Haunted Mansion gets Interactive ending

[NelsonRD]

Originally, the idea was that you don't KNOW that the ghosts are actually friendly. From the foreboding music and preshow right down to the (surprisingly morbid for Disney) swinging Ghost Host from the rafters, your initial impression of the Mansion as you enter is that the ghosts are scary and out to get you. You also don't see them. It's not until the END of the ride that you realize the ghosts are actually playful and fun (but never cartoonish or "magical", an important point).

The new queue somewhat ruins all that because you hear the ghost outside the Mansion; also the overall tone is a bit off as the new graveyard is not really foreboding. Add these new HHG that are more like a cross between Casper and The Three Stooges and the whole "flow" of the attraction is kind of thrown off.

None of these things "ruin" the attraction per se, but they do reflect a possible under appreciation or lack of understanding by this generation of Imagineers/execs for the original feel and story of the Mansion. It's this kind of thinking that leads to Guardians of the Galaxy being considered for Tower of Terror, or Sam Eagle in Liberty Square, or Frozen in Norway.

The ghosts are only friendly at the end is because that is when you die (by being pushed out of the attic window), and actually then become one of them.

 

[Amused to Death]

The ghosts are only friendly at the end is because that is when you die (by being pushed out of the attic window), and actually then become one of them.

Huh?

At ride end...

Hurry back! Hurry back! Be sure to bring your death certificate, if you decide to join us. Make final arrangements now! We've been dying... to have you!

Beware of hitchhiking ghosts! They have selected you to fill our quota, and they'll haunt you until you return! Now I will raise the safety bar, and a ghost will follow you home!

While exiting...

If you would like to join our jamboree there's a simple rule that's compulsory. Mortals pay a token fee. Rest in peace, the haunting's free; so hurry back, we would like your company!

 

[MotherOfBirds]

Please, dear god, no. Pepe Le Queue was bad enough.

 

[NelsonRD]

Huh?

At ride end...

Hurry back! Hurry back! Be sure to bring your death certificate, if you decide to join us. Make final arrangements now! We've been dying... to have you...

While exiting...

If you would like to join our jamboree there's a simple rule that's compulsory. Mortals pay a token fee. Rest in peace, the haunting's free; so hurry back, we would like your company!

This full story may be debatable, but you die as a result of the fall from the attic window, which is when the doom buggy descends backward into the graveyard scene. You are dead then, not at the very end of the ride. You are invited back at the very end, but are dead well before that.

 

[Amused to Death]

This full story may be debatable, but you die as a result of the fall from the attic window

Yes, it is certainly debatable.

I have family who have worked in the Mansion and I have never heard this before. I'm going to assume it's more made-up nonsense like the ring in the sidewalk. If this were so, by the way, there would certainly be more than "999 happy haunts," as the number would be increasing by the minute! And why would I need to beware of hitchhiking ghosts following me home and haunting me until I return if I'm now one of them? Dumb!

Disney may be trying to kill my wallet, but I'm pretty sure they're not trying to kill me as well. I've got a FastPass for Dumbo in 20 minutes... and I have no time to attend my own funeral.

 

[raven]

The interactive part of the ride was planned years ago when they first started designing the RFID ideas for the arm bands several years ago.The plans were to have interactive elements in many of the attractions (Winnie the Pooh and gang saying a personalized Happy Birthday to you, etc.)

There were many more plans to use the RFID bands in several OTHER very cool ways as well which I've yet to see happen.

 

[futurecastmembr]

The original smoke and mirrors, practical effect was much more charming. The mansion is a bag of tricks that you can't quite figure out, like the scrim ceiling in the elevator and the pepper's ghost effect in the ball room. Anything overtly digital or computerized robs the show of that aspect in a way.

 

[NearTheEars]

The argument against it is that it turns the HHG's into cartoons. Wacky, zany cartoons.

So now they've bookended an incredible and haunting attraction with a que full of wacky, funny cartoony ghosts and now this.

That changes the entire tone of one of Disney's best attractions ever.

At the very least, I can see where that rubs some people wrong. I don't like the que. I don't like that it introduces you to ghosts before you get in the mansion and that it's intended to be funny. It actually really bugs me too that Gracy's tombstone is in a strip of grass that wouldn't even hold an urn, let alone a coffin (I don't know why that bugs me so much but it does). And I don't like that the HHG's have been devolved into Moe, Larry, and Curly.

The Space que plus the HM que and now the HHG's holding a sign with your name or city are things high up on my list of things I hate MM+ for bringing upon us.

The mansion is home to "999 happy haunts."
Seems to fit the theme.

Edit: sorry, that was already addressed.

