News New Haunted Mansion Grounds Expansion, Retail Shop Coming to Disneyland Resort in 2024

[lazyboy97o]

Gracey was shown full bodied hanging himself in the first few minutes of the 2003 movie.

The 2023 movie changes the method, but still has the same character commit the act and makes it explicit.

I don't have much sympathy for the idea of changing the ride now that 2 Disney branded movies based on the it have a suicide scene. As others have said, it's less graphic and explicit in the ride and is easily avoided looking at.

I’d say Haunted Mansion is more than just a scene.

 

[zipadee999]

How many people on earth do you think have been trapped in a stretching room with no windows and no doors where the only way of escape was suicide?

Agreed, it’s framed in a way that the only way to escape is to become ‘one of them.’ I don’t feel it bares any resemblance to real life suicidal situations given the context. In a weird way, I almost think of it as the ghost host’s version of Obi Wan purposely getting killed by Vader to unlock his full power. Also, it’s not entirely proven that he hung himself. All we know is that he is now dead and that was the only way out of the stretching room. It’s so far fetched that I doubt anyone would feel it resembled any real life tragedies.

 

[LittleBuford]

Also, it’s not entirely proven that he hung himself. All we know is that he is now dead and that was the only way out of the stretching room.

As noted a few pages ago, the LP makes it clear; it features a raven cawing, “He chose the coward's way out.” This doesn’t mean those experiencing the attraction know what’s going on—I’m sure most don’t—but that he killed himself is part of the official narrative.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

Nah, blood is not required.
She still got shot and killed by a gun.

Imagine how many people walked through the queue of Test Track having seen crash test dummies in extreme sitautions of what would break a human neck looping in that environment, knowing their loved ones died in a car accident. A lot of things can evoke.
And other examples do involve death. Mr. Toad has a plot point of getting hit by a train and dying. Still a fairly common event today of tragic death as well as car accidents in general.
Goofy does not expire because he is a cartoon, much like a characterized ghost still talking to you, it is fiction. People sitll get killed by electrocution very often and Disney has this gag in two major attractions.
I did not see my mom die.

You see a skeleton hung. Not someone actively jumping to be hung and telling you to do the same. I don't see why your gun one has to involve the act.

your final point I see as the opposite. Typically, horror gets people to want to live. Visceral celebration of life. He never said it was a good idea and only way. He admits to only doing it to frighten us.

Remember, the Haunted Mansion also features being perpetually shooting each other with guns. One can presume that is how they met their end as well.

None of it is as explicit as gangsters having Pirates or gangsters shooting towards/AT you in the crossfire.
Or actively drowning someone in a well.

Humans are sometimes momentarily reminded of things not directly connected(we are wired to look for patterns and reminders) but are resilient and are typically good about knowing the intent.

I am terribly sorry about your mom.

I think suicide is a different animal altogether from the other violent acts you are discussing. Presenting suicide as a viable option for escaping hardship is a message that does not belong in a theme park attraction.

Also, he didn't say that he killed himself to frighten us. He apologizes for frightening us by showing his decaying corpse from when he committed suicide.

Agreed, it’s framed in a way that the only way to escape is to become ‘one of them.’ I don’t feel it bares any resemblance to real life suicidal situations given the context. In a weird way, I almost think of it as the ghost host’s version of Obi Wan purposely getting killed by Vader to unlock his full power. Also, it’s not entirely proven that he hung himself. All we know is that he is now dead and that was the only way out of the stretching room. It’s so far fetched that I doubt anyone would feel it resembled any real life tragedies.

Then he should have waited until he died of starvation or old age. Someone else might have come along to let him out in that time. His choice reveals his hopelessness, and that's not a message that belongs in a theme park.

I know it's far fetched because it's a Haunted Mansion.

I am not going to protest if they keep it. I'll work around it with my family. But if I could work my will, I'd remove it.

If I could work my will, I would have kept Splash Mountain and not done 1000 other things they HAVE done.

 

[celluloid]

]

I am terribly sorry about your mom.

I think suicide is a different animal altogether from the other violent acts you are discussing. Presenting suicide as a viable option for escaping hardship is a message that does not belong in a theme park attraction.

