Is The Haunted Mansion a World Class Attraction? (with Offhand Disney) • FOR YOUR AMUSEMENT

[Music] hello before we get into this episode you'll realize that we are on a new set because this is the first time we're shooting on this set it's beautiful as you can see so from here on out we'll be here it's the same podcast I assure you just a different set same two idiots and we have a guest this time I'm the [Music] guest welcome to for your amusement a theme park podcast that aims to exhaustively evaluate the world most popular theme park attractions to determine if they are world class I'm Ryan burgara I'm Byron Morin and I am Daran Smith that's right you might know him as offhand Disney on YouTube offhand Disney just a bunch of offhand that's why it's called that right exactly literally just spouting out facts that nobody cares about and beautiful tangents which you'll see today oh you're going to see a lot of them on this Halloween episode and as for this episode's featured attraction don't adjust your volume we'll do that for you as we discuss the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland and to a lesser extent Haunted Mansion in the Magic Kingdom at Disney World you know there's a Tokyo version too right there is i't been to Tokyo and a different iteration in parisis and then they wouldn't even further into Hong Kong okay there's no need to get litigious right now we're just starting the podcast too many mansions too many manions and I was doing a fun little gag there about don't adjust your volume CU it's you know a reference to the ride uh but you you're going to have to adjust your volume if it's too low I can't help you with that I don't want to hear anything like this dude's a [ __ ] liar he told us to adjust our volume I had already adjusted it he didn't fix it no exactly and I don't want to lose a star I need those stars because this is an early podcast it's in its infancy and we need all the help we can get which is why we brought in D over here I'm here to lead the conversation on Haunted Mansion I'm doing most of the like work here today obviously know we've been working him around the clock like a dog why don't we kicking off with a little history Byron it's going to be a little odd that you're going to be telling history to uh D and also me because I you know I'm an Let's uh yeah let's get that score card out we'll see how I do um but we're going to go all the way back to 1951 no Haunted Mansion at the time heck there's no Disneyland as a matter of fact there's just an inkling of an idea this idea for a theme park a Mickey park that's going to take place potentially right across the Burbank Studio Lot maybe just a little over 10 acres of land Walt's dreams with the imagineers it gets bigger and bigger so 10 acres turns into this 100 Acre dream we get Disneyland Anaheim California now way back with the Mickey Park early renderings early concept art there was this idea tucked in the back of a Main Street looking plot of land there would be a haunted house themed attraction this doesn't open with Disneyland in 1955 due to budgets and you know time constraints with building the Park haunted mansion idea gets totally shelved but in 1957 once it's up and going Walt Disney revisits the idea in correlation with his desire to expand the partk west of frontierland with a New Orleans themed area this is when he enlists imagineer Ken Anderson who had worked on Snow White scary adventures a pretzel Dark Ride in fantasy land which by the way if you have time to go check out some of the original footage of the the Snow Whites Enchanted Adventures I highly suggest you do because it is the stuff that nightmares are made of I unchanged Snow White scary adventures it's insane they they went crazy especially that Magic Kingdom one I don't know how it was allowed I don't know how they let again on that ride it is one of the scariest things I've ever seen I wonder if it's like they needed you know cuz pretzel dark rides were a thing haunted houses were a thing they didn't have the Haunted Mansion at that point so they needed something a little spookier Ken Anderson who had worked on a scary attraction in the form of Snow White as well as Mr Toad's Wild Ride seemed like the right guy for the job and he starts looking for inspiration and he finds this photo of a shiple lie Decker house that was located in Baltimore Maryland which is kind of funny because they're looking for a New Orleans based looking house but the architectural design of this house really called to him and he puts some concept art to it Sam McKim ultimately creates the famous painting that many people still know of today and although Walt liked the architectural look of this house he didn't like how dilapidated it looked as he famously put we'll take care of the outside and will'll let the ghosts take care of the inside while Ken Anderson is working on fleshing out potential story lines for the attraction Walt inless Yale Gracie and Raley Crump to begin researching and developing special effect and Illusions to take place within this haunted man this Haunted Mansion attraction I thought for a second you abbreviated Haunted Mansion to be Huna Manch my wife do that we'll be walking through Frontier land at Walt Disney World and she'll say you want to hit up the Manch I [ __ ] love that honestly I think that's great I'm going to start saying that little slang little Haunted Mansion slang I can't say it was intentional that is a slip of the tongue um make you know some of the best things as with some of the illusions that actually happened in this attraction happened by mistake happy accident back to the haunted man at the end of 1959 Yale and Raleigh staged a mockup of the attraction which was presented as a guided walkthrough tour which was the Museum of the weird right Was Not Museum of the weird Raleigh Crump did that separately where he did create some interesting looking artifacts and paintings and it was in this big presentation that they actually gave to Walt Disney they were so worried about it at the time that they tucked it behind where Walt was like standing is that correct to look at it and he it did eventually capture his attention this is the most hilarious Vibe right now because it feels very much like a student giving a presentation to a teacher Byron every now I'm sitting over here like mentally grading you you know the story about W Byron's just stealing glances every now and then oh we're looking over at D and just am I doing okay Dad uh and I'm just kind of sitting here hoping like I hope I hope this is good but everything seems accurate so far right so far yes um so far you're figur doing okay I would I would do okay and then you get to clean up the mess later yeah I can just come in at the end of the podcast and give some notes yeah that was my game plan he'll be our resident snopes.com Museum of the weird that's something Walt Disney did suggest based on some of the artwork that Raleigh had there that day when they presented to Walt we will fast forward to 1963 the Mansion facade is completed at this time and once again that was inspired by the uh Shipley Li Decker house so that is finished in 1963 however we are many years away from actually getting an attraction so it's merely a facade gets a lot of guests curious while they do have this facade complete they're kind of in a story limbo and that combined with the impeding 1964 New York World Fair Walt and his team of imagineers have to really shift their focus over to work on those four attractions being Carousel progress small world Fords magic Skyway um and uh oh what's oh uh who's going to who's going to answer this one for the Daily Double who's got Number Four The Daily Double which one which one did I not say yet uh small world Forge magic Skyway here dead air on the Pod this is a sad day for us here you it only took a couple episodes