Haunted Mansion pre-show

tomast

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I want to tell you my not so happy experience in my favorite ride on Magic Kingdom, please share yours I will really apreciate it.

The last 5 times I went to Haunted Mansion the cast member that open the Haunted Mansion door made everyone skip the"pre-show" in the room previous the stretching room. So they open the door and make you walk directly to the stretching room. Once there the "Host / narrator" had started talking long before I entered (and i was not one of the last guest to enter in fact i was one of the first). So everyone misses the first part of the story.
Whats worse, making the guest skip the preshow and letting them go directly to an already started streching room generates one of the worst Haunted Mansion expirience I had. Everyone was talking and shouting inside the room so you can bearly hear the Host and it loose all the inmersion it has. People did not even realize the streching effect.

That and the funnel the line makes once you leave the streching room, made the ride lose a little bit of magic. I think that the pre-show help to get the people in the (scene/atmosphere) so it is important to have it.

What do you think? what was your experience with the haunted mansion??
 

KBLovedDisney

Well-Known Member
I want to tell you my not so happy experience in my favorite ride on Magic Kingdom, please share yours I will really apreciate it.

The last 5 times I went to Haunted Mansion the cast member that open the Haunted Mansion door made everyone skip the"pre-show" in the room previous the stretching room. So they open the door and make you walk directly to the stretching room. Once there the "Host / narrator" had started talking long before I entered (and i was not one of the last guest to enter in fact i was one of the first). So everyone misses the first part of the story.
Whats worse, making the guest skip the preshow and letting them go directly to an already started streching room generates one of the worst Haunted Mansion expirience I had. Everyone was talking and shouting inside the room so you can bearly hear the Host and it loose all the inmersion it has. People did not even realize the streching effect.

That and the funnel the line makes once you leave the streching room, made the ride lose a little bit of magic. I think that the pre-show help to get the people in the (scene/atmosphere) so it is important to have it.

What do you think? what was your experience with the haunted mansion??
You mean the room with the fireplace seeing the portrait change "pre-show"?

Yeah, I don't like being pushed through there too fast. I like seeing that effect.
 

NickMaio

Well-Known Member
WDW seems ok with this - - - I too feel that show and guest immersion have gone down in their parks.
We rode SM with no music in the que - - - - not 1 track - - then at the end we exited through some crummy back door on wooden planks.
We could not believe it - - - - The tunnel music in SM is my favourite of all the ques - - - We we bummed to say the least.

I honestly would have preferred to not ride it -- had I know what they were doing to the ride. It soured my space experience.

Anyway - - - - c'mon WDW get it right - - - or not at all.
 

JIMINYCR

Well-Known Member
When they do it I feel like I've been cheated out of the experience. I want to hear and see all of the speil and get all the creepiness of the atmosphere. I found it happening on the days when the park was slammed with guests. I guessed they were pushing us through to the inside in the hopes of increasing their riders/ hour. It shouldnt be done....it really cheats us out of the experience.
 

tomast

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You mean the room with the fireplace seeing the portrait change "pre-show"?

Yeah, I don't like being pushed through there too fast. I like seeing that effect.

Yes, but not only for the effect but for creating the ambient of a sort of spooky place, if not when push directly to the already started streching room guest keep shouting and pushing and the CM also shouting MOVE TO THE CENTER OF THE ROOM!!!
 

castlecake2.0

Well-Known Member
In regards to the room starting to stretch before the wall closes, that’s usually due to slow moving people. But I agree with the foyer scene, I wish they’d do the whole show there.
 

CaptainAmerica

Premium Member
Sadly it’s a common occurrence. Efficiency trumps show. There is still an effort to have the stretch door closed before the ceiling begins to move but as you said this doesn’t always happen.

Tower is forced to keep the library doors open and allow guests to walk through without stopping at senior managements request too.
Does it even ACTUALLY boost efficiency? The omnimover runs at a fixed speed. As long as people are getting through the stretching room fast enough to keep every doom buggy filled, they're not gaining any capacity.

That and the funnel the line makes once you leave the streching room, made the ride lose a little bit of magic. I think that the pre-show help to get the people in the (scene/atmosphere) so it is important to have it.
I think the funnel effect is deliberate. It creates a claustrophobic feeling followed by a quick-moving single-file line. The funneling builds suspense and then when the line picks up speed it's too late to escape.
 

marni1971

Park History nut
Premium Member
Does it even ACTUALLY boost efficiency? The omnimover runs at a fixed speed. As long as people are getting through the stretching room fast enough to keep every doom buggy filled, they're not gaining any capacity..
Exactly. Tell management that. Same issue that there’s only four ascent shafts in Tower. It turns the preshow areas into one massive mess of a single queue. It still all grinds to a halt when the constraints of the ride system are reached - all for the sake of maybe a hundred guests an hour more. Crush the THRC and you’ll get slightly more than that very count but at the expense of the show. And comfort.

Of course on paper after a few hours running this way the daily count looks pretty good again.
 

tomast

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Does it even ACTUALLY boost efficiency? The omnimover runs at a fixed speed. As long as people are getting through the stretching room fast enough to keep every doom buggy filled, they're not gaining any capacity.

And because of this is that Captain America belongs to Universal IOA :p;)
 

ppete1975

Well-Known Member
I know it probably doesn’t help, and im usually against it. But did you complain why you were there? If they receive enough complaints at the park, i think this is one of the things that could change. Bringing back a ride, getting something painted, fixing a broken yeti, getting rid of fast pass... those wont change. But maybe something like this could?
 

THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

Well-Known Member
This is why Disneyland will always have the superior Mansion. The Stretching Room can not begin until everyone is in and the doors are closed because it is a working elevator. so we wait in the foyer because we have to wait for the elevator to come back up so we get the preshow narration then when the doors open we all have to be in the stretching room before it begins. gosh, I can't for the life of me picture walking into a already started stretching room. Why would they do that? It totally ruins the ride experience. How could anyone in charge think that is a great way to start the experience?? The Stretching Room is one of the most iconic reasons to go on the ride. I am sorry but you folks in florida have it rough and are being really gyped. If something like that happened at Disneyland there would be riot and a demand for answers.
 
Last edited:

Stripes

Well-Known Member
Sadly it’s a common occurrence. Efficiency trumps show. There is still an effort to have the stretch door closed before the ceiling begins to move but as you said this doesn’t always happen.
Too bad it wasn't built like Disneyland's. Then they'd have no choice. Of course, sometimes the Cast Members at DL's HM can be a bit...pushy. Somewhat understandably, but there is a trade off.
 

Maeryk

Well-Known Member
You mean the room with the fireplace seeing the portrait change "pre-show"?

Yeah, I don't like being pushed through there too fast. I like seeing that effect.

I've waited in there...or not. Seems to depend on how busy the ride is and how long you have to wait for a stretching room to reset, more than anything else.

They seem to run you through faster at night, which makes sense.. much of that dark lag time is to let your eyes adjust.

Back when wheelchairs got jumped in, we did it and it was awful.. no wait in the dark meant we couldn't see anything. My poor MiL (the chair bound one who couldn't walk much at the time) didn't understand why we had raved about the ride so much.
 

THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

Well-Known Member
Too bad it wasn't built like Disneyland's. Then they'd have no choice. Of course, sometimes the Cast Members at DL's HM can be a bit...pushy. Somewhat understandably, but there is a trade off.
they are only pushy while getting everyone into the room once the doors open to leave everyone just files out no problem. it is getting everyone in that they try to rush you a bit
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom