Haunted Mansion to Return with New Enhancements and Magic :(

[TP2000]

I've mentioned this before years ago, but regarding WDW management and cheapening out, I once stood in front of two WDW/TDO management folks who were visiting from Florida in the Indy queue and one of them pointed out something (I don't know exactly what because I was standing in front of them) and referred to whatever it was as proof that Disneyland management spends too much money. He then bragged and even laughed about how WDW is able to get away with things and spends significantly less money. Basically Disneyland management was run by fools who spend too much. It was bizarre and my mouth was open the entire time I eavesdropped on their conversation.

That's shocking, and yet it's not. And entirely believable.

 

[Californian Elitist]

That's shocking, and yet it's not. And entirely believable.

For me, the shocking part of that experience was not the guy admitting WDW was cheap, but him being proud of it and trying to get his colleague to feel the same way. And to be openly discussing it, too. But then again, I'm sure none of the other guests picked up on the conversation and even if they did, they probably wouldn't have known what they were talking about.

 

[TP2000]

For me, the shocking part of that experience was not the guy admitting WDW was cheap, but him being proud of it and trying to get his colleague to feel the same way. And to be openly discussing it, too. But then again, I'm sure none of the other guests picked up on the conversation and even if they did, they probably wouldn't have known what they were talking about.

It is shocking. And yet, for those who have been to WDW in recent years, it's entirely believable.

I think the worst phase of Disney executive groupthink was that Jay Rasulo era in the 2000's after Pressler left. It was that One Disney thing, where a lot of senior decisions were moved to Orlando for some bizarre reason. Only after that bad era ended was Anaheim finally able to manage its parks appropriately.

But, Florida is still Florida.

 

[BubbaisSleep]

Considering what we've been getting over the past few years, I'd say quite a few of them here feel the same. I should mention this incident happened back in 2011, so ten years ago. A lot has changed in ten years.

I had my first WDW visit in 2014 & I definitely could see those ideals displayed across nearly every park which was the biggest distinction between the two resorts. I still think it’s crazy Expedition Everest, a ride almost 50 years after Matterhorn, cannot manage to keep their only 3 effects running (old Matterhorn has plenty). But who cares cause the GP says it’s the best rollercoaster at WDW, right? I guess I felt a few “who cares” walking around the resort, almost like being in the OG DCA again.

My first WDW trip felt like my first Knotts trip in 2010. So glad that Matt managed to turn that park around. Nice you kept your composure after hearing that too. I’m sure some folks on this forum would have went full Karen on them lol.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I had my first WDW visit in 2014 & I definitely could see those ideals displayed across nearly every park which was the biggest distinction between the two resorts. I still think it’s crazy Expedition Everest, a ride almost 50 years after Matterhorn, cannot manage to keep their only 3 effects running (old Matterhorn has plenty). But who cares cause the GP says it’s the best rollercoaster at WDW, right? I guess I felt a few “who cares” walking around the resort, almost like being in the OG DCA again.

My first WDW trip felt like my first Knotts trip in 2010. So glad that Matt managed to turn that park around. Nice you kept your composure after hearing that too. I’m sure some folks on this forum would have went full Karen on them lol.

Not OG DCA! That made me giggle lol. Nothing can be as bad as DCA 1.0. What an embarrassing low for Disney.

I hope future WDW visits will be better. I’ve learned to go into anything Disney produces now with low expectations.

 

[BubbaisSleep]

Not OG DCA! That made me giggle lol. Nothing can be as bad as DCA 1.0. What an embarrassing low for Disney.

I hope future WDW visits will be better. I’ve learned to go into anything Disney produces now with low expectations.

OG DCA will keep us humble for decades, across the coasts & oceans

 

[lazyboy97o]

Yikes, imagine if Disneyland had this attitude. With theirs being an actual working elevator, I would imagine them having way more maintenance issues but their ride always seems open. Maybe DL's being closed twice a year for the HMH conversion goes a long way in maintaining those elevators.

Prior to the pandemic it had been years since the Stretching Room was skipped with any sort of regularity. Since the 2007 refurb The Haunted Mansion has been one of the better maintained attractions at Walt Disney World. And let’s not pretend like poor maintenance is never a thing at Disneyland. Chunks of the Matterhorn did fall off not too long ago.

