Tim Lohr
Well-Known Member
Yeah, it was very "70's" ...like the tile floor that used to be in the Polynesian Village Resort's lobby in the 1970's... that's why they're both gone now
-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Hatbox Ghost is Disney World?
- Thread starter cwoms197
- Start date
-
- Tags
- magic kingdom
Tim Lohr
Well-Known Member
Well the library scene in WDW is built on an pretty step angle (because they decided to ditch the elevator in the stretching rooms) but in Tokyo I think they had time to figure out how to keep things level for that walking book effect... but this is what the WDW blueprints look like when you line them up. Not only did they not need the Disneyland Stretching Room elevators in WDW, but they really didn't need the staircase either
JustInTime
Well-Known Member
If you have a link, I'd love to see it!
Buried20KLeague
Well-Known Member
You can see the walking book effect at about 5:00 in this video.
You can see the face effect I'm describing at about 6:35. I had to look through a BUNCH of videos online to find it... It doesn't happen constantly so a lot of videos don't catch it. And this video is over-exposed to show more detail and make it brighter. In person, in the dark... It very much gives a "did I just see that??" sort of feeling.
JustInTime
Well-Known Member
You are awesome. Thank you!!!
JustInTime
Well-Known Member
I really love both of those effects
Coaster Lover
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
I'd have to agree... almost looks like something more out of Scooby Doo... It's like the Claude Coats portions of the mansion got an extra helping of Marc Davis treatment...
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
WDW's was very different originally, it was much more psychedelic and loaded with black lights. The difference between the 2 Haunted Mansions was like the difference between DL's Submarine ride and WDW's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea... one was based in reality the other was fantasy, or more being inside the "boundless realm of the supernatural" than an actual house. Today the Florida on has been "downgraded" in my opinion to be more the the DL version, which has less effects than the WDW did originally, but Tokyo Disneyland still has some of the original stuff... like the black lights in some places like the library
this is the WDW Library today
and this is how it looks in Tokyo with the black-lights, and how it originally looked in WDW
and at 2:55 in this video you can see the green lights, smoke machines and monster fingers that used to be on a few of the doors in WDW
That looks so much better! The Library is way too dark at WDW now and you can't even see some of the effects going on.
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
There's a flow to the story. First you approach a creepy house. Then when you enter, you notice subtle changes (walls stretching, portraits changing). Then objects begin to move about on their own (books, piano keys, doors, etc). Finally, Madam Leota calls on the spirits to materialize and show themselves. In the attic these spirits seems potentially scary, but as we descend into the finale, we realize they are just getting together for a jamboree. The story and experience is designed to build.
The interactive queue introduces the ghosts right off the bat and let's us know they are friendly and silly. There's no fear, no anticipation, just cartoony ghosts to play with. It ignores the entire dramatic structure of the attraction.
MrPromey
Well-Known Member
Yeah. I remember when that interactive queue first opened up. At the time, it was "optional" if you wanted to go through that extra line to experience it and presumably, delay getting into the attraction. Anyone with half a brain saw where that was going to go, though.
Buried20KLeague
Well-Known Member
Yep. Simple and understated... But impressive.
Especially the face thing. I had no idea that was going to happen, so I wasn't looking at it and caught it out of the corner of my eye and wasn't sure if my mind was playing tricks on me. We got directly back in line for the sole purpose of staring at that painting to see what it was gonna do.
And the book is just cool. It gives a little bit of movement and life to what otherwise is basically a diorama.
Buried20KLeague
Well-Known Member
Actually, I forgot about another cool effect, visable in that video.
In the library, on the table next to the rocker is an open book. That open book flips pages every once in a while as if something was reading it.
Just watch from 5:00 in the video and you can see it a couple times. Another cool little touch that Tokyo has over the stateside parks.
JustInTime
Well-Known Member
I noticed that too!!! Quite cool. I love that. Thank you.
999th Happy Haunt
Well-Known Member
Sorry for the thread bump but does anyone have any updates on this rumor? Is this something we can expect for the 50th?
Seabasealpha1
Well-Known Member
No idea...
But...I did just make my first visit to Disneyland...and I gotta say... "Hatty" stole the show...what a cool addition!
Still hate the projected face on the mannequin bride...looks cheap...dialogue is even worse...and that's both parks on both coasts...
TeriofTerror
Well-Known Member
Hatbox Ghost *is* WDW? Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash. 
Phineas
Well-Known Member
Constance is one of my most despised changes to the parks, along with the CGI Hitchhiking Ghosts and horrendous interactive queue at WDW. Disney can be so tone deaf sometimes.
What's weirder, I have never found anyone who offers praise for Constance, either. The previous versions of the bride with her beating heart were mysterious, sad, and spooky all at once without needing to resort to murder puns.
If I had my way, the queue would be reverted back to the foreboding original, the ghost in the mirror would be a physical prop, and Constance would be replaced with a silent, mournful bride. Maybe one that didn't try to hammer a forced story into your head. And maybe in time for the 50th. And maybe bring Hattie in to bring everything full circle. He's how you update the mansion while staying true to the original.
"I do....I did."
"Heeeere comesss the briiiide..."
puke.
MerlinTheGoat
Well-Known Member
There have apparently been several variations of the bride through the years. The one (and those similar to it) that I grew up seeing when I visited in the 90s I personally feel was the most effective. The face was all black and featureless, save for circles of light for eyes, and a glowing beating heart.
It was the most simple and least detailed of all the brides (some of which had visible facial features). It relied instead on mood and mystery using lighting, sound and artistry. But there was something extremely unsettling and (IMO) truly frightening about it. It used mystery, the fear of the unknown. And it was very effective.
You knew by instinct without the need for any backstory that something horrible and tragic happened to (or caused by) the bride. But you didn't know the backstory or if the spirit meant harm or not. It could have been a victim or villain. That lack of knowledge and creepy but subdued detail just made it even more scary and effective.
Not a fan of Constance at all. Anything about her. The effect (which looks ugly and flat), the personality they gave her or the backstory which removed all sense of mystery. It feels like they even attempted to make her more obviously evil and threatening, but the execution is just embarrassing and not intimidating at all.
It was the most simple and least detailed of all the brides (some of which had visible facial features). It relied instead on mood and mystery using lighting, sound and artistry. But there was something extremely unsettling and (IMO) truly frightening about it. It used mystery, the fear of the unknown. And it was very effective.
You knew by instinct without the need for any backstory that something horrible and tragic happened to (or caused by) the bride. But you didn't know the backstory or if the spirit meant harm or not. It could have been a victim or villain. That lack of knowledge and creepy but subdued detail just made it even more scary and effective.
Not a fan of Constance at all. Anything about her. The effect (which looks ugly and flat), the personality they gave her or the backstory which removed all sense of mystery. It feels like they even attempted to make her more obviously evil and threatening, but the execution is just embarrassing and not intimidating at all.
Phineas
Well-Known Member
She comes off like a Mom trying to be cool by dressing up on Halloween taking her kids Trick-or-Treating and being spooky, but not too spooky. Oddly-specific, I know.
Nothing about her works. Nothing about her says anything other than "That's a flat projection on a dressmaker's dummy." And them retconning Constance to be the widow in the stretching room portrait is just insulting.
It occurs to me that if they didn't want to pay to replace the figure, they could just change the projection to that of a previous bride incarnation. For next to nothing.
Karakasa
Well-Known Member
I have a feeling that Constance being over the top was meant to be intentional. The two previous brides definitely left a sense of creeping dread that didn't really fit the silliness of the rest of the ride. I liked the contrast but it's possible it just scared too many people.