Theme park mysteries/urban legends

[Kara24601]

Does anyone have some good examples of some theme park mysteries that are actually grounded in reality/fact or have some truth. For example, the haunted mansion’s man in a web. We know there was concept art and plans for him but whether he made it into the ride at any point is still a mystery.

Other examples I can think of is what happened to the Buzzy animatronic or over at HHN the legend that the maximum carnage maze had the grisly display of famous superhero corpses throughout

 

[marni1971]

Does anyone have some good examples of some theme park mysteries that are actually grounded in reality/fact or have some truth. For example, the haunted mansion’s man in a web. We know there was concept art and plans for him but whether he made it into the ride at any point is still a mystery.

He made it. Before public riding.

 

[Kara24601]

He made it. Before public riding.

Do we have any proof of that yet? There’s been so many different accounts but no one has been able to provide solid proof other than their word

 

[marni1971]

Do we have any proof of that yet? There’s been so many different accounts but no one has been able to provide solid proof other than their word

I dare say there never will be. I recall seeing a photo but don’t remember where. Remember the HM was operational in Orlando from April 1971.

 

[Kara24601]

I dare say there never will be. I recall seeing a photo but don’t remember where. Remember the HM was operational in Orlando from April 1971.

Right, I doubt there will ever be solid evidence either which is why I’d still consider this a mystery. Kind of like the hatbox ghost but that one did end up having photo proof and a home video tape of it

 

[marni1971]

Right, I doubt there will ever be solid evidence either which is why I’d still consider this a mystery. Kind of like the hatbox ghost but that one did end up having photo proof and a home video tape of it

Truth be known most attractions have things removed during T&A that seemed a good idea on paper that the public never see.

 

[Master Yoda]

Truth be known most attractions have things removed during T&A that seemed a good idea on paper that the public never see.

e.g. Kilimanjaro Safaries.

The rides I took on it during park previews in early April and the Holiday season of 1998 were very different than the ones I would take even just a year later let alone what it is today.

 

[JIMINYCR]

If you do an online search for Disney urban legends you will find several sites that will tell I’d a variety of tales. There have been several books also written around Disney urban legends. Tom Bricker who posts on this site has an article that goes through some known legends.

 

[Kara24601]

Thanks, I'll check out Tom Bricker! I've tried doing a google search but I just keep getting the same urban legends like Walt's frozen head or certain ghosts that haunt different attractions. I'm looking more for things that are grounded in reality like whether Buzzy was stolen or just moved to the archives lol

 

[DW Aficionado]

I've heard that the statue of Walt at EPCOT is actually taken from a photo of him sitting on the toilet

 

[VicariousCorpse]

the legend that the maximum carnage maze had the grisly display of famous superhero corpses throughout

I went through the house and never remembered seeing them. There are at least 2 different walkthroughs that do not show these bodies anywhere. A few people who claimed to have worked as scare actors in the house do not remember them. The only body I have seen in the maze is some generic looking legs in the nuclear meltdown scene up above you. I personally don't think they ever existed. Also there are claims that Marvel got mad at Universal for this and would not let them use the characters for HHN but also has no actual source. Just a rumor that took on a life of its own.

 

[Phonedave]

King Louie used to be on the Jungle Cruise

 

[Ice Gator]

I dare say there never will be. I recall seeing a photo but don’t remember where. Remember the HM was operational in Orlando from April 1971.

Pretty sure the photo youre referencing came from one of the older “Haunted Mansion Archives” fan sites- because I’ve seen the photo too, but it took some digging to find it. It was not the concept art or a model, but a VERY low quality/resolution image of the web man taken from one of the doom buggies. It might as well have been just a silhouette, but that’s the only picture of the physical prop I’ve seen- it’s nearly identical to the concept art.

Edit: I believe this is it, or at least the closest (very well done) edit of what it looked like. https://longforgottenhauntedmansion.blogspot.com/2014/09/on-web.html?m=1

If the rumors of the hanging man being removed are true, best case scenario would be to replace him with the man in the web, dangling over you from above.

 

[VicariousCorpse]

Pretty sure the photo youre referencing came from one of the older “Haunted Mansion Archives” fan sites- because I’ve seen the photo too, but it took some digging to find it. It was not the concept art or a model, but a VERY low quality/resolution image of the web man taken from one of the doom buggies. It might as well have been just a silhouette, but that’s the only picture of the physical prop I’ve seen- it’s nearly identical to the concept art.

Edit: I believe this is it, or at least the closest (very well done) edit of what it looked like. https://longforgottenhauntedmansion.blogspot.com/2014/09/on-web.html?m=1

If the rumors of the hanging man being removed are true, best case scenario would be to replace him with the man in the web, dangling over you from above.

From my understanding, he didn't look like the concept art. He was a standard butyrate shell with witch hands. Most likely a reused head sculpt from one of the pop-ups. The schematics call him man in web. Only the concept art has him being a skeleton. There's also the fact that the best info we have on him says he ended up on Tom Sawyer's Island as a sleeping figure. If he was basically a skeleton like the concept art, how would they accomplish this? They would need to replace basically everything instead of just the head and hands.

That picture linked of the man in the web in the article is a composite of the concept art and a photo of the web and railing seen later in the article. The head is altered.

 

[Kara24601]

Pretty sure the photo youre referencing came from one of the older “Haunted Mansion Archives” fan sites- because I’ve seen the photo too, but it took some digging to find it. It was not the concept art or a model, but a VERY low quality/resolution image of the web man taken from one of the doom buggies. It might as well have been just a silhouette, but that’s the only picture of the physical prop I’ve seen- it’s nearly identical to the concept art.

Edit: I believe this is it, or at least the closest (very well done) edit of what it looked like. https://longforgottenhauntedmansion.blogspot.com/2014/09/on-web.html?m=1

If the rumors of the hanging man being removed are true, best case scenario would be to replace him with the man in the web, dangling over you from above.

Yeah that's a photoshopped image of what he might have looked like. Still cool to see though!