New Ride By-Pass Hallway for HM???

[Timon]

What is the new construction just AFTER the stretching rooms but BEFORE the Ride Load? The walls are opened up and inner walls covered up in black cloth. There is matching construction in the exit corridor. It looks like the old private bypass hallways which had doors and theming are being expanded and opened up? Does anyone know for sure?

 

[CoffeeJedi]

I believe that they're installing a photo buying setup in the old chicken exit area.

 

[Silver Figment]

Photos you say? Money is money and people shell it out for ride photos.

 

[John Dean]

Didn't someone state that this was to be a handicapped load area?
That wheelchairs and the like would now proceed in the regular line then board the doombuggy in a separate load area after having gone through the stretching room. Or am I mistaken on this?

 

[Tom]

Didn't someone state that this was to be a handicapped load area?
That wheelchairs and the like would now proceed in the regular line then board the doombuggy in a separate load area after having gone through the stretching room. Or am I mistaken on this?

Yes. I think this is for the new wheelchair loading area, which they filed a patent for last year. Will be very nice, as they won't have to stop the ride every time a wheelchair loads - and it will make for an easy loading process for those in wheelchairs, much like Toy Story Mania.

 

[Timon]

Now that will be quite the engineering marvel to watch. A wheel chair vehicle to be added to an OmniMover ride system while the ride is in motion, now that's gonna be a nice trick.

I was thinking it was a really cool "Chicken hallway", that blew my theory to boring bits.

I hope it isn't a ride photo booth, that should be in a new ride exit store for people with more money than sense to buy. FYI: A HM store should be inside a walk-in mausoleum, don't you think.

 

[Tom]

Now that will be quite the engineering marvel to watch. A wheel chair vehicle to be added to an OmniMover ride system while the ride is in motion, now that's gonna be a nice trick.

I was thinking it was a really cool "Chicken hallway", that blew my theory to boring bits.

I hope it isn't a ride photo booth, that should be in a new ride exit store for people with more money than sense to buy. FYI: A HM store should be inside a walk-in mausoleum, don't you think.

Click HERE to check out the patent itself. It's quite ingenious, actually. There will be a turntable under the track at that point. As the "HandiCapable" car passes over the turntable, a mechanism will release it from the conveyance system and swing it around to a platform. At that point, they will have X number of minutes to unload/load the guest before the next opening comes around, at which point it will swing the car around and nest it back into the omni.

I imagine they'll have a number of these throughout the omni, so that there's always one unoccupied, and so that the guest doesn't have to wait for 10 minutes for the opening to come back around.

What I can't grasp is how they can pull one car out of the system without screwing up the entire train. I thought they were all linked and helped self-counterbalance the entire system. Perhaps it will require a special car at those locations that can be lifted out of the ride carriage and then set back in.

This will sound mean but stopping the ride for wheel chairs was almost making the HM unrideable. I was on it a few years ago and we stopped like 6 times. When your stuck watching the same head pop up and down in a grave yard over and over it doesn't do much for ride quality. Hope they have the wheel chairs figured out.

In recent years it has become more and more of a problem, with the inordinate number of legitimate and/or illegitimate (not passing judgement) wheelchair/ECV-bound guests. I'm glad to see that Disney is accommodating these guests in a way that will create a more enjoyable experience for disabled and capable guests alike.

 

[Timon]

Click HERE

Link does not appear to work. I would really like to see that patent.
Thanks

 

[Tom]

Link does not appear to work. I would really like to see that patent.
Thanks

Ha! It does now. I forgot to put the actual link in the first time

 

[Slowjack]

Click HERE to check out the patent itself. It's quite ingenious, actually. There will be a turntable under the track at that point. As the "HandiCapable" car passes over the turntable, a mechanism will release it from the conveyance system and swing it around to a platform. At that point, they will have X number of minutes to unload/load the guest before the next opening comes around, at which point it will swing the car around and nest it back into the omni.

I imagine they'll have a number of these throughout the omni, so that there's always one unoccupied, and so that the guest doesn't have to wait for 10 minutes for the opening to come back around.

That would be cool, but if you have lots of the "detachable slots," that's going to reduce the overall capacity. Of course, if the new system means the ride is stopping less often, it may still be a net gain.

 

[Tom]

That would be cool, but if you have lots of the "detachable slots," that's going to reduce the overall capacity. Of course, if the new system means the ride is stopping less often, it may still be a net gain.

Well, by "a number of them" I meant 4 or 5. Maybe fewer.

 

[Unplugged]

Doesn't sound too difficult. If you make the upper portion of the vehicle detachable from the ever connected "train" component, the turntable would simply ensure perfect alignment during an automated attach or detach of the upper.

Very clever Imagineering.....very clever indeed!

 

[The Duck]

This will sound mean but stopping the ride for wheel chairs was almost making the HM unrideable. I was on it a few years ago and we stopped like 6 times. When your stuck watching the same head pop up and down in a grave yard over and over it doesn't do much for ride quality. Hope they have the wheel chairs figured out.

Consider yourself lucky. For years, it seemed like every single time that I was visiting the Mansion it would stop in the exact same place! It wasn't anything cool like the ballroom or the graveyard. It was always in the doorknocker hallway in front of the door that was being forced open by a pair of ghoulish hands . The fact that it was ALWAYS in the same place was giving me the creeps. Anyway... if this new transfer system is coming, it sounds like an amazing piece of engineering.

