Over the weekend, the 2016 version of Haunted Mansion Holiday debuted at Disneyland Park as part of the HalloweenTime festivities. New for 2016, guests will find a new gingerbread house, as well as a new moving Sally figure in the graveyard scene. Enjoy:
Conner Purzycki brings us a fairly news-heavy photo report from the Disneyland Resort on the first day of its transition from the Diamond Celebration into HalloweenTime. Heavy promotion has started for the Tower of Terror final check-in, Star Wars land continues to rise from the dirt, Mickey and Minnie are getting an entirely new look, and the popular AP Days promotion has returned. See, I told you there was a lot going on! Let’s get started, because there is so much to see:
Banners around the resort promote HalloweenTime and the Tower of Terror send off events.
Billboard by the tram station don’t even mention Halloween Time, it’s all Twilight Zone Tower of Terror promotion. Halloween Time is a pretty big deal at the Disneyland Resort, so giving Tower of Terror the headline billing for this season is kind of a big deal.
Construction of the Star Wars themed land continues in the back of Disneyland Park.
While it may appear that this project is ahead in schedule compared to Hollywood Studios, this version of the land features more tunnels and an elaborate mountain range to separate the area from Frontierland and Critter Country.
The Tower of Terror off in the distance, making this an interesting snapshot in Disneyland history.
Some of the Paint the Night floats are visible just beyond the Star Wars site. The parade is set to return for the holiday season at the Disneyland Resort before the finale run of the Main Street Electrical Parade begins.
Promotional signs for AP Days out in force at the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure.
The Diamond Celebration still lingers at the Disneyland Resort, including the Diamond Days promotion, which is still going for some reason.
Halloween Time and the Diamond celebration decorations clash on Main Street.
Some work being done outside of the Disneyland Railroad station.
Some tarps still up on the Market House, but Starbucks remains open through it.
Some other Main Street facades are now also behind tarps.
The hub Jack-O-Lanterns are back.
While the “60” came down overnight, the rest of Sleeping Beauty Castle is still sporting the 60th decorations.
The heavily discussed new look heads for Mickey and Minnie Mouse debuted at the Disneyland Resort yesterday.
These style heads also appear in Mickey’s Royal Friendship Fair at the Magic Kingdom and at the Shanghai Disney Resort.
Work continues on the Rivers of America as it prepares for a Summer 2017 reopening, including a newly enhanced Fantasmic show.
The Columbia is being re-rigged for a new segment in Fantasmic, themed to Pirates of the Caribbean.
The Haunted Mansion is currently closed for its Haunted Mansion Holiday makeover.
A new cemetery has been placed up on the hill in the queue, featuring some fo the more famous tombstones from the attraction lore.
The Halloween Tree honoring Ray Bradbury is back in Frontierland.
Even though it was worked on extensively in 2015, the Peter Pan’s Flight facade is once again behind tarps in Fantasyland. The attraction is open.
Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy will be replacing Hyperspace Mountain until November. Hyperspace Mountain is expected to return and run until the opening of Star Wars land (only bowing our for Ghost Galaxy every year).
The new Starbucks in Downtown Disney is already getting a facade touch up, along with a Sprinkles location moving in next door.
More Tower of Terror and Halloween Time banners going down to the Disneyland Hotel.
Some work being done to the outside of Rushin’ River Outfitters.
AP Days have returned to the resort for the fall season.
A number of annual passholder exclusive items are available at the event.
Specialty food and beverage offerings from around the resort are showcased.
Trader Sam’s has a special Mahalloween mug this year celebrating The Haunted Mansion.
The lines for the AP Days Showcase were pretty long.
The now infamous Backlot Stage still remains, simply as it is more cost effective to leave it standing than remove it at this point.
The Pete’s Dragon preview is gone, so the Sunset Showcase sits dormant.
As a Disney Parks guest, there’s nothing worse than running to an attraction only to find that it is closed ( or “went 101”) due to some malfunction. Certainly, if you follow WDWNT Now, you never do this anyway, but it can be pretty depressing. As a fan of the parks, there are a handful of attractions that you wish would come to a halt as you were riding them, and perhaps maybe the lights in the ride would turn on and allow you to see what is lurking in the dark depths. For me, Spaceship Earth is one that certainly comes to mind, but the holy grail for most fans would have to be the Haunted Mansion. The attraction is so rich in detail and is a marvel of what many would consider the golden age of Imagineering, it’s hard to not squeal with delight over the idea of walking through the attraction with the “work lights” on, being able to see what you weren’t meant to. Lucky for us, I had the opportunity to do so during a breakdown of the ride at Disneyland just last week…
While we were on the Haunted Mansion Holiday attraction at Disneyland last week, the ride suddenly came to a halt as soon as we came down from the house and into the graveyard scene. Honestly, this isn’t a rare occurrence as if anyone using a wheelchair is loading or unloading from the ride, this will happen. However, after about 10 minutes it became clear that there was a serious issue with the ride. After a somewhat mumbled announcement over the speakers, the “work lights” came on in the ride and the attraction audio stopped completely. Even with the audio off, all of the moving figures and effects in the ride were still in motion, which made the experience a little more interesting as you could see how some of the 1969 effects worked. Not long after, one-by-one, each Doombuggy full of guests was opened and unloaded. Guests were then led by a cast member through the graveyard and out the exit of the ride.
