Haunted Mansion 50th Anniversary Thread

SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
brb1006 said:
I love how Disneyland somehow found a way to bring back the live actor for the Knight. Which hadn't been used since the early 1970s.
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They also brought it back to celebrate the 30th in the '90s, as seen in this video:



I had heard it was used briefly in the '80s, but had never heard of it being used in the early '70s. Good stuff! Amazing it's been a part of Mansion lore since almost the beginning- I dare say the live knight might be more infamous than the Hatbox Ghost at this point.
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
mickEblu said:
They could replace the current Constance with this one with no audio or lighting and it would be a major upgrade
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Agreed. I look at Fitzgerald the same way I look at Irvine- everything they touch comes out worse than it was before.

The attic is my favorite scene in the ride, the history and detail that went into it as well as the many many changes it's had makes it easily the most fascinating scene to study. Long Forgotten Blog has an amazing series on the brides, the inspiration, and the various iterations. Perhaps Fitzgerald would have done well to do that amount of research before shoehorning in his weird vision for what the ride needs.

In my opinion, the greatest offense of Constance isn't the cheap projections and weird 'story' they tried to tie through the attraction, even retconning one of the stretching portraits and saying it's Constance. It's the fact that she isn't scary in the slightest. Having a room in the ride that's genuinely unsettling and terrifying with a corpse bride and an ominous beating heart heard throughout the scene- no dialogue (until the '90s when the "I do's" got added)- provides a nice contrast the the humor and wit of the ballroom and graveyard scenes. Now, it's too much funny in a row and any tension is diffused.
 
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
SuddenStorm said:
Agreed. I look at Fitzgerald the same way I look at Irvine- everything they touch comes out worse than it was before.

The attic is my favorite scene in the ride, the history and detail that went into it as well as the many many changes it's had makes it easily the most fascinating scene to study. Long Forgotten Blog has an amazing series on the brides, the inspiration, and the various iterations. Perhaps Fitzgerald would have done well to do that amount of research before shoehorning in his weird vision for what the ride needs.

In my opinion, the greatest offense of Constance isn't the cheap projections and weird 'story' they tried to tie through the attraction, even retconning one of the stretching portraits and saying it's Constance. It's the fact that she isn't scary in the slightest. Having a room in the ride that's genuinely unsettling and terrifying with a corpse bride and an ominous beating heart heard throughout the scene- no dialogue (until the '90s when the "I do's" got added)- provides a nice contrast the the humor and wit of the ballroom and graveyard scenes. Now, it's too much funny in a row and any tension is diffused.
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It’s unfortunate that they didn’t do anything about it for the 50th. Makes you wonder if it’s even in their radar. Some brave soul needs to take one for the team and just jump off a doom buggy and destroy it.
 
Mac Tonight

Mac Tonight

Well-Known Member
This is just an idea... but maybe with the 50th so close to the start of the HMH overlay, they didn't want to go through all the hassle of installing a new bride for just a couple weeks??
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
mickEblu said:
It’s unfortunate that they didn’t do anything about it for the 50th. Makes you wonder if it’s even in their radar. Some brave soul needs to take one for the team and just jump off a doom buggy and destroy it.
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The sad thing about it? All Disney would need to do to fix it would be a quick run to the mall to steal a department store mannequin and pick up a new projector :oops:
 
SuddenStorm

SuddenStorm

Well-Known Member
Mac Tonight said:
This is just an idea... but maybe with the 50th so close to the start of the HMH overlay, they didn't want to go through all the hassle of installing a new bride for just a couple weeks??
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Fitzgerald, the mastermind behind the new attic, still has a very active role in Imagineering. He also just worked his 'magic' in Paris.

I don't think we'll see a removal or revision of Constance until after he retires.
 
britain

britain

Well-Known Member
TROR said:
Fitzgerald's a hack. His work on Phantom Manor destroyed the storytelling so wonderfully crafted by Baxter.
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For what it's worth, Tony said (at the HM 50th event this week) the new Phantom Manor's story is much stronger than before. He seems to be pleased with the changes.
 
TROR

TROR

Well-Known Member
britain said:
For what it's worth, Tony said (at the HM 50th event this week) that Phantom Manor's new story is much stronger than before. He seems to be pleased with the changes.
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He also likes Mission Breakout over Tower of Terror. I think the man's just trying to stay in Disney's good grace at this point, honestly. The new Phantom Manor makes Melanie out to be a villain as opposed to a sympathetic character. If the story is now stronger, that's only because it's spoon fed to the guests riding the attraction. All of its subtleties are gone.
 
britain

britain

Well-Known Member
TROR said:
makes Melanie out to be a villain as opposed to a sympathetic character.
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That's one way to take it - but I think "Will you marry me?" is more of a unexpected, nuanced twist at the end, rather than "All sympathetic Melanie, all the time!" It's actually quite impressive that they were able to turn that attraction into one of those "Now you have to see it all over again now that you know the twist" type of thrillers.
 

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