 

[TREVON 2.0]

Quick question. I get the whole reattachment of the car and stuff, but how will the whole "Hill into the graveyard" thing work? LOL I mean, if they managed to strap and unstrap the wheelchair [Which would be difficult, seeing each one is different] they would have to be completely empty and have nothing hanging from it, and they would have to have a way to keep the person from just standing up on it. I mean, LOL they can't have the clamshell front on the part where your wheelchair is... ^P^ BTW, Wheelchairs are heavy...

 

[Tom]

Quick question. I get the whole reattachment of the car and stuff, but how will the whole "Hill into the graveyard" thing work? LOL I mean, if they managed to strap and unstrap the wheelchair [Which would be difficult, seeing each one is different] they would have to be completely empty and have nothing hanging from it, and they would have to have a way to keep the person from just standing up on it. I mean, LOL they can't have the clamshell front on the part where your wheelchair is... ^P^ BTW, Wheelchairs are heavy...

I'm not so sure the ride vehicle will actually accommodate a wheelchair, but just allow a disabled person to board the ride in a much calmer and slower manner. Right now, they have to stop the entire ride, and speedramps, to load or unload someone who is chair-bound.

To fit a vehicle that could carry a wheelchair, they'd have to remove at least 2 doombuggies at each location and retrofit a larger one. I don't think they're going to do that - but maybe they are.

 

[1stStarIC2nite]

Heh heh, no. There is and there will be no "turntable."

The hallway was previously called "Full of Fear." It was essentially a chicken exit. A nicely themed and narrow hallway. Now, the walls have been knocked out, and expanded on the jog side (the dark area where all the buggies come from).

The hallway is now split in half. One side is going to still be the chicken exit (Full of Fear), and the other side is a queueing/bypass area for wheelchairs. The wheelchair parties are approached after stretch and asked a few questions. If they can make it up to load no problem, then they leave their chairs/ECVs in the hallway and a Maid/Butler takes it to the exit. If they cannot, then a Maid/Butler takes them through the hallway to the unload area of the ride, where they board.

It was expanded and the doors were knocked out in order to accomodate and exit point for wheelchairs after wheelchairs and ECVs started coming through the stretch rooms a few weeks ago.

One side of the hallway will be "indoor" Mansion themed, the other similar to the exit hallway/Crypt theme.

 

[Tom]

Heh heh, no. There is and there will be no "turntable."

The hallway was previously called "Full of Fear." It was essentially a chicken exit. A nicely themed and narrow hallway. Now, the walls have been knocked out, and expanded on the jog side (the dark area where all the buggies come from).

The hallway is now split in half. One side is going to still be the chicken exit (Full of Fear), and the other side is a queueing/bypass area for wheelchairs. The wheelchair parties are approached after stretch and asked a few questions. If they can make it up to load no problem, then they leave their chairs/ECVs in the hallway and a Maid/Butler takes it to the exit. If they cannot, then a Maid/Butler takes them through the hallway to the unload area of the ride, where they board.

It was expanded and the doors were knocked out in order to accomodate and exit point for wheelchairs after wheelchairs and ECVs started coming through the stretch rooms a few weeks ago.

One side of the hallway will be "indoor" Mansion themed, the other similar to the exit hallway/Crypt theme.

Aw shucks!

Sounds like this system won't cut down on ride stops any.

 

[hazelrah]

So with this new load zone, HM will theoretically not need to slow/stop as much for wheelchair boarding?

I'm still struggling a little with what Disney is doing here. On the one hand, I LOVE that they are lavishing so much attention on an older classic. Between the new scenes from a couple years ago, new hitchhiker effects, new wheelchair loading, an entire new Scene One, and even that silly green pointy finger that tells me which way to disembark, the Mansion is certainly better than ever.

On the other hand, the Mansion already has more capacity than Takeru Kobayashi at a cocktail weenie party. It's one of the fastest moving lines in property. And they are making it faster still. Mansion even in the absolute crush of a major holiday still chugs through its line.

So why spend all the extra money on the Scene One crypt queue? The whole goal of all these Scene One projects is to help take the edge off of waiting in line, so it doesn't make sense that Mansion gets a new Scene One ahead of something like Peter Pan (darn near intolerable) or even Splash or Big Thunder (though both of those are people eaters also).

 

[wolf359]

The whole goal of all these Scene One projects is to help take the edge off of waiting in line, so it doesn't make sense that Mansion gets a new Scene One ahead of something like Peter Pan (darn near intolerable) or even Splash or Big Thunder (though both of those are people eaters also).

It seems likely Haunted Mansion is going to lose its current overflow switchbacks in the future during the extensive rebuild of the pathway from Fantasyland. While I think it's great this seems like a plus for plussing's sake it also has a lot to do with future crowd flow as well.

I'm just glad the new queue isn't a bunch of plain switchbacks like what Disneyland has.

 

[1stStarIC2nite]

Aw shucks!

Sounds like this system won't cut down on ride stops any.

The ride still stops for various reasons. Nothing is ever going to change that. Wheelchair guests get on the ride most of the time without it stopping. Most of the time the moving belt only needs to be slowed down. The only time it is ever stopped for wheelchair guests is if they need a special buggy that is easier to transfer into, or if they just literally run out of time.

However, having more of the guests getting on at load has helped capacity in a way. The most noticeable is that the entry hall way is much much much less crowded now. The CM are told to carefully monitor stretch sizes and are more usually informed of any ride stops - this way the hallway doesn't get backed up and the wheelchair guests aren't standing as long. This way it is also more comfortable and enjoyable for everyone.

And once again, there will be no additional loading platform in the Full of Fear hallway.