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

[Buried20KLeague]

This is just a pathetic new low. It's a cloned, single, animatronic figure with minimal movement and a projection gimmick. It already exists. They are just making another one for the other coast.

Last time I rode HM, we stopped (because the ride now stops every 15 feet) right in front of the hatbox ghost. Yup. There it is. I can see the little projection light in the back of the head. It turns on. It turns off. Don't get the thrill here.

THIS counts as ground breaking news?! THIS warrants placement on a multi year global parks slide?

Sometimes I'm embarrassed to be a Disney theme park fan.

I’m sure you’re aware of Disney’s wont to exploit nostalgia. Ta-da!!

 

[Buried20KLeague]

D'Amaro said a year, which seems wild to me. How long does it take to clone and install a singular animatronic?

Like 9 years apparently.

 

[RobWDW1971]

I’m sure you’re aware of Disney’s wont to exploit nostalgia. Ta-da!!

More like exploiting these idiotic Disney fans who whoop and holler over the most silly, pedestrian things.

They serve crap and these morons act like it's filet mignon.

 

[bhg469]

More like exploiting these idiotic Disney fans who whoop and holler over the most silly, pedestrian things.

They serve crap and these morons act like it's filet mignon.

I have to wonder how long ago they made the decision to announce this for D23.. Was it a reaction to people demanding something tangible for the event? Either way this was the definition of being thrown scraps..

I begrudgingly agree with a few people here that Disney doesn't need to react to Universal. In my mind, I am a typical fan of awesome theme parks. I loved WDW growing up, visited Universal many years ago and only went to WDW for a long time. About 6 years ago that changed. I went to Universal and was pleasantly surprised. Then I went to Disneyland and was kind of jealous of what I was missing. Fast forward to last year we moved to Central FL, decided to get APs for WDW just because its closer to us. We decided that out APs are going to expire, and when Epic Universe opens up, or at least is less than a year away, we will switch to Universal. I don't feel like I am losing out on any sort of experience because the "magic" is at an absolute minimum..

 

[ToTBellHop]

The cynicism here is…something else. The same guests who got Pandora in ‘17, TSL in ‘18, SWGE in ‘19, MMRR in ‘20, Rat and (now temporary) fireworks in 2 parks in ‘21, Cosmic Rewind in ‘22, TRON and yet another new fireworks show in ‘23, and who were shown that plans are in the works for 2024-2030 will come here and complain in a thread about a modest but nice addition that Disney builds nothing and announces nothing.

They’ve built a ton at WDW in the last five years for several billions of dollars and their grandest plans moving forward are at WDW.

Why are some of you still here?

 

[G00fyDad]

The cynicism here is…something else. The same guests who got Pandora in ‘17, TSL in ‘18, SWGE in ‘19, MMRR in ‘20, Rat and (now temporary) fireworks in 2 parks in ‘21, Cosmic Rewind in ‘22, TRON and yet another new fireworks show in ‘23, and who were shown that plans are in the works for 2024-2030 will come here and complain in a thread about a modest but nice addition that Disney builds nothing and announces nothing.

They’ve built a ton at WDW in the last five for several billions of dollars and their grandest plans moving forward are at WDW.

Why are some of you still here?

Buuuuuuuutttttt..... it's not what the people here would have built. Don't you understand anything? Geez! (/sarcasm)

 

[Jrb1979]

The cynicism here is…something else. The same guests who got Pandora in ‘17, TSL in ‘18, SWGE in ‘19, MMRR in ‘20, Rat and (now temporary) fireworks in 2 parks in ‘21, Cosmic Rewind in ‘22, TRON and yet another new fireworks show in ‘23, and who were shown that plans are in the works for 2024-2030 will come here and complain in a thread about a modest but nice addition that Disney builds nothing and announces nothing.

They’ve built a ton at WDW in the last five for several billions of dollars and their grandest plans moving forward are at WDW.

Why are some of you still here?

While it's nice they spent all that money and added those things, they still lack capacity at their parks. A new night time show doesn't add capacity and neither does adding an animatronic to an attraction. They need to stop dragging things out so much. There is no reason Tron should take this long to build. Same with the overlay of Splash. People would be more excited for those "what ifs" if they didn't take so long to build things or make major changes to the plans.

 

[ToTBellHop]

While it's nice they spent all that money and added those things, they still lack capacity at their parks. A new night time show doesn't add capacity and neither does adding an animatronic to an attraction. They need to stop dragging things out so much. There is no reason Tron should take this long to build. Same with the overlay of Splash. People would be more excited for those "what ifs" if they didn't take so long to build things or make major changes to the plans.

