PHOTOS - New interactive Haunted Mansion queue opens for guest previews today

[LinaBelle]

This is so exciting!! I can't wait to see it. :sohappy:

 

[WDITrent]

Sorry, this is a bit of an irrational pet peeve of mine, but it's spelled "queue." Now we all know. Common mistake.

So I'm a bit blurry on the actual way this queue flows. There's an overhang surrounding it, but it seems that the guests bypass it and go straight to the middle. Does anyone have a diagram?

 

[Disneyson 1]

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed, but you can see that many of the books have matching spines. For example, there's a seahorse on two different books, and other such symbols on others. I wonder, if (when all of the books pop out at the same time for a few seconds quickly) when you "match" two of the books, you'll get some sort of special reward?

There seems to be more than meets the eye to those books...

Also, as for my opinions, this seems very in tune with the ride story. The difference between the HM myth sea captain gargling up bubbles, Leota's grave, and the Horsless Carrage are hardly existant. We also must remember that the grave epitaphs were really not that serious and intended to break the scary for young riders, one of the ORIGINAL intentions of the little sight gags in the queue. My only sadness is that there's SO MUCH NOISE. I would have done SOMETHING else with the musical grave, or keep it at the organ, because the touchpads are the REAL annoying things.

... and YES, the must fix the planter bodies. Gracey is fine, I guess, but Marc is awkward. Maybe he's buried sideways...?

 

[FigmentJedi]

I like the ideas a guy at MiceChat had. Move the planter tombstones back to the hill and put urns in their places, get rid of the voice from the Poet's tomb and dump the tombstones for the Hitchhikers.

 

[DisneyNut2007]

I like the ideas a guy at MiceChat had. Move the planter tombstones back to the hill and put urns in their places, get rid of the voice from the Poet's tomb and dump the tombstones for the Hitchhikers.

You do know that agreeing with any MiceChatters is a major sin, right?

 

[imagineer boy]

I like the ideas a guy at MiceChat had. Move the planter tombstones back to the hill and put urns in their places, get rid of the voice from the Poet's tomb and dump the tombstones for the Hitchhikers.

Agreed. Those planter tomb stones are just so odd.

 

[JustInTime]

I 99% love the new Queue. I think that it really adds to the experience. I will always be a life long Mansion fan, and this is like Christmas for me. I think the fact that is it is to the side and optional is perfect. It is just another part of the Show. I can't wait until I can enjoy it. It's super exciting. The only thing I don't like is the weird squashed tombstones between the walls.

 

[Disneyson 1]

I actually like the hitchhiker's graves, I would only get rid of the stupid awkward graves and the LOUDNESS. Is it possible to turn the volume down by, like, 3 or 4 notches

 

[The Duck]

I actually like the hitchhiker's graves, I would only get rid of the stupid awkward graves and the LOUDNESS. Is it possible to turn the volume down by, like, 3 or 4 notches

While I was watching the "Inside the Magic" video on YouTube, I read one of the comments that stated that the sound effects weren't really all that loud. I found this a bit confusing since the music and singing and sneezing etc. were heard all throughout the video. I'm no authority on video recording equipment but could a camcorder microphone be sensitive enough to actually amplify sounds? :shrug: Regardless, this is still in the testing phase and eventual tweaking should correct some of the problems. I suppose we'll all have to experience it first-hand to make a logical judgment.

 

[Krack]

HM's queue, like WDW's attendance over the last 10-15 years, has been growing steadily. With the proliferation of personal "smart" devices, people weren't just standing in queues. They're, like you say, tweeting, surfing, playing games, texting, etc., and WDI could have just let it happen. It certainly would have been cheaper. But instead, this company that you're so convinced is going down the drain, elected to go the extra step to keep guests immersed in their environment. They're actually trying to get ahead of changing guest habits and expectations, and this is bad? Seriously?

You actually think that this NextGen Haunted Mansion queue is going to stop a kid from texting or playing Angry Birds on his iPhone? That battle is already over. The only thing that is going to prevent that kid from playing with his phone in line is his parents telling him to "put the phone away." If that's the purpose of attacking the Haunted Mansion queue atmosphere, with NextGen, then somebody wasted a whole lot of money and failed before they even started - at least when a kid is texting he's generally quiet, the noise coming out of the touch-crypts is an audio eyesore, imo.

I don't think that's the purpose of this change at all.

 

[DisneyNut2007]

Go to H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS already, WDW1974! :fork:

Call us when you're dying! :fork:

 

[Skyway]

I don't think that's the purpose of this change at all.

That's right.

The purpose of the new HM queue is to move people away from Yankee Trader so they can open up a new walkway and improve an original MK design flaw. (I also imagine that new walkway will make the HM more visible, likely increasing the lines beyond the typical 20-30 min, which would require additional queue space)

With that mandate, WDI and TDO had two choices--- create boring, un-themed switchbacks (as they have at DL), or give guests an immersive experience.

You know these boards would be on fire had they thrown up some chains and metal pipes to corral guests like cattle.