 

[BubbaisSleep]

Prior to the pandemic it had been years since the Stretching Room was skipped with any sort of regularity. Since the 2007 refurb The Haunted Mansion has been one of the better maintained attractions at Walt Disney World. And let’s not pretend like poor maintenance is never a thing at Disneyland. Chunks of the Matterhorn did fall off not too long ago.

I was comparing attitude/culture to physicality. Many of DLR’s weaknesses are due to error but rarely to negligence outside that horrible decade after IJA. Raven was kindly able to provide us with physical proof through conversation of uncaring managers & it not only showed during my visit but other have confirmed a certain situation happened regularly for a time.

Yes, Matterhorn has had physical pieces fall down as Earth does over time. Matterhorn is also very old & running with more effects today due to their culture. I apologize for the fallen rocks but Matterhorn will be repaired as the resort has done with many of theirs. Has EE & its 3 effects been fully repaired since its recent 2006 debut? Would it have fallen if half of it wasn’t just a beige wall? Has the older Space Mountain been updated much since it’s debut despite the safety concerns? Well no one cares,right? Attitude/culture was the problem but I think it’s been changing.

 

[EPCOTCenterLover]

For me, the shocking part of that experience was not the guy admitting WDW was cheap, but him being proud of it and trying to get his colleague to feel the same way. And to be openly discussing it, too. But then again, I'm sure none of the other guests picked up on the conversation and even if they did, they probably wouldn't have known what they were talking about.

To even talk this way in front of guests shows too many of them just view guests as ATMs..

 

[el_super]

Not OG DCA! That made me giggle lol. Nothing can be as bad as DCA 1.0. What an embarrassing low for Disney.

Ah you still haven't been to Paris have you?

 

[BayouShack]

Ah you still haven't been to Paris have you?

WDS has the honor of being a place that I left before even going on any rides. What a dreary park. I was standing in the switchbacks for Rock’n’Roller Coaster and thought to myself “What am I doing with my life, I could be riding Thunder Mountain again right now.”

I went before Rat and the only ride I was interested in, Crush’s Coaster, was surprise-closed.

 

[el_super]

Prior to the pandemic it had been years since the Stretching Room was skipped with any sort of regularity. Since the 2007 refurb The Haunted Mansion has been one of the better maintained attractions at Walt Disney World. And let’s not pretend like poor maintenance is never a thing at Disneyland. Chunks of the Matterhorn did fall off not too long ago.

To be fair though, that giant chunk that fell off the Matterhorn occurred after an earthquake. I wouldn't say that the Matterhorn falling apart is really due to lack of maintenance, just the nature of what it is. Disney made the decision to take on an increased maintenance responsibility in order to preserve the original mountain, rather than tear it down and rebuild it. That's always sort of been the difference between Disneyland and Walt Disney World, culturally. Disneyland (and their CMs) have always been significantly proud of their history and will go to great lengths to preserve it, even when it really doesn't make financial sense to do so.

I was comparing attitude/culture to physicality. Many of DLR’s weaknesses are due to error but rarely to negligence outside that horrible decade after IJA. Raven was kindly able to provide us with physical proof through conversation of uncaring managers & it not only showed during my visit but other have confirmed a certain situation happened regularly for a time.

It's a big leap to assume they don't care, even if their priorities are different. To play devil's advocate, and make a case for the nameless, faceless managers in raven's story, there have been many things written about the operational differences between Walt Disney World and Disneyland that would highlight how some things like queue details, would be drastically unnecessary at Walt Disney World and how that money would be better served in other areas. Disneyland, with the local audience of repeat visitors, always had to spend more lavishly on details and repeatability where Walt Disney World didn't. At WDW there was a greater need to attract guests and increase length of stay through sheer scale, and it always seemed like they emphasized quantity over quality. It works over there because a guest going once every year or every five years, is going to get a decade or more out of something like Philharmagic, where at Disneyland it would be empty within a month.

I will preface this with, their comments are probably based a bit on hindsight, but one key reason why they would be right is the utility of the Indy queue. Indiana Jones opened in 1995 and Fastpass came around in 1999. So the length of the Indy queue was really only used as a queue for a good 5 years before it was just turned into a walkway. Certainly a case could be made that the expense of that queue and the detailing that went into it, would be better served as a restaurant/rest area or some other easily accessible space that would encourage visitation and exploration, rather than just a pass through to somewhere else.

