Episode 5 show notes

Mouse fest site. www.mousefest.org

Pirates and princess party

Dates:January 22, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM
January 26, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM
January 29, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM
February 1, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM
February 5, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM
February 8, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM
February 12, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM
February 15, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM
February 23, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM
February 26, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM
March 2, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM
March 5, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM
March 8, 2007, 7:30PM - 12:30AM

Closings

Closures and Rehabs at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure
· Matterhorn Bobsleds closed August 28-November 22 for complete refurbishment.
· Haunted Mansion closed September 5-28 for installation of the Haunted Mansion overlay.
· Golden Horseshoe closed September 5- October 6 for refurbishment and menu change. No word on what will happen to the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show during this time.
· Snow White-An Enchanted Musical’s last show will be September 4th. No replacement show has been announced.
· Disneyland Railroad will close September 18-22 for what is assumed to be general maintenance.
· Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage is currently under construction and will open sometime in 2007.
· Gadget’s Go Coaster will close beginning October 2nd for about 6 weeks for general maintenance.
· Disneyland Monorail is in shuttle mode, with one way trips only. Complete closure for station redesign will happen sometime later in 2006.
· Francis’ Lady Bug Boogie at DCA is closed until further notice.
· Disney’s Aladdin-A Musical Spectacular will be dark September 11th through October 1st.
· California Screamin’ closed October 2-5 but will probably be down longer for maintenance. We will also put those in the show notes.



Fly: and for you Disney World lovers out there here are your closings.
Water Parks
· No closings scheduled
EPCOT
· Wonders of Life - Seasonal Operation
· Living Seas is converting the ride vehicles into “Clamobiles” as part of the change to “The Seas With Nemo and Friends.” The stars of Nemo will appear to swim with the marine life. Expected to be completed in Fall of 2006 (The Liviing Seas is open during this conversion)
Magic Kingdom Park
· Cinderellabration to have final performance on September 16
· Mickey’s Country House closed for refurbishment from Sept/11 - Sept/15/06, reopening on 9/16/06
· Liberty Square Riverboat closed for refurbishment on August /30 and will re open on Sept./8/06
· The Mad Tea Party - Closed Aug/21 - Aug/22, reopening Aug/23/06
· The Hall of Presidents - Closed on Sept/11 - Sept/24 , reopening Sept/25/06
Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park
· Theater in the Wild closed for refurbishment on January 22, 2006 .”Finding Nemo - The Musical” is replacing “Tarzan Rocks.” Expected opening late 2006
Disney’s MGM Studios
· Fantasmic! - Closed for refurbishment November/1/06 - November/8/06. Reopens on Nov/9/06
· Who Wants to be a Millionaire-Play It! - Permanent closure on August 19, 2006.
· Lights, Motor, Action! Extreme Stunt Show - Closed for refurbishment from 9/14 - 9/19/06, reopening 9/20/06
Downtown Disney
· West End Stage and Hub Stage at Pleasure Island will be under refurbishment thru late 2006
Diz: Disney Resorts
· Polynesian - Captain Cook’s restaurant closed for refurbushing from June/19 thru Fall of 2006. Temporary relocation at the Tangaroa Terrace will offer a limited menu. No refilable mugs sold/refilled during this transition.


Attraction of the week.

