New HitchHiking Ghosts Coming to WDW

[Crazy Harry]

All these new HM upgrades completely baffle me--- especially how it fits into the stereotypical TDO mentality.

A few years ago HM underwent a major renovation. Although many aspects of that refurb were not "necessary", they plussed the experience tremendously.

Now TDO is back at it again, adding even more improvements to HM (including the upgraded queue).

Yet while the HM is getting attention and money heaped on it -- AGAIN! -- POTC continues to deteriorate after the 2005 refurb. Black sheets cover broken effects in BTMRR. Peter Pan's Flight is filthy. SGE continues to exist. And that's just at MK.

So while the constant improvements at HM are very welcome (and are being added at a pace that has been typical practice in Anaheim for many years), other attractions continue to be neglected.

HM is one attraction that must certainly be acceptable as-is in TDO's eyes. I just don't get why they're pouring more resources into it.

If I had to guess, the above mentioned attractions are likley to be rehabed when they get the next gen treatment like Space Mountain (although not sure if that is technically next gen or not, it is interactive though).

And I hope someone with more knowlege can help, but hasn't next gen been planned for quite sometime? Is it then conceivable that this was planned far in advance of any other arguably more urgent needs?

 

[Rum Pirate]

I hope that one day they will do The Nightmare Before Christmas since it is a great addition from Halloween through to the new year at DL.

HM is one of my top two favorites and the graveyard and house I really like a lot in Florida. I hope the changes will make the ride better without changing the old ride we know and love. I will see it while I am there next week.

BITE YOUR TONGUE, Our mansion is NOT a to be dressed up with an overlay for marketing and to sell more stuff! That IMHO is the worst idea I have ever seen to defile a perfect good attraction for no other purpose but to sell merch!

 

[coasterfan12]

From what I've gathered, it seems that those schematics that were posted on this site for a way to pull a buggy off to load a wheelchair guest is happening sooner that it had seemed.

Also, while walking out of the mansion we heard a cast member talking to a guest about a couple other scenes that may be being upgraded. He said the dark transition between the ballroom and the attic would get some attention, as would the transition between the Escher stairs and the dark room with the eyes would get some lovin' as well.

One other thing, as we were walking away we heard him re-assure the guest that (as other have been saying) that the hhg scenes were a temporary fix as the scene is changed and improved.

We walked up and asked him what he knew about wheelchairs and all that he was willing to say was that he wasn't to excited about the fact that ECV's were going to be allowed in the que. This was for two reasons, one the walls in the mansion are made of wood and haven't ever had wheel chairs run into them. Two most ECV's have lights...enough said. He said that he and some other coordinators and managers were trying to have it so guests in ECV's would have to transfer like at many other attractions.

Take this as you like and like with any news from a cast member take it with a grain of salt until you see it for yourself. I myself am hopeful.

 

[darthspielberg]

BITE YOUR TONGUE, Our mansion is NOT a to be dressed up with an overlay for marketing and to sell more stuff! That IMHO is the worst idea I have ever seen to defile a perfect good attraction for no other purpose but to sell merch!

You are ignoring the fact that DL's overlay is actually very well done and very much in the spirit of the attraction itself.

But never fear, it won't be coming to WDW any time soon.

 

[TP2000]

Our mansion is NOT a to be dressed up with an overlay for marketing and to sell more stuff! That IMHO is the worst idea I have ever seen to defile a perfect good attraction for no other purpose but to sell merch!

Soooo.... I take it you've never been to Disneyland and actually ridden Haunted Mansion Holiday?

And I also take it you've never been on It's A Small World Holiday or Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy either?

 

[Rum Pirate]

Soooo.... I take it you've never been to Disneyland and actually ridden Haunted Mansion Holiday?

And I also take it you've never been on It's A Small World Holiday or Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy either?

Nope and I hated the Pepto Bismol Castle, I guess I am a purist when it comes to attractions, I can see moderate updates for technology sake, but to completely change and touch the mansion like that, man I just have a hard time swallowing that, Do what you want with small world, and space mountain can handle changes like that, but most of the things in Mansion are one of a kind, and would be very difficult to replace, so thats where I come from :dazzle:

I guess its like taking a Bach masterpiece and adding notes because its a holliday, I dont understand but thats just me, and to each his own

 

[darthspielberg]

Corey Burton's Ghost Host voice-over would make the whole thing worth it.

(Not to mention I like NBC and have done so since before it was "cool" to do so)

 

[coasterfan12]

I did a Mansion tour back in 2009 and we actually asked about the overlays. Our tour guide said that one of the big reasons that we don't get the overlays is that in California a huge part of the guest population is made up of locals. While as here in Florida we have a ton of international guest. When they were making the decision wither or not to do the overlays they were concerned that many of the international guests we have wouldn't be familiar with the story/concept of Nightmare Before Christmas.

Fun Fact- because we don't get the overlays and some cast members really wanted it, during the 2009 rehab imagineers hid 7 jack skellingtons throughout the attraction. They are visible from the ride but were put in place more for the mansion cast to find.

