Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion gets holiday makeover in nearly half the time: ‘It’s been crazy’ - OCR/SCNG

[Phroobar]

Maybe now WDW will consider the overlay since the downtime has drastically been reduced.
*fingers crossed*

You don't want to wish that.

 

[Disney Analyst]

Gingerbread house:

 

[SirWillow]

Obviously they're rushing the install to open it ASAP to try and entice some crowds to visit... Being everyone is staying away due to how bad Star Wars Land is.

Because an additon actually chases people away and makes them not want to see everything else that they used to love to see.

 

[mikenatcity1]

Obviously they're rushing the install to open it ASAP to try and entice some crowds to visit... Being everyone is staying away due to how bad Star Wars Land is.

I don't see that being the reason- the Mansion closed a week later than normal this year, which happened to be right after D23. It seemed like they planned it that way so guests of D23 could visit the park and enjoy the Mansion just a couple weeks after the 50th. It closed the day after D23 (which was already a weeks later than previous years). The crowds on the Saturday before were not light at DL. In fact, the Mansion was posting close to, if not over, 1 hour waits the second half of the day.

 

[Mac Tonight]

What the headline should read is, "Disneyland's Haunted Mansion gets holiday makeover FOR nearly half the time". Starting after Halloween to be more specific.

 

[dennis-in-ct]

You don't want to wish that.

Really?
It looks pretty cool.
What are the drawbacks? Seriously.

I thought the makeover was a good thing because it gave the mansion attention.

Along the same lines, isn’t the small world holiday makeover also a big success?

 

[mouse_luv]

Really?
It looks pretty cool.
What are the drawbacks? Seriously.

I thought the makeover was a good thing because it gave the mansion attention.

Along the same lines, isn’t the small world holiday makeover also a big success?

The WDW HM gets enough attention from guests as it is. The queue is normally always busy. Thanks FP+!

 

[D.Silentu]

What are the drawbacks? Seriously.

I'm in the crowd that enjoys it, but the truth is that it actually takes some attention away from the Mansion proper. Management is so concerned with getting it opened and closed (and indeed 'Holiday' installation and removal does have the Mansion down for too long each year) that they don't allocate time for the maintenance a fifty year old ride needs. The mansion is starting to show its age, but there is no time left to address that.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

I tried to review HMH objectively with an open mind. It just isn't something I can ever bring myself to enjoy. It takes everything that is great about the classic version and ruins it. The decor is so gaudy, the music is occasionally alright, but the spoken lines are downright awful. It's HM with a bunch of ugly neon junk piled in it and attached to it, apparently crudely with drills.

The argument that it's the same ride with Nightmare Before Christmas stuff added is a load of crap. Most of the classic elements such as the real crystal ball lady, hitchhiking ghosts, floating candle, raven, singing heads, the guy with the dog and the bride are removed. These are various focal points that any additions should have placed around, not replaced. At what point is it just not the HM if all this stuff is removed?

The inside of HM just does not look good with bright lighting and that's in addition to the ugly crap placed inside. I've seen TNBC and the ride feels nothing like the movie. Oddly, the HM's normal illumination and tone feels closer to the movie than HMH...so we're just left with a huge oddity that just won't go away year after year. Also, I just want to say that it feels nothing like Halloween and the skeleton himself is saying "Merry Christmas" while dressed in a Santa suit. It's a Christmas version.

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!! I hate HMH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

I wish they would do this the day after Halloween. Let us have the original and more appropriately themed Haunted Mansion for Halloween. Since the Disney managers have shown the ability to switch to the Jack Sparrow version in a week and a half, they could easily start on the first of November and still have it up in time for the Christmas festivities. Anyway, I hope LMG and others will have good videos up on youtube tomorrow.

I agree with Anthony Hopkins here. LET ME RIDE THE MANSION THE WAY IT WAS MEANT TO BE FOR HALLOWEEN.

 

[TP2000]

It's 7:40pm Pacific time with only the lowest SoCal Select AP blocked out today, and after a slow afternoon Disneyland and DCA is getting a big surge of locals showing up after work for the first night of HalloweenTime. The Halloween themed E Tickets are pulling in big crowds with long lines. Star Wars Land? Not so much.

