The Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom will be closing for a short refurbishment in late November/early December 2016. It is unknown if the work is at all related to the facade and queue work that has going on at the attraction for a few weeks now.
Picture of the recent facade and queue work on The Haunted Mansion, Walt Disney World
The attraction will be closed November 28th, 2016 through December 1st, 2016.
The Wrap is reporting that Ryan Gosling is in talks to star in Disney’s upcoming “Haunted Mansion” movie that will be directed by Guermo del Torro.
Gosling and del Toro have developed a very good friendship as of late and recently both visited Disney’s California Adventure to check out Radiator Springs Racers over in Cars Land (see below). They also made it over to Disneyland where the two of them were riding… The Haunted Mansion.
“The Haunted Mansion” Promotional Poster from the San Diego Comic Con 2010:
“The Haunted Mansion” movie was first announced at the San Diego Comic back in 2010 and since then, we haven’t really heard much. Back then, del Toro said:
“I want to make a scary movie in live-action 3D, set in a heightened reality, which is super designed, incredibly innovative, narratively and visually. It would not be a comedy, and I would like to make the Haunted Mansion the most haunted place on Earth and doing it by being true to the spirit and the art and the aesthetic of the original Imagineers that created the mansion.”
Del Toro has also talked about the significance of the famous ghost on the movie poster, The Hatbox Ghost, and it sounds like he will play a prominent part in the upcoming movie:
“The Hatbox Ghost is one of the scariest images created for the ride, but a character which I also considers incredibly whimsical. There’s a legend that it was discarded on the first day of the ride’s operation because it was too scary. I like that legend, but the reality is that the imagineers could not make the illusion work, so they took it out.”
Source: The Wrap
One of the newest WDWNT Reporters, Kelly Derda, visited the Magic Kingdom and epcot this week and has some great, newsworthy photos to share with us, so let’s take a look:
After decades of guests attempting to run onto the Mickey floral at the Train Station, a railing has been put up, similar to Disneyland
Already?
New Anna and Elsa ear hat ornaments have been released
The back section of Uptown Jewelers has re-opened…
It’s a Pandora jewelry store…
Nothing about the decor screams Main Street
A really odd addition as part of their sponsorship deal with Disney
The Tomorrowland Arcade remains closed thanks to Florida laws on game prizes
Really pretty absurd, right?
A more permanant sign asking for just three guests per Doombuggy at the Haunted Mansion
Moving over to Epcot, preperation for the Flower and Garden Festival is in full swing
Many of the flower beds already planted have been covered due to the cold weather
The Terra booth in place
A playground by Imagination!
The Cars playground over by Test Track
The butterfly garden going up
Thanks for the report Kelly!
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:
The Haunted Mansion store in Liberty Square finally opened this week, titled Memento Mori. The store will carry some existing Haunted Mansion merchandise, but mostly the over 100 new items for the attraction arriving now at Walt Disney World. WDWNT reporter Joe Hogarty visited the store on Friday and took a TON of photos, so let’s take a tour of the shop and all of the new items:
The exterior of what was the Yankee Trader and is now Memento Mori
Yes, you can get a lenticular “dying” portrait of yourself for $20
We begin our look around inside the store… try not to drool…
Art and collectibles first
Statues of the busts in the interactive queue
Statues of the busts in the interactive queue
Statues of the busts in the interactive queue
Jim Shore created pieces
Jim Shore created pieces
Art
Art
Examples of the guest lenticular portraits and the frames for sale
Note the new version of the playing cards available
Constance the Bride plush!!!
There’s even stuff for the kids now…
Smaller items
Hitchhiking Ghost Action Figures
Hitchhiking Ghost Action Figures
There’s so much stuff…
The rather plain GHOST HOST hat is a head scratcher…
Apparel and such
New-ish iPhone cases
The popular ghost hearse die-cast vehicle is back after several years off the shelves, you can get the black one here and a white one at Disneyland
Some of the Haunted Mansion merchandise released last year made it into the store
Madame Leota, before she passed away, has a portrait on the wall of her store
Not that the cast members have specific costumes for the store
It’s scary to think that there is even more of this merchandise on the way…
Wine glasses
The infamous urn… you know someone is actually going to put ashes in that…
I can… ONCE I BUY ALL OF THIS!