So obviously the debate shifts to whether they went too far with the new theming.

But you cannot accuse this of being an unnecessary project. And it certainly isn't the "cheap" option they could have taken.

 

[ChrisFL]

That's right.

The purpose of the new HM queue is to move people away from Yankee Trader so they can open up a new walkway and improve an original MK design flaw. (I also imagine that new walkway will make the HM more visible, likely increasing the lines beyond the typical 20-30 min, which would require additional queue space)

With that mandate, WDI and TDO had two choices--- create boring, un-themed switchbacks (as they have at DL), or give guests an immersive experience.

You know these boards would be on fire had they thrown up some chains and metal pipes to corral guests like cattle.

So obviously the debate shifts to whether they went too far with the new theming.

But you cannot accuse this of being an unnecessary project. And it certainly isn't the "cheap" option they could have taken.

Interesting, I hadn't heard about this new walkway thing, maybe that is also to do with the demolition of the skyway station too

 

[WDW_Princess]

Looks amazing!! I cannot wait to see it this fall.

 

[Rob562]

Interesting, I hadn't heard about this new walkway thing, maybe that is also to do with the demolition of the skyway station too

Read through the Skyway Demolition thread. There are groundplans.

-Rob

 

[FigmentJedi]

I actually like the hitchhiker's graves, I would only get rid of the stupid awkward graves and the LOUDNESS. Is it possible to turn the volume down by, like, 3 or 4 notches

The problem is that they're hitchhikers. Why would they have tombstones in the family plot? Also, Phineas the Hitchhiker is not Phineas Pock, that name belongs to one of the singing busts.

 

[Oddysey]

I really like the new interactive queue. Disney is definitely trying there best to win the war with smart phones and guest attention.

The problem is that they're hitchhikers. Why would they have tombstones in the family plot? Also, Phineas the Hitchhiker is not Phineas Pock, that name belongs to one of the singing busts.

Thanks for the info Tahu!!

 

[MKCP 1985]

The problem is that they're hitchhikers. Why would they have tombstones in the family plot?

Could they be hitching a ride to get away from the family home? They are there and want to leave "and follow you home."

Absent some story to the contrary, it isn't nonsensical to me to think they could have been entombed on the grounds.

 

[HBG2]

Ahem.

This is absolutely the worst thing that has ever happened to any of the Mansions since the first one opened in 1969. Bar none.

This is a crime.

I've been a Mansion fan for years, and I've been convinced for some time that it qualifies as a work of art as well as simply an entertaining ride. If you want to experience as simply a funsy amusement, you have always been able to do that, and that's fine. Perfectly okay. But you could also appreciate it as an amazing work of art, like a good movie or a good short story. The Imagineers created a coherent, believable world unto itself, like filmmakers and writers attempt to do. But no more.

Some of you may be familiar with my blog. Doesn't matter, but I've spent a long time plumbing the riches of this thing and it has never disappointed me. The HM follows its own rules. Every detail in there has made sense within the HM world. Literally.

Until now.

Now everyone is forced to experience it as simply a funsy ride. At WDW, you can no longer approach it in its totality as a wonderful work of art. It's shattered. The new additions are riddled with things that are logically impossible within the HM world. Please note: this is NOT about "story" or "backstory," so get that out of your head. It's about an internally consistent imaginary world in which stories or backstories (or whatever) can be told or imagined.

You can demonstrate pretty conclusively that what you see in the HM is supposed to be understood as a one-time, unique event, not something that happens nightly (or whatever). The Caretaker's look of astonishment pretty well settles it: he's never seen anything like this before. There are other proofs too. You, the visitor, are lucky enough to be there at the time that Madame Leota enables the spooks to finally cross over. That, plus your "sympathetic vibrations" do the trick, and the ghosts materialize at the Mansion for the first time. This isn't "story," this is what you see in real time as you go through the ride.

So how can ghosts that have never been seen before (the organ banshees) be carved on a crypt years earlier? How can three random hitchhikers (one of them a prisoner with ball-and-chain) be family members and residents of this New England mansion, and therefore buried in the family plot? The graveyard band consists of musicians from various times and places throughout history (some have 18th c. bandsmen uniforms, some have medieval clothing). They've never played together before; they're an example of ghosts from "creepy old crypts all over the world." So how come this ensemble is alluded to by the instruments carved on a crypt in the family plot? And why are the instruments realistic on the left side and freaky-deaky surrealistic on the other? And why are the tombstones for Francis Xavier and Grandpa Marc set up in such a way that it's practically impossible to even pretend there are bodies buried in front of them?

Yes, I could go on, but that's enough. The HMs have NEVER had these kinds of absurdities and incongruities in them before. Not. One. Thing. You are no longer allowed to ask those kinds of questions because the imaginative world of the HM is no longer a unity at WDW.

Eric Jacobson, Eric Goodman, and Pete Carsillo have destroyed something that was very special. They should be ashamed.

 

[WondersOfLife]

OMG! The queue looks like it's gonna be great!!