your scores dropping by the second 75% you hear that Byron that in the distance is the sound of people turning their volume knobs slowly down on Main Street USA it's right there Walt dressed up as him as a kid oh great moments with Mr Lincoln I'm I'm at we're going to continue forward that's why I'm here I'm at a c score I'm just trying to pass at this point another torpedo to the midsection this going down this is all going down no this is great this is this you need you need to see that we bleed anyways Walton the imagineers they shift their focus over to the attractions that debut at the New York's World's Fair Ford's magic Skyway doesn't make it back to Disneyland Park like the other three attractions but the ride system is pivotal eventually becomes the People Mover ride system which one day between a meeting uh I believe it was with Bob gurr and John Hench he's spinning this was it a caramel apple around and this kind of Sparks this idea of what if we're able to Pivot the ride Vehicles which leads to a 1967 attraction in Tomorrowland called Adventure through Inner Space and they eventually take that ride system over to Haunted Mansion the omn Mover I want a backpedal for a second you said that Forge Ford's magic Skyway didn't make it back to Disneyland but it did not all of it no as the Primeval World diarama on the Disneyland railroad CU it does go back in time to the dinosaurs that is a set that the animatronics and that some of the set is reused from Ford's magic Skyway unfortunately in 1966 Walt Disney tragically passes away just months before his final attraction Pirates of the Caribbean success of pirates inspires wed to appoint Mark Davis who's very much great with characters a big time animator as well with a lot of the Disney Princesses and then then Claude coats who was a big time set designer was just excellent at creating atmosphere and mood so a scary guy suspense for Claude coats this is what he wanted Haunted Mansion to be he wanted it to be a very scary dark ominous attraction which leads him and Mark Davis to butt heads for potentially years markc Davis wants a funny attraction Claude coats wants a scary attraction and what ultimately happens is you get a little bit of both and this is the compromise the first half of the ride becomes very dark tension based very suspenseful scary and then it opens up into the MARC Davis side where you see all the Grim Grinning Ghosts and you get the great music I'm curious in where the split happens because I've seen online that the split happens in the ballroom everything before the ballroom is cloud coats cuz it's spooky and scary you got like all your you know your spooky stuff and then from then on it's apparently Mark Davis but then we go into the attic is the attic also coats or was that Mark Davis this being like I could do a little spooky too I feel like the attic is definitely half and half leota's room absolutely is the transition between like the Eerie atmosphere and the cookie Ballroom yeah but then you get through the ballroom you know lots of visual gags and then you get into the attic nowadays more so with the 2006 update where they added in you know the whole new storyline with constants but back in the day when it first opened it was absolutely more atmospheric with the silent bride and the cobwebs that would brush past your face I missed that also in that Seance scene little Raley Crump in there wasn't he the guy that was behind the uh was the inspiration for that room and also the musical instruments right I believe so yeah and the table wrap on a table in regards to story at this point cuz obviously the indecisiveness when it comes to you know putting a foot down on a story halted a lot of the development on this ride they ultimately kind of lean on just letting it be an experience and taking in the atmosphere kind of the same way that they do with Pirates of the Caribbean but this leaves them with the need to kind of string the whole thing together what they did so well with pirates as well well you know using good voiceover narration great music and the guy for the job is Xavier ateno he writes the narration pieces and then he also writes the lyrics for Grim Grinning ghost which he collaborates with iconic composer for Disney Buddy Baker I didn't know extenso also wrote the narration I just thought he wrote Grim grin and ghosts yeah he wrote a lot of the dialogue for the right too that's pretty baller yeah also shout out to Paul freeze one of the the butteriest voices you will ever hear on a ride or just in vo I think he did stuff in movies he's got a voice that just slides across a pan like a stick the original Scrooge McDuck no [ __ ] little throw back to what you were talking about Adventure through inter space the first omnimover he was also the narrator for that ride too Paul free was you are about to begin your adventure through Inner Space this chamber has no windows and no doors which offers you this chilling challenge to find and if you wondering listener that's actually me that's not Paul freeze I know that wasn't voice over no I know we faded from Paul freeze to me right there and I know it's hard to tell who's who but that was actually me that was a really good impression I know thank you I've been working on it August 12th 1969 hunted Mansion finally opens this is 6 years after the completion of the Mansion facade and this came at a total price tag of about 7 million now while they were actually building haunted mansion at Disneyland in California coming down the pipe was the Magic Kingdom at Disney World which was opening in 1971 so they were actually creating duplicates while they were building haunted Manion at Disneyland just so they could have it ready yep opening day attraction October 1st 1971 with more of like a Dutch inspired like Gothic uh cuz it has to blend in with Liberty Square as opposed to New Orleans Square cuz you kind of come in from Frontier land and fantasy land so it sort of has that Gothic sort of almost Cathedral look to it and then on April 15th of 1983 Tokyo Disneyland opened op and with that Park opening also comes their Haunted Mansion Manion number three Mansion number three very much in the same realm of what the Magic Kingdoms version is I think it's almost an exact copy almost I'm not quite sure everything is exactly the same but the scenes are almost beat for beat Magic Kingdom as was so much of that Park and oddly enough it opens in their Fantasy Land cuz they don't have a New Orleans Square they have a hard time still justifying it but uh anyways April 12th 1992 Disneyland Paris gets their own version of Haunted Mansion but it opens under the name Phantom Manor and they really like their spooky [ __ ] out there so they like with Phantom Fanta Manor opens 1992 April 12th and then finally May 17th of 2013 Hong Kong Disneyland doesn't get a haunted mansion but they get a spiritual successor which is Mystic Manor and they had to do this in order to adapt with the cultures different idea of what death is right I will say though a lot of people don't even consider this in the Mansion family I would but I would not blame you if you didn't it can absolutely stand on its own I I've seen people relate it more towards like a jungle cruise attraction almost rather than a Manion it's a completely different it's a completely different ride system it's a trackless system you probably appreciate all the the uh Society of explorers and adventur started on that but that just about wraps up our history oh and then that means it's time for some fun facts but before we get into that let's have a word from our sponsors uh fun facts I'm going to go through I'm going to go through these bad boys pretty quick cuz you know we we covered a lot in the history there was a brief time where and I did not know this and I don't even know if this is true there was a brief time where legendary