The plates with the layout of the Haunted Mansion house… if it were a real house with no show building…
Amazing bookends, note that one book is titled “Tales of a Rat”
Bookends
More plateware
Spider-web shelving for the home-goods
Ladies apparel
iPhone 5 accessories
They sell some treats with a Haunted Mansion theme
Spooky green cotton candy
Green and purple popcorn
The Haunted Mansion “Beautifully Disney” line is now out
More for the ladies
Men’s apparel, including a Hatbox Ghost sweatshirt
There is a tie…
Some shelves feature the same merchandise from other areas of the shop, at least until more items arrive
Decals, magnets and window clings
Hitchhiking Ghost iPhone 5 case
Madame Leota iPhone 5 case
A cast member trying to get guests to enter the photo booth a get a portrait made
Hats…
These are insane…
Somehow, not as bad as these… 😉
The store has been very crowded since opening
Thankfully, some of these older items will be sticking around
The sign on the Fantasyland side
Notice Madame Leota in the center of the sign
The sign on the Liberty Square side appears to follow you
Hopefully a template for future attraction shops, Momento Mori offers unique, non-generic, attraction-specific merchandise. We can only hope sales will be strong enough to push forward more creative merchandise and retail spaces for neglected, headliner attractions like the Haunted Mansion.
So… how much are you going to be spending in this shop on your next visit?
On a warm, moonless fall night in Southern Cal, an older gentleman in a crumpled fedora steps off a bus and shuffles through the darkness toward the bright lights in the distance. He passes through a small security check-point, but the small package under his arm draws no attention.
He glances off to the left, and what might amount to a smile slowly crawls across his lips. The visage of the old Pan-Pacific Auditorium reminds him of that part of L.A., those crazy days, and of a woman he can never forget. He shuffles on a bit more, favoring his right leg, before he sees the people he is there to meet. He calls out: “Hey! Hey there! It’s me. It’s Middlebrow.”
Two people, one tall, one not, dressed in dark clothing step out of the shadows. There is a long pause before he speaks again. “I brought you something… I’ve got the information you asked for.” He pauses again before adding, “…and a book recommendation.” The severe, blonde, woman with the buzz-cut, who was the taller of the two, squinted as if to punctuate his statement with a question mark. He pushed a shaky hand forward, toward the short guy. “She only speaks German,” he said. He held out the small package for what seemed a long time, and then the small, flat box was gone from his hand. The woman took the and opened the box, She seemed puzzled to see several sheets of unevenly folded paper. Handing them to her comrade, who found harshly scribbled notes on them, It read as follows:
Crowds at the Disneyland Resort are Halloween huge! That’s no secret, everybody knows it. Maybe even the Anaheim Police Department…
Day Guests to the Disneyland Resort have a great opportunity to take full advantage of the somewhat reduced hours during the ongoing, sold out Mickey’s Halloween Parties this week. Park Hoppers at Disneyland Park, under the tyranny of a regular fall closing time (6 p.m.), can walk the former Trail of Tears to Disney California Adventure which stays open until 8 p.m… and hey, if you haven’t been here in a while, it’s pretty great. In many ways it is a better night-time park than Disneyland at this point since World of Color runs nightly at Park closing. The diminutive Disneyland Resort has the unique advantage of making “Hopping” a breeze. Your mileage may vary. Try the veal!
That’s all it said. Except, there was also a book recommendation.
“Flying” Ride To Be Re-Tired
It was thought to possibly be the long-lost replacement to a short-lived Disneyland favorite, The Flying Saucers, but with less than three years in service, Luigi’s Flying Tires at Disney California Adventure will close at years’ end.
While much of the Disney Blogosphere has bellowed the repeated rumor of the ride’s closure for a week, WDWNT was able to confirm the attraction’s conclusion and inevitable replacement through the release of a park maintenance schedule on October 21st. It listed the ride on a rehabilitation closure for all of 2015. The logical conclusion was also made that the ride’s replacement is possibly now a Walt Disney Imagineering priority, as it could also be used in a Cars Land addition at Disney’s Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World or in off-shore Disney parks.
It looks so peaceful. And that where the trouble started. Image © Disney
The Flying Saucers had their issues too, but possibly avoided an awkward departure due to their removal during a wholesale renovation of Tomorrowland in the late 1960s. Image © Disney
I don’t know much about aerodynamics. I thought the Bernoulli Principle was a show on BBC America, but a lot of the Guest frustration seemed to come with the of steep learning curve to get the double seated “tire” to float. That coupled with the short time to get the hang of it before you got booted certainly conspired to earn the ride low Guest Research marks.
Over-designed? Under-designed? Underwhelming! Image © Disney
Beach balls were added as early during the soft opening period, in what can only be thought of as a purposeful distraction from the lack of lift. Beach balls!! But nothing they did made the ride fun.
Beach Balls did not kill the beast.
Good-bye Luigi’s Flying Tires. At least you were a good Ride Poster. Image © Disney.
Rumors point to the eventual replacement as being a new, trackless “flat” ride starring Luigi and Guido from Cars. While there are several trackless rides in off-shore Disney parks, this would be the first use of that technology stateside.