 

[DavidDL]

.. I still think it’s crazy Expedition Everest, a ride almost 50 years after Matterhorn, cannot manage to keep their only 3 effects running (old Matterhorn has plenty). ..

I was lucky enough to see EE's Yeti in full motion in July of 2007. Every trip after that, he was Disco Yeti. It really is a shame because I remember being so impressed by it's life-like movements, it was one of the most impressive figures I'd ever seen.

My understanding (-and someone correct me if I'm wrong) is that the foundation of the Yeti (whose basically powered like a jet engine) began to crack and that keeping him running would have lead to the figure collapsing entirely. Additionally, to tie things back around to the Haunted Mansion, Imagineers have a similar issue with the Yeti that they do with the large glass panels of the ballroom scene. That problem being that, those glass pieces and the yeti were placed there first and the Mansion/Mountain built around them. Meaning when the glass broke in Mansion, there was no way to get it out, so they threw a spider-web over it and to fix the Yeti would mean having to basically blow a hole in the side of the mountain to access the problem.

WDW could absolutely fix the Yeti but doing so would require EE to be shut down for an obscenely long amount of time and given the parks lack of attractions and EE's popularity, they haven't seen the right time to pull the trigger on shutting it down because it's one of the main draws for the park. My hope is that as more and more gets added to Animal Kingdom, they'll hopefully be able to justify shutting down EE for a Yeti refurb once there are enough other things in the park to do.

 

[lazyboy97o]

My understanding (-and someone correct me if I'm wrong) is that the foundation of the Yeti (whose basically powered like a jet engine) began to crack and that keeping him running would have lead to the figure collapsing entirely.

WDW could absolutely fix the Yeti but doing so would require EE to be shut down for an obscenely long amount of time and given the parks lack of attractions and EE's popularity, they haven't seen the right time to pull the trigger on shutting it down because it's one of the main draws for the park.

This isn’t true. The problem is with the figure itself and the figure has been removed from the attraction over night in the past.

 

[DavidDL]

This isn’t true. The problem is with the figure itself and the figure has been removed from the attraction over night in the past.

Ah, then I have been living a lie for the longest time in regards to EE. I have some apologies to make and WDW has some 'splainin' to do.

Thank you!

 

[lazyboy97o]

To be fair though, that giant chunk that fell off the Matterhorn occurred after an earthquake. I wouldn't say that the Matterhorn falling apart is really due to lack of maintenance, just the nature of what it is.

Cement plaster coming off is usually the result of poor adhesion, a situation that develops with time.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Ah, then I have been living a lie for the longest time in regards to EE. I have some apologies to make and WDW has some 'splainin' to do.

Thank you!

It’s a widespread story and Disney fans seem to love stories that excuse Disney’s actions.

 

[180º]

It’s a widespread story and Disney fans seem to love stories that excuse Disney’s actions.

I groaned so hard when El Toro Ryan, as detailed as he is, repeated the myth in his new (and otherwise pretty neat) video on Everest. Why won’t it die???

 

[DavidDL]

It’s a widespread story and Disney fans seem to love stories that excuse Disney’s actions.

Yeah.. living in SoCal, I don't keep up with WDW as much as DL since my trips out there are infrequent enough. The story sounds believable enough when you consider things like the Mansion glass and Animal Kingdom's historic lack of attractions. There might be some truth behind the "Disney doesn't want to shut it down for a refurb to fix the Yeti because that would remove one of their star attractions" part of the story, I think. But given @raven24's Indy queue story, it's likely, mostly TDO's philosophy.

Maybe they will fix it in the future when there are more things to do in Animal Kingdom. But currently, their mindset is most likey:

WDW = Tourist park -> Tourists = Won't care enough about difference between working or static yeti -> If tourists won't complain or notice = why spend money to fix?

 

[NobodyElse]

One thing I do appreciate about our Mansion here in DL and Phantom Manor over in Paris is the ability to walk in the front door to begin the attraction. Something about that is just so much better to me than entering through some auxiliary crypt 'round the side of the house.

Just a point of order here. I've seen this sentiment a few times before, but it seems a bit misguided.

I can't be the only one that assumes that THIS is supposed to be the front door of the mansion. We are guided right past it, into a side entrance. Our original HM has a lot going for it, but walking in the front door isn't something we can realistically hold over any of the other attractions.