Haunted Mansion Refurb. Interactive Queue....

Before I discuss the latest refurb at the Haunted Mansion I would like to give a little back story of my love affair with this attraction.....

...the first time I rode this I was very young.  My sister was still in a stroller and I was probably 6 or so years old.  My parents, particularly my father, took me on this ride kicking and screaming.  With each creepy howl that echoed over the mansion I would tug my dads hand and plead to get out of there.  The stretching room seemed to calm me, slightly.  I was now curious because I was inside and there was no windows and no doors (as our ghost host told us).  The hangman scene played out and I didn't understand it at the time and the doors opened to find the flickering candles and the doom buggies.  My fear instantly came whooshing back...but there still was no way out and the fear in me turned into strength to find a way out.  I don't recall what part or what scene it was that gave me a 180 but by the time I left the ride I wanted to do it again...  .. and we did at least 2 more times.  From there on out Halloween became my favorite holiday and haunted houses became a must to visit every time.  I consider myself a Disney Purest, or as I like to call myself a Purest lite.  I can appreciate upgrades to classic attractions as long as they are done right, well thought out, and executed properly.  If, however, they are not I become all sorts of angry and am ready to write a letter...but never do.

So that brings me now to the new Interactive Queue at the Haunted Mansion in WDW.  At first I was very excited about it seeing how the last refurb was spectacular!  I haven't had the opportunity to witness this first hand but have read a lot about it and seen many pictures....

My verdict....a big miss.  Not a total miss, but a big one.  Here is why I think so from what I have seen.


First lets talk about the random headstones and such....

There is more than this one pictured above, other ones are on cement and not really a grave any more.  It just seems like the new grave stones and markers were in prime queue spots and Disney couldn't remove them but had to get around them and this is what they came up with.  It doesn't give me the "looking at a graveyard feel" that we should get.  Its like Disney moved the headstones but didn't move the bodies....Ill chalk this part of the refurb as a minor annoyance and not something that makes me hate it.

Next...

The poetry that writes itself with your help.....  This looks pretty cool and I kinda like it.  I keep hearing reports that it doesn't really work when you give it answers, however, but its a great effect.  What I don't like about it is the fact that now the outside is BLATANTLY haunted and not subtlety like the original exterior atmosphere.  (original being the howling, the grave stones, the hearse, and even the Leotta tombstone was still subtle to keep the atmosphere subtle and let the blatancy come out inside).  It just seems out of place for the feel of the attraction.)

 Next up is the organ.  The architecture seems good enough that it would fit in the house but why is there an organ outside in the graveyard?   I like the effect of touching it etc...but the brass pipes and the cartoony skeleton faces again ruin the feel of the house.  The Haunted Mansion has realism to it and the ghosts make it supernatural...This is an obvious play on the organ in the ballroom but the faces are floating out of it and not on it.  This would have been more effective if the pipes had that greening effect of old pipes and the faces were replaced with cutouts that FELT like they were faces and not really were...that is one of the cool things about the mansion that this one blatanty disregards...

The obvious nod to the graveyard scene.  I really have no strong feelings to the positive or the negative on this one.  I think it fits enough to not distract from what the Mansion is all about, but I don't think it adds enough to make it really discussion worthy.

Next up, the Captain

This one again is a love hate.  The stone of the crypt is nice, the fish on the side work very well.  Love the water leaking out....great touch!  I even like the cough of water and such.  I hate the top of it.  The hat, the hand, the leg......once again the realism of the mansion gets wiped away.  Everything about the outside is very real, foreboding, and has a sense that it really happened and ghosts started their haunt.  This seems like the grave came after the ghost.  I think all the touches at the top of this marker would have been more powerful and driven it home with a dead wreath with the captains picture...or better yet a picture of his hat washed ashore on the beach.....

and now....groan, the busts....

 To me these TOTALLY miss the mark.  They are far too cartoony for anything you find in the mansion.....even the hitchhiking ghosts aren't this much of a cartoon.  This set completely works against the mansion in my opinion.  Standing alone in another attraction they might work very well...but outside this attraction the only real nod to the mansion is the fact that they are busts...that's it...

They even feature children which I believe Walt even didn't want them present in the attraction and they aren't....and the 2 children are the most vile disregard to the theme of them all! (right underneath the snake guy)

Even the movie didn't go this campy or against the attraction ....

We find they are called the Dred Family.  And again get a cartoon description.  I haven't seen this in any of the videos I have run across so I am assuming this was part of the preview of the new queue.  Again not int he spirit of the mansion. If this is truly there then this entire thing was a waste of money as it just ruined the entire mood of the attraction. 

There is also a bookshelf that the books come in and about and are supposed to be pushed back in and another goes out.  Clearly a nod to the library but I dont quite understand how it fits in a graveyard or the mansion grounds....not worth talking about but shouldnt be there....

I give this refurb a fail based on the pictures.  When I go back Ill rewrite this to see how I feel about it in person...but it upsets me.  Not that they distracted from my favorite attraction in the world, but that I am loosing faith in the Imagineers.  I used to blame the corporate suits for muzzling their creative abilities.....but this wasn't that big of a refurb and things such as statues could have been crafted to fit the mood of the attraction ..but they don't.  Things that would have fit wouldn't have cost any more or less and this is what was produced.  I hate the fact that I am loosing faith in the greatest attraction makers the world has ever seen...

What do you think?

PS a video reference of the new queue...