Disney Haunted Mansion Update Rumors

From MiceAge:

First we got the news about the Pirates of the Caribbean changes, and now Haunted Mansion! Brace yourself folks, because the Old Haunted Manor, is getting updated. The biggest changes will be coming to the attic scene, as that's where the new plotline will be most evident. As it is now, the attic scene is simply a cluttered and dusty place with a ghost inexplicably dressed like a bride with that spooky beating heart. But when the additions are all installed, the bride will become a much more sinister character who has apparently been killing off all of her previous husbands. As the doombuggies pass through the attic, riders will see portraits of several dashing young gentlemen, with each portrait piled next to "the loot" that the man brought in to the marriage. Those portraits will look familiar as they'll be the same faces that were just beginning to appear in ghost form back in the seance circle. But a new special effect will allow the heads of these gentleman to suddenly disappear from the portrait, as if they had been decapitated in a grisly murder. And when riders arrive at the exit of the attic scene, the bride will still be there, this time in a new location and clutching a bouquet of wedding flowers that magically turns into a blood stained axe as each vehicle passes by.

More changes are still to come at the end of the ride, but these are likely to be far less controversial. The iconic "Hitch Hiking Ghosts" who appear in your doom buggy via those magic mirrors will make the jump to the 21st century. Instead of the extremely simple figures that barely nod their head as they appear in your car because they are literally mannequins on sticks attached to a turntable behind the two-way mirrors, more advanced and animated figures will now join you. They'll be able to move their arms and hands and really be expressive as they appear to interact with you in the vehicle.
Drumroll please, for more on this and other Disney stuff check out Miceage

Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., D.F.S

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance 2006-03-01 11:44 ]

the story behind the Haunted Mansion is that the "bride" had 2 lovers, one of the lovers found out and killed the other. The bride in horror, jumped out of the window killing herself.

The Haunted Mansion has no story.

Lemme repeat that - the Haunted mansion has NO story!

It is a series of gags and vignettes, and nothing more.

Any fan-based stories about "Master Gracey" & a jilted bride, are just that - fan-based stories...

This was something that pissed Marc Davis off to no end - that people keep referring to Pirates & Mansion as having stories!

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2006-03-01 19:02 ]

duuuuude. Disney always puts a legend or story behind their rides. I was just looking on some of the major WDW websites and they specifically tell you the stories behind some of the rides.

On 2006-03-01 19:13, PockyTiki wrote:
duuuuude. Disney always puts a legend or story behind their rides. I was just looking on some of the major WDW websites and they specifically tell you the stories behind some of the rides.

Umm, you know you're arguing with a former Imagineer there, right? Someone who's friends with the designers and developers of those rides?

Humans like to have a storyline, our brains often impose one over series of events whether the events warrant it or not. Those sites may be listing the storylines their authors impose upon the vignettes, or they may be listing urban legend storylines like the "Master Gracey" HM story. My advice is to enjoy the ride and not worry about what someone else says about what you should be seeing: if you see a plotline go ahead & follow it, or look for different plots each time, or don't. I personally love to find different things each time ("Oooh! Were those glow-in-the-dark mouse footprints there before?") and following plots just gets in the way of that. :)

On 2006-03-01 19:13, PockyTiki wrote:
duuuuude. Disney always puts a legend or story behind their rides. I was just looking on some of the major WDW websites and they specifically tell you the stories behind some of the rides.

Yes - in some they do (Indy and Big Thunder are two that come to mind) - but in my opinion, this doesn't work. Mainly because of people's (lack of) attention span. Ask the average Disney park tourist what the "story" is after riding, and most can't tell you what that would be... Even still - Indy sets up a story of sorts (There is a temple in India dedicated to the God Mara, who will grant you several wishes supposedly - Indiana Jones has been excavating it, and now has gone missing. Now you are supposed to go find him. So you get in a jeep (!) and start driving through the temple)... But once inside the ride, there is no story. No plot points or story arcs. Just a bunch of things that happen - several vignettes. Then you get off the ride.

Big Thunder has a back story about a gold-filled mountain that has some kind of curse behind it. But how many guests pick up on that? It's not explained in the queue - you just walk through this little mining town, get on a train that takes you into a tunnel & suddenly goes out of control. The rest of the ride are fast glimpses of Davis-esque gags while the roller coaster runs its course. No story - just a ride with scenes.

