The Haunted Mansion panel was amazing. Had great seats. I'll paraphrase the highlights, though I'm sure there will be a few videos uploaded to Youtube and Doug will eventually release the audio as a Season Pass episode.
Here's where I was sitting:
Started off with Doug sharing stories about the impression the Haunted Mansion left on him from a young age, as well as Adventure Thru Inner Space. Bob then talked about the creation of the Omnimover and how it impacted the ride's development.
From there, Don Hahn talked about making the film and some of the work that went in to that. Tony mentioned that they had developed a load area redesign based on a room from the film's mansion (the observatory if I remember correct) but was never built since the film was... not what they wanted.
Tony then shared stories about going to Disneyland during the ride's development, and sneaking in to the attraction prior to it's open- in the corridor of doors- and getting kicked out by security. Also talked about the Hatbox Ghost and the maintenance card that's been found- but this is common knowledge among Mansion aficionados. Most of the stories Tony shared were his usual Mansion stories, not much new.
Tom Morris then talked at length about the many changes made during Mansion's creation. I could tell he was trying to focus on sharing new or lesser known information instead of repeating the same facts everyone in the room probably knew. Something he shared I didn't know- at one point, they were planning on having two separate walkthroughs- which is why they had two elevators and two exits built. He shared a variety of construction photos I hadn't seen as well. Great stuff.
Tania Norris stole the show. She talked about getting hired into WED, and stressed that to her, it was just a job. She shared wonderful stories about what it was like to work and travel with Walt and Lillian, sharing stories about travelling to New Orleans and New York with Walt. A couple weeks ago she returned to Disneyland for the first time in 50 years and rode the Mansion. She mentioned a few of the changes she noticed, and things that she had installed and designed that had been changed or removed. She had purchased a number of the antiques found in the attic when the ride opened, and was disappointed so much of the attic had been changed. She stressed how important the details and cleanliness were to Walt. My favorite quote? "Disneyland's not a place for kids. It's a place for people like you guys who are able to see and appreciate the details."
Tania was a delight and I hope someone is able to record her thoughts, she really needs to be extensively interviewed and maybe even write a book since she has so much new information that isn't available about 1960s WED. The panel should have been twice as long at least- an hour wasn't enough. Each person on that stage could have easily filled an hour by themselves.
Here's a photo I took on the way out after the end of the panel. From left to right: Doug Barnes, Tania Norris, Tom Morris, Tony Baxter, Don Hahn, Bob Gurr
Since I was only there for the Disney stuff I went and got my photo taken with Bob and got a signed print of the Mansion poster. Great stuff. They were selling replica china from the Mansion, as well as a variety of poster prints. I wish I had more money so I could justify purchasing the stuff, it was tough to say no. I already have a signed copy of his new book or I would have picked one up. They had this wonderful display set up at his booth:
Of course, a half hour after I got my photo with Bob he posted a photo of him and Tony at his booth. Obviously, I'm a huge Baxter fan and have yet to meet the man, so I was a bit bummed I missed it.
All in all, it was an excellent event. I had some stuff I need to do tonight in Santa Clarita and the person I was with isn't as enthusiastic about this stuff as I am or I would have spent more time to see what they were offering.
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