It's iconic and also, we can figure the guy was not a typical ghost or ready as he is saying "Let me outta here" on loop. So with the original narration, provides the dark irony of maybe he was not quite ready yet. The thing is, it is another case of declining by degrees, not a case to further it.
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News Hatbox Ghost coming to Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion
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It's iconic and also, we can figure the guy was not a typical ghost or ready as he is saying "Let me outta here" on loop. So with the original narration, provides the dark irony of maybe he was not quite ready yet. The thing is, it is another case of declining by degrees, not a case to further it.
FettFan
Well-Known Member
But the lighting could be changed, or even just turned off.
FettFan
Well-Known Member
Hand on the door? I’m not sure I follow.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
In the hallway with all the doors, through 2007, there was a (monster?) hand curling over a door, pushing it open toward us. The hand was removed due to the Leota Law. But, we kept the coffin hand.
DavidDL
Well-Known Member
Maybe I'm confusing structure with infrastructure then? I was just referring back to yensid's post after looking for what you had meant about it being previously addressed.
FettFan
Well-Known Member
Ah. I didn’t even notice they were missing back in February. But then again, my thoughts were…elsewhere that day.
(See profile pic)
It was changed more akin to being seen as cheesy than the Loeta rule. They thought like a few other things, that it looked hoakey. The doors were also toned down as well, thus making the hallway less intense.
Tokyo still has the full version. I was overjoyed to see.it again in June.
DavidDL
Well-Known Member
I never even knew about the hands on the door before today. Did a google search and sure enough, there they were! Always awesome to learn something new about the attraction. Was this just at WDW? Or did DL ever have it too? I've been riding DL's my entire life and would be floored to learn that I don't remember or never noticed them before they were removed.
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TheMaxRebo
Well-Known Member
That is my thinking to .... No in th end some good lks may not like the story they tell, but I can't imagine they just do this willy nilly with next to no thought out into it when they are the ones choosing to spend extra money they don't have to for this addition
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
This guy:
These hands were removed in 2007 during the massive Re-Haunting refurbishment - they used to be on the last door on the left before the Grandfather Clock.
It was decided, at the time, that they broke what was then decreed "the Leota Rule", whereby no spirit should physically materialize before we see Leota help them "get through". But, as has been said, the Casket Guy (we keep calling him Coffin Guy, myself included, but really it is a casket) was given a pass despite also breaking this rule simply because he is too iconic to lose. But it does poke a hole in the commitment to the Leota Rule - even since day one in 2007 it hasn't ever fully been followed.
Add again that these hands were approved by Claude Coats and Marc Davis as an addition for the WDW Mansion and the rule falls even further into ruin. They guys who made the ride didn't even really believe in that. On their second pass at The Haunted Mansion they thought these hands were an improvement.
Another fun fact that happens to put a little bit of a ribbon on all of this - The Casket Guy, the Door Guy, and the 1969 original Hatbox Ghost's hands all came from the same mold.
Hands are not equal to a full reveal of the ballroom.
That's the point. Cast Members from day one were always the only full gaunt figures prior to ballroom. It was only heads, hands, sounds and poltergeist. Before that. Leota rule named or not.
We even have a full shadow, but never a full ghost reveal until after Leota.
Again, not a hard fast rule, original Imagineers understood fun and lacing are what mattered.
it's always the boundless realm of the supernatural, but it does/did in fact end up with the pacing.
Remember the attraction starts it's first lines with The Ghost Host letting us in on signs of ghosts around us all of the time, but never seeing them.
It's literally the first lines of the attraction.
Forget the Leota as a literal character that can do it, and view it as a pacing that accelerates in the attraction.
JustInTime
Well-Known Member
Great photo. Can’t wait for this.A photo of the Hatbox Ghost area this morning
Work begins on the Hatbox Ghost installation at Magic Kingdom's Haunted Mansion
Work begins on the Hatbox Ghost installation at Magic Kingdom's Haunted Mansionwww.wdwmagic.com
JustInTime
Well-Known Member
Just the happy ones. The angry Hatbox Ghost is in control and ready for you.
JustInTime
Well-Known Member
The closure on paper is to replace the unload belt. That’s not to say work won’t be done on both.
He is happy. It is just a daft disguise.
Also. For those wondering. That is a coffin.
A casket, in term and use did not become common in the states until during and after the civil war. They are the ones that have hinges like a jewelry box, which the original term came from.
The box our friend is trying to escape from is a coffin. More akin to what people think of with "toe pinchers" or ones that have more body framing shape rather than hinged.
Paritcularly noticeable as the hand is prying it open against it being nailed shut.
Caskets came more.commonplace later hinged options for wakes with viewings when so many.Amwricans were passing from the war and funerals became larger in production.
Drdcm
Well-Known Member
The hardline positions here are fascinating. I suppose the question is “is this the best place for it for the experience itself?”. Then follows “could they have reasonably put it somewhere else?”. I would say probably not to the first question and 
to the second.
@Sirwalterraleigh i don’t mean experience like the product but experience in the context of having an impression on the viewer lol
to the second.@Sirwalterraleigh i don’t mean experience like the product but experience in the context of having an impression on the viewer lol
You mean that grim grinning ghost?
DavidDL
Well-Known Member
I mean, in terms of pacing I'd argue that in some ways we go from 0 to 100 when a lightning storm removes the ceiling from our heads and showcases a man who hung himself after just walking in the door.
From there, a spooky man whose head moves between his shoulders and his hatbox seems about right in WDW's location, especially since their version up until this point has more time to build with the portrait hallway, library and endless staircases before getting to endless hallway area.
I'll admit it might seem a little sudden to me if he were placed here in the Disneyland version because that is like, our first scene. WDW has some build up on the actual ride portion of the attraction going for it before this point. Remains to be seen just how much he detracts from the endless hallway, though. If your eyes go straight to him and want to stay there so you can see his full effect, it may mean paying less attention to stuff like the floating candelabra at the end of the hallway.
From there, a spooky man whose head moves between his shoulders and his hatbox seems about right in WDW's location, especially since their version up until this point has more time to build with the portrait hallway, library and endless staircases before getting to endless hallway area.
I'll admit it might seem a little sudden to me if he were placed here in the Disneyland version because that is like, our first scene. WDW has some build up on the actual ride portion of the attraction going for it before this point. Remains to be seen just how much he detracts from the endless hallway, though. If your eyes go straight to him and want to stay there so you can see his full effect, it may mean paying less attention to stuff like the floating candelabra at the end of the hallway.
The hardline positions here are fascinating. I suppose the question is “is this the best place for it for the experience itself?”. Then follows “could they have reasonably put it somewhere else?”. I would say probably not to the first question and
Where all the scenic hatbox storage is, may be a great start. Effort and losing ole "connie's" projection work is probably part of the reason or someone's ego.