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

yensidtlaw1969

yensidtlaw1969

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
I like the part where he mentions how HM's story isn't linear or "spoon fed" to the guests. People can interpret it differently which gives it a more personal, "interactive" feeling as well as a cross generational, timeless appeal.

Unlike all these IP rides. He didn't say that, but it felt implied to me.
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Totally. The myth of "story" is so wildly overblown.

People forget that some of the best, biggest, and most classic attractions - Pirates, Mansion, Small World, Jungle Cruise - are a collection of tableaus loosely strung together over an idea (Pirates ransacking a town, Ghosts haunting a house, etc). Together those tableaus amount to an exciting or interesting experience, where the guest is left with the freedom to make whatever sense they like of how those moments all fit together.

People complain that Na'vi River Journey "has no story", as if "an excursion through a magical alien rainforest" is any more or less of a story than "a venture through an extremely haunted house". The extent of the "story" is actually similar. The real difference is that one of those rides overdelivers on its experiential concept, and the other underdelivers. One has better "moments" and more of them - much more information for the imagination to take in and play with.
 
Animaniac93-98

Animaniac93-98

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
Totally. The myth of "story" is so wildly overblown.

People forget that some of the best, biggest, and most classic attractions - Pirates, Mansion, Small World, Jungle Cruise - are a collection of tableaus loosely strung together over an idea (Pirates ransacking a town, Ghosts haunting a house, etc). Together those tableaus amount to an exciting or interesting experience, where the guest is left with the freedom to make whatever sense they like of how those moments all fit together.

People complain that Na'vi River Journey "has no story", as if "an excursion through a magical alien rainforest" is any more or less of a story than "a venture through an extremely haunted house". The extent of the "story" is actually similar. The real difference is that one of those rides overdelivers on its experiential concept, and the other underdelivers. One has better "moments" and more of them - much more information for the imagination to take in and play with.
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Even Tower of Terror, which has a very thoroughly explained back story, becomes more abstract once you actually get on the ride.

It adds to the mystery and suspense.
 
Twirlnhurl

Twirlnhurl

Well-Known Member
yensidtlaw1969 said:
Totally. The myth of "story" is so wildly overblown.

... The real difference is that one of those rides overdelivers on its experiential concept, and the other underdelivers. One has better "moments" and more of them - much more information for the imagination to take in and play with.
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Absolutely!

I would add that many non-linear-narrative rides do have a natural progression from smaller, quiet scenes with less activity (the caves in Pirates, a floating candelabra in Mansion) to larger, grand scenes with a ton going on (they burn a whole village in Pirates, Haunted Mansion has a scene filled with ghosts in every direction across a graveyard!), so the ride climaxes without necessarily having to resolve any plot.

Na'vi starts good and seems to be building towards something. But there is no grand scene at the end. Just a single (very good) animatronic in a room the same size and scale of all the others. There is no climax.

Linear narratives on rides can work too, but typically they work regardless of the coherence of the narrative.

Splash Mountain, Phantom Manor, Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance are all very successful rides with linear narratives that work despite the fact that most guests probably only get a small fraction of the story the first time they ride.
 
C

celluloid

Well-Known Member
One thing that the movies never seem to do(based on marketing with this new one, unless there is the twist I am figuring that all the main mortals in the movie are all ghosts who are returning home) is that in The Haunted Mansion, originally, the ghosts never seek to be suffering. The bride add ons made that heavier later. The rides concept jas always had them retired and happy to do so, even pitching it to you that there is room. Like a nice retirement country club for ghosts.

Both movies seem to just want to make it some curse.
 
C

celluloid

Well-Known Member
Twirlnhurl said:
Absolutely!

I would add that many non-linear-narrative rides do have a natural progression from smaller, quiet scenes with less activity (the caves in Pirates, a floating candelabra in Mansion) to larger, grand scenes with a ton going on (they burn a whole village in Pirates, Haunted Mansion has a scene filled with ghosts in every direction across a graveyard!), so the ride climaxes without necessarily having to resolve any plot.

Na'vi starts good and seems to be building towards something. But there is no grand scene at the end. Just a single (very good) animatronic in a room the same size and scale of all the others. There is no climax.

Linear narratives on rides can work too, but typically they work regardless of the coherence of the narrative.

Splash Mountain, Phantom Manor, Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey, and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance are all very successful rides with linear narratives that work despite the fact that most guests probably only get a small fraction of the story the first time they ride.
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Indeed. The linear ones you mentioned still have the premise. Even with just the zeitgeist that the characters have entered.

Spiderman good guy saving you from bad guys, the macguffin of statue of liberty ransom has layers of enjoyment.
Harry Potter and The Forbidden Journey The premise of skipping class mischievously in a magic school works beautifully. I believe better than any Main Potter attraction premise since.
Splash Mt has the classic trickster character story and the dynamic matches the pace.
Rose of the Resistance has basic good and bad guy premise. It def has a lot of presbows to set up the details.
 
999th Happy Haunt

999th Happy Haunt

Well-Known Member
Animaniac93-98 said:
I like the part where he mentions how HM's story isn't linear or "spoon fed" to the guests. People can interpret it differently which gives it a more personal, "interactive" feeling as well as a cross generational, timeless appeal.

Unlike all these IP rides. He didn't say that, but it felt implied to me.
Click to expand...
This 100000%. Attractions like Haunted Mansion and Pirates feels so much deeper to me than something like Galaxy’s Edge because there is so much that isn’t explained which actually makes it feel like there’s more to the story than what is presented, you just have to think a bit or use your imagination to connect the dots. Galaxy’s Edge, TBA, Avengers Campus, and lots of other recent Disney projects have this problem where the most unimportant details are over-explained to the point that it seems completely unrealistic.

Could you imagine if Haunted Mansion was opened today? We’d have blog post after blog post after blog post about the Mansion’s entire history and the individual personalities and ambitions of its diverse residents. Bleh. Imagineering has forgotten that the most intriguing world building is often the simplest:
1690000150842.jpeg
 
TheMaxRebo

TheMaxRebo

Well-Known Member
celluloid said:
One thing that the movies never seem to do(based on marketing with this new one, unless there is the twist I am figuring that all the main mortals in the movie are all ghosts who are returning home) is that in The Haunted Mansion, originally, the ghosts never seek to be suffering. The bride add ons made that heavier later. The rides concept jas always had them retired and happy to do so, even pitching it to you that there is room. Like a nice retirement country club for ghosts.

Both movies seem to just want to make it some curse.
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The last trailer for the new movie seems to imply the Hat Box Ghost is haunting the other ghosts - like the rest of them just want to have their happy retirement but he isn't letting them and this why they are agitated ... But guess we shall see in about a week
 
optjay

optjay

Well-Known Member
999th Happy Haunt said:
Could you imagine if Haunted Mansion was opened today? We’d have blog post after blog post after blog post about the Mansion’s entire history and the individual personalities and ambitions of its diverse residents. Bleh. Imagineering has forgotten that the most intriguing world building is often the simplest: View attachment 731900
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Not to mention, " Imagineer" Zach Riddley explaining the carpet designs
 
JoeCamel

JoeCamel

Well-Known Member
larryz said:
After Bob C. took the head shot, he's keeping his Cranium low to the ground...
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Gee, he has more on the ball than I gave him credit for
trainplane3 said:
Yes. Was asked to step back from social media since it wasn't going the way Disney wanted.
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Good, it was an ill conceived role. When fans say they want more detail about the ride it is the thoughts and process BTS they want not what stores the imaginers shop at for props
 

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