Haunted Mansion to Return with New Enhancements and Magic :(

[George Lucas on a Bench]

The Ghost Host one is in the hallway of DL, although barely noticeable. It was way cooler with eyes following you. I love how grisly some of the imagery is in those WDW pictures. Skulls, knives, nooses, Sea Man with a big weapon. This is all too disturbing for modern Disney...

 

[Californian Elitist]

Some of the Sinister 11 portraits are at Disneyland, have been for years in their changing forms.

They were all included in the WDW and TDL Haunted Mansions and come from the same design team as the Disneyland original. Marc Davis did the concepts and Ed Kohn translated them into their final styles as he did the rest of the changing portraits.

Saying they don't belong is some bizarre modern California-centric revisionism. It's the same attitude that WDI unfortunately has whenever they change something WED designed for WDW's Magic Kingdom because "it's not like Disneyland".

Well, for one, I'm not ashamed to use the "it's not like Disneyland" rhetoric sometimes, as the other resorts and parks mean nothing to me.

Secondly, I didn't insinuate that I don't like the Mansion portraits. However, I did agree with Mick that the design of the portraits in the photo you posted aren't appealing to me and I'm happy the ones at Disneyland don't look exactly like those.

 

[mickEblu]

Medusa and December in the hallway before Load. Hatchet Man in the Corridor of Doors.

I know those ones are there. I was referring to the ones I had never seen before. Whoever posted those few before George on a Bench posted all of them.

So since reading your post, I went back to take a closer look and the art style really isn’t all that different. I looked at them very quickly on my phone and didn’t even enlarge them. So my educated guess on why I’m not in love with the other portraits is because naturally, the best of them were chosen (or created) for the Disneyland Mansion and because of familiarity. I was mostly “offended” by this one that caught most of my attention....

So are you saying Marc Davis created the concept art for all of the changing portraits that George shared?


EDIT: I’ve never noticed Hatchet Man? Has he always been there?

 

[George Lucas on a Bench]

It's always been to your right near the lily pad lamp in the HM corridor.

There he is!

 

[owlsandcoffee]

I know those ones are there. I was referring to the ones I had never seen before. Whoever posted those few before George on a Bench posted all of them.

So since reading your post, I went back to take a closer look and the art style really isn’t all that different. I looked at them very quickly on my phone and didn’t even enlarge them. So my educated guess on why I’m not in love with the other portraits is because naturally, the best of them were chosen (or created) for the Disneyland Mansion and because of familiarity. I was mostly “offended” by this one that caught most of my attention....

View attachment 557828


So are you saying Marc Davis created the concept art for all of the changing portraits that George shared?


EDIT: I’ve never noticed Hatchet Man? Has he always been there?

All of the stretching portraits and changing portraits were Marc Davis, that is correct.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

So are you saying Marc Davis created the concept art for all of the changing portraits that George shared?


EDIT: I’ve never noticed Hatchet Man? Has he always been there?

Yes. Basically they're all discarded concepts for changing portraits. Marc did dozens, but only 5 ended up at Disneyland due to space and some simply being better than others.

Then for WDW's Mansion, the Portrait Hallway was redesigned with solid, windowless walls that allowed for 11 pictures to be hung (5 on either side of the hall, 1 above the doorway at the end). Due to the speed of the Buggies (you ride through this scene instead of walk), it was decided to replace the changing effect with one where the eyes would follow you, similar to the busts (which WDW got more of too, to fill shelf space in the new Library scene).

This hallway scene was changed in 2007 to be more like Disneyland's with windows showing a thunderstorm on one side and changing portraits on the other. Most of the Sinister 11 were moved to elsewhere in the ride with their eye effect removed.

Tokyo's Mansion is largely a copy of the 1971 WDW original with only minor revisions, including the decision to hang those same portraits at odd angles. Nightmare Before Christmas characters replace them for that ride's Holiday version.

 

[Californian Elitist]

I know those ones are there. I was referring to the ones I had never seen before. Whoever posted those few before George on a Bench posted all of them.

So since reading your post, I went back to take a closer look and the art style really isn’t all that different. I looked at them very quickly on my phone and didn’t even enlarge them. So my educated guess on why I’m not in love with the other portraits is because naturally, the best of them were chosen (or created) for the Disneyland Mansion and because of familiarity. I was mostly “offended” by this one that caught most of my attention....

View attachment 557828


So are you saying Marc Davis created the concept art for all of the changing portraits that George shared?


EDIT: I’ve never noticed Hatchet Man? Has he always been there?

Yeah, this portrait ain't it. I'm glad it's not in Disneyland's Mansion.

 

[mickEblu]

Yeah, this portrait ain't it. I'm glad it's not in Disneyland's Mansion.

Lol. Makes sense why I don’t like most of those other ones. There’s a reason the ones at Disneyland made the cut.

 

[Californian Elitist]

Lol. Makes sense why I don’t like most of those other ones. There’s a reason the ones at Disneyland made the cut.

I died when I read your post because that was the same portrait I was "offended" by LMAO. Yeesh.

 

[Too Many Hats]

Improved lighting doesn't necessarily mean increased brightness - much of the DL Mansion has been too brightly lit for some time now, and it sounds like they've refocused a lot of lighting to highlight the elements meant to be seen and let the darkness return to the parks that should be unseen.

That said, being SO dark that you can't see things is itself a problem - but perhaps this person had just come in from being out in the bright sun and didn't have enough time for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. That happens on a lot of dark rides. It's especially likely if they took the Servant's Entrance rather than the Stretch Room, which gives you more time to adjust.