In the long run the action is honorable. It’s a pretty big goof… maybe, a medium sized goof in the scope of things. But, no matter what happened, it shows that the park doesn’t want to put on a bad show. They know that all of the space has to contribute to a good show and park capacity. Doing the right thing. F.T.W!
Now A Beautiful Swan
So, in some kind of metaphor, if I’m Disneyland Park, then Disney California Adventure is my sister-park, right? My Sister.
…And I don’t want you talking bad about my Sister! Got it!?
Would you like to see a couple of photos I took, to show how beautiful she has become? I’ll bet you would.
An Elysian setting in the Eureka section of the Park. This vantage point, near the Rushin’ River, makes for one of the most beautiful smoking areas in any park in the country.
Some of the “original” assets in the Park, like this approximation of “Devil’s Post Pile” are very ambitious.
The Food Court in the Pacific Wharf area is a highly effective central meeting place and is appointed in a rustic California style.
Even the (Over) Painted Ladies are looking more comfortable with themselves. The trees have grown in, softening the look of the block.
There are some great, sometimes lightly traveled vistas along the way.
Frozen Almost In Place
Here at FRZN-FM, we are all Frozen, all of the time! With news about new Frozen merchandize, new Frozen experiences and future Frozen Parks and Resorts on the “eights!”
This just in! Frozen fun will be in abundance later this year when our Frozen friends take over the DCA Disney Animation building on HollywoodLand’s Hollywood Blvd. A Fastpass-only character meet n’ greet will move into the Turtle Talk lobby, the Animation Academy will be drawing pretty much all Frozen, while visions of Frozen video clips playing in the lobby will dance in our heads! A new Frozen musical stage show will be installed in MuppetVision theatre, and Frozen-themed ice skating will go into Stage 17. I thought all ice-skating was Frozen-themed?
Have we missed anything? Watch for these additions as the Park moves into what is sure to become known as the Frozen season in late-December 2014, carrying through to the start of the 60th anniversary in the spring.
Book Recomendation
In my various ramblings through the halls and vacant rooms here at Middlebrow Manor, many times I’ve pondered the unending irony of the classic Mansion manifestation being absent for the Pre-Hallow. No matter how tasty the Nightmare Pumpkin Spice flavor is. But, to manor’s extensive library has come a fine read about the Haunted Mansions. Plural.
Master Illusioneer Yale Gracey with one of his apparitions. Image © Disney
If you “dig” all strains of Haunted Mansion-ism, and also want to mull over that tiny injustice in the world, you will want to read Jeff Baham’s The Unauthorized Story of Walt Disney’s Haunted Mansion. It takes its job of acquainting you of the rather convoluted path the Haunted project took to open in 1969 at Disneyland seriously. It also compares/contrasts the various Mansions and relates the process of those productions in the other “stores” around the world.
Marc Davis, Rolly Crump, Yale Gracey, Claude Coats, Sam McKim, X Atencio and other classic Imagineers take star turns in this tale of professional rivalry and downright creepy creation in the time of Walt Disney’s life and death.
It’s on Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle versions. A truly great Halloween read.
That’ll do it for now…
See ‘ya real soon!
It was quite the busy weekend at Walt Disney World, so I managed to visit all 4 parks to see what was new and have a ton of newsworthy photos to share with you in today’s report:
The Studio Backlot Tour closed forever on Saturday
A Big Hero 6 exhibit can now be found at the Magic of Disney Animation
Moving over to Epcot, menu changes have been made a the Electric Umbrella
I decided to try the French Dip burger
It was surprisingly good!
I also tried the Pumpkin Macaroon from the France ice cream parlor and it was amazing.
Over at the Magic Kingdom, this low clearance was added in the bus stop to ensure busses go the right way through the loop
The awning on the boat dock at the entrance was replaced, it’s now red instead of green
The latest progress on the hub at the Magic Kingdom
The Astro Orbiter reopened this weekend, but you can read more about that here
The leave-your-phone charging stations in Tomorrowland have all been closed, the test period came to an end and we’ll now have to wait to see if it was a success and is brought back
New Space Mountain ladies’ shirt
New men’s “I conquered Space Mountain” shirt
This artwork was previously on a black t-shirt and slightly different
Dumbo character sketches are now being sold at Big Top Souvenirs
New Beast plush for sale at Bonjour Village Gifts
Instead of selling generic items, there is a now a Beauty and the Beast shield toy
If you don’t have a FastPass for it, prepare to arrive at Be Our Guest at park opening to get a return time to eat lunch there or you’ll be turned away
Even more of Sir Mickey’s has been taken over by Frozen merchandise, even Ariel merchandise got pushed out
Some new Frozen artwork for sale
A two-sided Olaf ceramic ornament was just released
Queue work continues at Peter Pan’s Flight
We thought it would only be at Disneyland, but the Zero popcorn bucket was released at the Magic Kingdom! It costs over $13 but has a light-up nose feature
Strange new t-shirts…
LOVE this new sweatshirt!