 

[TP2000]

Nope and I hated the Pepto Bismol Castle, I guess I am a purist when it comes to attractions, I can see moderate updates for technology sake, but to completely change and touch the mansion like that, man I just have a hard time swallowing that, Do what you want with small world, and space mountain can handle changes like that, but most of the things in Mansion are one of a kind, and would be very difficult to replace, so thats where I come from :dazzle:

I guess its like taking a Bach masterpiece and adding notes because its a holliday, I dont understand but thats just me, and to each his own

Okay, so you've never actually ridden it then. We could just stop there.

As for the Haunted Mansion being "one of a kind", that's not really true. The WDW version is a mish-mash of a clone from the original that opened at Disneyland in '69, and that has since been cloned by an exact WDW duplicate in Tokyo. I've been on Haunted Mansion Holiday in Tokyo too, and it works fabulously with their WDW clone of the Disneyland original. That means the Holiday concept could work equally fabulously in WDW too.

WDW's cloned Mansion in Tokyo, featuring Haunted Mansion Holiday October-December

I've never actually seen The Nightmare Before Christmas movie (I find Tim Burton's stuff to be kind of weird, personally), but I love the Holiday Mansion version and I do know what it did to the ride at Disneyland. It took an aging, largely forgotten E Ticket and turned it into a wildly succesful attraction that people wait in line for hours to ride. Haunted Mansion Holiday is the only time they offer Fastpass at the Disneyland version, to tell you how popular it is.

The Haunted Mansion is simply a haunted house ride at an amusement park. It's a darn good haunted house ride, at a darn good amusement park, but let's not pretend it's some untouchable testament to human achievement. And when they do the Holiday overlay version in Anaheim and Tokyo, it's an even more popular haunted house ride. It's fantastic!

But then so is Small World Holiday and Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy, not that WDW visitors would ever be given the opportunity to experience stuff like that.

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[TP2000]

I did a Mansion tour back in 2009 and we actually asked about the overlays. Our tour guide said that one of the big reasons that we don't get the overlays is that in California a huge part of the guest population is made up of locals. While as here in Florida we have a ton of international guest. When they were making the decision wither or not to do the overlays they were concerned that many of the international guests we have wouldn't be familiar with the story/concept of Nightmare Before Christmas.

That's a better excuse than the standard WDW line that "REHABS RUIN VACATIONS!" :lol:

Still, it's a rather poor excuse. I've personally never seen The Nightmare Before Christmas movie. I doubt a majority of Southern Californians or West Coasters have, really. To get a drivers license in California the DMV doesn't make us all watch a scratchy recording of The Nightmare Before Christmas before you take your written test.

It's a 20 year old movie with a relatively small cult following. But even though I've never seen the movie like most other people, I love the Haunted Mansion Holiday, and happily deal with the maddening crowds in October to get in my first ride of the season. It's wildly popular.

There are 25 Million people living within a 2 hour freeway drive of Disneyland. There's nearly 500 Million others living west of the Rockies in America and Canada, plus northern Baja California and some of the affluent Pacific Rim countries of Asia and Australasia, that make up the core group of Disneyland visitors. I would bet a very small majority of those peoples have actually watched Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas movie.

And yet the attraction is wildly popular in Anaheim and Tokyo. It's not a hard plot concept to grasp, and it's quickly explained in the foyer before you go into the stretching room; Jack Skellington from Halloweentown has arrived to try and decorate the Mansion for Christmas, and now "two holidays collide". End of story. Now watch your step as you board your Doombuggy, and enjoy the show!

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[coasterfan12]

Hahaha yeah, weather or not that was just the excuse that management gave the cast members is beyond me. But what I do know is that I'm getting pretty darn excited for the potential of these additions. I absolutely love the Mansion and it was like a shot in the heart to see the hitchhiking ghosts covered but from what I've heard from others and seen first hand (usually from the riverboat) The enhancements look very high quality and I think TDO is taking this one seriously. They could have just put up work walls in the HHG scene but at least they spent the money to install projectors and paid someone to come up with the animations for the temp. fix.

Here's hoping it opens soon and calms all of our nerves.

 

[Mansion Butler]

No HMH in Orlando, please.

Hey, look, I'm getting my way! :wave:

As a person who goes to WDW regularly, I would actually like to see it just for something different. But now I have seen it and it was fun. I don't have a need to see it again.

However, growing up as someone who went to Disney World as a vacationer twice a decade, if I had been and the Mansion was not the typical Mansion I knew and loved but another movie tie in, or, worse, closed to make that tie in, I would have been extremely upset. That describes a lot more of WDW's attendance than DL's. Where I'm at now describes a lot more of DL's attendance.

But, hey, being negative is fun!

 

[TP2000]

Hahaha yeah, weather or not that was just the excuse that management gave the cast members is beyond me. But what I do know is that I'm getting pretty darn excited for the potential of these additions.