imaginary Cloud coats conceived of this as a water ride in which guests would float through the ruins of a partially submerged old plantation house is that true I've heard walkthr I've heard omnimover I've even I've heard like pretzel Dark Ride Like fantasy L I've never heard a water attraction I've never heard that either so when I read that I was like that can't be true but apparently some people believe that uh it sounds cool I'd like to see it sounds like something like a couple imagineers cooked up one night just drunk at a bar and it's just in the Deep catacombs of Disney lore I'm I'm assuming the thought the line of thinking would be we already have a boat attraction in Pirates of the Caribbean we could we could just take that ride vehicle take the ride system move it over a little bit you got yourself another attraction and also like if it's playing into that Captain Gore SE Captain theme it makes sense I just like the idea of going through like a submerged house cuz I I like watching footage of like cameras going through like shipwrecks cuz I'm that would be interesting a [ __ ] weirdo but I do like watching that you know just like Jim Cameron he does that all the time because he has that kind of time and money sunken haunted house in New Orleans attraction that sounds incredible uh but it alas it never happened or maybe it never happened even in the conception phase I have no idea that's why these are fun facts because there may not be true facts anyways apparently the Haunted Mansion is the only Disney ride that is located in four parks in four different lands it's a New Orleans Square at Disneyland Liberty Square at Walt Disney World Frontier land at Disneyland Paris and fantasy land at Tokyo and then we already discussed this there's also Mystic Manor in Hong Kong Mystic Point too much it's it's got its own land yeah uh we already talked about how the uh the house took inspiration from the the shiple Leer House in Baltimore or is it Li Decker I'm not even sure they also took inspiration from the Winchester Mystery House they actually went and visited the Winchester Mystery House imagineers went over there and uh you know looked at the interior because that's also kind of a Whimsical fun little house actually this is actually a fun little trivia the hitchhiking ghosts apparently they have names do you know them the little tiny short one is Gus yeah ball and chain tall one skeletal looking almost is Ezra not sham a day and then the uh no different one and then um the the plier man with the with the with the carpet bag is Phineas Professor Phineas Plum you know what's crazy is in my notes I wrote down descriptors for all three of these guys and he named all of the descriptors I mean we can expand on that Ezra the the taller skeletal one is actually a similar face mold to the original hatbox ghost we we all know it there was a hatbox ghost maybe there wasn't on opening day who knows there's footage of it apparently some guy found it in like his Grandma's Attic he did he there's like very like you know it's kind of like the zuder film for Disney films for Disney park fans there's a guy with his Like Home Video on opening day apparently or maybe 2 weeks after and there's footage of the hatbox ghost animatronic and then it just suddenly disappears for what I think it came back 2016 so almost 50 years yeah that's almost 50 years I don't know the mystery maybe they they concocted it for press I like to think that he was real like you can see pictures of Yale Gracie I'm pretty sure they're press photos cuz there's no way he's actually testing it out like this but he's testing out the um Peppers ghost effect and he's holding this hbox ghost's head wasn't he like dissatisfied with it on opening like because the lighting nowadays they fixed that but back then yeah they wouldn't be able to you'd be able to see both heads at the same time essentially they just take the off of it and it wouldn't work but nowadays it's a projection so obviously they can just black it out and then they it like sort of collapses in on itself so there is no head on his shoulders when his head is in the Hat Box I I wouldn't put it past Disney to make something up though because I there's a lot of people online that believe there's this footage of a ghost walking around Haunted Mansion outside and there's also one on Space Mountain Disney classic Disney did actually make those those were the days when they would put out just crazy what's the word I'm looking for it's like not like an ARG but just like a random video on a random Youtube channel you would never expect of just ghost at Disneyland everyone bought it everyone bought it I thought it was a real ghost but then the guy who made it came out eventually and was like hey that's not a ghost I made this which is cool cool to see that they're thinking out of the box maybe the Hat Box oh kill me okay now this is a classic look I know if you're listening to this podcast you probably already know this but in the off chance you don't when you're in the stretching room you're actually in an elevator it's something that they concocted to get people under the railroad track it's fun uh the face of the caretaker is actually the same same exact face of the guy who's at the bottom of the Rhino totem pole on the jungle cruise used to be right is it still because they red theatron jungle Cru so now uh it used to be they used to be the exact same face which I actually never noticed the raven that appears in several rooms in the ride was originally intended to be the guide for the ride but that was later nixed for the idea of having the ghost host do that however the Raven is still in the ride you see it in the coffin scene you see it over I believe in the Seance room and then yeah he's on the chair in the Seance room yes and then there's is he oh God where else is now yours now it is your turn to be tested is it he's on the descent from the attic into the graveyard scene yes is there another one there's another one a son of a [ __ ] sometimes he's gone sometimes he's there think about it I'm think four is it by the Everlasting hallway no damn it three two one he is um right before you see the hitchhiking ghosts as you turn to face that sort of Mausoleum area there's like an arch way above you the crow is sitting on top of that Arch oh I've never seen that one they take it out sometimes and they put it back sometimes he'll be missing but you'll still hear the sound sometimes he'll be there why hell do they do that just to probably his wings aren't flapping right maybe they got to take him backstage I'm not sure it's a tiny little bird animatronic how hard could it be to get that that's that's what the first animatronics were at Disneyland were the little birds that's true have you ever listen to the sights and sounds of the Haunted Mansion no I have not what is that it's an old record they put it was a record at the time it's the original what was supposed to be the original story of the Haunted Mansion what had opened in ' 69 got and they have the Raven leading them through the house in in addition to the ghost host must have been late because they still made the animatronic and have it in the ride they wouldn't do that if at multiple points too some points where the ghost host starts talking to you again this is actually something I found and I don't believe it apparently when the ride first opened they had a scare actor be the caretaker there might be some wires getting crossed here because okay again it's a little offhand Disney moment they did have Liv scare actors in The Haunted Mansion for the 50th obviously a couple years ago 2019 they did that but back in the '90s not for the caretaker but instead in the endless hallway scene there would be a knight yeah a scare actor Knight and then there would be a phantom there was I think like a devil or a demon one of my friends