The Haunted Mansion is OPEN!!!

[Disneyphile]

Just got word from someone at the park right now that the Mansion is open!!!!! No word yet on the changes though.......

[Cadaverous Pallor]

I'm hoping we'll be at the park Friday night.

[Isaac]

Oh hell. I wasn't planning to go today.

Grrr.

Where's my camera ?

[Moonliner]

But but but... I was there TUESDAY!!! Waaaaaaa!!!! :(

[Snowflake]

But but but... I was there TUESDAY!!! Waaaaaaa!!!! :(

but...but...but I was there on the Saturday and Friday last week....... Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

And Moonliner, you will be there next month :D

Donna

[Not Afraid]

Damn. I have a Chiro appt or I'd be on my way.

[Disneyphile]

I'll be there about 7'ish, with videocamera in hand. :D

(Which reminds me that I still need to upload the Queen Mary video..... )

[BarTopDancer]

oo goodie! I hope to be there tomorrow after work.

[innerSpaceman]

Um, relax folks. Most of the new effects were not completed in time for the opening.

Personally, I hate piecemeal ... and I'm mulling over just waiting till June so that I can be surprised by four things instead of one-at-a-time.

[Disneyphile]

Yeah, after I heard the changes aren't in yet, I've decided not to bother going tonight. I have a lot of other stuff to do anyway.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

We're going Friday anyway so there :p

[BarTopDancer]

I want to geek out before I play tour guide next week.

And Kevy, I renewed my AP :p

[innerSpaceman]

Someone break it to me gently if Eleanor Audley has been evicted from her crystal ball.

[€uroMeinke]

I'm waiting for the Wally Shawn animatronic

[MickeyLumbo]

i like the new embalming scene the best.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

I think the Eddie Murphy animatrons are going to look awesome! :)

[Gemini Cricket]

Someone break it to me gently if Eleanor Audley has been evicted from her crystal ball.
Jennifer Tilly is a fine addition to DL's Mansion.







:D

[innerSpaceman]

Well, it would be a sad thing if our escape from Jennifer Tilly turned out only to be a case of out of the frying pan, into the fire..


The tale they are telling is targeted to be told in the revamped seance room. If they need dialogue to do it, then Eleanor's famous incantations are out. And since all the musical instruments have floated away for good, the spells and chants of dear sweet Eleanor no longer make much sense. I fear they will be gone. And so would my wretched heart.


I happen to think it was a stroke of Walt genius to make the Haunted Mansion simply experiential. You are wandering through a haunted house ... it is happening to YOU.

Despite that the same things keep happening to you each time you visit, I think it's the lack of specifics that has kept the attraction remarkably repeatable for 35 amazing years.

If you're now being told a specific tale, the same story over and over again ... the ride becomes observational, and I think repeatability takes a hit.


I'll wait and see, and frankly only time will really tell. But if they've gone and gotten rid of an important member of the Haunted Mansion cast (as they've drastically and dastardly done over at Pirates), then the 50th year will turn out to have been a truly sad turning point in the story of the Magic Kingdom.




(My only ray of hope is that there's no Madame Leota quoted in the fireworks show ... and they seem to be getting rid of only the remaining classics they've saluted in Remember.)

[Kevy Baby]

I'm waiting for the Wally Shawn animatronicHow about a Wally George one?

[Isaac]

Here's what's different:

Nothing. Only really observant guests will note the tiny changes.

[innerSpaceman]

Heheh, well it's certainly worth having been closed nearly a quarter of the year then. I can't wait to be bowled over.

[Kevy Baby]

They put a bowling alley in?

[innerSpaceman]

The Haunted Mansion is not ready for prime time.

Saturday, 3/11, there were 30 doombuggies (out of 131) wth no audio. They were closed for over 2 months, but didn't bother to put back their signature spider-web "50" out front. The precursors of the new seance room effects are in (backgrounds for the eventual ghostly faces), and the results are light levels that clearly reveal the wires guiding Leota's crystal ball flight. Bah.

Other than these defects, you'd never know that a big refurb took place. There are no new elements or effects, and the Mansion looks, well, clean I suppose.

If this is now the standard timetable of putting up and taking down the Holiday version, please note that classic Haunted Mansion is up and running only six months out of the year.

[Uncle Dick]

I rode three times yesterday without noticing any audio problems (save for the lack of "Here Comes the Bride" in the attic), but it would appear that the bright EXIT lights-o'-doom are back again, at least at the very end of the graveyard.

[flippyshark]

Grrrrrr. They better have this all fixed before I get there in a few weeks. Grrr.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Yes, the bloody exit signs were back. And the doombuggies seem to have a fresch coat of paint.

The only other change we noticed was that the "I didn't mean to frighten you prematurely" audio plays inside the stretching room once it reaches the bottom, rather than outside the door. A good change as it means that you don't have to be the very first one out the door to hear it.

[SzczerbiakManiac]

How about a Wally George one?HUH!?! What?? Did someone say there's a Wally animatronic in there now? Oh man, I totally have to go ride that now!

:evil: ;)