From the Disneyland App:

Luigi's Honkin' Haul-O-Ween - 30 Minutes
Guardians of the Galaxy: Monsters After Dark! - 75 Minutes
Haunted Mansion Holiday - 60 Minutes
Radiator Springs Racers - 90 Minutes
Millennium Falcon: Target Run - 25 Minutes

I know it's controversial to say this, but Haunted Mansion hasn't seen a 60 minute wait time all summer long. But turn it into Nightmare Before Christmas and put a 50th anniversary gingerbread house in the ballroom, and the AP's go nuts.

And this is a new version of the Halloween calendar for Disneyland Resort, with a record short turnaround for the Halloween overlays and decor. Normally the Halloween stuff wouldn't arrive in New Orleans Square and Cars Land and Guardians/HollywoodLand until next Friday. They obviously scheduled it this new way six months ago thinking the parks would be packed due to Star Wars Land with 3 hour long lines for the Millennium Falcon. That didn't happen, and the 18 year old Halloween overlay on the 50 year old Haunted Mansion that gets 2,100 riders per hour is pulling a bigger crowd than the new Millennium Falcon ride that gets 1,700 riders per hour.

That's probably not what Burbank and TDA had planned and budgeted for fiscal year 2019 going into fiscal year 2020.

Oops!

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

I tried to review HMH objectively with an open mind. It just isn't something I can ever bring myself to enjoy. It takes everything that is great about the classic version and ruins it. The decor is so gaudy, the music is occasionally alright, but the spoken lines are downright awful. It's HM with a bunch of ugly neon junk piled in it and attached to it, apparently crudely with drills.

The argument that it's the same ride with Nightmare Before Christmas stuff added is a load of crap. Most of the classic elements such as the real crystal ball lady, hitchhiking ghosts, floating candle, raven, singing heads, the guy with the dog and the bride are removed. These are various focal points that any additions should have placed around, not replaced. At what point is it just not the HM if all this stuff is removed?

The inside of HM just does not look good with bright lighting and that's in addition to the ugly crap placed inside. I've seen TNBC and the ride feels nothing like the movie. Oddly, the HM's normal illumination and tone feels closer to the movie than HMH...so we're just left with a huge oddity that just won't go away year after year. Also, I just want to say that it feels nothing like Halloween and the skeleton himself is saying "Merry Christmas" while dressed in a Santa suit. It's a Christmas version.

110% AGREE. PERFECTLY SAID. NO ONE COULD STATE IT BETTER.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

The reason HMH has a long line is because it closed down and has reopened...

 

[Californian Elitist]

Can one of you locals tell me if the entire park is decked for Halloween already when the HM opens? Or just the HM for a few more weeks. I am planning to go next September the first week....PLEASE.....

The park will be in Halloween decorations, mainly Main Street, by the time the season starts (start date according to Disney). DCA will have decorations, too.

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

By the way, I'm not at all trying to claim HMH doesn't demand huge lines, but I got on in about 25 mins in the afternoon standby line. The parks are still dead.

 

[Kram Sacul]

HMH needs to be cut out of the budget. 50th anniversary of the Mansion and you can’t even ride the original until next year.

 

[VJ]

HMH needs to be cut out of the budget. 50th anniversary of the Mansion and you can’t even ride the original until next year.

the 50th anniversary was a month ago...

 

[THE 1HAPPY HAUNT]

the 50th anniversary was a month ago...

Wrong sir wrong!!! It is all year!!!

 

[DrAlice]

I don't hate the overlay, but it is definitely a CHRISTMAS overlay and should be applied after Halloween. I've never understood why it goes up now. It makes no sense.

If Disney wants to make more money from those characters, I would prefer that they give them their own ride somewhere and leave the mansion alone. They could get the same AP increase in interest in the ride by just doing something special with the ballroom scene occasionally (something equally dramatic to the gingerbread house, - but not a gingerbread house).