-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
News Hatbox Ghost coming to Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion
- Thread starter wdwmagic
- Start date
Haymarket2008
Well-Known Member
I cannot wait for Hattie to make his way to WDW, but my goodness…..please let us get a new bride. That technology never worked for me. Looks pretty bad, imho.
The worst part is the Singing Busts are far more effective.
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
That’s my bet.
Nothing, it looks the exact same. Doom buggy course has not been altered yet either. I remember being at DL during their installation, post NBC that year the buggies now turned to face the roof right after the bride, the roof was also much closer to the ride track for awhile (to hide figure installation.)
Captain Neo
Well-Known Member
I remember when this started as a rumor in like 2006 it was exciting and hype then but…..it’s twenty years later WDI …
ToTBellHop
Well-Known Member
doctornick
Well-Known Member
Remember when there were strong rumors about getting the BYMRR explosion effects and yet here we are still without them…
FigmentFan82
Well-Known Member
They really do need to take a look back at the "plussing" idea of it all for giving rides a little something without being too big of a re-do or re-fresh
Cancelled, what, 3 times now ?
"Unprecedented demand" means never needing to plus your rides, because as you said elsewhere - Why would they? They're making money hand over fist with the existing offerings, why spend a penny to improve anything?
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
"plussing" doesn't have an obvious and immediate return on investment. It's a hard sell nowadays.
Hatbox Ghost at least can help push merch.
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
A little birdie told me (who admitted they aren't fully certain) that The Hatbox Ghost may not be installed outside the Attic in WDW the way he is at Disneyland - so if that's true it's possible the Doombuggy track would not need to be altered.
This same birdie mentioned that he might materialize "this spring", which would make *some* sense since the new Haunted Mansion movie was originally set to open in theaters this March. The movie's release has since been moved to August, so perhaps they'll move back the HBG Install to coincide, but maybe the wheels are already turning and he'll show up in the spring anyway.
I have to think his install at WDW is meant to tie in to the fact that he's purportedly a major character in the new movie. Maybe he's major enough that they think it would no longer make sense to have a Haunted Mansion without him. It'll be interesting to see if Tokyo gets him one day too.
Where would they put him? Attic? Library? I hope not the latter as I like the rule of no completly visible ghosts until Madame Leota.
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
The person I spoke to seemed to allude to the Attic proper - they definitely wouldn't try anywhere before Leota. But I do recall that before he returned to Disneyland the idea was tossed around to put him in either the Graveyard or the Ballroom, or even in the Mirrors at the end as a 4th "surprise" Hitchhiking Ghost.
This train of thought seemed to stem from 2 things - there was already too much light in the Attic in 1969 for the HBG effect to work, and now in the age of Constance the Attic is brighter than ever, so it seemed like returning to his original spot wouldn't work. On top of that, there was concern that having the figure be too "in your face" might spoil both the figure's illusion but also the character's mystique, since his being gone for so long was such a significant part of the character's allure. So having him appear somewhere more hidden in the background of the Graveyard or Ballroom was considered an easy-ish way to solve the lighting issue and keep the character a bit more inaccessible, lurking in the shadows in a new part of the Mansion.
This all went out the window, of course, when a new approach for the character's effect was devised - the Attic was still a little too bright, but in just the right light the effect held up and made for a great but of close-up magic, so it was decided to try to put him near the Doombuggy Track and as close to his old spot as possible.
Why that would have changed for WDW's Mansion I don't really know, but it sounds like it might be possible that they're doing something different here. I'll be curious to see where he ends up!
Why not put Hatbox where Constance is now?
yensidtlaw1969
Well-Known Member
Presumably because they're happy with Constance where she is now.
She's on all the merchandise, I doubt she'll be going away any time soon. Sadly.
I'm curious to see if and how she factors into the new movie. She hasn't been mentioned at all the way The Hatbox Ghost has been, but their stories are so intertwined (and again, she makes them money) I'd be shocked if she wasn't in it. Part of me is thinking they're trying to keep her appearance in the movie a surprise. Which would be easy enough given how little we've seen of it so far.
Animaniac93-98
Well-Known Member
I keep forgetting their is a new HM movie being released this year.
Typical Disney movie marketing. They think they can slide on name recog alone. Better start dropping some teasers.
lazyboy97o
Well-Known Member
Even crazier that it’s apparently been done for awhile now.