Team Epcot Presents…
The Haunted Mansion
With it being 10 years since the last refurbishment, it is time the Haunted Mansion got “freshened up” with some new ideas/ scenes.
The big change is the new central character. No longer being centred around a bride, the new Haunted Mansion is themed around an artist who never finished a piece of art before eventually passing on. In the afterlife, the artist can finally finish their masterpieces.
Attraction Statistics
Type: Omnimover
Ticket: E-Ticket
Duration: 7 min 30 seconds
Height Restriction: No
Wheelchair Accessibility: Yes
FastPass+: Yes
Theoretical Hourly Capacity: 3,200
Operational Hourly Capacity: 2,880
Ride Overview
Queue
The interactive queue elements stay with just some updates to the elements as well as some small additions. One addition is adding in another gravestone beside X. Atencio and Marc Davis, Marty Sklar. Having done so much for the parks it only felt right to put him in here as well.
Stretching Room
The Ghost Host still has the same dialogue in here challenging guests “to find, a way out!!” The big change here is the inclusion of new paintings of previous housemates. Due to the new central character being themed after an artist, they created the new portraits.
Loading
Due to it being an Omnimover, the best way to load is for the “human conveyer belt” to follow along beside the Doom Buggies at the same speed. As always, it can be slowed down or stopped if needed to help guests load.
Gallery
Looking around at the walls you can see picture frames of different easter eggs. Some characters included in this frames are the Hatbox Ghost, the old bride, and the pipe organist.
Library
While still having large and lavish books throughout, you can also find buckets of paint around the floor with painting books open on the table. If you pay attention to the busts in the background, they can still be seen following you along the way.
Piano Scene
Called the piano scene here to be clear on the map, this scene will no longer feature a piano. Instead of having a piano play itself, this scene will now feature a painting finishing itself. Using state of the art projection technology, the paintbrush is always creating a new painting. When the painting is finished, the canvas gets cleared and the paintbrush starts over again.
Stairs Room
Footstep projections get updated to look even more realistic. Otherwise, nothing in this room changes.
Endless Hallway
Looking towards the “end” of the hall, we see a floating easel replace the candelabra.
Viewing Room
In place of the viewing scene, the windows and curtains have moved forward, so that they abut the ride path. The windows blow in and out as wind gusts blast the riders. Thunder is heard rumble outside, as lightning strikes a nearby tree. This wind follows guests all through the hall of knocking doors, insinuating something ominous about to occur.
Clock
The clock still strikes, but it now glows an ominous blue-green, as if possessed, instead of the shadow hand passing over it.
Madame Leota
In place of Leota is now a room of sculptures, some unfinished. Each internally glows as it slightly shifts.
Grand Ballroom
The Ballroom scene will be cut into two segments. The first will take the first 3/4 of the ballroom, making it a new ballroom, with a new hexagonal shape. New features will include a new dancing ghost pattern, tables full of ghost foods on the side, and a new ghost band, playing a new "jazzy wake" in a new balcony, as the resident artists paintings come to life with ghosts.
The new section taking over the back 1/4 features a view outdoors through the windows. On a balcony of the exterior, we see a 10-foot ghost figure, cackling as he looks inside with red eyes, as the skies glow an ominous blue and red. This figure is one of the two new high quality animated figures deemed the W-Class, and the first fully automated W-Class animatronic to be utilized in a Pepper's ghost effect.
Attic
In the new attic, we see series of paintings that are all lithographs. Each one depicts something innocent, such as a rose, and corrupts it by say, wilting it. One of which will be the man into a skeleton once found in the foyer. As we continue, we come across an artist painting a tombstone on an easel. He seems normal until guests round the bend and the doombuggies turn around to reveal that he is a ghost, despite his normal appearance.
Conservatory
Replacing the trees on the down ramp to the graveyard is a new scene. It is a large area that almost appears to be a greenhouse as it is all glassed in.
This area is full of animals of all shapes and sizes. After exiting the attic, you first start to seeing bizarre and strange animals before the start to progress to be more and more realistic animals.
Graveyard
Besides a few new ghosts/ removal of old ghosts, the classic graveyard scene stays the same.
Ghost Effect Finale
The Ghost Effect Finale will use new technology to read your magic band as well to save your hitchhiking ghost. By doing this, you will then have the option to have your hitchhiking ghost in all of your Photopass pictures the rest of the day. That way, he really does follow you home!
Unload/ Exit
Like all Omnimovers, the Doombuggy bar raises leading onto a speedramp. Upon exiting the building, tombs can be seen along the left side with classic, Haunted Mansion puns.
Song
The location of the song has moved from the graveyard to now be in the ballroom scene. The song gets updated to have a bigger jazz feel to it as if it would be regular party music for the guests. Some of the lyrics include
"As the clock strikes the witching hour
and the walls swing and shake
Doors and clocks begin to glow
As we start our ghostly wake.
We had a visitor, twas too mean,
Once we finally caught the beast,
we threw the party here to see,
Here we have our final feast!"
Last thing, the new Liberty Square was a nice cherry on top, so keep on the good work.