Tag: The Haunted Mansion
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 271 – Room For One More
Disney celebrated the 40th anniversary of Walt Disney World’s Haunted Mansion with a special dinner event called Room For One More, which included an incredible live organist just like the ghostly one seen inside the ride. As the organist was guided away from the stage by the caretaker during a mid-meal break, I had someone snap a photo of me with them and the organ in the background. Later, I stuck around after the event had ended and got a better photo with the organist, which only a handful of people did, as it wasn’t really part of the event. He was kind enough to pose for a few pictures though before he vanished.
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 94 – Losing my head on The Haunted Mansion
When I woke up today and found out the last and most impressive of the new effects in The Haunted Mansion, I immediately rushed out the door for the Magic Kingdom. Around 30 minutes later, I entered the attraction, eagerly awaiting the approach of its final scene where the classic Hitchhiking Ghosts have received new “life” and now play fun pranks on guests. I think everyone’s favorite of the new effects is a head swap gag in which Ezra (the tall skinny ghost) will either swap his head with yours (if you’re riding alone) or swap two guests’ heads riding together. It’s playful, fun, and completely in the spirit of the rest of the ride.
It needs to be seen in person to be completely appreciated, but I have posted video of many of the new effects. In four back-to-back rides through, I don’t think I saw them all and only had 3 different ones done to me. (I got the swapping heads one twice.)
So today’s photo is the best still frame I could grab from the video, just as Ezra has placed his head on my shoulders and is in the process of putting my head on his. It’s a dark scene, so capturing it was tough, hence all the grain and blurriness of the picture below. I assure you, it looks far more impressive in person.
Wouldn’t this make a great new on-ride photo op? Disney would sell the heck out of them.
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 73 – An unplanned day in the Haunted Mansion graveyard
After a few days of almost-but-not-quite-openings for the new Haunted Mansion interactive queue area, it finally soft opened today, unannounced and unscheduled. But as soon as I heard it was open, I had to rush over to the Magic Kingdom to see it… and I just barely made it! In fact, I was the last one out as they closed it off to guests for the day.
After slowly making my way through the area for 20-30 minutes, shooting video and taking pictures, I had someone take a picture of me in front of the impressive new organ/musician crypt. Then I waited until all other guests passed me by and I was finally “forced” out of the new graveyard. I look forward to returning soon. The Imagineers did a great job injecting some kid-friendly fun into the Mansion by way of a few “happy haunts.” I hope it creates some new, young Haunted Mansion fans who may have otherwise been too scared to enter.
365 Adventures in 2011: Day 61 – Haunted Mansion room inhabitable once more
Tidying up our Haunted Mansion room was much easier than reorganizing our bonus room. It only took an hour or two to get everything put away and presentable once more. Now we’re ready for the next wave of Mansion collectibles to be released!
In addition to getting everything off the floor, I also hooked up my previously-dismantled window lightning effect with a new ambient soundtrack (powered by MP3 instead of CD this time) and plugged in the Hitchhiking Ghosts, which haven’t been lit up in quite a while.
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It’s been more than 2 years since I last posted pictures of the Haunted Mansion room in our house. Since then, we’ve acquired many more creepy collectibles that have accumulated all over the floor, as we simply ran out of space in that room.
But with the reorganization of our bonus room, which is now home to all of our Haunted Mansion Holiday collectibles, more space is available in the Haunted Mansion room. So making the Haunted Mansion room presentable again is my next project in the ongoing quest to de-clutter our house. Thankfully, it’s not as big of a project as completely rearranging the bonus room.
Here’s what it looked like before I started working on it tonight:
I’ll post another photo or two along the way. And yes, high-res photo of the bonus room and its goodies are on the way too. Soon…ish.
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