You know, I'm glad I just forgot my PIN number right now...

It's late and I'm tired,but I just can't make sense of this post. How does your PIN number relate to anything that has come before? (It's probably obvious and I'll smack my forehead when I find out.)

I'd love to see the naughty ghost train ride, even with the Bobbitt scene. Heck, back when that was in the news, I had already seen IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES and DESPERATE LIVING, so it wasn't anything new to me.

Hmmm - should have rephrased that - recently I had a senior moment forgetting my ATM PIN number - so I am gratefull that so far this is the extent of my memory loss - or so I can recall anyway...

Yeah, it seems I'm having quite a few Alzheimers moments myself.

Maybe I just didn't notice the shadow player because the doombuggy route is crowded with all those portraits.


(as for those AP Lounge sofas ... )

See, this is why, while I still dislike what they've done, I can hardly consider this the "ruin" of the attic...'cause that was already achieved. You never saw the old attic, with the creepy faceless bride and pop-up skulls that scared the living hell outta people. That was awesome.

Repeatability relies, I believe, on having the story be vague, and having it seem to be happening somewhat to YOU, the observer.

Once it becomes a definable tale that you see happening to a repeating set of characters, it becomes boring to see more than 20 times.


How many times have we ridden the Haunted Mansion? What about Pirates? Note that no character appears more than once in each. That's about to change in Pirates, and is changing before our very eyes on the Mansion.



I think one of Phantom Manor's weak points is its definative storyline. And I really don't need to see the Phantom five times, thanks.

A big amen to iSm's theory of vague storyline as being more repeatable. I have long held this to be the case. Open-endedness allows the imagination to run wild, but narrative specificity can really put a stopper on it.

The media-based attractions are probably the best example. HISTA is very specific, and not very repeatable. Once the surprises are known, there's no reason to go back. Even Star Tours gets old, once it starts to seem like a film you watch while being flounced around, rather than an actual journey.

I think one of the key elements to the endless repeatability of Pirates and Mansion are their open-ended non-narrative nature. They are atmospheric, with individiual little moments of humor and character,but no forward narrative drive. This is a good thing, as it allows one to simply relax and wallow in the moment. Once there is a strong narrative pull to "get to the end" of a story, everything else becomes something to get past, not something to linger on.

I don't know how much the changes to POTC and HM will alter their non-narrative feel, but I can see where this kind of thing can shortchange the experience a little if they aren't careful.

True. Perhaps I would have liked that. I particularly think I might have liked the time you mentioned when all you heard was a beating heart....and that was it. No pop-up heads etc. Of course, I just have to go by what I've seen myself.

Actually, the Commodore corrected me. There were pop-up heads. But they were nothing like the lame ones that you've seen.

They should bring back the faceless bride! So much more creepy. You would see the paintings of what she's supposed to look like, and with her shadowy face, you could only speculate what she looks like now... Ooooh spooky!