-
Welcome to the WDWMAGIC.COM Forums!
Please take a look around, and feel free to sign up and join the community.
Haunted Mansion to Return with New Enhancements and Magic :(
- Thread starter mickEblu
- Start date
D.Silentu
Well-Known Member
A brief but delightful period! I was really surprised when Disney started backing off of their Halloween offerings. I really thought they were close to matching the pomp the park reserves for Christmas time. However, I’m sure that with Halloween events nearly being a Southern California tradition, the untapped grade school market was too tempting to ignore.
FerretAfros
Well-Known Member
This really gets to the root of WDW's issue: they don't want to have to close any attraction (whether for refurbishments, overlays, upgrades, etc.) because their parks don't have adequate capacity to make up for anything being closed for any noticeable period of time.
To an extent, DLR does this too: the holiday overlay for it's a small world typically runs until late-January, when HM reopens after its overlay removal, in order to avoid having both major attractions closed at the same time, even though most guests are out of the holiday spirit long before then. Similarly, regular refurbishments are done on a rolling basis, calculated to keep enough open of each type of offering throughout the park. However, DL has about 12 E-ticket attractions, while MK only has about 7, so the loss of one or two of them isn't felt as much, since there are more alternatives ready to pick up the slack. And of course, MK has a far more robust attraction roster than the other 3 WDW parks, each of which only have single-digit ride counts (total, not just E-tickets).
For many years, WDW has done everything they can to avoid adding capacity to their parks; the whole MyDisneyExperience/FastPass+ program was intended to ration the existing capacity of the attractions, rather than add capacity to the parks. Ironically, the high cost would have been nearly enough to add enough capacity to each of the 4 parks to really make a difference, but that was deemed an impractical idea.
From a clinical perspective, WDW's parks operate very efficiently: there is minimal seasonal variation in crowding and nearly every seat on every vehicle gets used all day long and all year round. However, operating so close to the limit only works well when everything is running smoothly; if any of that capacity is lost, there is very little excess elsewhere in the parks to absorb the difference.
It's not that WDW doesn't want to have seasonal offerings; although they've varied in quality and scope over the years (and are often only available at upcharge events), they've had a pretty constant churn of them through the years. Especially lately, WDW has refreshed a lot of its seasonal entertainment and decor, while DL is still running the same parade from 1995 (reusing floats from various parades prior) and fireworks from 2000. Heck, even the Living with the Land greenhouses have gotten holiday lights in recent years, despite only being open for a couple low-ridership hours after sundown. But all of the additions and overlays are done in a way that doesn't impede on daily operations, since the parks really can't afford to have anything closed.
WDW's lack of large-scale holiday overlays isn't simply because they don't want to do them or management is being too cheap for them. Sadly, it's a symptom of a much more fundamental problem at the resort that has year-round impacts.
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
They fixed most of the pop-up ghouls in the graveyard. Leota on the table, which I don't mind, but with my eyes adjusted to the dark this time I noticed some big cobwebs added to the boarding area after the new painting. However, I also noticed the dodgy ceiling with what appear to be missing ceiling tiles and general industrial look in the Leota room was never "fixed".
WEDfan9798
Active Member
I just hope they don't change any of the scenes in the ride or change the narration in the future, unless it's for the HMH overlay. I am not a fan of HMH, but I just want the original DL HM to continue being one of their greatest rides of all time in its prime form. I hope WDI doesn't try to change it like what they did with PotC or Jungle Cruise. I mean nothing in the Mansion is like what they replaced in those rides, so I hope any "updates" will be like updating animatronics or fixing sets. That kind of stuff. Maybe redoing the Attic so it's more dark and mysterious and that's likely at the most.
Sharon&Susan
Well-Known Member
Since there was some discussion on it a few months ago, I found it interesting that the Hanging Man is gone in the official Minecraft recreation of the Haunted Mansion with the lightning behind the scrim... revealing nothing. I'm guessing this isn't too far off from what Disney's upper management demanded it to removed during the conversion back to HM in January:
VicariousCorpse
Well-Known Member
Or they just didn't want to put a suicidal man hanging from a noose in a children's game.
WEDfan9798
Active Member
I just hope they keep it in the darn ride. I'm not pressed by this as much as I'd be this happened irl tbh.