 

[No Name]

I like it. I just don't like that it seems to have replaced the funnier parts. But the location thing fits with following you home, and so it makes sense. Actually makes more sense than what was previously there, though it's not as funny. It's a sacrifice that doesn't bug me.

I love the idea of this "StoryMaker" stuff, but I feel that there are greater ideas waiting to be thought of. I hope this is a stepping stone to those greater ideas. In the meantime, these small personal touches are neat and fitting.

This full story may be debatable, but you die as a result of the fall from the attic window, which is when the doom buggy descends backward into the graveyard scene. You are dead then, not at the very end of the ride. You are invited back at the very end, but are dead well before that.

I really think that, if the ride is trying to get that story across, it fails in that regard. I didn't know that you fall from the attic and die, and that that's why you descend backwards into the graveyard, until reading it online. It makes sense thinking about it, but my mind never made that connection. I just assumed you were alive the entire time, and at the end, they were just inviting you to join once you die. Maybe it's just something I missed, but I consider myself to be more observant and fan-ish than the average guest, so I can't imagine I'm alone on this one.

I think the ride would benefit from that part being more clear.

 

[doctornick]

The argument against it is that it turns the HHG's into cartoons. Wacky, zany cartoons.

So now they've bookended an incredible and haunting attraction with a que full of wacky, funny cartoony ghosts and now this.

That changes the entire tone of one of Disney's best attractions ever.

At the very least, I can see where that rubs some people wrong. I don't like the que. I don't like that it introduces you to ghosts before you get in the mansion and that it's intended to be funny. It actually really bugs me too that Gracy's tombstone is in a strip of grass that wouldn't even hold an urn, let alone a coffin (I don't know why that bugs me so much but it does). And I don't like that the HHG's have been devolved into Moe, Larry, and Curly.

The Space que plus the HM que and now the HHG's holding a sign with your name or city are things high up on my list of things I hate MM+ for bringing upon us.

I see the argument for the queue and the graveyard which spoils the beginning of the ride -- which is deliberately scary and ominous -- by being whimsical. But what's wrong with being comical at the end? At that point, you've already been through the ride and realized that the are just "Happy Haunts" who are "socializing". I can understand other criticisms of this MM+ feature, but changing the tone of the ride doesn't seem to make sense to me.

Edit: I see others have already said that.

 

[TalkingHead]

"Fixing" what's not broken. It's the WDW way.

Pretty obnoxious in contrast to the figures elsewhere in the attraction. Not to mention the gag doesn't exactly make sense for some guests. I saw one video with the sign, "We're following you home to Florida."

Huh? You're already in Florida. Sloppy writing, forced gags. Modern WDI at its best.

 

[Amused to Death]

I didn't know that you fall from the attic and die, and that that's why you descend backwards into the graveyard, until reading it online.

"Don't believe everything you read on the internet." — Abraham Lincoln

I just assumed you were alive the entire time, and at the end, they were just inviting you to join once you die.

Correct.

"Now I will raise the safety bar, and a ghost will follow you home!" — Ghost Host

What for? I'm dead!

Apparently, someone forgot to tell Disney's Ghost Relations Department that everyone's dead.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

I love how WDI has money for this kind of junk, but not enough to bring back the Tiki Room's magic fountain.

 

[raven]

The mansion is a bag of tricks that you can't quite figure out, like the scrim ceiling in the elevator and the pepper's ghost effect in the ball room.

Well, sounds like you figured out all of those effects pretty good

 

[futurecastmembr]

Well, sounds like you figured out all of those effects pretty good

I don't know what the point you're trying to make is. The ride is a work of art. It doesn't need a wall of snapchat filters added at the end.

 

[NearTheEars]

I don't know what the point you're trying to make is. The ride is a work of art. It doesn't need a wall of snapchat filters added at the end.

Have you used snapchat?

 

[Joe]

I can't believe we are so desperate for something new at WDW that yinz are chomping at the bit over this.

Fixed that for you.

 

[brb1006]

I love how WDI has money for this kind of junk, but not enough to bring back the Tiki Room's magic fountain.

What happened to the Tiki magic fountain and what did they do?

 

[raven]

I don't know what the point you're trying to make is. The ride is a work of art. It doesn't need a wall of snapchat filters added at the end.

I meant that you knew the exact names of the special effects that have been there all along but you mentioned you "can't quite figure them out." It was a joke because you did figure them out.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

What happened to the Tiki magic fountain and what did they do?

It was removed during the change to "Under New Management" to make space for the tiki goddess AA. When the original show returned, they didn't bother to bring back the fountain and opted to use the existing fog machine (put there for UMN) instead and simply cut any dialogue reference to the fountain.