And the Ghosts Will Take Care of the Inside...
Grettings Ghost Fans,
Nearly 45 years ago, Walt Disney told Ken Anderson that he wanted everything in his parks to be clean and upkept. While his vision of the Haunted Mansion was close, he didn't want it looking dirty or dilapidated. This addage continued with Walt Disney World for many years until it transformed into what we see today. However, the two Non-Western parks break Walt's tradition entirely. While it does interfere with Walt's original vision, it helps the overall theme that the house is indeed haunted.
In Tokyo, there are many great areas seldom seen given the park capacity. Most of the time you can walk right up to the entrance to enter the Mansion. When the park is full though, you must travel back through a highly developed queue area which reveals a lot more:
One area features a fountain, still in somewhat working order. Close to this area is a pet cemetery as well.
Something that differs from the Walt Disney World Mansion is the addition of a side wing that helps hide the facade. Also visible in this photo is a second copy of the tombstones seen at the entrance area.
A large courtyard behind a tall iron gate features some broken down and nearly destroyed crypts. One even appears to be broken into... perhaps...
It appears that whoever was blocking this corpse in got quite a surprise. No one was breaking in, but rather something breaking out as evident by the skeletal footprints in the mortar.
Nearly 45 years ago, Walt Disney told Ken Anderson that he wanted everything in his parks to be clean and upkept. While his vision of the Haunted Mansion was close, he didn't want it looking dirty or dilapidated. This addage continued with Walt Disney World for many years until it transformed into what we see today. However, the two Non-Western parks break Walt's tradition entirely. While it does interfere with Walt's original vision, it helps the overall theme that the house is indeed haunted.
In Tokyo, there are many great areas seldom seen given the park capacity. Most of the time you can walk right up to the entrance to enter the Mansion. When the park is full though, you must travel back through a highly developed queue area which reveals a lot more:
One area features a fountain, still in somewhat working order. Close to this area is a pet cemetery as well.
Something that differs from the Walt Disney World Mansion is the addition of a side wing that helps hide the facade. Also visible in this photo is a second copy of the tombstones seen at the entrance area.
A large courtyard behind a tall iron gate features some broken down and nearly destroyed crypts. One even appears to be broken into... perhaps...
It appears that whoever was blocking this corpse in got quite a surprise. No one was breaking in, but rather something breaking out as evident by the skeletal footprints in the mortar.
posted by Ghost Relations Dept. at 10:41 AM
5 Comments:
WOW! That's so cool and detailed! I have to say, that as much as Walt's vision is important, the imagineers have really taken it upon themselves to make the ride experience fully immersive! I wish we had this at WDW!
I wonder how Walt would feel about the Tower of Terror in WDW. He probably wouldn't like the state of disrepair that it's in.
The last picture was intense.
With all due respect to the Maestro, I always thought the policy of keeping the exterior of the Haunted Mansion pristine was a pretty weak lapse in visual communication. I understand his semi-neurotic desire to keep everything looking picture perfect, but in the case of what is supposed to be a haunted house, making it look old and dilapidated is picture perfect.
As it stands, the Mansion in Anaheim is two different attractions. The exterior is a set-piece that compliments New Orleans Square with a plantation manor. The interior is a separate attraction of a trip through a haunted house.
I'm glad that the needs of an international market led Jeff Burke to make the Phantom Manor actually look like an abandoned mansion. It had to be able to communicate, visually, what it was to visitors that spoke any one of dozens of languages.
This Tokyo version looks pretty much awesome as well. I can't wait until I get to see it in person next year!
Wonderful shots!
Someday I will get to TDL...
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