actually Ian was the night scare actor oh that's crazy end Hall and I've seen photos of that Knight yeah so I know that's true but I've never once heard of the caretaker that would be a fun that would be a fun job to have though do they let you bring your dog to work or does it have to be malnourished to bring it in if you're play We're casting dogs but they have to be never fed yeah bring your dog in but also don't feed them for a couple weeks yourself either I'm I'm kind of curious I I if if you guys know if anybody has any kind of like home video footage of an actual caretaker scare actor let us know send it in all right well that does it for fun facts let's discuss how popular this attraction is today what are the average weight times where does it fit in the IM media landscape of the park does it fill any holes and how do people feel about this ride today I would say that the current reputation of this ride has stayed rather constant for the past few decades which is pretty damn impressive considering that this opened in 1969 right it's got an alltime average weight time this is for Disneyland park in California an all-time average weight time of 28 minutes and according to Thrill dat.com the highest recorded weit time of 135 minutes for the ACT for just the original attraction or Haunted Mansion holiday okay so this is where it gets kind of slippery because this was on September 13th of 22 which would have been like for example this year that would have that would definitely be haunted mansion holiday yeah I'm trying to think when they started the Halloween season last year I think it was the either the 1 or the eth they did it the first this year so that might be haunted mansion holiday this is thrill dat.com information but someone did tweet in summer of 2019 a a uh a just laughing at like the this is deep research I'm impressed someone did post a screen grab of the Disneyland app featuring Haunted Mansion with an 180 minute wait wow in the summer of 2019 which I thought was kind of random and weird Until you realize that is the 50th Anniversary right was it 201 2019 so if it was in summer of 2019 perhaps it had something to do with the 50th Anniversary interesting of how it could climb to 3 hours 180 it must have been it could have been during the day you know cuz they shut the park down for that after hours event oh yeah maybe maybe yeah and so during the day all the people who couldn't get access to that probably went in and got in line that wouldn't surprise me as for Magic Kingdom alltime average weight time is 37 minutes that's pretty high which is relatively high but you also have to keep in mind Magic Kingdom not as many attractions as Disneyland that is true we could talk about that I mean the differences there's more scenes but I do appreciate Disneylands more I agree Magic Kingdom has like a little bit of a different opening to the aride I remember there's some footsteps like you know like that Library looking yeah the endless staircase those those yeah paranormal looking footsteps that you see hitting those very much inspired by the Winchester Mansion and then Magic Kingdom features a highest recorded weight time of 180 minutes this is on July 17th of 2019 so that was another summer 2019 so 50th Anniversary that would make sense although that wouldn't be the 50th Anniversary not for the of Mag of the Magic Kingdom version I wonder if they still celebrated that though I'm sure I'm sure the people out there had to get as much Haunted Mansion in as they could that day it's still a very popular ride like I I I still am very much obviously I'm a weirdo but I'm excited to go on Haunted Mansion every time I go to the park and I do still feel like it's on everyone's must rides when they go to Disneyland I feel like it has the biggest no pun intended cult following of any of the Disney R even even more so than Pirates and I could get the cult following sometimes things that kind of a spooky slant generate more of a cult following like you see that with kind of like ble horror films you don't see that with B level drama films anyways let's move on to uh First Impressions let's just let's just talk about what was your actual first impression of this ride like what do you remember feeling well the first time I went on the Haunted Mansion I was 2 years old and I closed my eyes the entire time didn't want to see it I was too scared the first time I really went on it was the visit after that it's so like I said it's so unique for Disney to do horror and they do it in such a unique way it's its own Beast you know you don't get an attraction like that anywhere else in the park now will you say some of your enjoyment with writing it today stems from those early memories of writing it where you're basically [ __ ] your pants right I never really thought about it like that in terms of First Impressions on my end uh I find it wildly ironic that the first half of the attraction is more horror-based and the second half is more like silly and goofy because when I went on it at a few years old the graveyard the popups there that was the first jump scare I ever experienced in my life so that graveyard scene as like a three-year-old was horrifying cuz hated those things popping up and doing their little like even to this day it's just the they pop up it's a lot and you know maybe we might talk about that in the good and the bad I remember when I went on this ride for the first time I was a weird little kid and I was obsessed with scary things you go figure uh I would read Goosebumps and things like thatum and you know uh camp out in my parents' bedroom not wake them up but I would stand at the foot of my mother's bed and just watch her as she slept just like they wake up and like 3:00 a.m. and there's just a child standing there child with a little Grudge boy haircut just looking at her I would do stuff like that and so naturally I I loved this ride and it did scare me but I was thrilled by that and I I think more than anything I just recall being amazed at the storytelling because this was also around the time when I was getting into movies I think I was like four when I first rode this ride I just remember being transferred to another world unlike any other attraction had done to me and I still think that it holds that warm place in my heart which kind of got me into movies and theme parks and storytelling in general haed Mansion was definitely the Gateway for me into the wider World of Disney lore let's move on to the good and the bad this is where we talk about the things that are good and then the bad things you know about this ride but before we do that let's have a word from our sponsor and we're back so let's talk about some of the good I have a bunch of things written down here and we could just kind of talk about them I think this is maybe the best facade in the entire Disneyland Resort and I think when you factor in design and overall atmosphere and how it actually ties into the land that it's in I don't think there's anything that quite matches it the only thing that comes close to me is probably splash Mountain but that's now gone I think haunted mansions facade does the rare thing where it actually tells a story as well as being impressive I love that they had the Integrity of keeping the switchbacks away from the front of the facade tuing it back and I don't normally like switchbacks but I will say these are Tastefully done you get an idea of what the ride is before you get on the ride you're able to kind of come up with all the things that it could be they found a way to kind of torture you without actually putting you on the ride and I always love that I also like the immediate establishment of mood and tone once you enter the foyer you you hear those first notes on the on the orgon you see the candleabra chandelier you're instantly transported in a way that most other rides don't