Haunted Mansion Liberty Square Magic Kingdom Archives
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Send us your review of the updated attraction!
9/21/07, James Dolan: My wife & I visited the Haunted Mansion on 9/14/07. I should point out that it has been my favorite ride for a long, long time. During my freshman year of college, I once went on it 12 times in a row (during the off season, of course!). From the newly repainted exterior to the refurbished "Little Leota" at the end, I found all the changes to be spectacular, from the minute to the grand. The additions of the "endless staircases" and the new bride scene greatly enhance the two areas of the ride that I always felt needed something more. Kudos to the Imagineers! By far the best things that they updated were the audio and the interior lighting! The sound was so clear and crisp! All of the visual effects, especially scenes with ghosts, have been given new life through the lighting updates. I can't wait to go back!
9/20/07, Frankie Brader: I was in Disney World the day that the Haunted Mansion re-opened after its make-over. What an awesome change. We noticed that what used to be the staircase with the spiders up top is now what appears to be an endless staircase with ghostly footprints walking up them. Very Cool! Also, The bride now has a real face and talks. There are pictures of her with her ex-husbands all of which no longer have heads. The bride has an ax that appears in her hands as well. Then you get to the part where the womans head is in the ball on the table. Now she also has a new face and the ball now floats freely above the table. My family visit Disney World alot and we love the haunted mansion ride. We thought it was an awesome change. 2 thumbs up. The only thing we could not figure out was why you could no longer fast pass the ride. Maybe they will put the kiosks back in at a later time, but they were not there when it reopened.
9/19/07
Frankie Brader: I was in Disney World the day that the Haunted Mansion reopened after its makeover. What an awesome change. We noticed that what used to be the staircase with the spiders up top is now what appears to be an endless staircase with ghostly footprints walking up them. Very cool! Also, The bride now has a real face and talks. There are pictures of her with her ex-husbands, all of which no longer have heads. The bride has an ax that appears in her hands as well. Then you get to the part where the woman's head is in the ball on the table. Now she also has a new face and the ball now floats freely above the table. My family visit Disney World a lot and we love the Haunted Mansion ride. We thought it was an awesome change. Two thumbs up.
9/18/07
p stockhaus: The best Disney has done in updating yet preserving the essence of the original ride!
William LeMasurier: Prior to the start of Carousel of Progress on September 13th, the portly gentleman reminded us that the renovated Haunted Mansion had opened this day. Being an avid ALL EARS reader, particularly in the anticipation of a Disney trip, I of course already knew about the rehab and the grand reopening, but as we know often launch dates for ride openings can be pushed back so it was great news to hear.
We worked our way over to Liberty Square and noticed that the line up into the Mansion was like I've not seen it during this time of year before. Near the entrance to the Liberty Belle Riverboat! No Fastpass option either. So we waddled through the winding people ways and it seemed as though it took at least 40 minutes to get to the outer graveyard stones. The pre-ride "stretching room" sequence has been cleaned up a bit, and there is a slight change to the final few seconds which is a little more effective. The loading section has not been noticeably modified.
I do not wish to spoil the ride for anyone but suffice to say that many items have been revamped to good effect. The crystal ball is now "free floating" in mid air instead of being fixed on a table placement.
The bride's character as previously spectulated by All-Ears reports has been completely changed and more matches the "mini-bride" on archway leading to the off-loading area. Some "bat-eye" panels have been replaced and brightly backlit to augment the eerie effect. The singing graveyard area seems darker, better animated and creepy.
Overall the "pimped" up version of Haunted Mansion is a welcome improvement, but I think the Disney Imagineers could do much more to Spook up the Mansion for older audiences without going too far overboard. The post-show room by Seimens behind Spaceship Earth at Epcot is now open and looks fantastic, fresh and interactive…one can only hope that innovation will be brought to the Spaceship Earth attraction when it reopens early next year. The final analysis for the Haunted Mansion is that it's a great improvement, but if the wait time exceeds more than 30 mins the anticipation may not be paid off to the expectations of the riders.
Barbara: As a die hard Haunted Mansion fan, I have to say the renovation of the classic is great! The enhanced sound is awesome and Disney didnt take away what my family has loved for years. The attic scene has improved and has a story line as opposed to before. The graveyard scene is about the same but enhanced. We rode the Haunted Mansion during the first Halloween party and had a great time. The cast members looked awesome, they had webs on their faces and more makeup. Cant wait until January '08 to ride again!
9/17/07, William LeMasurier: Prior to the start of Carousel of Progress on September 13th, the portly gentleman reminded us that the renovated Haunted Mansion had opened this day. Being an avid ALL-EARS reader, particularly in the anticipation of a Disney trip I of course already knew about the rehab and the grand reopening, but as we know often launch dates for ride openings can be pushed back so it was great news to hear. We worked our way over to Liberty Square and noticed that the line up into the Mansion was like I've not seen it during this time of year before. Near the entrance to the Liberty Belle Riverboat! No Fastpass option either. So we waddled through the winding people ways and it seemed as though it took at least 40 minutes to get to the outer graveyard stones.
The pre-ride "stretching room" sequence has been cleaned up a bit, and there is a slight change to the final few seconds which is a little more effective. The loading section has not been noticeably modified. I do not wish to spoil the ride for anyone but suffices to say that many items have been revamped to good effect. The crystal ball is now "free floating" in mid air instead of being fixed on a table placement. The bride's character as previously spectulated by All-Ears reports has been completely changed and more matches the "mini-bride" on archway leading to the off-loading area. Some "bat-eye" panels have been replaced and brightly backlit to augment the eerie effect. The singing graveyard area seems darker, better animated and creepy. Overall the "pimped" up version of Haunted Mansion is a welcome improvement, but I think the Disney Imagineers could do much more to Spook up the Mansion for older audiences without going too far overboard. The post-show room by Seimens behind Spaceship Earth at Epcot is now open and looks fantastic, fresh and interactive…one can only hope that innovation will be brought to the Spaceship Earth attraction when it reopens early next year.