But more specifically - Pirates & Mansion were both designed NOT to have a cohesive storyline - just for that reason. Marc Davis (who did a huge amount of the design for these two attractions) told me he talked with Walt Disney about this quite a bit. They both were of the opinion that they shouldn't push a "story", because rides in a theme park aren't the same as a movie going experience (i.e. - your head is pointed straight at the screen, and usually you are there for the whole presentation). Marc didn't want to do this, as he felt that in a ride you don't have control as to where people look at any given time. Therefore - it's easy for a guest to miss out on a key plot point (Indy again comes to mind - who really gets all that back story?), and therefore miss out. It's akin to watching a movie, and turning around to look at the people behind you at some point, then looking at the ceiling, then back to the film. You will have missed something. Dark rides are like that - you can't help but look all around at everything. You aren't locked down or forced into looking in one direction (although the Omnimover in Inner Space & Mansion was an attempt at that). So if you are riding Pirates, and you miss the gag of the drunken Pirate singing with the pigs because you were looking at the other side of the show - does it wreck the ride? No. You have much more to see still...

Trust me - Ken Anderson, Rolly Crump & Yale Gracey (among others) all really tried to give the Mansion a storyline. Many concepts - from a murderous sea-captain (look at the Mansion weather vane some time) to a jilted bride, to a "Blood Family were all presented to Walt. Work began on Mansion in the late 50s - it didn't open until 1970! There are many reasons for this - but Marc Davis (and this was his opinion) felt that it took so long because Walt didn't buy into telling all these convoluted stories - he just wanted it to be fun!

This is a weird nit-picky thing I (obviously) feel strongly about! We tried to re-tell the story of Sindbad on the 'Sindbad's Seven Voyages' dark ride at Tokyo DisneySea. While I love what we did, I'm not sure the story (and all of SIndbad's adventures) comes across. http://www.christophermerritt.com/Sindbad.html

I think the confusion here is Disney's amazing detail they put into their attractions that others don't. People walk away from Pirates or Mansion and say, "Wow! What a great ride! I really liked the story." But what they mean, is the amazing detail & the well executed scenes have impressed them.

It makes me nuts (and once again, perhaps I need to get out more) when I hear an Imagineer talk about the wonderful story of the Castle, or the amazing story of Autopia (or whatever project they are on). They don't mean story - they mean experience, environment - whatever.

[ Edited by: Tangaroa 2006-03-02 07:37 ]

On 2006-03-02 07:22, freddiefreelance wrote:
Umm, you know you're arguing with a former Imagineer there, right?

Yeah - but that doesn't mean anything (and how could he know that)! I'm just someone who probably thinks waaaaaay too much about this stuff. And I'm a big theme park nerd to boot.

But Freddie is right - people assign way to much to additions to scenes in the ride - as if whoever at Disney made the change is aware (or even cares about) a supposed storyline. These rides are fluid - not something locked down forever. Changes are made all the time, some noticeable, some not. If you are really locked into a story about it - it may make the experience less for you. Better just to go and enjoy yourself (anyone who's been with me to Disneyland and heard me bitch about the lack of the original Tiki Room A-frame or opening up the lanai now know what a hypocrite I am)!

But, as for the attic - I'd really rather have the Hatbox Ghost back! (Something I pitched during the Mansion's 30th anniversary, and was roundly rejected on).

well after reading these posts, i feel your pain. And No i didn't know he was a former Imagineer. I'm just a WDW nut and love the resorts and possible myths behind the rides, etc etc. I just like looking for detail (aka the hidden mickeys). That sorta stuff. I just like to make it more exciting for myself. And yes i have seen the weather vane ontop of the mansion. 'tis a ship.

On 2006-03-02 12:22, PockyTiki wrote:
well after reading these posts, i feel your pain. And No i didn't know he was a former Imagineer. I'm just a WDW nut and love the resorts and possible myths behind the rides, etc etc. I just like looking for detail (aka the hidden mickeys). That sorta stuff. I just like to make it more exciting for myself. And yes i have seen the weather vane ontop of the mansion. 'tis a ship.

