Haunted Mansion to Return with New Enhancements and Magic :(

[Supreme Leader]

This is alarming. Since the reopening, most vloggers have praised the lighting as vastly improved, pointing to the graveyard ghosts in particular as more visible than anytime in recent memory.

I'm going to say it's because it was bright outside and my eyes didn't adjust... But yeah it was very dark. The lighting was much better for the show scenes.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

They should put some of those old paintings from WDW where the eyes followed you. It was one of the most memorable things they removed for no good reason.

At least Tokyo Disneyland still has them:

 

[mickEblu]

I’m glad those aren’t at Disneyland. Art style looks more S.E.A than Mansion

 

[SuddenStorm]

Apropos of nothing, I did this quick Photoshop last night based on a discussion of whether or not the Load Area would have looked better with a few more portraits hanging alongside April/December:

View attachment 557537

To me, it would make visual sense to have more paintings around her - giving her a place of honor is one thing, but the wall is so long and empty it just feels strange. There are so many Changing Portrait concepts that could have made their DL Mansion Debuts along with the return of April - Your attention is already being drawn that way, so they kind of might as well make a meal of it.

This looks way better then what was delivered.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I’m glad those aren’t at Disneyland. Art style looks more S.E.A than Mansion

The face I made when I saw those portraits.

Agreed.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I’m glad those aren’t at Disneyland. Art style looks more S.E.A than Mansion

Looks more 1971 WDW. I like 'em.

 

[mickEblu]

Looks more 1971 WDW. I like 'em.

View attachment 557746

Interesting I’ve never seen those. Still wouldn’t want to see them at Disneyland. Guess it works at WDW. So why were people complaining when they added that cartoony Dredd family? They seem to match the motif over there. Aside from none of that being necessary in the outdoor queue

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

Because, well, look at it:

To be fair, this isn't even relevant to the ride, just some awful busts in the waiting line outside.

 

[mickEblu]

Because, well, look at it:

View attachment 557750

To be fair, this isn't even relevant to the ride, just some awful busts in the waiting line outside.

Yeah pretty terrible.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

Because, well, look at it:

View attachment 557750

To be fair, this isn't even relevant to the ride, just some awful busts in the waiting line outside.

Yuck those look ugly and ruin the queue. too cartoony for the queue. the outside is to portray a sense of foreboding, this ruins the gag the ghosts are funny and friendly far too early.

 

[Disney Analyst]

This is alarming. Since the reopening, most vloggers have praised the lighting as vastly improved, pointing to the graveyard ghosts in particular as more visible than anytime in recent memory.

Dark is good. The issue before was the mansion was too bright in areas. The mansion calls for dark surroundings with more pointed light on the actual scenes. Which seems to be what they achieved again - and then they’ve made the graveyard way more vibrant with the scrims finally cleaned up / replaced.

 

[lazyboy97o]

When I went years ago. That section was optional. Why they make it optional is beyond me.

Because it slowed down a queue that didn’t have people dwelling. I believe it stopped being optional with the addition of FastPass+ since that did slow down the Stand-By queue.

 

[1HAPPYGHOSTHOST]

When I went years ago. That section was optional. Why they make it optional is beyond me.

I think it started off as optional but now is the main queue.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

I still think it was a dumb move to not add the following effect when they were moved. Wouldn’t keeping the effect be cheaper versus tearing it out?

Theoretically yes - everyone I know has indicated the Follow-you effect was removed from the WDW paintings because they were now in the Load Area and the Imagineers were worried that people would focus more on the paintings than on boarding.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

This is alarming. Since the reopening, most vloggers have praised the lighting as vastly improved, pointing to the graveyard ghosts in particular as more visible than anytime in recent memory.

Improved lighting doesn't necessarily mean increased brightness - much of the DL Mansion has been too brightly lit for some time now, and it sounds like they've refocused a lot of lighting to highlight the elements meant to be seen and let the darkness return to the parks that should be unseen.

That said, being SO dark that you can't see things is itself a problem - but perhaps this person had just come in from being out in the bright sun and didn't have enough time for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. That happens on a lot of dark rides. It's especially likely if they took the Servant's Entrance rather than the Stretch Room, which gives you more time to adjust.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

This looks way better then what was delivered.

Thank you - Like, what they DID deliver is totally solid, but we just needed more of it to complete the scene.

Though, jury's still out for me on that Cat statue. It seems so random and doesn't really contribute much to either the lore of the house or the look of the scene. The placement made me think this was sort of a "last warning" before we got on the ride, suggesting we should beware the Cat who might pop up somewhere along the way . . . but it doesn't, so there's really no "there" there.

They were already redoing the Pet Cemetery, that seems like that would have been the perfect place to leave a nod to the One-Eyed Black Cat and call it a day.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

One thing that is exciting. Whenever HMH returns we know we will get a new holiday portrait where April/Dec is.

What a buzzkill you are

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I’m glad those aren’t at Disneyland. Art style looks more S.E.A than Mansion

The face I made when I saw those portraits.

Agreed.

Some of the Sinister 11 portraits are at Disneyland, have been for years in their changing forms.

They were all included in the WDW and TDL Haunted Mansions and come from the same design team as the Disneyland original. Marc Davis did the concepts and Ed Kohn translated them into their final styles as he did the rest of the changing portraits.

Saying they don't belong is some bizarre modern California-centric revisionism. It's the same attitude that WDI unfortunately has whenever they change something WED designed for WDW's Magic Kingdom because "it's not like Disneyland".

 

[mickEblu]

Some of the Sinister 11 portraits are at Disneyland, have been for years in their changing forms.

They were all included in the WDW and TDL Haunted Mansions and come from the same design team as the Disneyland original. Marc Davis did the concepts and Ed Kohn translated them into their final styles as he did the rest of the changing portraits.

Saying they don't belong is some bizarre modern California-centric revisionism. It's the same attitude that WDI unfortunately has whenever they change something WED designed for WDW's Magic Kingdom because "it's not like Disneyland".

The art style in those portraits looks nothing like the ones at DL. Where are they in DLs Mansion?

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The art style in those portraits looks nothing like the ones at DL. Where are they in DLs Mansion?

Medusa and December in the hallway before Load. Hatchet Man in the Corridor of Doors.