Also, he didn't say that he killed himself to frighten us. He apologizes for frightening us by showing his decaying corpse from when he committed suicide.


Then he should have waited until he died of starvation or old age. Someone else might have come along to let him out in that time. His choice reveals his hopelessness, and that's not a message that belongs in a theme park.

I know it's far fetched because it's a Haunted Mansion.

I am not going to protest if they keep it. I'll work around it with my family. But if I could work my will, I'd remove it.

If I could work my will, I would have kept Splash Mountain and not done a 1000 other things they HAVE done.

I don't think the attraction ever celebrates suicide as a viable option. We even hear that he didn't mean to frighten us prematurely, That the REAL thrills come later. So who knows if it was even legit. We know the chamber having no way out is a lie because, we are out right after. He was not telling the truth at all.
That is the issue. All death types are different "animals" altogether but all stem from mental anguish. Violence other than arguably protection of harm is never a mentally healthy choice. So where do you draw the line of what can be depicted in a theme park. It is a slippery slope. That was my point. There is always a potential reminder of tragedy.

The newspaper revisiting my mother's case and misprinting the murderer in the homicide suicide as a victim too bothers me more than any character shooting a gun at me or over me or at another character in a themed attraction could.
But I am resilient and got over that too becuase it does not matter, and in a sense, that person that killed my mother was mentally ill, so was sort of a victim.

My entire family was held hostage on the Great Movie Ride at gunpoint, my mother was held hostage in a house in 1993 before the guy killed her and then himself.

We can't draw the line for everyone.

Hippos still attack the boat of Jungle Cruise, and after mosquitos it is the most deadly animal on the planet.

My grandma could not look at elephants the same way again until the day she died after her doctor died by one in the 90s(he was hunting them(at least my dad was told so and the article says safari) so he definitely took that risk, so I did not have the same hatred she did towards the animal)

 

[zipadee999]

As noted a few pages ago, the LP makes it clear; it features a raven cawing, “He chose the coward's way out.” This doesn’t mean those experiencing the attraction know what’s going on—I’m sure most don’t—but that he killed himself is part of the official narrative.

Wow, I forgot about the LP. I used to listen to that when I was a kid. I remember the hatbox ghost lines and being confused by them!

And yes in the narrative of the ride, the ghost host ‘arranged’ his own fate. However, for the average GP Joe who is not familiar with the lore of the attraction, there is not an obvious reference to how the ghost host ended up in the rafters. For all of us diehard fans, we know the hanging man is there and we know the backstory, but he is never a shock when we ride the attraction because we know he’s there, and like him or not, he is never a surprise. Those who would be surprised by him and potentially taken aback on the spot do not know enough about the attraction to fully understand why he is there and have to rely on the attraction queues to understand the scene, and the attraction is vague enough not to fully imply anything.

 

[celluloid]

Wow, I forgot about the LP. I used to listen to that when I was a kid. I remember the hatbox ghost lines and being confused by them!

And yes in the narrative of the ride, the ghost host ‘arranged’ his own fate. However, for the average GP Joe who is not familiar with the lore of the attraction, there is not an obvious reference to how the ghost host ended up in the rafters. For all of us diehard fans, we know the hanging man is there and we know the backstory, but he is never a shock when we ride the attraction because we know he’s there, and like him or not, he is never a surprise. Those who would be surprised by him and potentially taken aback on the spot do not know enough about the attraction to fully understand why he is there and have to rely on the attraction queues to understand the scene, and the attraction is vague enough not to fully imply anything.

The LP also did not have visual representation so they have to describe the scene. At the time, coward's way out would have been quickly understood to reinforce the concept that is not seen by the audience.
While insensitive to today's standards, many thankfully know now that calling someone a coward who is mentally suicidal is not helpful. At the time it was a line to explain what was happening in the story.
And although insensitive, definitely not condoning it. I think that is something that is not true altogether.
It makes sense that some may be reminded of it, just as a lot of content can remind people of tragic things, but that is not the same as condoning it.
Thank goodness the line was not in the actual attraction as it of course ages insensitive, but if we are going to use it as canon to show that it is in fact suicide, than it is also canonically there as well as actual evidence in the ride that it points to it not being condoned.