do for you the pre-show starts almost immediately it's it's incredible yeah I think the pre-show for the Mansion was one of the first experiences of like walking through almost ride scenes before you get on the actual ride and I guess that's where you could kind of see like the it's its history as a walkthrough attraction in conception it's kind of amazing to me that a ride that came out in ' 69 still has one of the best pre-shows in the entire park the lines are like really blurred between when the experience really starts and that's I do believe Haunted Mansion is the first attraction that does that speaking of the pre-show I just love when people come up with a creative solution for a logistical problem they needed to get guests under the railroad to the show building they came up with the stretching room is this haunted room actually stretching or is it your imagination how [ __ ] insane is that it goes down at Disneyland to get you underneath the railroad tracks underneath the burm of the park into the show building at Disney World the ceiling goes up it's and it holds so much creative value that Magic Kingdom didn't have to do it for functionality it's so good for the experience that they do it anyways next thing I have here is Paul freeze I mean I just wrote Paul freeze what can you say the dude has a buttery ass voice I could listen to him talk all day I wish he was doing this podcast uh uh maybe some of the best voiceover narration on a ride I've ever to somehow How Sound insanely pompous and full of himself while being so I will lower it for I will lower it for oh that's pretty good they'll be waiting for me sure which also another creative solution to something that didn't need it like you know they're going to lower this lap bar it does that in almost every omn mover ride but they made it into like part of the story part of the show yeah it's incredible yep moving on here at Portrait Hall love that used to scare the [ __ ] out of me as a kid love the lightning though the paintings themselves are just beautiful to look at which one was your favorite painting my favorite changing portrait I like the Knight on the horse the Black Knight is what it's called is my favorite oh I always like the lady who had the tentacles coming out of her head Medusa yeah wait is that actually just yeah it's Medusa she got snakes coming out of her head right who's that lady with the tentacles coming out of her head I sounded like a hillbilly right there but I didn't real I guess I just because it was in the Haunted Mansion I never put it together that they could reference Greek mythology they do it a couple times I think the mood of the the beginning of this ride can we just talk about that once you go up those stairs you are completely in it and in a different world what what's your favorite part of like the beginning here my favorite part I love the zombie I I don't know what what a better word for it would be the zombie in the cof he's saying things too right yeah he says get me out of here let me out help me pretty inspired stuff right there just like the glass behind him too if you look closely at it there's like been rocks had been thrown through the glass there's a Little Rock po oh my God you're right it's so well done Everlasting hallway is probably my favorite part what a great illusion the candleabra kind of just floating in the hallway I actually don't know how they accomplish that but it's very effective mirrors it's got to be it's always the answer mirrors dude what about you I'm going to go with the music obviously grim grd and ghost uh is very iconic but their ability to integrate those notes into the beginning of the attraction how the music Chang so how it how it's very haunting for the first half of the attraction and then it opens up into this playful happy but it's the same Melo like it's the same notes same Melody same tempo everything it just changes instrumental the same Motif that kind of just evolves as the ride goes on also I love the door crunching the door crunching is so cool I don't know if you guys have seen the movie The Haunting that came out in 1963 which was about 6 years before this ride parts of it are based off of The Haunting there there is a scene in The Haunting where the door literally like the pressure of something pushing on it from the other side you know extends outwards and and crunches and that sound design is so effective they do that in this ride and it is amazing I love the corridor of doors is such a great place also great wallpaper demon clock who doesn't like a demon clock I don't really know what it's it's selling but you know it's it's one of those original that was a rly Crump that makes design so was the Donald Duck chair right yep the Donald Duck chair that is now being removed from Walt Disney World oh for the hatbox ghost if you want to get mad we can talk about that too anyways uh moving on to the seon scene it's it's this is also spectacular I used to love this room as a kid the effect of having the floating instrument still very effective in the dark lighting Ballroom you know everyone loves the ballroom you we I'm sure you've all heard of the peppers ghost effect used to Great uh measure here people say it's a hologram it's just glass and light baby so much fun gags in this room we got our guy riding the chandelier he's having a good time got the ghost shooting each other is there one thing in particular that you like looking at in this scene the bottom I love the wraiths is what I call them flying in through the window oh yeah those they're like sheet ghosts almost but you can't really see their face I love them and they're you see them later in the uh graveyard scene riding bikes moving on to the attic here piano gig very funny Shadow playing the piano I like [Music] it very good also I think this might be the worst place to sleep in the entire park people always ask me like if you could live in one place in in Disneyland where would you live I think this is the worst place to live in the Attic scene not the Haunted Mansion but just this Attic in particular that's fair you know it is it's got a lot of just the artifacts the set dressing I think we talk about how good they are at building this world and building these sets in the Haunted Mansion I think it's very much on display in the Attic which makes it the scariest place to sleep attic transition to the graveyard top tier transition and that's among a ride that already does transition is better than almost any ride in [Music] Disneyland there's argument of what's actually happening here I'm of the mind that you get scared by the bride you fall out a window you fall down a hill you die and now you're in the graveyard and you're a ghost that's my take on it I mean I think story-wise they didn't really plan out to die at all you didn't they didn't see like oh you're going to fall out the Attic Window I'm assuming it was just like a transition I am a fan of the death Theory though that you you finally see them cuz they're not Pepper's ghost any anymore they're not you know they're physical animatronics figures you can see you don't see through them anymore they're not translucent yeah exactly they're dudes you could see so I I like that I'll be I'd be remiss if we didn't mention the hatbox goes he's chilling there kind of just doing his thing fun effect glad they brought him back yeah it's cool it's thrilling to see the effect it's still very very cool and you know the the the guy that pulled I forget his name the the guy that ended up pulling off this effect was a massive Yale Gracie fan growing up yes I know you're talk I think he considered him as his quote unquote his Michael Jordan he had like posters of him on his wall and stuff that's right you're right yeah being able to bring back the hatbox ghost that must have been awesome really cool how that came full circle then we're in