Shhhhh Listen! - Happy Blogiversary!
Greetings Ghost Fans,
Today marks a special occasion. The Ghost Relations Dept blog has been online for one year today! That being said, today's post is a big one!
Today we look at something that wasn't, then was, and now isn't again.
Back in the planning stages of the Haunted Mansion, elements from one part of the show could have been used elsewhere first, and transferred later.
As the Doombuggies travel to the second floor of the mansion, the Ghost Host exclaims, "Every room has wall to wall creeps, and hot and cold running chills.... Shhhh.... Listen...." At this point we are at the endless hall where candles slowly float back and forth. In 1995, the added lines about the Conservatory and Madame Leota were added back into the ride dialog. Some people thought that these lines were out of place, afterall, the Ghost Host just told us to be quiet so that we could hear the conservatory and the corridor screams... or did he? In the early planning stages of the Endless Hall, the candles were not even there. The main effect with the endless hall was to be the sound of ghostly footsteps clanking closer and closer to the entrance of the hall, even coming as far as a few feet in front of the doombuggies. With each step, the sheer force of the sound would rattle the nearby suit of armor. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FOOTSTEPS
In fact, with the placement of the speakers, it appears that this effect would have been an early type of surround sound as the audio would move from speaker to speaker as it came closer.
As the planning for Disneyland continued, Walt Disney World was also being planned. The Mansion at Disney World has a few more show scenes than Disneyland. Its first scene once on the ride is a small staircase and balcony with floating candles. Why would the Haunted Mansion have one set of candles on a staircase, then another set later? It would be redundant. Documentation shows that the only prop even near the endless hall was to be the suit of armor.
One area of interest for Disneyland Mansion was that instead of the floating candles to appear in the endless hall, they were to be floating with all of the other floating objects, the Seance. While the blueprint here only shows candles, an alternate blueprint set with the effects labeled clearly reads Floating Candleabra on the right hand side of the room near the Floating Drum.
Reasoning as to why the effect never came to be, was possibly because of the speed of the doombuggies. The slow clanking wouldn't be moving fast enough to really give the feeling that something was walking forward. This in turn makes the Ghost Host line about "Shhhh.... Listen" a little out of place.
NOTE: Thanks to Dan Olsen for bringing the missing candles to my attention!
As a last reminder: this is the final week of voting for the Disney Dream Job contest from CareerBuilder.com I need all of the votes I can get. I appreciate all of them!
http://www.careerbuilder.com/disneydreamjobs/dream-job-applicant.asp?jtid=3&ytid=CuWI2eLknds
Thanks again, and Happy Blogiversary!
-- The Ghost Relations Dept.
Today marks a special occasion. The Ghost Relations Dept blog has been online for one year today! That being said, today's post is a big one!
Today we look at something that wasn't, then was, and now isn't again.
Back in the planning stages of the Haunted Mansion, elements from one part of the show could have been used elsewhere first, and transferred later.
As the Doombuggies travel to the second floor of the mansion, the Ghost Host exclaims, "Every room has wall to wall creeps, and hot and cold running chills.... Shhhh.... Listen...." At this point we are at the endless hall where candles slowly float back and forth. In 1995, the added lines about the Conservatory and Madame Leota were added back into the ride dialog. Some people thought that these lines were out of place, afterall, the Ghost Host just told us to be quiet so that we could hear the conservatory and the corridor screams... or did he? In the early planning stages of the Endless Hall, the candles were not even there. The main effect with the endless hall was to be the sound of ghostly footsteps clanking closer and closer to the entrance of the hall, even coming as far as a few feet in front of the doombuggies. With each step, the sheer force of the sound would rattle the nearby suit of armor. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FOOTSTEPS
In fact, with the placement of the speakers, it appears that this effect would have been an early type of surround sound as the audio would move from speaker to speaker as it came closer.
As the planning for Disneyland continued, Walt Disney World was also being planned. The Mansion at Disney World has a few more show scenes than Disneyland. Its first scene once on the ride is a small staircase and balcony with floating candles. Why would the Haunted Mansion have one set of candles on a staircase, then another set later? It would be redundant. Documentation shows that the only prop even near the endless hall was to be the suit of armor.
One area of interest for Disneyland Mansion was that instead of the floating candles to appear in the endless hall, they were to be floating with all of the other floating objects, the Seance. While the blueprint here only shows candles, an alternate blueprint set with the effects labeled clearly reads Floating Candleabra on the right hand side of the room near the Floating Drum.
Reasoning as to why the effect never came to be, was possibly because of the speed of the doombuggies. The slow clanking wouldn't be moving fast enough to really give the feeling that something was walking forward. This in turn makes the Ghost Host line about "Shhhh.... Listen" a little out of place.
NOTE: Thanks to Dan Olsen for bringing the missing candles to my attention!
As a last reminder: this is the final week of voting for the Disney Dream Job contest from CareerBuilder.com I need all of the votes I can get. I appreciate all of them!
http://www.careerbuilder.com/disneydreamjobs/dream-job-applicant.asp?jtid=3&ytid=CuWI2eLknds
Thanks again, and Happy Blogiversary!
-- The Ghost Relations Dept.
posted by Ghost Relations Dept. at 10:43 AM
3 Comments:
Happy blogiversary. Doesn't seem like a year. Thanks for the hat tip too.
This footstep gag appears to be assumed on the Haunted Mansion record as well. Mike and Karen hide from footsteps (and other stuff) coming down the hall.
The floating candelabra seems so "right" that it's hard to believe it was almost an afterthought. Kinda like the HHG's and the substitution of Ghost Host monologue for the talking raven: some of the "last minute" decisions were among the best.
Happy anniversary!
-The Chef
Yeah! Congratulaions on your anniversary. Looking forward to many more!
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