# What's The "Haunted mansion" (Disneyworld) Like These Days? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328 "2011-01-04T06:52:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/1 "2011-01-04T06:52:15Z")
I haven’t been in years-ahve they upgraded the holographic displays? I remember the chandelier floating in air-though that is pretty primative by todays’ standards. Anyway, has this ride been upgraded signifuicantly? It was always my favorite…the other one being the “Hall of the Presidents” (how is Bill Clinton looking? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/2 "2011-01-04T10:16:17Z")
Can’t speak for Disney World, but at Disneyland, nothing really has changed–the old school technology is still extremely clever and highly effective (and the music and voice work are still pure genius). The only thing that has changed is that usually between Halloween and New Year’s, they convert some of the props and set designs to emulate characters and visual elements from _The Nightmare Before Christmas_. Cute, but still not as awesome as the original. This is in contrast to the other New Orleans Square ride, PotC. That has been upgraded to include a truly creepy, Uncanny Valley, recurring animatronic Jack Sparrow–an enormous and unnecessary distraction. They also changed some of the music cues throughout the ride. Still great fun (and in my top 5), but not quite as brilliant as what it used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/3 "2011-01-04T10:21:02Z")
Actually, Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion has been updated several times throughout the years, with many new (though subtle) effects added. One of the biggest is that the crystal ball containing the head now floats around the room. Disney World’s has actually gone a few steps further recently from what I’ve heard, though I haven’t been on that one in years. Still the same basic rides, but they have been improved. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/4 "2011-01-04T11:27:00Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Can’t speak for Disney World, but at Disneyland, nothing really has changed–the old school technology is still extremely clever and highly effective (and the music and voice work are still pure genius). Also true of WDW. They did a deplorable ‘upgrade’ some years ago (my God, it must have been more than 15) that included ghouls that shot upwards from behind tombstones and the like with a shrieking sound that irritated the living hell out of me. Another upgrade several years back saw the ghouls slowed and the sound effect removed, and more importantly, some really clever new tech bits that enhance the ride. For example, there are glowing eyes that glare out of the darkness at you that segue into the eyes in the wallpaper, with the first wallpaper eyes blinking occasionally. All of the good effects of the past have been preserved. The Bride’s ring has been removed from the pavement outside the HM, and the Bride’s story in the attic expanded and improved, IMHO. And now I must hum: mmmm MMMMM mmmmm mmmmm, mmmmm MMMMM mmmm mmmm … It’s my very favorite Magic Kingdom attraction, and has been since I was in single digits. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/5 "2011-01-04T14:20:02Z")
They’ve updated some stuff that I thought was really cool in a 2007 upgrade - the designs on the wallpaper start to turn to little blinking eyes, there are paintings that change their image (blacklight paint, I believe) when the lightning flashes, and there is a stunning room that is reminiscent on [this MC Escher](http://anotherespressoplease.blogspot.com/2009/09/adjustment-two-months.html) print. They also added a lot of new animatronics to the graveyard sequence and updated the “bride” and her story a bit. I was afraid that they would screw with the ride and that it would suck but I was really impressed with pretty much all the changes. They did a great job. Oh, this is all the Walt Disney World version. SPOILER ALERT: [This page](http://jimhillmedia.com/editor_in_chief1/b/jim_hill/archive/2009/09/09/updated-the-haunted-mansion-from-the-magic-kingdom-to-the-movies-is-well-worth-adding-to-your-disney-booo-k-collection.aspx) has some pictures including a mock-up of the staircase room and a picture of the previously mentioned wallpaper. And if you just can’t wait to see it (or many other rides), you can always watch a well-edited ride-through at [this site](http://www.martinsvids.net/?cat=9&paged=2). That guy does a lot of great work. And Bill Clinton looks fine in the Hall of Presidents. I don’t think they did a great job with Obama, though. Just doesn’t look like him all that much to me. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/6 "2011-01-04T18:34:55Z")
I was there just last week (at the WDW Haunted Mansion). As others have mentioned, the last major refurbishment was in 2007, when the whole ride was shut down for several months. Considering this recent refurbishment, I was surprised to see that the graveyard is currently being worked on (as of last week). It’s completely blocked off from the queue right before you pass through the turnstiles, so they’re doing something in there right now. The ride is still open, though. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/7 "2011-01-04T19:51:22Z")
The thing I miss most is that all the cars used to be #12, as written on the back. That was gone when I was at WDW this spring. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/8 "2011-01-04T20:36:06Z")
> [@interface2x](#): > > And Bill Clinton looks fine in the Hall of Presidents. I don’t think they did a great job with Obama, though. Just doesn’t look like him all that much to me. There’s a reason for that. In the same way they put Johnny Depp animatronics into the _Pirates_ ride, there were plans to put Eddie Murphy bots into the Haunted Mansion. They stepped back from the brink on that one, but that left them with this Eddie Murphy animatronic figure, and nothing to do with it. Then came November, 2008. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/9 "2011-01-05T04:54:13Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Can’t speak for Disney World, but at Disneyland, nothing really has changed–the old school technology is still extremely clever and highly effective (and the music and voice work are still pure genius). The attic has had some changes. The bride is crazier for one thing. > [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > This is in contrast to the other New Orleans Square ride, PotC. That has been upgraded to include a truly creepy, Uncanny Valley, recurring animatronic Jack Sparrow–an enormous and unnecessary distraction. Nah, a nice addition. Works very well. > [@shantih](#): > > The Bride’s ring has been removed from the pavement outside the HM. That was never a Bride’s ring, that’s what was left of an old guard rail. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/10 "2011-01-05T07:32:57Z")