Odd new Magic Kingdom shirt
Simple, but nice
Halloween 2014 Duffy
Some of the Haunted Mansion 45th anniversary lithographs have made it to Florida
An awesome new print by Alex Maher
In preparation for “Move It! Shake It! Dance and Play It!”, video screens are being installed on the floats
Moving over to animal Kingdom, it’s still a mess
At least all of the construction walls are decorated now
The UP meet and greet has seen better days
“it’s tough to be a bug” re-opened this weekend
Most of the nets installed to protect guests from falling particles have finally been removed from the queue
There are still nets by the base of the tree, not sure if these will stay here
work is picking up on the new nighttime show, Rivers of Light
The Everest shrine is behind walls and probably will be until the construction is done in late 2015/early 2016
Since one of the Wilderness Explorers’ answers is behind walls, they made a copy and placed it on the walls
The walls wrap around most of the river
We can peek through and see that the construction vehicles are already in place, ready to start working on the show and viewing area
Some sort of new structure is going up by Flame Tree Barbecue
An Oswald Christmas ornament was released
Get your iPhone and iPad ready for some ghost hunting at Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party this year…
The official description reads:
Be a part of the Halloween mayhem in this augmented reality experience where 3D Disney Characters come to life!
The Hitchhiking Ghosts have escaped, and they’ve created Mayhem at the Mansion!
To help bring the ghosts back to Haunted Mansion®, Guests attending Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party* at Magic Kingdom® Park can look for the ghosts on their event map (available beginning September 9). Help capture every ghost and then send them back to Haunted Mansion!
Who knows. If you should want to join the rest of the spooks in the Haunted Mansion®, they are always making room for more. Any volunteers?
Download this target to try it now and watch a special message with Vampire Mickey!
DisneyMansionMayhem.com*This is a separately priced, ticket event.
This event begins September 9th, so it will not be working at the first parties for some reason. Guests will be using the camera on their phone to fin, capture, and return guests to the Haunted Mansion through this app.
The app is now available for download in the App Store if you would like to explore the backstory and more of the functionality of the game.
Credit to Stitch Kingdom for finding the app.
As we reported several weeks ago, The Haunted Mansion is finally getting a gift shop in the former Yankee Trader location in Liberty Square. Well, another long-standing rumor is making the rounds again and it seems like an on-ride photo may be available to guests who board a Doombuggy before the end of the year.
The new Haunted Mansion store themed to Madame Leota was scheduled to open in October, but has since been pushed back officially to January 1st, 2015. In addition, a refurbishment of the Haunted Mansion has been scheduled from December 1st through the 19th of this year. Rumor has it that these few weeks in December will be used to install an on-ride photo (and/or video) opportunity inside of the attraction. If it comes to fruition, the photos could then be reviewed and purchased at the new store across from the attraction when it opens towards the end of 2014 or beginning of 2015.
There has been no information leaked about where the photo might be taken, but the assumption for many years is that it would happen in the hitchhiking ghost scene of the ride. With the installation of the new hitchhiking ghost projections a few years back, it is unclear if a photo could also be taken of guests while the infrared technology is used to sense guests.
We’ll keep our eyes out for more information on this story as it becomes available, so stay tuned.
What do you think of the idea of an on-ride photo on the Haunted Mansion?
Remember when we told you over 100 new Haunted Mansion items were on the way, ready to fill the Yankee Trader store at the Magic Kingdom when it re-opens as a Haunted Mansion emporium in the fall? Well, Disney released a preview of many of the new attraction-inspired items coming to the park today:
Here is a preview of some of the new drinkware, dinnerware (plates, bowls, wine glasses), figurines, bookends, cloth napkins, tablemats, and much more. Yes, that item in the top right corner is an urn…
Take note of the bat stanchion ice cube tray… the hostess smock is pretty cool too…
For accessories, Guests will soon find several new jewelry items including bat stanchion earrings. There are also women’s shoes that use the infamous purple wallpaper pattern from the attraction. That wallpaper pattern will also be used on three new Dooney & Bourke items. All the new items will have a purple colored liner not red like the first incarnation.
New apparel will include both long and short-sleeved options for women, men and children. Some resemble Cast Member costumes from the attraction. Some of the shirts will also include a glow-in-the-dark element.
These items will also be available at Disneyland Resort and through the Disney Parks Online Store in the Fall.
So, what do you think of all of this new Haunted Mansion merchandise?
