and there was a CM at the merge point. Even for my 9:30 a.m. Reservation that I stupidly booked as I could have just walked on as well.

But hey, that helped me discover that no one heads to Adventureland at rope drop.

 

[No Name]

You seem to be confusing "operations" with "mechanical operations." When I say "Ops," I mean it in the Disney sense—loosely defined as daily operations within the parks. This covers crowd control, attraction throughout, etc.

Here's one example. By creating artificially long lines at large capacity attractions, FP+ has affected Ops by decreasing hourly throughput in some of the locations. Consider that POTC has two loading decks, but if few guests are picking up FPs, everyone is backed up on one side even though every other boat is empty. Sometimes the attraction CMs can help by splitting the standby queue and sending guests to the FP side, but that's only if scheduling allows the position.

POTC is then operating below its capacity, making queues longer and crowds more difficult to manage. It also leads to decreased guest satisfaction.

Remember, FP+ was added to those attractions because it was originally a shell game. Someone sold execs on the idea that by moving guests around from pre-scheduled queue to pre-scheduled queue, the company wouldn't have to invest in new attractions to absorb crowds. It seemed like a win-win situation: eventually, guests would schedule their entire days in advance and Disney wouldn't have to build multiple expensive attractions. It was an incredibly shortsighted and arrogant plan that also assumed guests were addicted to Disney and wouldn't care that the parks were becoming stale. Then Potter happened.

Back during the days of FP+ testing, front-line Ops CMs repeatedly complained that the system wasn't working. After Disney added FP+ to the omnimovers and boat rides anyway, front-line CMs were proven correct, and the system has had to be tweaked repeatedly to fix a problem that didn't exist before a substantial and unneeded investment.

Oh okay, I did get what you mean by operations, but didn't understand how it'd create longer lines in the end (or how it would run below capacity). But I see what you mean with the PotC example, and I do recall that on my last trip.

I just think that problem could be largely solved by removing fastpass+ from the attractions that previously didn't have fastpass. Obviously the shell game thing did not work, so there's no need to have FP for every attraction anymore. If they basically make FP+ an electronic version of the old system (so no FP for Pirates, HM, Small World) it should do away with the problem you described above.

There are still the problems of the system going down, people's bands not working, people having to twist their arms and wrists in bizarre ways to get into their hotel room, etc.

But that problem you described could be pretty easily solved by getting rid of FP for those attractions, right? Is there a reason they can't do that?

 

[The Hatbox Ghost]

There is a video of a panel with the Imagineers who designed the Hatbox Ghost all but confirming that it will definitely arrive in WDW at some point on the near future. They talked about the fact that DL & WDW's Mansions' were produced at the same time and that there was going to be a Hatbox Ghost installed in Florida, but when it was yanked from California, they didn't install him a few years later in Florida. So he still has one more Mansion to come home to.

Dust the attic fellas, I'm coming home

 

[Adam N]

Oh okay, I did get what you mean by operations, but didn't understand how it'd create longer lines in the end (or how it would run below capacity). But I see what you mean with the PotC example, and I do recall that on my last trip.

I just think that problem could be largely solved by removing fastpass+ from the attractions that previously didn't have fastpass. Obviously the shell game thing did not work, so there's no need to have FP for every attraction anymore. If they basically make FP+ an electronic version of the old system (so no FP for Pirates, HM, Small World) it should do away with the problem you described above.

There are still the problems of the system going down, people's bands not working, people having to twist their arms and wrists in bizarre ways to get into their hotel room, etc.

But that problem you described could be pretty easily solved by getting rid of FP for those attractions, right? Is there a reason they can't do that?

As someone who watches people touch Magic Bands to touch points everyday, there's no reason on God's green earth they need to contort their body. The band actually can move around ones wrist.

 

[tirian]

As someone who watches people touch Magic Bands to touch points everyday, there's no reason on God's green earth they need to contort their body. The band actually can move around ones wrist.

Yep, I've never had a problem. I wear it so the mouse ears face outward, not at me, and I tap and go.

 

[tirian]

Oh okay, I did get what you mean by operations, but didn't understand how it'd create longer lines in the end (or how it would run below capacity). But I see what you mean with the PotC example, and I do recall that on my last trip.

I just think that problem could be largely solved by removing fastpass+ from the attractions that previously didn't have fastpass. Obviously the shell game thing did not work, so there's no need to have FP for every attraction anymore. If they basically make FP+ an electronic version of the old system (so no FP for Pirates, HM, Small World) it should do away with the problem you described above.

There are still the problems of the system going down, people's bands not working, people having to twist their arms and wrists in bizarre ways to get into their hotel room, etc.

But that problem you described could be pretty easily solved by getting rid of FP for those attractions, right? Is there a reason they can't do that?

At this point, Disney still needs the additional FP locations to spread guests around the MK. But if Disney transitions to an electronic version of the paper system, which they are rumored to be doing in California and Paris, there's no reason not to eventually remove FP from crowd-munching attractions. Whether or not they do this is anybody's guess.

 

[tirian]

I can confirm this. I excitedly went the week FP+ and magicbands launched for APs and there was a CM at the merge point. Even for my 9:30 a.m. Reservation that I stupidly booked as I could have just walked on as well.

But hey, that helped me discover that no one heads to Adventureland at rope drop.

Another problem is that the merge point is far enough into the queue that on busy days, the standby line can back up considerably before guests reach the CM who sends them to the other side. CMs will utilize the outdoor switchbacks before they simply send guests to both sides of the massive queue that already exists.

I helped launch MM+, and I guarantee that POTC posted shorter waits and had higher capacity when both sides were open to everyone. Since I left the company just under a year ago, I don't know firsthand which changes they've made behind the scenes to FP+; I can only go by my friends' reports.

 

[NearTheEars]

Another problem is that the merge point is far enough into the queue that on busy days, the standby line can back up considerably before guests reach the CM who sends them to the other side. CMs will utilize the outdoor switchbacks before they simply send guests to both sides of the massive queue that already exists.

I helped launch MM+, and I guarantee that POTC posted shorter waits and had higher capacity when both sides were open to everyone. Since I left the company roughly a year ago, I don't know firsthand which changes they've made behind the scenes to FP+; I can only go by my friends' reports.

Can't really comment on the rest of your post. Just can only comfirm that a CM was at the merge directing folks to either side.

Also can confirm by day's end the line was out into Adventureland.

Kind of funny that I'm typing this from the POTC standby queue.

 

[peter11435]

Another problem is that the merge point is far enough into the queue that on busy days, the standby line can back up considerably before guests reach the CM who sends them to the other side. CMs will utilize the outdoor switchbacks before they simply send guests to both sides of the massive queue that already exists.

I helped launch MM+, and I guarantee that POTC posted shorter waits and had higher capacity when both sides were open to everyone. Since I left the company just under a year ago, I don't know firsthand which changes they've made behind the scenes to FP+; I can only go by my friends' reports.

The capacity did not change. You can keep saying it but it doesn't make it true. The area post merge is always supplied with guests from both Fastpass and standby to ensure that both loads are always supplied with guests. Post merge neither side is considered Fastpass or standby, the guests are mixed. If they are starving one of the load docks it is the result of cast member error. It is not by design.

Fastpass or no Fastpass the attraction still dispatches the same boats at the same interval. Its capacity did not change.