PDA

View Full Version : A Tale of Two Attractions



hbquikcomjamesl
07-05-2006, 12:31 AM
It was the best way to update a beloved attraction. It was the worst way to update a beloved attraction. It was a movie character unobtrusively inserted; it was a complete trashing of the existing storyline.

They still don't have all the bugs ironed out of PotC, but it managed to stay up the entire time I was on it, and I was quite impressed with the enhancements. And the insertion of Jack Sparrow (what are those Jack Sparrow figures, anyway? A-5000s?) didn't in any way hurt the existing story line. (I'm delighted that Thurl's singing stayed in)

As I said, I liked the PotC enhancements. They're the perfect example of how to inset movie tie-ins and other enhancements into an existing attraction without ruining it. The same most definitely cannot be said about sticking an axe-murdering bride into HM. Especially the substitution of an axe-murdering bride for the more romantic tale of a bride driven to suicide, and in turn driving the groom to his own suicide. Completely changes the whole tone of the ride. A floating Leota, I can deal with. Losing the narration about Leota, and about the hall of doors, I can deal with. But this somehow lessens everything that follows the attic scene.

potzbie
07-05-2006, 01:35 AM
The same most definitely cannot be said about sticking an axe-murdering bride into HM. Especially the substitution of an axe-murdering bride for the more romantic tale of a bride driven to suicide, and in turn driving the groom to his own suicide. Completely changes the whole tone of the ride.

Yes, it changes the tone of the ride.

But remember what WAS there, old-style: A bridal skeleton with a red-light beating heart.
That was pretty poor execution of what was probably considered a reasonably good idea.

(Imagine this monolog in a brain-storming session of Disney Imagineers: "Hey, guys, let's have a bride in the attic. Why the attic? I don't know. But listen to this. We'll have her be transparent. Got it? So the riders can see a red beating heart. What do you think?" -- What do I think? A poor idea, poorly implemented.)

The new bride, and the new attic, is head(s)-and-shoulders (pun) above what was there before.
So, you might say, they ruined it for the better.
Yes, the Attic Scene is out of character with what goes before, and what comes after.
But consistency of theme is not what makes or breaks a ride.
Is there more "Ooh-and-ah" factor in the new Attic, or the old Attic?

I will lay odds that the missing-head husband theme is a better theme that the old attic theme. -- Which was what, exactly?

hbquikcomjamesl
07-05-2006, 08:27 AM
The story I've heard, from enough sources to regard it as having at least some canonical standing, is specific to the DL HM.
A rather young, rather naive woman fell in love with a wealthy, retired sea captain with a large New Orleans mansion. Before they were to be married, he went to sea one last time, giving her the run of the mansion, except that she was never to enter the attic. He was late in returning, and only a short time before the wedding date, her curiosity got the better of her, and she went into the attic, discovering that he was neither a naval captain nor a merchant captain, but a PIRATE captain. Overcome with despair, she committed suicide by jumping out the attic window (hence the ghostly bride with the beating heart). When her fiancee returned, he found out what had happened, and overcome with remorse, he hung himself ("Of course, there's always MY way [out]").

It's my understanding that the "Master Gracey" backstory that's occasionally bandied about, by contrast, is specific to the WDW-MK HM.

If there is one thing that Disney theme parks are all about, it's STORYTELLING. Take a random example: Kilimanjaro Safaris. You could go to any number of places, and take a simple trip through or around a series of large animal enclosures. That's what you do at, say, the San Diego Wild Animal Park, whether you just ride the WGASA Bush Line (the name apparently originated because a slightly off-color remark about the search for a catchy name turned into an catchy acronym that sounded like a legitimate Swahili name) or an extra-cost ride in the back of a truck. But only at WDW-AK does your tour get drafted to help catch a band of poachers. Or Big Thunder: you can ride a roller coaster almost anywhere, but only in the Frontierlands of various Disney Magic Kingdoms can you ride a haunted mine train through what was once Nature's Wonderland.

So yes, inconsistency of theme, because it interferes with storytelling and therefore leads to therefore BAD SHOW, most certainly CAN break an attraction.

danyoung
07-05-2006, 11:01 AM
You can talk backstory all day (and most of us CAN!), but 95% of the people who will ever ride on HM haven't got a clue about it. So it comes down to impressive effects, and the new addistions are most impressive. I don't think they change the tone of the attraction in the least. The whole thing is a fairly macabre setting anyway, and an ax-weilding bride seems to fit right in.

doombuggy driver
07-05-2006, 08:41 PM
My family loves the new bride. She brings a unique element to the HM. My five year old DD thinks she is "awesome".

I wonder what they are going to do with her for the HM Holiday overlay?

Frogberto
07-06-2006, 12:57 PM
Yes, the "backstory" to the Haunted Mansion has been debunked again, and again... and uh, again, by the original imagineers that worked on the Haunted Mansion. They've described in detail in books (and doombuggies.com has a great bibliography), that they went back and forth after Walt's death, with people going in all directions, not sure of whether to make this attraction scary, or funny, or both. Some imagineers didn't even know what other imagineers were doing to other parts of the attraction.

Overall, they had a great eye for optical effects, and the finished product was gold, but there's not a backstory per se.

Put me down as one vote for the new bride! I DO!

JookyG
07-06-2006, 07:53 PM
I think the new bride is projected too brightly and stands out from the rest of the attic scene. It seems a bit out of place, especially since the husband photographs are so dark. That's my main complaint. Overall the effect is good and creepy, just too bright.

The new storyline will make more sense, I think, when the seance room updates are complete. Unfortunately, that also means we'll lose Eleanor Audley as the voice of Madame Leota, because they'll have to change the seance script. Sigh... Change is good...change is good...change is good....

animagusurreal
07-06-2006, 11:49 PM
I've only ridden once since the changes, and I'm going to delay my final vote until after all the changes are in place...

...but I miss the old bride. Sure, she didn't do much, but I think there was kind of a tragic quality about the way that she just stood there staring, with her heart beating, and that that made her creepier. The rest of the mansion was all macabre humor and silliness and effects, all these ghosts having a "swinging wake", and here was this one sad, lonely ghost... I think it made a nice contrast.

On the other hand, I will agree, there is more of an "ooh-and-ahh" factor now, and I do want to see the new bride a few more times.

I just got an idea - maybe they could work in a plotline about the new bride killing the old bride! I'm just kidding...but it could work :).