the graveyard this is just a banger of a show scene I mean it's one of the most impressive showrooms I've seen in terms of just scale it's enormous there's so much going on there's a lot of funny gags there's a ghost there's a ghost lady she's sitting on a swing and she has what appears to either be milk and cookies or a tea in a saucer plate what's going on there they're having a part it's a swinging wake yeah but if you're I don't know if you've ever sat on a swing D but I'll tell you one thing you don't want to be doing when you're sitting on a swing holding a mug full of liquid well here's the question is it ghost tea or is it like actual you know or or like milk like can they drink I just think get off the swing another thing I like there's also a [ __ ] mummy uh The Mummy is my favorite ghost in all of the Haunted he's my favorite character it's a lost gag is a Mark Davis gag I just think it's really funny that there's a mummy in this ride it doesn't make any sense of the L because there's no like witch here where's Dracula there is Dracula Dracula is in the Mansion [ __ ] where there is uh Walt Disney World only he's an exclusive wait where is he in Walt Disney World the Sinister 13 I believe is what they're called in the loading zone area of their mansion they have unused changing portraits that were planned as changing portraits for here in Anaheim but they didn't never ended up doing it and these portraits do not change they have The Wolf Man The Drifter they have Dracula I got to look at this this is great those those are all real is there any other gags that I did not highlight in that graveyard scene that you guys like we talk about the a lot of gags yeah I mean like that the arm like Plastering that wall oh yeah that's a reference to the old Cask of a monato story by I love that one getting bricked in he's bricking himself in I love the crashed hearse too that's another thing that's that I really love cuz you can see the tracks through the mud of this herse and then the coffin is oh my God I never noticed that I'm going to look for that next time crashed yeah if you look at it I think those are my favorite gags in there I the hitchhiking ghost used to freak me out where of hitchhiking ghosts cuz I didn't like them sitting on my lap and that was not something I enjoyed as a child but I like it now it's very fun you could take a fun selfie also to end my good section here tiny bride I love something something that's very tiny little Leota it doesn't make any sense I don't know why she got tiny you ready for some lore why Leota tiny okay little Leota is small not because she's far away she's tiny because she's like Irish Scottish mythology I can't remember which one one of those two wisps or pixies fairies yes yes she's not wearing a wedding dress she's wearing a cloak and she's not holding flowers she's holding like herbs and that's usually how they would appear like on your mantle wearing a cloak little tiny fairies or wisps so they were really going for it they got the mummy and then now they have a little fairy yeah huh that's the little Yoda back story now she's just kind of like a small bride even in like some merchandise they've made her a bride it's not accurate she's wearing a cloth you know what I would love and Disney if you're listening to this take you could have this one on the house I would love a Christmas decoration of little Leota that speaks and says the little thing she says yeah you could put them up on the mantle hold your stockings and tell Santa to hurry back I want her to be on the top of my tree just saying [ __ ] throughout the night my wife would not like it but I would love it have it scheduled so like every 30 minutes just deliver a very loud hurry back was the first time you see Madame Leota and the the ball is that the first time they ever use projection mapping I think so think that might I think that it's an internal projection I think now so rear that's why they they had to keep her head like insanely still uh was it Leota TS was the imagineer that they andine later that's right the Elanor odley was the voice you may know her as Maleficent by ringing Bell well we just like ruled a three that and it was not a comedy version it was a nerd version we just went off now do you prefer the Leota head floating through the air or stationary on the table I think I I prefer her stationary on the table I can see why she floats through the air it makes the scen a bit more Dynamic a bit more interesting a lot of people think she's just a floating head now though it doesn't translate that she's supposed to be inside of a crystal ball got it I'd love to be her if I die and you and I was just a floating head I can see your cackling head floating around in my nightmares for sure I can too but yeah if there's anything else that you find you just you have the urge to talk about that you just really look for every time you ride this ride is there anything else I look so this is on the outside actually the set dressing on the Second Story Terrace of the Mansion telescope you know this the the dining table set up like someone was just eating there and then they left oh my god I've never even noticed that anyways moving on to the bad I really I see two marks yeah it it was really hard for me to come up with these I really had to Rack my brain cuz I don't want this to seem like totally like a homer podcast but look the tombstone jumpers kind of cheap scare you know it's a jump scare I'm not a big fan of jump scare in movies and and Byron already mentioned wetting his pants as a as a child to to one of these and I I get it they're effective but I just think it's a little beneath what they're doing in the Mansion like in terms of all the effects that feel so a Class A Little Too County Fair yeah a little too County Fair and maybe that's the that was like Walt's nod to that like hey maybe this was kind of like a I'll do your best gag as one of my worst gags kind of right although he wasn't involved for the last few years this so that's that's a good question would Walt have approved of I don't think he would have I don't think he would have maybe that's a hot take I think I think he would have been like this is tanky I think if you watch some of the behind the scenes of them developing the ride you can see them making it like it's from the imagineering workshop and you can see them fabricating some of the pop-ups but I feel like that would still be after his death right probably yeah because it was just the facade we're reaching here uh and then the last one I have here I really don't like that goofy ass bride that's in the Attic now when they changed it in 2006 to that like lady who has like the like the projection face and she's like oo got she does these kind of like little like Expressions I did just stop every time I pass I'm like shut up like I don't like it I it's she's a very early projection animatronic and you can certainly tell because it does not look good I like the character I think they could do a lot with the character constant hatch away but the figure itself and what she brings to the attic scene I think totally kills any momentum leading up to it completely kills the tone of that attic like before it was like this nice like figurine like just almost like a mannequin of sorts she barely move and a red Beating Heart and there was like a slight breeze on her it was very spooky that's all you need and the paintings leading up to that every new like necklace yep can we please get rid of this goofy lady did were you at d23 last year did either of you go to d23 last year unfortunately did not they had a scene in The Archives area of that original bride as close as we are now walk right up to her you should have taken it and then brought it with you to Disneyland and just stuck just a big briefcase anyways if you guys don't have any other bads I'll just go