Haunted Mansion experience

TheIndoorKid

TheIndoorKid

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I don't know if this has been discussed but has anyone really been disappointed with how the mansion operates these days? I understand the need for people with disabilities needing extra time to board, but I feel like it happens so often that it ruins the ride. I used to have an AP and would go to the parks a couple times a month, I came to expect the ride to stop at least once per ride. which isn't too horrible. However, this past weekend I went with a friend who had never been on the ride and we stopped no less than 5 times and several times the ride slowed to a crawl before speeding back up again. We went on it again later in the day and we still had 2 or 3 stops. It just doesn't make for an enjoyable experience. Maybe they can wait until they have a larger group of people needing extra time to board and get them all at once instead of stopping the ride so many times

I really don't have any actual solutions, to be honest. I just wanted to complain.
 
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
How did they handle this issue in the past? I don’t recall it stopping so much when I was younger? Did not as many disabled people go to Disneyland back then?
 
Californian Elitist

Californian Elitist

Well-Known Member
That’s how it is. Those with certain needs deserve to ride just as much as those without certain needs. And stopping the ride for a long period of time to get hoards of people on at once will not work because the ride will likely E-stop itself and shut down.

The solutions are to stop riding Mansion altogether or continue riding and dealing with the fact that the ride slows down or stops at time so other can also enjoy it.
 
Weather_Lady

Weather_Lady

Well-Known Member
I, too, wish Disney would come up with a better solution -- one that allows unfettered access by folks who need extra time to board, but doesn't ruin the flow and immersion of the attraction for everybody (those-needing-extra-time included: I'm sure they don't enjoy the stops any more than the other riders do). For example, the "run time" of Haunted Mansion is about 7 minutes 30 seconds: why not stop the omnimover ONCE every 7 minutes and 30 seconds, load all the people who need extra time at once (it shouldn't take much longer to board 4 or 5 people than it does to board one person, if they're doing it at once), and then continue? Then there's only one stop for each guest instead of half a dozen.

I remember being particularly peeved by it on our first "family trip" to WDW. My kids, 4 and 6, were experiencing the Haunted Mansion for the first time in their entire lives -- and not only did we have a group of rude, shrieking teenagers in the stretching room who decided that we should listen to THEM chanting the narration, instead of the Ghost Host, but the ride came to a full stop no less than 5 times. The constant interruptions ruined the immersiveness for the kids, and vicariously, for me.

Since then, we've found that if you want a more uninterrupted experience at HM, the key is to visit within the first hour of the day, or late at night.
 
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Janir

Janir

Well-Known Member
Weather_Lady said:
I, too, wish they could come up with a better solution -- one that allows access by folks who need extra time to board, but doesn't ruin the flow and immersion of the attraction for everybody (the folks-needing-extra-time included: I'm sure they don't enjoy the stops any more than the other riders do). (For example, the "run time" of Haunted Mansion is about 7 minutes 30 seconds: why not stop ONCE every 7 minutes and 30 seconds, load all the people who need extra time at once, and then continue? Then there's only one stop for each guest instead of half a dozen.)

I remember being particularly peeved by it on our family's first visit-as-a-family to WDW. My kids, 4 and 6, were experiencing the Haunted Mansion for the first time in their entire lives -- and not only did we have a group of rude, shrieking teenagers in the stretching room who decided that we should listen to THEM chanting the narration, instead of the Ghost Host, but the ride came to a full stop no less than 5 times. The constant interruptions ruined the immersiveness for the kids, and vicariously, for me.

Since then, we've found that if you want a more uninterrupted experience at HM, the key is to visit within the first hour of the day, or late at night.
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I think you hit the nail right on the head, Stop once every 7 1/2 minutes to load up those that need extra time and require a ride stop. Get two or three doom buggies loaded, then move on in another 7 1/2 minutes, do it again. One stop at most for most riders. Also keeps the entire riders per hour rate up much better than trying to keep both sides of the stretching room doors open and pack more people into the cattle funnel, when you limiting factor is the ride system itself.
 
George Lucas on a Bench

George Lucas on a Bench

Well-Known Member
NateD1226 said:
I love the stops because I get to see all details right in front of me!
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The thing is there aren't that many details. Most of HM is extremely dark and even with illumination there isn't much to take in. Even the ballroom gets old after a brief stop. It's meant to be seen in passing, otherwise it's just mannequins with very limited movement appearing and disappearing.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
They need to bring back the roaming Knight during creep or stop mode.

maxresdefault.jpg
 
CraftyFox

CraftyFox

Well-Known Member
Weather_Lady said:
I, too, wish Disney would come up with a better solution -- one that allows unfettered access by folks who need extra time to board, but doesn't ruin the flow and immersion of the attraction for everybody (those-needing-extra-time included: I'm sure they don't enjoy the stops any more than the other riders do). For example, the "run time" of Haunted Mansion is about 7 minutes 30 seconds: why not stop the omnimover ONCE every 7 minutes and 30 seconds, load all the people who need extra time at once (it shouldn't take much longer to board 4 or 5 people than it does to board one person, if they're doing it at once), and then continue? Then there's only one stop for each guest instead of half a dozen.

I remember being particularly peeved by it on our first "family trip" to WDW. My kids, 4 and 6, were experiencing the Haunted Mansion for the first time in their entire lives -- and not only did we have a group of rude, shrieking teenagers in the stretching room who decided that we should listen to THEM chanting the narration, instead of the Ghost Host, but the ride came to a full stop no less than 5 times. The constant interruptions ruined the immersiveness for the kids, and vicariously, for me.

Since then, we've found that if you want a more uninterrupted experience at HM, the key is to visit within the first hour of the day, or late at night.
Click to expand...
That’s an ingenious solution. I’m surprised they haven’t adopted this method yet.
 
THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

Well-Known Member
Yeah I remember when I was a young lad being able to have a complete ride through with no stops. I think back in the day those who needed extra time to load where told to come back at a certain time and they would stop it so they could ride at once like everyone is saying. I want the mansion to be experienced by all. no one should be excluded but they need to go back to how it used to be where the stops were less frequent to non existant. it really does ruin the flow. if you want to have a complete ride through you have to do it when the park first opens or right before it closes or when fantasmic or fireworks are going on.
 
THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

THE 1HAPPY HAUNT

Well-Known Member
180º said:
Planning ADA loading and unloading only goes so far. Many, many pauses are caused by able-bodies clueless guests who take their sweet time climbing aboard, for no reason other than they are blissfully unaware of their surroundings.
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I disagree. able body people rarely cause several minute delay shut down of the ride. or the stops would have been more frequent back in the day.
 
Mac Tonight

Mac Tonight

Well-Known Member
Rode it twice Sunday. Stopped both times and the second time (around 8) we were stopped for a solid 5 minutes. Then it resumed, stopped again, went into crawl mode, stopped again, and crawled home. We were stopped for so long that when it finally started up again people cheered.

I'll be the one to say it... I blame HMH. The bi-annual swap has probably left more things in disrepair than anything else. Really, for a ride celebrating its 50th anniversary in just a few months, it is really showing it's age.
 

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