From Disney Magazine :
You'd think Jack Skellington would have learned his lesson. After having nearly made a disaster of the winter holidays in The Nightmare Before Christmas, you'd think he'd be happy to stick with his regular beat, Halloween. Guess again. Shomehow, the pumpkin king has taken a wrong turn on his way back to Halloweentown and has wound up in Disneyland. This time he's bringing his own special spin to the season of peace and goodwill in the form of the Haunted Mansion Holiday, a twisted makeover of the classic attraction that will be on view from October 5th to January 6th.
"It's a whole new feel in there," says Steve Davison, the project's creative director, who has previously overseen such other Disneyland re-dresses as It's a Small World Holiday. "We've really gone in and re-invented it. It's less about turning it into the Nightmare Before Christmas attraction than asking, 'What would happen if one holiday decorated another?'"
The answer to that question begins when guests proceed into the mansion and hear the Ghost Host (voiced by Corey Burton, doing a pitch-perfect impression of the classic Paul Frees narration) reciting a fractured rendition of " Twas the Night Before Christmas". Black sleighs replace Doom Buggies to carry guests through the mayhem, while the sound-track uses a new synchronization technique to allow riders to participate in the "Biggest Scream-Along in History." Among the new sights will be a graveyard swathed in a blanket of snow, a ballroom decorated with biarre Christmas gifts, and new animatronics of Jack Skellington and his ghost-dog Zero subbing for the poor, frightened caretaker and his emaciated hound (who apparently have decided to take the holiday off.)
While the redesign id meant to be fun for all guests, Davison suggests that mansion mavens will get a special kick out of the changes. "The more you know the ride, the more the changes you'll be able to find going through it. What we want to do is go on the internet and put up finder lists so people can go in and try to find all these new things we've put into the ride."
The creative director was loath to give details of what might be on those lists, but he did hint that guests well versed in the mansion's layout might discover a room never seen before and will spy a visitor from Halloweentown who has replaced the attraction's raven.
You'd think Jack Skellington would have learned his lesson. After having nearly made a disaster of the winter holidays in The Nightmare Before Christmas, you'd think he'd be happy to stick with his regular beat, Halloween. Guess again. Shomehow, the pumpkin king has taken a wrong turn on his way back to Halloweentown and has wound up in Disneyland. This time he's bringing his own special spin to the season of peace and goodwill in the form of the Haunted Mansion Holiday, a twisted makeover of the classic attraction that will be on view from October 5th to January 6th.
"It's a whole new feel in there," says Steve Davison, the project's creative director, who has previously overseen such other Disneyland re-dresses as It's a Small World Holiday. "We've really gone in and re-invented it. It's less about turning it into the Nightmare Before Christmas attraction than asking, 'What would happen if one holiday decorated another?'"
The answer to that question begins when guests proceed into the mansion and hear the Ghost Host (voiced by Corey Burton, doing a pitch-perfect impression of the classic Paul Frees narration) reciting a fractured rendition of " Twas the Night Before Christmas". Black sleighs replace Doom Buggies to carry guests through the mayhem, while the sound-track uses a new synchronization technique to allow riders to participate in the "Biggest Scream-Along in History." Among the new sights will be a graveyard swathed in a blanket of snow, a ballroom decorated with biarre Christmas gifts, and new animatronics of Jack Skellington and his ghost-dog Zero subbing for the poor, frightened caretaker and his emaciated hound (who apparently have decided to take the holiday off.)
While the redesign id meant to be fun for all guests, Davison suggests that mansion mavens will get a special kick out of the changes. "The more you know the ride, the more the changes you'll be able to find going through it. What we want to do is go on the internet and put up finder lists so people can go in and try to find all these new things we've put into the ride."
The creative director was loath to give details of what might be on those lists, but he did hint that guests well versed in the mansion's layout might discover a room never seen before and will spy a visitor from Halloweentown who has replaced the attraction's raven.