The final analysis for the Haunted Mansion is that it's a great improvement, but if the wait time exceeds more than 30 mins the anticipation may not be paid off to the expectations of the riders.
9/16/07
Carol: Haunted mansion at Disney is Great, we visited reopening on 9-13-97 and it was great!!!! Lines were not too bad for us and we loved it.
Jones Family: We were fortunate enough to be in the Magic Kingdom on Thursday, September 13th when the Haunted Mansion reopened. The updated attraction is amazing! The Haunted Mansion retains the same feel as it has always had with some new updated features. Something that I have not seen in anyone else's report is that the hitch hiking ghost are much clearer than they were in the past. The images are really crisp, and the ghost have more of a three dimensional look. Jack Spence mentioned in his report that he thought the heads of the grooms in the attic were suposed to disapear…as of Saturday the grooms heads disapeared as you pasted them in the attic. Overall the redo is great! The lines are long, but they move quickly. This is a must see.
Therese Halcomb: Just came back from our wonderful week at Disney. Stayed an extra day just for the Haunted Mansion grand reopening. It was definately worth it! Loved the new sound system and the clean, updated feeling. We went through in the morning with about a 25 minute wait (probably the longest wait we had at the whole resort – September is a great time to go!). We went back for another ride at about 8:45pm that evening and got all the way through the stretching room when the attraction experienced technical difficulties and everyone had to exit. Glad we got to ride in the morning, and can't wait for our next trip!
Lia Duran: My family and I made it to Magic Kingdom today, September 16, 2007. When we got to the ride the wait time said 30 minutes because they were allowing all park guests to get on the ride. As we approached the entrance, they provided a separate line for Annual Passholders that worked much like the fast pass. We made it in, in about 10 minutes. The changes to the Haunted Mansion were great. The additions to the ride were great, the audio was incredible (you can actually hear the words to the songs clearly now). I loved the bride's section. My son and I competed to see who could find the new stuff to the ride first.. It was lots of fun.
Joi: My friends and I just went and rode the Haunted Mansion, and all I can say is….wow!!!! The addtion of all the new ghosts and some of the new spooks….I don't want to give to much away….were great. I think I need to go on it again so I can ride it without looking for all the new stuff. This is was definitely worth the wait. Thanks, Master Gracey!
L White: My family loves the Haunted Mansion and were quite afraid of the changes that were to come. I have been on line trying to find out what I could about the changes they were making. We were there the day it opened and made it our family vacation! Many cast members told us to do a child swap because the thought it would be too scary for my daughter (she is 3) I thought that would be a mean thing to do to her – she loves the ride so much and every time we went to the Magic Kingdom during the renovation we would yell hello to Master Gracey. Anyways, she loved the ride- she was sad that the spiders were gone but she loved the stairs even more- she kept telling anyone who would listen. She also kept mentioning that the bride was talking. We loved the ride and were glad they kept the integrity of the ride. Thank you imagineers for not messing the ride up — kudos to you! Welcome back Master Gracey you look even better — even if you are facing a new way!
Robyn Bentley: "We went on the Haunted Mansion that first day it was opened. I am a huge fan of the ride, and I was pleased with what they did. There were some definite changes to the ride, but they didn't over do it, or change any of the major things. It still had the Haunted Mansion feel. It was worth the wait."
Darell Cook: "I just rode the Haunted Mansion ride. It was awesome. The special effects added enhances the original story line as well as continues Walt's original theme. There are many new additions to the attraction, but none take away from the original way it was intended. Many 3D effects, many digitized effects and the audio narration is much more crisp and audible. This is definately worth riding again, even if you're not a huge fan of The Haunted Mansion. 9.5 out of 10!" (9/13/07 am)
Guest Blogger Trooper Bill sends this recap (9/13/07 am): I made it to the MK today for the grand re-opening of the Haunted Mansion. I was able to ride it twice, with about a 20 minute wait each time. While the HM wait times were posted at 30mins, every other E-ticket attraction was between 10-20 minutes while I was there.
There are numerous changes and upgrades, and I was very impressed with the quality of the upgrades and the audio improvements.
The line was out as far as Columbia Harbour House, and twisted back and forth several times, but moved quickly, and I was inside in about 20 minutes both times. When I first arrived, there was a long line stretching out the store alongside the HM, and a CM told me it was for the pins that were released today. When I left the HM after the 2nd go round, the store had no line, and i was able to get two different opening day pins with no wait at about 11:30am. The ride line was posted at 30 minutes at that time, and appeared to be just a bit shorter than when I arrived. The store also had some interesting HM merchandise which I hadn't seen before. I've enclosed a pic of them.
The exterior has been repainted and looked very good. The cemetary area also appears to have been cleaned up and the stones were looking spruced up. There were fresh roses on top of Master Graceys headstone, and atop the fresh earth at his grave.
All in all, I was very happy with the changes and upgrades. I think the ride is a bit more scary at some points, and might cause some little ones to worry, but it's still a humorous ride overall. The additions and upgrades really are noticeable in a positive sense. I know I've missed a few things, but it was hard to absorb it all in only two rides. Guess I'll have to go back and ride a few more times tomorrow………
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