Yeah, I think those are simply excuses. It's been reported by several WDW insiders over the years that WDW was given an opportunity to get the Holiday overlay like Tokyo got, as the Tokyo and Orlando Mansion's are nearly identical inside and out, but WDW passed on it because they didn't want to spend the money required. That seems more like the real TDO we all know and love, and has to be much closer to the real story.

Anything else a tour guide would say on a tour is simply a fabricated excuse, and part of that grand Anaheim-Orlando rivalry.

In happier news, I am really looking forward to seeing how this new Hitchhiking Ghost scene turns out! Al Lutz had mentioned over a year ago that it was something WDI wanted to tinker with and had some new technology they wanted to use there. I can't wait to see what they've come up with; I even thought the "temporary" projections in these latest videos looked more fun than the manequins-on-a-stick-in-mirror effect circa 1969.

And by the way, I lived for years and years in Seattle, mostly on the north end of the lake in Juanita near Kirkland. Good luck with the rare snow this week! :wave:

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[Mansion Butler]

Soooo.... I take it you've never been to Disneyland and actually ridden Haunted Mansion Holiday?

I have, it's neat.

Please keep it out of Orlando.

 

[coasterfan12]

Hahahaha, thanks for the well wishes...but I'm living in orlando now. I did a college program in fall 2010 and never left.
I guess I should change my location huh?

 

[TP2000]

Hahahaha, thanks for the well wishes...but I'm living in orlando now. I did a college program in fall 2010 and never left.
I guess I should change my location huh?

Nah, keep it Seattle, a truly great American city in a stunningly beautiful corner of the world. You don't see Seattleites much on a WDW board, so it gives you character.

 

[coasterfan12]

Nah, keep it Seattle, a truly great American city in a stunningly beautiful corner of the world. You don't see Seattleites much on a WDW board, so it gives you character.

Hahaha, Yeah It's a great city. I miss it, but you can't beat the attractions in the Orlando area. We don't have anything too exciting back home. Oh, and As far as location goes I'll just use both methinks.

 

[TP2000]

Hahaha, Yeah It's a great city. I miss it, but you can't beat the attractions in the Orlando area. We don't have anything too exciting back home. Oh, and As far as location goes I'll just use both methinks.

Tell me about it! The Pacific Northwest has absolutely no major theme parks, which is odd for a region having three large cities like Vancouver, Seattle and Portland. I think that's why I got so enamored of Disneyland and Disney World in the 1980's when I was living in the Great Pacific Northwest; because Disney parks were exotic locales unlike anything we had in the Pacific Northwest.

But then, most big cities don't have vistas like this to take in every weekend on your way to the supermarket...
Seattle Skyline with Mount Rainer

Portland Skyline with Mount Hood

There are some things a theme park just can't duplicate or replace, even a really awesome Disney theme park with seasonal attraction overlays. Ha!

Dual-citizenship of Seattle and Davenport is perfectly acceptable. Just don't forget where you came from, young man! :animwink:

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[Mansion Butler]

Sorry about the outburst. I do understand a regular visitor wanting to see the overlay. This is just one area that I'd back up TDO even without them paying me. Not that it's the only area, just one I'm passionate about. And the negativity here I think is occassionally a bit overly harsh.

I don't mean to be dismissive, though.

And, yes, Seattle is awesome (Kennewick has been my home base for the last decade).

 

[TP2000]

Sorry about the outburst. I do understand a regular visitor wanting to see the overlay. This is just one area that I'd back up TDO even without them paying me. Not that it's the only area, just one I'm passionate about. And the negativity here I think is occassionally a bit overly harsh.

I don't mean to be dismissive, though.

It's completely understandable. I have come to understand and respect that many Disney fans have a strong emotional attachment to the Haunted Mansion. While it's not a strong attachment I personally share (since that ride mainly terrified me until I was about 18), I respect it as a fellow Disney fan.

I just find it amazing the people on a WDW board like this who dismiss the concept of seasonal attraction overlays outright. Small World, Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, etc. And there are now strong rumors we're going to see the first Halloween version of World of Color this October. And Disneyland now has a half dozen different fireworks shows shown throughout the year, including separate July 4th, Halloween and Christmas and Summer shows.

Are vactions ruined because they aren't seeing the default Remember... Dreams Come True fireworks show? Hardly.

The excuse that "only locals" visit Disneyland, and they are so bored with the usual stuff that TDA has to create seasonal things to keep them coming back. Certainly that's a factor, but anyone who has been to Disneyland knows there are just as many foreign and domestic tourists standing in line as there are local AP's from Laguna Niguel. Last Sunday at Disneyland it was as if the entire secretary pool from Tokyo and Osaka were on vacation at Disneyland; I don't think any clerical tasks are being completed in Japan at all this week since every middle class female between the ages of 20 and 30 are in Anaheim.

The excuse that Disneyland is only a locals-park and WDW can't bear to replace a Nixon era ride for people from Britian or Ohio just doesn't wash. It's a cheap excuse, that's all.

That said... Long live The Haunted Mansion! :wave: