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

Twirlnhurl

Twirlnhurl

Well-Known Member
jpeden said:
It was my understanding that's why you go backwards out of the attic.
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Until this discussion, it had never occurred to me that the backwards descent was anything other than a way to go downhill with more than the most gentle slope without throwing riders out of the vehicle. Like the backwards descent on Spaceship Earth.

I typically think that practical or operational concerns drive a lot of decisions credited to "story", but I need to be less reflexive in my application of that idea.

Unlike Spaceship Earth, the layout for Haunted Mansion did not require a steep descent, so the track layout and vehicle rotation probably would be story driven. It seems obvious to me now, but it had not occurred to me!
 
C

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Twirlnhurl said:
Until this discussion, it had never occurred to me that the backwards descent was anything other than a way to go downhill with more than the most gentle slope without throwing riders out of the vehicle. Like the backwards descent on Spaceship Earth.

I typically think that practical or operational concerns drive a lot of decisions credited to "story", but I need to be less reflexive in my application of that idea.

Unlike Spaceship Earth, the layout for Haunted Mansion did not require a steep descent, so the track layout and vehicle rotation probably would be story driven. It seems obvious to me now, but it had not occurred to me!
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That is all classic fanfiction. It is fun, but no Imagineer has ever said it was story driven. Experience driven yes. You had to go up to get to the height overlooking the ballroom. The descent is you going back down to ground level.

An experience getting a story excuse. It stemmed from the original bride and the "ring" which was originally a left over cut piece of iron.

The original story treatment for the Haunted Mansion is a retirement home for ghosts. It is the premise and does not go much deeper than the boundless realm of the supernatural.
The Jason Surrell books are a great source of information for this.
 
C

celluloid

Well-Known Member
They need to just scrap the augmented reality and bring back the original physical ones for the practical effect or make the originals even better with new figures.

Not everyone knows what a pepper's ghost is. Even when we do, we could not recreate an effect on that scale easily, but our phones and kids tablets can all do what those digital ones do.
 
yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
It's been over ten years since that effect was installed and still only WDW has the CGI hitchhiking ghosts.

I think WDI knows it didn't quite work out. I agree they should just go back to how it was before.
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Thank goodness for that - I believe this was initially being considered for Disneyland, around the time that Constance came in. Thankfully it never materialized on the West Coast. Shame though it is to botch the effect at WDW, I think it would have been even worse to lose the original incarnation.

DL always seemed to have better looking figures in the mirrors, anyway. Not quite sure what that's about.
 
UNCgolf

UNCgolf

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
It's been over ten years since that effect was installed and still only WDW has the CGI hitchhiking ghosts.

I think WDI knows it didn't quite work out. I agree they should just go back to how it was before.
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When I went to Disney for the first time in a decade+ a few years back, I was so disappointed when I saw them. I vaguely remembered it being a cool effect and was looking forward to it, and then... that happened. I actually wondered if I'd just made up the original version in my head until I read that they'd changed it.
 
yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
UNCgolf said:
When I went to Disney for the first time in a decade+ a few years back, I was so disappointed when I saw them. I vaguely remembered it being a cool effect and was looking forward to it, and then... that happened. I actually wondered if I'd just made up the original version in my head until I read that they'd changed it.
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It really is a shame. The original effect is simple, clever, handsome, legible, charming, tonally correct . . .

Meanwhile the new version is . . . there . . .
 
C

celluloid

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
Thank goodness for that - I believe this was initially being considered for Disneyland, around the time that Constance came in. Thankfully it never materialized on the West Coast. Shame though it is to botch the effect at WDW, I think it would have been even worse to lose the original incarnation.

DL always seemed to have better looking figures in the mirrors, anyway. Not quite sure what that's about.
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Florida's were originally more animated and had hands! The reason DL's looked better is a thing called Maintiennce, which WDW has negelcted to care for, for a good while now.

Tokyo's are amazingly crisp, specifically the figures before the effect too. The first time you see them it is great.
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
celluloid said:
Florida's were originally more animated and had hands! The reason DL's looked better is a thing called Maintiennce, which WDW has negelcted to care for, for a good while now.

Tokyo's are amazingly crisp, specifically the figures before the effect too. The first time you see them it is great.
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Tokyo's Haunted Mansion is a reminder of how good WDW's version should be. Staircase scene aside, all the tinkering over the past 15 years (CGI ghosts, Constance, interactive queue, lighting changes, flash photos....in the scene where the narration says not to take them!) has largely been unnecessary.
 
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celluloid

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
Tokyo's Haunted Mansion is a reminder of how good WDW's version should be. Staircase scene aside, all the tinkering over the past 15 years (CGI ghosts, Constance, interactive queue, lighting changes, flash photos....in the scene where the narration says not to take them!) has largely been unnecessary.
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Yeah, I was bummed I never got to see the pushing face, maybe permanantly removed? From the portrait in the hallway of doors, but man, it was great to see those doors move like they were supposed to and monster hands behind the one trying to bust open.

The library scene with the books moving and pages turning back and forth was a great practical effect that should be in all of them.

My wife, who is not a Disney park fanatic when a friend who is a doombug fan asked how it was stated that it made the other versions look like a Carnival Ride.

The pop ups and their bride were great to see again as someone who was raised with the WDW version.

The queue is also very neat, and no one really talks about it. It does a family crypt far better than the out of place atmosphere of the WDW's interactive queue.
 
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Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
celluloid said:
Yeah, I was bummed I never got to see the pushing face, maybe permanantly removed?
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AFAIK it's still there. Seen it in YouTube videos uploaded within the past few months.

Not sure if this effect is actually a Tokyo exclusive as I never remember reading about it or seeing it in WDW.
 
C

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
AFAIK it's still there. Seen it in YouTube videos uploaded within the past few months.

Not sure if this effect is actually a Tokyo exclusive as I never remember reading about it or seeing it in WDW.
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Dang, it did not work for me on the two rides I had in June.

It is indeed a Tokyo exclusive as are the books and many other small but neat things. It was great seeing the Mansion as well kept as it was in the early 90s again though.
 

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