 

[duncedoof]

The sad irony is that this is a battle you've already won. It may change next year, it may change in five years. They're going to change it.

No point in stepping on the toes of people that wish the scene remains the same. Never needed no changing. People are smarter than some of you give them credit for, they also happen to have higher tolerance than you. And yet, the side of the detractors wins.

"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable", Cesar A. Cruz.

 

[lazyboy97o]

Playing dumb isn’t a good argument. If people don’t get the scene then it is not a well designed scene because it is not properly communicating to the audience. A poorly designed scene should be reworked.

 

[Consumer]

"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable", Cesar A. Cruz.

I'm ignoring everything else because this is a stupid quote. Art should point to something greater and in turn inspire us to be better. Ugliness is not beauty.

 

[Disgruntled Walt]

The sad irony is that this is a battle you've already won. It may change next year, it may change in five years. They're going to change it.

No point in stepping on the toes of people that wish the scene remains the same. Never needed no changing. People are smarter than some of you give them credit for, they also happen to have higher tolerance than you. And yet, the side of the detractors wins.

"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable", Cesar A. Cruz.

I'm not fighting a battle about this. It doesn't affect me. I have an opinion, and it's that suicide shouldn't be featured in an attraction. I've lived 26 yrs with the hanging skeleton and I am no worse off because of it. But if they get rid of it, that's ok with me. If they don't, ok. It won't change my opinion.

 

[LittleBuford]

Playing dumb isn’t a good argument. If people don’t get the scene then it is not a well designed scene because it is not properly communicating to the audience. A poorly designed scene should be reworked.

Many people don’t even look up to see the figure during the brief time that he’s visible. How would you make him more prominent?

 

[Consumer]

Also, he didn't say that he killed himself to frighten us. He apologizes for frightening us by showing his decaying corpse from when he committed suicide.

Not quite. He apologizes for frightening the guests prematurely.

 

[celluloid]

Many people don’t even look up to see the figure during the brief time that he’s visible. How would you make him more prominent?

There was actually an attempt at this with the 3D audio channeling enhancements from the last major refurb and plussing after 2007. The sounds all travel up for those who can hear.
Lighting effects maybe could also enhance.Some of this has weakened due to poor upkeep.
My family always noticed as kids, so it is not like it is not an obvious gag to most.

Keeping the scrim in better shape or updating the technique would also be another way.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Can we go back to complaining about the fountain, since we pretty much know it’s going away. Or fountains have no place in a kids park either?

 

[mickEblu]

Can we go back to complaining about the fountain, since we pretty much know it’s going away. Or fountains have no place in a kids park either?

The vloggers seem to think that most or all of Magnolia Park is being is going be swallowed by the HM queue. Going off the concept art I think it’s max the 1/3 closest to HM. Regardless, the loss of those huge planters and fountain is sad. Huge blow to the ambiance in that area. I believe most/ all the trees are staying except for maybe one.

 

[SuddenStorm]

They arguably made the ride more violent by changing the spooky, but ambiguous ride into a serial killer.

And they want you to buy merch of her!

Should she go because victims of serial killers or axe murders would be offended?

(Actually, that may be the way we finally get rid of Constance)

Right- why is everyone fixating on the stretching room hanging skeleton when they literally added a murderer to the attraction?

It's fantasy - and should not be taken as seriously as some are saying. I also never once realized it was depicting suicide until I started reading up on the Mansion a few years back.

 

[Phroobar]

Can we go back to complaining about the fountain, since we pretty much know it’s going away. Or fountains have no place in a kids park either?

I hear they are replacing it with a splash pad that they will never turn on.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

for what it’s worth, I can understand being torn on an original part of an attraction. The haunted mansion, to me, is perfect and always has been along with pirates.

But ending up in hell on Mr. toad is always a little weird. I don’t want them to “update” toad, but I also really don’t like the hell scene. It wasn’t part of the movie, and really feels jarring for a Disney park.

 

[Phroobar]

If the extended queue is taking most of the park, does that mean the train station will be buried with a small entrance to it?