with I'm curious is there another yeah Byron what do you got I you know what and this is this is so nitpicky I love the placement of the switchbacks of the que however I don't know if there's a lot really going on back there like you did mention they are going to add to the Que Now less of an addition more of just a complete redo are you upset about that by the way I I actually really like it some are some folks are upset it's not going to be interactive like I said the same way Orlando's is there's not going to be toys to touch it's just going to be more themed that's cool it's like a leota's garden right yeah how do you feel in general about them improving older attractions if they do it right they do it really right and if they do it wrong they usually do it really wrong like the hatbox ghost in Magic Kingdom not a good not a good uh change there I say this all the time CU I talk with imagineers all the time they're with us they're on our side it's just the higher ups they stuff they have to get through sometimes never translates like everything you thought of that you're like oh they should do this or I hate this they have been over let's move on to the world class test which is the last portion of this episode the moment you've all been waiting for but before we do that let's have a word from our sponsors moving on to the worldclass tests this is a rubric of 10 tests painstakingly devised by Byron and myself to determine if an attraction is world class to receive the highly coveted worldclass pass the attraction must pass 7even out of 10 tests or 70% of our tests that's a c a score of 6 out of 10 or 60% leaves the attraction Up For Debate that means we could debate amongst ourselves if we think we could push it to the world class pass anything lower than 60% is an automatic fail let's get into it test number one the average tourist test would the average tourist have a hard time getting on this ride is there a long wait is there a complicated Q system no the average tourist doesn't know what kind of Attraction it is I get a lot that people think there's a loop people think it's a roller coaster people think it's a Thrill Ride but in terms of just getting onto the attraction basic you hop in line even like you don't need the lightning Lane you don't need the plus it's usually pretty short no and it's not one of those weird things where you have to pay to play or you don't have to you have to get into some sort s of weird get the Haunted Mansion ghost grabbing gauntlets exactly or you have you have to get in line for some virtual queue you just get in the standby you get in line it's usually about a 30 minute wait go through your switchbacks it never goes below 13 minutes cuz they always uh they keep that for the what what's the lore behind that again cuz they did the same thing with Tower of spooky number unlucky unlucky spooky number pretty pretty fun um it's couldn't think of anything profound there but this is it is fun anyways one for one we're off to a good start good job test number two the Leslie stall test will you be willing to wait 60 Minutes for this ride I get to go to Disneyland once a month so I would would you wait 60 Minutes oh man this is this is a really tough question let's go to Byron first cuz I don't want to it highly depends on who you are if you've never been on this attraction and you are at Disneyland for one day this is your one shot you have to wait 60 Minutes for this attraction however like idiots like ourselves who go all the time 60 Minutes doesn't really seem like a sweet deal because as we mentioned earlier usually the average weight time is 30 minutes or less let's say you're from you have guests from out of town and they're like we want to get a haunted mansion oh absolutely I would wait 60 Minutes I would I would yeah and you know it's a really it's it's an entertaining cue it it's constantly moving it passes for me um Ryan's going to be the odd man out here I think I'm going to be honest I don't know if I would and it's only because I never have me in my current version where I go all the time I would not but I could see a version of me that would I I think if I'm being honest with myself though I would not wait 60 Minutes for this that's right hey that's totally fair Co and it's my it's like my second favorite ride too that's what's weird about it Ryan you know you know what's great about having a guest yeah is that uh we get to overwrite your hey man that's fine I want to be overridden in favor I want to be overridden two out of three it passes great we're going to move on oh man I'm so embarrassed about that I had to be honest though two for two moving on to number three the smartphone test does the queue of this ride have enough to keep you off of your smartphone has enough to keep me off my smartphone doesn't have enough to keep the [ __ ] moms from Kansas off their smartphones every time I'm on that there's like three Doom buggies down you can see it in leota's room someone's on their phone on their phone but the queue though particularly the que to keep you off your not here I disagree you think so I disagree cuz I think even in the beginning the exterior Q section there's fun things there's tombstones you can look at that have fun writing on them there's things to distract you set dressing I was talking about and then you get inside and it's like come on forget about and you can't there's no way you're on your phone inside the foyer on that's I think this is a clear pass for me it truly depends on whether or not you're standing in those outdoor switchbacks or not if you're in that Switchback and it's hot outside and you're waiting 60 minutes it's brutal but if you're if it's you know 35 minutes you spend 15 minutes outside 15 minutes inside I would say it's a pass it's it's it's very even for me leaning more towards pass obviously I'm biased though most of the time you do not have to wait in those outdoor switchbacks you don't but even if you do there's there's stuff to and there is still just and I'm still on the fence with just having enough atmosphere outside there's room for improvement I know I mentioned the bad I do believe this gets a pass and then you got the new queue coming up got the new coming up it's going to be an easy pass three for three three for three it's a pass this is great test number four the Tony Stark test how Innovative is this attraction does it push theme park Tech forward at the time of opening or currently like modern day today both I mean I I think if you look at it from the time of opening this is the first Oni mover right I believe it's the second after Adventure through in space and that was definitely the first if you're not counting forwards yeah as much as I like to think oh like there's so much new tech that went in for the opening this right A lot of it is just taking Tech that already existed and creatively taking it to its fullest potential I've read so many books on the Haunted Mansion and it's like their goal was to make it like a movie set you're using movie effects from back in those days and just doing them over and over again even even pepper ghost that's from the 1800s it's old I think this might be a fail I I hate to say it I think this is a fail I think I go fail just in terms of you could say it elevated storytelling but then that might not even be true twisting my arm the super Innovative thing I can think of today would be the hatbox ghost animatronic with like the collapsing head and everything but even then yeah that's okay they don't all have have to pass no one's perfect that's a fail three for four all right moving on to test five the Hollywood test can this attraction be adapted for the Silver Screen does it have a comprehensible story well can it it yes twice can can it be adapted absolutely I'm going to say that I do think this could be successfully adapted adapted into a very good