I've long theorized an ideal solution should the Hanging Corpse scene be replaced but I dare not mention it out of fear Imagineering runs with my written idea or if somehow typing it out brings it to fruition like some evil magical spell.
The fix would actually be quite easy without resorting to new IP or new characters or new dialog. But NEVER! Leave the mansion alone.
Kirby86
Well-Known Member
Oh yeah the mansion is perfect the way it is it dosen't need changes.
SuddenStorm
Well-Known Member
The day they get rid of the hanging corpse is the day I never ride the ride again.
CaptinEO
Well-Known Member
Disney literally has a dead persons skull in pirates of the caribbean too, where's the outrage for that one?
SuddenStorm
Well-Known Member
Where's the outrage for anything inside Disneyland?
I hadn't heard anyone comment about Splash Mountain, the auction scene, the hanging corpse, etc. before there announced changes and I've spent a ton of time talking Disneyland online, at the parks, and working there.
After they announced the auction scene a few people were like 'oh yeah, that always bothered me'- but I don't remember it ever being brought up before the announcement.
Anyone with a cursory interest in park history knew Splash was based on Song of the South, but the story was always how Disney removed any insensitive elements when adapting the story to a ride- and I've never actually met someone who thinks the ride is offensive.
The Haunted Mansion is as classic as they come- I'd argue it has a more devoted following than Pirates, even if Pirates is the more popular ride. The Stretching Room is beloved and iconic, and I don't believe there's any actual outrage.
Disney's just preemptively trying to eliminate anything that might cause outrage or offend a visitor at some point in the future- and the park is going to loose a lot of it's more wacky and unique elements because of it.
That said, I did overhear a conversation between two custodial Cast Members in a break area talking about the "babbling sisters" joke that was present in the Mine Train Thru Nature's Wonderland attraction saying it was insensitive or something. But that was removed over 40 years ago so I think Disney is in the clear there.
Kirby86
Well-Known Member
Yeah I'm not sure why the hanging man is all of a sudden a problem now. The Haunted Mansion is a mixture of spooky scenes and funny ones. The stretching room is supposed to make you feel unsettled. You might as well get rid of the portraits because it shows the subjects before their fates.
CaptinEO
Well-Known Member
Likewise. It's like Eisner's removal of cigarettes or from old Disney cartoons. There was no outrage, just someone within the company thinking they are doing good.
Kirby86
Well-Known Member
To be fair that wasn't just a Disney thing. During that period The Great American smoke out was in full force. Many places were takeing out smoking of their projects and logos. One example is The Pep Boys, they took the cigar out of Mannys mouth in the logo.
Mac Tonight
Well-Known Member
Having recently returned from Magic Kingdom, I can safely say it was SO nice being able to ride Haunted Mansion in it's original form in November 
Also, consider me weird, but I kinda found myself preferring their rides layout just a bit more than ours. I also love the added "stretching" sounds in the Stretching Room. On the whole, their version just seemed to have everything working... including that weird, mysterious green swirling light in the Leota seance room on the wall.
Also also, their Constance looks WAY better than ours. What's up with that?
Also, consider me weird, but I kinda found myself preferring their rides layout just a bit more than ours. I also love the added "stretching" sounds in the Stretching Room. On the whole, their version just seemed to have everything working... including that weird, mysterious green swirling light in the Leota seance room on the wall.
Also also, their Constance looks WAY better than ours. What's up with that?
Professortango1
Well-Known Member
Having recently returned from Magic Kingdom, I can safely say it was SO nice being able to ride Haunted Mansion in it's original form in November
Also, consider me weird, but I kinda found myself preferring their rides layout just a bit more than ours. I also love the added "stretching" sounds in the Stretching Room. On the whole, their version just seemed to have everything working... including that weird, mysterious green swirling light in the Leota seance room on the wall.
Also also, their Constance looks WAY better than ours. What's up with that?
I do enjoy their HM ride as a whole, but I can't stand their facade, queue, and the animated Hitchhiking Ghosts. I didn't notice anything different about their constance.
Centauri Space Station
Well-Known Member
It’s a good fit for Liberty square and more creepy entering from the basement. The ghosts are controversial but I like the different high tech ways they interact with guests