My personal favorite observation from the experience was that the ground in the scene is actually covered with sawdust. With the lights off, the little of the ground you can see looks like it may be the texture of grass and dirt, so you would assume Imagineers lined the floor with some sort of “turf”, but it’s actually much simpler than that.
For your enjoyment, here are some photos we took of the Graveyard in Haunted Mansion Holiday with the lights-on:
We also have a full video of the experience where you can see many of the graveyard features in motion with the lights on:
WDWNT photographer Max Guggenheim was at the Disneyland Resort on Friday, August 30th and caught many newsworthy photos to share with us:
Taking a ride on Radiator Springs Racers
“Hold tight on the curves” ~Doc Hudson via car radio
It’s that time of year again… Halloween merchandise all around!
Of course, it would not be Halloween Time at the Disneyland Resort without the opening of Haunted Mansion Holiday next Friday
Max takes us inside the construction site at Big Thunder Mountain which is now nearing completion
Rumors specualte that the ride will remain closed until 2014 now, but still no confirmation from Disney
Starbucks is moving into the Market House real soon…
Very similar to the retro Starbucks logo used at the Magic Kingdom location
The Fortuosity Shop is decorated nicely
Some new Enchanted Tiki Room 50th merchandise on display at the Disney Gallery
Tim Alcoser was at the Disneyland Resort a few days ago and got some pictures of some newsworthy items around Disneyland Park.
Tim was at The Disneyland Resort yesterday and grabbed some pictures of some newsworthy stuff so lets take a look…
Its that time of year again when traffic around Disneyland is going to be a mess
Yup, marathon
Climbers on the Tomorrowland Side
“Hello Future Rocks”
Haunted Mansion is Closed for Holiday Install
The only time of year when Fastpass is open for Haunted Mansion
Wrapping the report up with some pictures of DCA’s flag retreat
Max gives us a look at the past weekend in Disneyland. Halloween decorations are out in full. Work progresses on the Princess Meet & Greet Fantasy Faire. Plus some looks at Haunted Mansion’s Nightmare Before Christmas overlay.
Main Street decorated in orange & red
A look at some of the progress on the Princess Fantasy Faire
Tarps are covering up a lot of the initial work
The effort to camouflage some of the construction is much appreciated on the West side of the castle
View from the Matterhorn towards Small World
Colorful signage leading to the Halloween Carnival at Big Thunder Mountain Ranch
Quick look at the holiday overlay at the Haunted Mansion
Thanks for reading!
DLNT reporter Max Guggenheim was at the Disneyland Resort a few days ago and got some pictures of some construction around the resort.
Quite a crowd at DCA for rope drop
In Disneyland,
The Fire Station and City Hall are behind tarps
Indy is Closed
Pirates League
New Orleans Square is dressed up for the season
Haunted Mansion Holiday opens tomorrow
Casey Jr. is closed through November 15th
The former Princess Fantasy Faire will open next spring with a new stage show
The meet and greet backdrops have been demolished
Over in Tommorowland, Pizza Port is still closed
Fantasy Faire
The Snow White Grotto is being cleaned
The little displays are back on the Mickey and Friends tram route
From Pam Brandon on the Disney Parks Blog:
We caught up with “Pumpkin King” Brian D. Sandahl, Senior Designer for Disney Entertainment Creative Development, and the whiz behind the annual Haunted Mansion Holiday gingerbread house.
This is the tenth year a “freaky gingerbread house” has been the centerpiece on the table in the Haunted Mansion ballroom, says Brian.
Brian shared with us a quick color sketch that was used to inspire pastry chef Jean-Marc Viallet to create the edible overlays.
The foundation is wood and wired for animation, then the house goes to the Disneyland Resort Central Bakery for a 3-week layover to apply more than 500 lbs of gingerbread, ten yards of fondant and miles of frosting and oversized candies. Because the six-foot house stays on display through Christmas, the design is a blend of the holidays, inspired by Jack Skellington and the animated film, “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas.”
“Imagine if Jack Skellington had landed on the Haunted Mansion and decorated it with his vision of Halloween and Christmas,” says Brian. “The two holidays collide with pumpkins, freaky presents, a dead Christmas tree and more.”
This year’s house is more pastel, done with light orange and purple. But the cuteness gives way to a “freaky twist” when the house opens to reveal evil teeth, red eyes that light up, a “happy cookie” that revolves to a “mean cookie.”
There is so much to see in the ballroom scene, says Brian, including that dead, 25-foot-tall Christmas tree. It takes several trips through the attraction to take it all in.
Work on the gingerbread house started at the end of 2010, with construction beginning in spring 2011. Opening day is September 16!
I would like to welcome Max Guggenheim to the DLNT crew. He will be bringing us photos and videos from The Disneyland Resort. Max now brings us his first photo report from the Disneyland Resort…
Starting off in DCA, walls are up around the right side mural to prepare for it’s removal starting on Oct. 1st