So long to build things yet I listed like $4 billion dollars of rides in 5 years. We’ve had a major addition every year and, remarkably, we won’t see much of a drop-off before the next FIVE minilands…

They overspend but have objectively built a ton of rides recently. I get that some don’t appreciate the additions. For me, several of my favorite rides at WDW have come in the last five years. I may question their judgment at times but, in general, appreciate what they build.

Also, I just don’t see these capacity issues. Disney would like to raise capacity to make more money. But, as a guest, I find queues to be shorter and walkways to be less crowded than in 2019. MK was unpleasant in 2019.

They are not heavily marketing Hattie. It was a fun announcement to a group of fans. I appreciate that they will still do things that don’t actually make money. Many of us have been asking for this AA so they are building it. Someone is listening to the fans. But we already knew that from DE and Harm’s demise.

As an aside, they are currently trying to listen to guests and fans more than I’ve seen in decades. We will see what else comes of that.

 

[Jrb1979]

So long to build things yet I listed like $4 billion dollars of rides in 5 years. We’ve had a major addition every year and, remarkably, we won’t see much of a drop-off before the next FIVE minilands…

They overspend but have objectively built a ton of rides recently. I get that some don’t appreciate the additions. For me, several of my favorite rides at WDW have come in the last five years. I may question their judgment at times but, in general, appreciate what they build.

Also, I just don’t see these capacity issues. Disney would like to raise capacity to make more money. But, as a guest, I find queues to be shorter and walkways to be less crowded than in 2019. MK was unpleasant in 2019.

They are not heavily marketing Hattie. It was a fun announcement to a group of fans. I appreciate that they will still do things that don’t actually make money. Many of us have been asking for this AA so they are building it. Someone is listening to the fans. But we already knew that from DE and Harm’s demise.

As an aside, they are currently trying to listen to guests and fans more than I’ve seen in decades. We will see what else comes of that.

Sure MK doesn't have capacity issues but it already has lots of attractions. IMO AK, Epcot and DHS need more attractions. It would help not only with capacity but make Genie+ work much.

While the new attractions are good, IMO are now near the level of many of the original Epcot attractions.

As for your last point, I will believe it when I see it. Ever since Bob took over they have changed so much and not for the better.

 

[ToTBellHop]

Sure MK doesn't have capacity issues but it already has lots of attractions. IMO AK, Epcot and DHS need more attractions. It would help not only with capacity but make Genie+ work much.

While the new attractions are good, IMO are now near the level of many of the original Epcot attractions.

As for your last point, I will believe it when I see it. Ever since Bob took over they have changed so much and not for the better.

If I’m Disney, I notice MK hits park pass capacity more than the other parks. It also hosts parties. Increasing the size of the park will make them a fortune between day tickets and party tickets (without actually increasing crowds).

Why expand parks that don’t already sell out? They want to increase supply where demand is too high. Why give Epcot more space if more people won’t go there?

They view DHS as being “all set”. So the most to expect there is show change-outs and perhaps significant ride remodels sporadically.

They knew Epcot was very dated and think they are fixing that and will be finished with it in a year. At that point, look for the same as DHS going forward. Ride renos and show change-outs sporadically.

They want to them expand MK for the reasons i said.

They want to expand DAK with attractions that can stay open until 10 pm. They know they are turning away money when guests leave at 4 pm so this park has the greatest potential to spread out crowds among the parks but just needs a draw. Pandora helped but hasn’t finished the job. Kilimanjaro failed at night. Asia mostly doesn’t work at night. So you basically have Pandora, Everest, and Dinoland’s two rides at night. Those Dinoland rides rate pretty poorly. So the whole land will leave. They are basically admitting Universal has the better dinosaur rides in Orlando so they will take DAK in a direction they think only Disney can go.

I understand doubting execution since some don’t like what they’ve built. But I don’t understand doubting that they will invest. The Bobs are not Pressler/Harriss. The Bobs repeatedly showed willingness to drop boatloads of money into the parks and Chapek hasn’t changed this. And he is now committing to throw hundreds of millions at DAK.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

The cynicism here is…something else. The same guests who got Pandora in ‘17, TSL in ‘18, SWGE in ‘19, MMRR in ‘20, Rat and (now temporary) fireworks in 2 parks in ‘21, Cosmic Rewind in ‘22, TRON and yet another new fireworks show in ‘23, and who were shown that plans are in the works for 2024-2030 will come here and complain in a thread about a modest but nice addition that Disney builds nothing and announces nothing.

They’ve built a ton at WDW in the last five years for several billions of dollars and their grandest plans moving forward are at WDW.

Why are some of you still here?

Besides what you've listed here being a mixed bag of quality, those additions came after many years (and billions of $) spent trying to avoid such attraction builds.

I've also personally criticized the approach of building one ride for one park at a time. This strategy is why AK has only gotten two rides in the last 15+ years. They haven't really solved their own capacity issues or given enough incentive for repeat visitors to come back and deal with the exponential price increases and nonsense extra planning to justify coming as often, or staying as long, as I used to.

I am a fan of the work of WED (which is why I started this thread) and the second generation of WDI. Their work has stood the test of time and as long as it hasn't been completely destroyed I'll keep coming back in some way. Even if it's only a day trip from Universal like what I've been doing for the past few years.

 

[eddie104]

The cynicism here is…something else. The same guests who got Pandora in ‘17, TSL in ‘18, SWGE in ‘19, MMRR in ‘20, Rat and (now temporary) fireworks in 2 parks in ‘21, Cosmic Rewind in ‘22, TRON and yet another new fireworks show in ‘23, and who were shown that plans are in the works for 2024-2030 will come here and complain in a thread about a modest but nice addition that Disney builds nothing and announces nothing.

They’ve built a ton at WDW in the last five years for several billions of dollars and their grandest plans moving forward are at WDW.

Why are some of you still here?

Exactly all the complaining and whining gets very old. This is their flagship property in the states and we constantly gets lots of love contrary to popular belief.

The MK is about to potentially get expanded considerably if the blue sky plans come to fruition.

Yes we all want them to build more rides at the other parks but it takes time and money.

People need to start appreciating the small things WDW has to offer because we are truly spoiled.

 

[TDLFan]

Would be cool if they threw in the top hat piano player effect like in Disneyland's attic. I know we have the original downstairs but it's cool to think the shadow figure followed us to the attic.

 

[Crazydisneyfanluke]

Just in time for the 50th!

 

[RSoxNo1]

So long to build things yet I listed like $4 billion dollars of rides in 5 years. We’ve had a major addition every year and, remarkably, we won’t see much of a drop-off before the next FIVE minilands…

They overspend but have objectively built a ton of rides recently. I get that some don’t appreciate the additions. For me, several of my favorite rides at WDW have come in the last five years. I may question their judgment at times but, in general, appreciate what they build.

Also, I just don’t see these capacity issues. Disney would like to raise capacity to make more money. But, as a guest, I find queues to be shorter and walkways to be less crowded than in 2019. MK was unpleasant in 2019.

They are not heavily marketing Hattie. It was a fun announcement to a group of fans. I appreciate that they will still do things that don’t actually make money. Many of us have been asking for this AA so they are building it. Someone is listening to the fans. But we already knew that from DE and Harm’s demise.

As an aside, they are currently trying to listen to guests and fans more than I’ve seen in decades. We will see what else comes of that.

They have absolutely been building quite a bit from 2017-2023. That shouldn't be dismissed. That being said, they didn't build much from 2007-2017 so you could argue that they're playing catchup. Add in the fact that Universal has been adding a new ride each year and 13 more in 2025 and it's hard not to be underwhelmed by the lack of announcements at D23. This tells me that the earliest we will see a new ride after TRON would be 2026.

As for the Hatbox Ghost himself. I'm glad he's being added, but as an effect, it's less impressive as a digital effect. I think that takes away some of the mystique and it's more about adding a cool character to the Mansion.

Now that The Hatbox Ghost has been announced, can we be done updating attractions that aren't broken? There are plenty of other attractions that need love, but every Imagineer wants to put their stamp on Pirates and the Mansion.

They want to expand DAK with attractions that can stay open until 10 pm. They know they are turning away money when guests leave at 4 pm so this park has the greatest potential to spread out crowds among the parks but just needs a draw. Pandora helped but hasn’t finished the job. Kilimanjaro failed at night. Asia mostly doesn’t work at night. So you basically have Pandora, Everest, and Dinoland’s two rides at night. Those Dinoland rides rate pretty poorly. So the whole land will leave. They are basically admitting Universal has the better dinosaur rides in Orlando so they will take DAK in a direction they think only Disney can go.

I understand doubting execution since some don’t like what they’ve built. But I don’t understand doubting that they will invest. The Bobs are not Pressler/Harriss. The Bobs repeatedly showed willingness to drop boatloads of money into the parks and Chapek hasn’t changed this. And he is now committing to throw hundreds of millions at DAK.

I would have loved to been a part of the "Bob Chapek schmoozes with bloggers" dinner after the Expo so that I could pick his brain. He has made no secret that they should be leveraging their IP at any possible moment. What I want to ask him is "why?" So far his only answer has been, "because if other companies had it, they would be doing it". That's not a satisfactory answer for me.

Is it simply about brand recognition? As simple minded theme park fans we gravitate towards merch sales, but that's not enough of a driver to choose IP over quality. You don't spent $220 million on a Ratatouille attraction to fund the adjacent merchandise cart. If you make decisions that way, you'll be out of business.