Well said; completely agree. Seems like I misinterpreted the original comment. If this new measure of darkness conceals the backstage stuff while making the show elements more visible, then of course that's fantastic news. Can't wait to see it in person (especially the loading area, where lighting has been so problematic in the past).

 

[mickEblu]

I died when I read your post because that was the same portrait I was "offended" by LMAO. Yeesh.

LMAO!

 

[Sharon&Susan]

So are you saying Marc Davis created the concept art for all of the changing portraits that George shared?

Yep, here's the concept art version of that one in particular:

 

[mickEblu]

Yep, here's the concept art version of that one in particular:
View attachment 557836

This one really disturbs me

 

[Sharon&Susan]

This one really disturbs me

To be fair, it's not that different from the idea of the old widow stretching portrait if a bit more direct (probably the reason why it was cut from Disneyland). Marc Davis really seemed to like the lady killing her spouse concept:

 

[mickEblu]

I don’t know. The art style of those WDW portraits remind me the original DL Stretching Room portraits. Because of all the wear and tear from all that stretching, those paintings were painted every few years, using the previous set as a guideline, and each gradual change adds up to a pretty big difference.View attachment 557840
View attachment 557841

I’m a huge fan of Marc Davis but I’ll be honest I’ve always been a bigger fan of what those stretching room portraits evolved into. I suspect part of it is just that those are the ones I grew up with but I like how they are little more toned down and not so much like caricatures. I think they are more fitting of the first half of the Mansion which has a scarier tone.

And at the end of the day it’s still his genius work/ concept art.

 

[mickEblu]

To be fair, it's not that different from the idea of the old widow stretching portrait if a bit more direct (probably the reason why it was cut from Disneyland). Marc Davis really seemed to like the lady killing her spouse concept:
View attachment 557839

View attachment 557842

I meant “disturb” is in there’s just something about that guys face that really bugs me. Haha.

 

[Sharon&Susan]

On a side topic about the stretching room portraits, it's very interesting how we know very little we know about the initial concepts for them unlike the changing portraits. All that I know of are some initial sketches of the Parasol Lady from the usually comprehensive Marc Davis in his Own Words, which along with the final tightrope alligator version also shows the lady balancing on something in a bucket (?), a different lady being scared of a mouse (Lame!), and her balancing on the top of a pole on a building, presumably the Mansion (interesting, but doesn't really read as being an immediate threat as the final portrait).

I really doubt that Davis hit it out of the park immediately with the other 3, but I could be wrong.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

When I first saw pictures I thought it was a new staring bust but turns out I was wrong. I think that would have been a better fit.

That's part of what seems odd to me - if they wanted this stretch of the Load Area to sort of echo the Changing Portrait Hall that came before, then there's logic to the idea of hanging Paintings on the wall and having Sculptures at the end of it. But . . . one Changing Portrait isn't enough to fill the whole wall, even if she's a classic, and after the fantastic payoff of the Staring Busts at the end of the previous hall the Cat statue isn't nearly as interesting, meaningful, or effective in capping the new "scene".

One blinking red LED light in the eye isn't enough to make it compelling - and actually, I'd probably argue that does more to zap it of intrique than add it. It's too cheap a trick for The Haunted Mansion, since it's neither convincing nor clever. The glowing red eyes in the raven at least have the animation of the figure carrying it further along, and the cheapness of something like a Popup Ghost is outweighed by the fact that it is at least geniunely startling (and a nice throwback to the roots of the Dark Ride form). The Cat figure just kinda feels like exactly what it is.

I'd mind it a little less if they had added an appearance or two of a One-Eyed Black Cat to the actual ride itself - that OC Register article sort of made me think they were gonna do that. There's some Edgar Allan Poe references that could be made that would cozy right up with the environs of the Mansion. Imagine if a gleaming, red eye appeared to be materializing out of the mists in Madame Leota's Seance Circle where the Green Ectoplasm used to glow . . . and if you passed by a hole in the wall between the Ballroom and the Attic and caught a glipse of something lurking within letting out a low growl . . . and, are those . . . teeth? Maybe we SHOULD have heeded the "warning" about the Cat before we got in our Doombuggies . . .

This is X. Atencio's concept art for the One Eyed Black Cat that he did back in the day. Any sort of effect suggesting the presence of this spirit would have been fine with me, since by then you'd actually be realizing it instead of making a sort of limp nod to the fact that, like, the idea existed once?

 

[SuddenStorm]

This discussion is reminding me of how different themed design was back in the '60s. I mean, the Haunted Mansion is pure art- the influences, the effects used. It's many iterations in development.

Modern themed design doesn't come close. So it makes sense that a modern addition- like Constance, or the weird cat statue would seem out of place alongside the work done in the '60s.

 

[yensidtlaw1969]

This discussion is reminding me of how different themed design was back in the '60s. I mean, the Haunted Mansion is pure art- the influences, the effects used. It's many iterations in development.

Modern themed design doesn't come close. So it makes sense that a modern addition- like Constance, or the weird cat statue would seem out of place alongside the work done in the '60s.

It's funny, too, because the artform was so nascent then - you would think that all the years of experience and understanding that have come since would inform what can be done, taking things to the next level. Instead, it's almost as if the Mansion's development dragged for so long and then was so rushed that all anyone could hope to do was just operate on pure creative instinct. They did all their overthinking upfront, and then threw it out the window.

It's funny that the best thing about this refurb seems to be that the new generation simply returned something that they had also been responsible for taking away. Everything else they actively contributed seems both overthought and underbaked.

I won't pretend there isn't some good and even great work being done today, but you're right. The Haunted Mansion is a masterpiece that is rarely equalled. If ever.