For some beautiful images of Disney Park rides, both built & unrealized, check out http://www.christophermerritt.com/ . Great stuff for any fan of the Disney Parks.

very cool. I didn't exstensivly look through it but i saw a few things on there. Cool stuff. I think my latest love in Walt Disney World has to be the Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa. It's gorgeous. I just stayed there counts last week i believe.

So, do you mean to tell me that Space Mountain has no story?!?!

:)

[ Edited by: joefla70 2006-03-02 13:53 ]

now now Joe, that's almost blasphemy.

I don't know if I'd go as far as saying there is no story, but there is definitely a progression of events that follow a tried & true story structure. They're not stories in the sense that there is a specific narrative or characters, but there's an arc of mood, dynamics and intensity that implies that a story's being told. That's the genius of rides like PotC. You feel as though you have watched a story, but they are simply a series of vignettes carefully arranged to mimic a story's dramatic progression.

On 2006-03-02 13:33, freddiefreelance wrote:
For some beautiful images of Disney Park rides, both built & unrealized, check out http://www.christophermerritt.com/ . Great stuff for any fan of the Disney Parks.

Awwwwww - thanks for the plug Freddie.....

On 2006-03-02 15:22, Tiki-bot wrote:
I don't know if I'd go as far as saying there is no story, but there is definitely a progression of events that follow a tried & true story structure. They're not stories in the sense that there is a specific narrative or characters, but there's an arc of mood, dynamics and intensity that implies that a story's being told. That's the genius of rides like PotC. You feel as though you have watched a story, but they are simply a series of vignettes carefully arranged to mimic a story's dramatic progression.

A much better & more succinct explanation than mine! I think Marc was being anal about there being a specific narrative... but I still agree with him.

Lets just all be glad they aren't adding an Eddie Murphy animatronic figure in the haunted mansion. Good thing that movie wasn't a huge success.

I have mixed feelings about the Jonny Depp figure in Pirates...and I loved that movie!!!

On 2006-03-02 22:30, ErichTroudt wrote:
Lets just all be glad they aren't adding an Eddie Murphy animatronic figure in the haunted mansion.

I wouldn't mind seeing an Audio-Animatronic Master Gracey -- he was hot!!

On 2006-03-01 11:43, freddiefreelance wrote:
From MiceAge:

First we got the news about the Pirates of the Caribbean changes, and now Haunted Mansion! Brace yourself folks, because the Old Haunted Manor, is getting updated. The biggest changes will be coming to the attic scene, as that's where the new plotline will be most evident. As it is now, the attic scene is simply a cluttered and dusty place with a ghost inexplicably dressed like a bride with that spooky beating heart. But when the additions are all installed, the bride will become a much more sinister character who has apparently been killing off all of her previous husbands. As the doombuggies pass through the attic, riders will see portraits of several dashing young gentlemen, with each portrait piled next to "the loot" that the man brought in to the marriage. Those portraits will look familiar as they'll be the same faces that were just beginning to appear in ghost form back in the seance circle. But a new special effect will allow the heads of these gentleman to suddenly disappear from the portrait, as if they had been decapitated in a grisly murder. And when riders arrive at the exit of the attic scene, the bride will still be there, this time in a new location and clutching a bouquet of wedding flowers that magically turns into a blood stained axe as each vehicle passes by.

More changes are still to come at the end of the ride, but these are likely to be far less controversial. The iconic "Hitch Hiking Ghosts" who appear in your doom buggy via those magic mirrors will make the jump to the 21st century. Instead of the extremely simple figures that barely nod their head as they appear in your car because they are literally mannequins on sticks attached to a turntable behind the two-way mirrors, more advanced and animated figures will now join you. They'll be able to move their arms and hands and really be expressive as they appear to interact with you in the vehicle.
Drumroll please, for more on this and other Disney stuff check out Miceage

---

Rev. Dr. Frederick J. Freelance, Ph.D., D.F.S

[ Edited by: freddiefreelance 2006-03-01 11:44 ]

This sounds similar to Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris. The bride, if I remember correctly, was a more prominent figure in that attraction. Because the building was newer, and the effects as well, I thought that the Paris version was actually pretty scary. This might not be a horrible upgrade. I'm all for leaving good rides alone, but if the powers that be want to meddle, well, it could be worse.