That brings me to dinoland. The apparent desire to remove dinosaurs from the park seems incredibly short sighted. Just because "dinosaurs" as a group of animals haven't produced a successful Disney movie, doesn't mean that dinosaurs themselves can't be a driver for attendance. I can't believe Disney is so delusional to think that without the familiarity and backing of a corresponding movie they won't visit a themed area. So it must simply be brand recognition over all else. Their strategy is to showcase Disney brands at all costs. Familiarity over quality. Familiarity over everything.

This is also a tacit admission that the various movie studios are more integral to the creative future of the company than anything else. By pushing movie based IP over original concepts they are stating that the creative teams working on motion pictures are more creative than the creative teams working on theme park attractions. They're sidelining or otherwise restricting creative people which is horrible practice.

No amount of money thrown at a fundamentally flawed process is going to fix that process.

 

[Jrb1979]

They have absolutely been building quite a bit from 2017-2023. That shouldn't be dismissed. That being said, they didn't build much from 2007-2017 so you could argue that they're playing catchup. Add in the fact that Universal has been adding a new ride each year and 13 more in 2025 and it's hard not to be underwhelmed by the lack of announcements at D23. This tells me that the earliest we will see a new ride after TRON would be 2026.

As for the Hatbox Ghost himself. I'm glad he's being added, but as an effect, it's less impressive as a digital effect. I think that takes away some of the mystique and it's more about adding a cool character to the Mansion.

Now that The Hatbox Ghost has been announced, can we be done updating attractions that aren't broken? There are plenty of other attractions that need love, but every Imagineer wants to put their stamp on Pirates and the Mansion.



I would have loved to been a part of the "Bob Chapek schmoozes with bloggers" dinner after the Expo so that I could pick his brain. He has made no secret that they should be leveraging their IP at any possible moment. What I want to ask him is "why?" So far his only answer has been, "because if other companies had it, they would be doing it". That's not a satisfactory answer for me.

Is it simply about brand recognition? As simple minded theme park fans we gravitate towards merch sales, but that's not enough of a driver to choose IP over quality. You don't spent $220 million on a Ratatouille attraction to fund the adjacent merchandise cart. If you make decisions that way, you'll be out of business.

That brings me to dinoland. The apparent desire to remove dinosaurs from the park seems incredibly short sighted. Just because "dinosaurs" as a group of animals haven't produced a successful Disney movie, doesn't mean that dinosaurs themselves can't be a driver for attendance. I can't believe Disney is so delusional to think that without the familiarity and backing of a corresponding movie they won't visit a themed area. So it must simply be brand recognition over all else. Their strategy is to showcase Disney brands at all costs. Familiarity over quality. Familiarity over everything.

This is also a tacit admission that the various movie studios are more integral to the creative future of the company than anything else. By pushing movie based IP over original concepts they are stating that the creative teams working on motion pictures are more creative than the creative teams working on theme park attractions. They're sidelining or otherwise restricting creative people which is horrible practice.

No amount of money thrown at a fundamentally flawed process is going to fix that process.

I agree with a lot of what you are saying. I understand Disney's side of it. On the guest side of it I have asked why they don't want more original attractions like Epcot originally had. A lot the answers were if they want that they can go visit a regional park. They come to Disney for the IP.

 

[FigmentFan82]

D'Amaro said a year, which seems wild to me. How long does it take to clone and install a singular animatronic?

Rode HM this weekend and tried to picture placement for HBG. I think there's going to be a little finessing required so that you can notice both the bride and HBG. I don't think it'll be as easy as just dropping him in.

 

[Touchdown]

Rode HM this weekend and tried to picture placement for HBG. I think there's going to be a little finessing required so that you can notice both the bride and HBG. I don't think it'll be as easy as just dropping him in.

He isn’t going in his original spot, most likely, he will be located just outside the attic on the roof. That’s where he is at DL, and MK and DL share the same layout after their stairwell scenes.

 

[180º]

Florida's lack of attic pianist would hypothetically allow them to do the original DL arrangement: Bride in the first window (where the piano is in DL), and Hat Box Ghost in beating-heart-bride's old spot (across the track from where Constance is now). They'll probably end up just cloning the current DL setup though.

 

[Magicart87]

Florida's lack of attic pianist would hypothetically allow them to do the original DL arrangement: Bride in the first window (where the piano is in DL), and Hat Box Ghost in beating-heart-bride's old spot (across the track from where Constance is now). They'll probably end up just cloning the current DL setup though.

Nice! And how great would it be if they could bring back the beating heart bride?! Sounds like a winning combination.