It’s been a while but in EuroDisney outside Paris, they had a voice over telling a story through the ride which I’ve never heard at Disneyland or World. ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/11 "2011-01-05T09:37:45Z")
> [@Yookeroo](#): > > That was never a Bride’s ring, that’s what was left of an old guard rail. Shun the unbeliever! Shun! Yeah, I know, but the post remnant with the broken-off drill bit which was taken by some to be the Bride’s engagement ring thrown by her in her despair from the attic before she died there has in fact been removed, as has the Bride’s despair, so make of it what you will. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/12 "2011-01-05T16:52:42Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Then came November, 2008. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/13 "2011-01-05T17:10:48Z")
[Wiki sez:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunted_Mansion#Recent_changes) > [@](#): > > **Recent changes** > > **Disneyland** > > On May 3, 2006, new changes went into effect at the Disneyland Haunted Mansion. The new show scene introduced in the attic scene during the ride follows a ghostly bride named Constance Hatchaway (portraits played by Buffy The Vampire Slayer actress Julia Lee and voiced by Kat Cressida), now described as a “black widow bride,” and slowly uncovers her bloody past, which includes the murders and decapitations of all her previous husbands (named Ambrose Harper, Frank Banks, Reginald Caine, the Marquis De Doom, and George Hightower) in an attempt to gain their vast fortunes. The new effects start when visitors first enter the mansion’s attic.[citation needed] > > Now, when the visitor enters the attic, the pop-up ghosts that shout “I do!” are gone. This is to make room for the current effects. As the visitor enters the attic, the first new things seen are an amber-glowing glass lamp, various treasures and china, and multiple portraits of different grooms, each with the same bride. An axe-like sound echoes from the pictures throughout the room, and in each portrait the groom’s head disappears. > > The phantom piano player is still there, but the music is louder than before. Near the end of the attic, an ethereal glow is seen and a sweet but sinister voice is heard. It is Constance in her wedding gown. She repeats her vows in a menacing tone (“I do…I did”, “You may now kiss the bride”, “And we’ll live happily ever after”, “As long as we both shall live”, “For better or for…worse”, “Here comes the bride”, “'Till death do us part”, “In sickness and in…wealth”. Every few sayings, she raises her hand and a hatchet appears in it. > > The bride is basically a white mannequin in a white wedding gown. When the lights go off, a projection illuminates the entire body, showing her as a wispy but realistic spirit. Her face and her entire body are projected, very similar to the Leota effect in the Seance Room and the Little Leota effect at the end of the ride. Constance also floats mysteriously above the floor (made possible through use of a pole and a fan). > > Following the 2007-2008 holiday overlay, Disneyland’s mansion’s speed ramp that guests step on when boarding their doombuggy was made to look like an endless carpet, and a new scrim was added to the stretching room. > > In June 2010, Leota’s floating technique was presumably replaced with a clearer and digital internal projection (just like the current projection of her at the WDW Haunted Mansion). > > In September 2010, it was announced that soon the Hatbox Ghost will return to the Haunted Mansion’s attic. > **Walt Disney World** > > At Walt Disney World Resort, the Haunted Mansion closed for refurbishment on June 8, 2007 and reopened September 13, 2007. > > Changes to this version of the attraction during the refurbishment included the addition of a new audio system for the Ghost Host that makes it seem as if the spirit is circling above visitors’ heads, new red, blue, and gold wallpaper (related to the paper at Disneyland but instead of green, it has blue), different and enhanced lighting throughout the attraction, and new stretching sound effects for the stretching room. The gargoyles in the stretching room now whisper with messages of “Stay Together”, and emit child like giggles after the stretching room sequence. An exclusive Escher-esque staircase scene has replaced the empty dark banister area covered in cobwebs and the giant orange spiders. After the staircase scene, there are all new ghoulish eyes that glow while monstrous sounds echo through the halls. The foyer music has been changed to a lower key as well as taken out of the corridor hallways. The original attic sequence is now replaced with the new Disneyland attic scene including the five changing husband portraits and featuring the new Constance. The other major Disneyland enhancements were also implemented at Walt Disney World including the floating version of Madame Leota with a much clearer projection, and The Sinister 11 (the portraits with the following eyes) were replaced with the changing portraits from Disneyland’s portrait gallery. Seven of the Sinister 11 are now located in the loading area of the ride (These include Jack the Ripper, Arsonist, Mariner, Vampire, Witch of Walpurgis, and the Ghost Host) while the other four are located in various parts of the mansion. The graveyard ghosts minus the deaf old man, the singing busts, and the mummy audio tracks now seem to come from the singer when near them. The once blue/purple ghosts are now green as well. A sharp-eyed guest will also notice that the Hitchhiking Ghosts now have empty sockets for eyes. The Doom Buggies have been fixed to a much more quiet sound than the high squeaking sound before the refurbishment. > > In early October 2010, construction walls went up in the queue area of the Haunted Mansion, blocking the view of the small graveyard just outside the entrance. A new effect has also been added to the ride: a hand points to the left on the back of the doombuggies as guests exit. Well and good. What I’m waiting for is an upgrade of Tommorowland, or Epcot, to showcase the **real** “Singularity” technologies of the possible-future – nanotech, genetic engineering, strong AI, neural-electronic interface, etc. Of course, in Epcot, at least, it seems they’re limited to showcasing things corporations already have or expect soon to bring on the market. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/14 "2011-01-05T18:53:00Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > 😕 Obama was elected president and they had a way to re-use the Eddie Murphy animatronic figure. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2011, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-haunted-mansion-disneyworld-like-these-days/566328/15 "2011-01-05T21:22:55Z")
The Haunted Mansion is my favorite WDW attraction, bar none. I love it. All the same, I have to say that for all the upgrades (mostly for the better) – and especially after seeing the fantastic living portraits at Hogwarts in Universal’s Islands of Adventure – the Stretching Room remains disappointingly lame.