film yes but obviously this is a past they've done it twice four out of five test number six the Simpson test How likely is this to be replaced with some new IP if you would have asked me 10 years ago i' have said 0% but you ask me now and I'm worried there's like a 2% chance that it might be replaced with something I would bet my life that they would never do that are you willing to bet your life on that because you are so confident it won't get replaced or are you willing to bet your life on that because you don't want to be alive to see this no I don't think they would ever replace this I think there would be an uproar I think people will be very very upset and the fact that they're also making a new queue for it shows that they're trying to improve the ride yeah there's no plans they've consistently improved the ride over the years they've done overlays I just don't think there's any way they replace this it's not going to go back to the future Into The Simpsons heads would most certainly roll so in that regard it's definitely a say pass I think it's a pass pass it that is five out of six moving on to test number seven the signature moment test can this ride hold its own without its signature moment is it a one trick pony you can make an argument for any scene being the the signature moment I the whole the ballroom the first time you see the peppers ghost the graveyard scene over the top of the graveyard looking down on it with all the ghosts flying up yeah it's a show stopper I I really don't think there is a signature moment in this and that they're all Great Moments so I think it's a pass and that this is definitely not a one-trick pony easily passed for me yeah this is an easy pass I I'm even embarrassed that we have to talk about it that's six out of seven so no matter what we could debate but before we get into the last three tests here to determine if this ride is world class let's have another word from our sponsor okay final three tests will this make it to S it's already at 6 we'll see I'm going to vote no on the next one no matter what just to make things interesting all right test number eight the premature DET trul test wow does this ride finish too fast well now I say no I I told you I'd say no in my next one no it does not finish too fast I don't think so I think this ride is the perfect length and I leave satisfied every single time and I've said that for most of these but there are rides that finish too fast and I'm not going to name them because they're going to be on the show eventually but there's several that pop to mind this is the perfect L there are some Reds that I would that one could argue are too long even o I'm curious what ones come to your I'm just thinking Pirates oh was going to say if you said living with the land i' tell you to leave living with the land needs to be 4 and 1 half hours long now are you are you talking strictly Disneyland's pirate that's like 14 minutes and there's the 9 Minute version that's a hot take no no no I love every minute of it I can see why some people might think it's too long cuz you know you get past the jail scene where they're offering the dog a bone and there's another scene after that and then you go up the water and then you go around the bend and then you get back there's some fat that could be trimmed but I enjoy fat it's my favorite part of a steak Yeah and for the sake of uh trimming the fat on this episode we're going to all say that this is a pass I think this is a pass and that is it that is seven automatically a world class ride it has the world class pass but for the sake of our records and seeing where it sits in the pantheon of other rides we're going to keep going let's see how high this baby could go all right moving on to test number nine the exit Hall test do you see people be physically excited getting off of this ride do they have that bouncing their step are they talking are they laughing I think so especially here at Disneyland we go up that little escalator gives you time to marinate on the ride is there an energy that you take off this attraction into the rest of your day like an excited energy you know when people get off like a roller coaster and they're like dude that was so sick I see probably not then I mean I'm internally excited and stimulated but I'm not going to like I'm not rushing to tell my my friends like how about that one I I'm going to admit that I'm not doing that bringing it back to the 50th anniversary with those life scare acts that they brought back I did see everybody getting off the with so much energy like we have to go again scre scared and it's new I'm going to say no no it's a fail unanimous too it's not its style I think yeah it's not the vibe of the ride seven out of nine moving into test number 10 the last test the fine wine test has this ride aged well has your opinion of the attraction appreciated or depreciated since your first experience or if it's a new ride do you think it will age well you could say that this ride has aged probably the best over time of any Disney attraction and I would agree with that I'm going to keep it at one pass but I feel like this should be worth two because I do believe of the rides we've discussed so far at least this is the best version of this I think this ride is excellently upkept I think that all the effects have aged well they're not campy they still play and I think they're improving it year after year decade after decade I can't think of another classic attraction that has this much of a cult following that still has that kind of uh Focus within Disney the company the fact that they're still obsessed with it they're still pumping out merch they're still doing these after hours still making a movie sh still making we didn't even count the Muppet film which I think iset haunted man we haven't even talked about Muppet haunted man good movie I think it's a good that's the best Haunted Mansion movie they've made it is out of the three that they made that's the best one clearly that's a pass Haunted Mansion officially gets the world class pass with a score out of 8 to 10 it's a fantastic ride best sometimes I think it might be my favorite ride sometimes it's not but it's in the conversation for my favorite ride of all time it's your favorite it's absolutely my favorite living with the land is number two but it's a very close to there's no way you actually believe that living with the land is number two it is absolutely Ely number two in my brain unironically everyone look at me this living with the land this is not a bit is so good you're going to have to now fight for this attraction's honor one day I will come back and I will go to bat for living there's no way that's passing it's so good we're going to do it but there's no way so good that does it for today's episode of for your amusement thank you all for listening thank you D for coming on make sure you check out his YouTube channel uh offhand Disney I'm offhand Disney on everything Instagram Twitter and Tik Tok you mean Twix like the candy yeah I call it Twix and then you can follow me at Ry bargar on Twix and you can follow me Ryan bargar on Instagram and threads and he's Byron aarin on all the A4 mentioned socials and follow the Pod at FY pod on all of the socials and stay tuned for uh our next episode which is coming out on Tuesdays this is a weekly podcast so we'll see you on Tuesdays subscribe to the podcast subscribe to the YouTube channel if you're watching this on YouTube we'll see you all next week thank you guys for listening bye-bye [Music] a

Channel: Watcher Podcasts

Views: 66,685

Keywords: Theme Park, Amusement Park, Disneyland, Universal Studios, Mickey, Disney, Knotts Berry Farm, Rollercoaster, Ride, attraction, watcher, Ryan Bergara, Shane Madej, travel

Id: UqEibMytrj0

Length: 54min 5sec (3245 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 31 2023