History



Artist Harper Goff was commissioned in the mid-1950s to design the attraction, which was originally conceived by Walt Disney as a walk-through ghost house. The house originally had a rural American design and was intended to be at the end of a crooked path that led away from Disneyland's Main Street area. Eventually the decision was made to place it in the New Orleans Square section of the park, and thus the attraction was themed as a haunted antebellum mansion. The Haunted Mansion's design went through many changes before its facade was completed in 1963, six years before it would open to the public, delayed by Disney's involvement in the New York World's Fair in 1964 and 1965. At one point Disney's concept was to be entirely walk-through and empty out at a restaurant with a theme of "The Museum of the Weird"; this would be similar to other attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean, which is paired with the Blue Bayou restaurant. Plans were designed for this concept, but then abandoned.
In what might be considered an odd twist for a supposedly abandoned structure, the exterior appears new and the surrounding grounds meticulously maintained. Designers wanted to make the exterior of The Haunted Mansion look like the stereotypical haunted house, but Disney himself overrode the idea, claiming, "We'll let the ghosts take care of the inside. We'll take care of the outside." [citation needed]
On August 9, 1969, the Disneyland version of the attraction was completed and has remained essentially unchanged, with the exception of the yearly conversion to the "Haunted Mansion Holiday" (discussed below). The attraction opened at the Magic Kingdom in 1971 when the park opened, and has also never been remodeled since the ride's debut.
[edit]
Attraction walkthrough
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Foyer/Stretching Gallery: Guests stand in line outside the mansion, and are led into a spooky parlor by Cast Members dressed as maids and butlers. From there, the guests are brought into an octagonal room, where the door they entered through becomes a wall, and the chilling voice of Paul Frees taunts them:
Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis. Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your imagination, hmm? And consider this dismaying observation: this chamber has no windows, and no doors... which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out! Of course, there's always my way...
As the voice speaks, the walls quietly seem to stretch upwards, elongating the Marc Davis-designed paintings on them to reveal the comedic fates of previous guests. For instance, one man is seen in the dress of minor nobility...and red and white striped boxer shorts...while standing on a keg of dynamite with a lit fuse. Another portrait shows a demure young woman holding a parasol...and calmly balancing on an unraveling tightrope...above the hungry jaws of a waiting crocodile (see the backstory section below). The other two are as follows: in one, an old lady was sitting atop a tall gravestone, and in the other, a man with sideburns was sitting on a fat, mustachoid man, who was sitting atop a lean, pale-looking gentleman who was chest-deep in quicksand. The lights go out, lightning and thunder effects fill the gallery and, in a rare instance of Disneyland "dark humor," a glimpse of the earthly remains of the "Ghost Host" is shown dangling by a noose from the ceiling rafters above. At the attraction in Disneyland, the room is, in fact, an elevator with no roof that is being lowered slowly to give the illusion that the room itself is stretching; this brings the guests down to where the ride begins, below ground level. The ceiling above is a piece of fabric called a scrim, which conceals the hanging body until it is lit from above. This elevator effect was necessary to lower the guests below the level of the park-circling railroad at Disneyland. The actual ride building of this attraction is located outside of the berm surrounding the park, and the Disney Imagineers developed this mechanism to lower the guests to the gallery leading to the actual ride building. This stretching room effect is duplicated at the three Mansions at other Disney theme parks, but only one of these requires guests being moved beyond the railroad tracks. The Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland attractions have stretching rooms with ascending ceilings, rather than descending floors. Only Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris uses the same descending floor as Disneyland, also to transport guests beneath the railroad toward the structure containing the major portion of the ride.
Changing Portrait Gallery: When the walls finally do open, guests are ushered into an art gallery with paintings that depict seemingly innocent scenes. Windows on the left give guests a peek at the thunderstorm raging outside. With every flash of lightning, the paintings flicker with ghastly images (including, but not limited to, a demure young woman sprouting snakes from her scalp, a la Medusa, and a magnificent sailing ship at sea becoming a tattered and ghostly version thereof in a storm). The grim busts of a man and woman placed at the end of the hall seem to turn their heads, glaring at the guests as they walk past. The effect, patented by Disney, was achieved by creating inverted busts: they actually recede into the wall. A combination of dim lighting, optical illusion, and wishful thinking make the busts appear to stare at the passing guests. The effect is unnerving and extremely convincing. (A similar effect is used in the Hollywood Backlot section of Disney's California Adventure.)
Hallways of the Mansion: The main stretch of the attraction consists of a continuous track of "Doom Buggies" in which the guests sit as they are brought through the mansion. The "Doom Buggies" are actually Disney's Omnimover system which "pan" the riders to focus their attention on specific scenes, much as a cinematographer would pan a motion picture camera. The special effects throughout the ride were groundbreaking when the mansion first opened. After ascending a dark staircase, guests embark on an eerie journey through the mansion and witness some amazing sights, all created with special effects. In the ride at Walt Disney World, guests see the library scene that involves a group of staring busts and a piano playing on its own accord. In the Disneyland ride, guests glimpse at the infamous Endless Hallway, a corridor which appears endless with a floating candelabra in its centre; a conservatory that contains a coffin with a ghost trapped within, his skeletal hand trying to pry the lid open as he keeps crying to be let out; a long haunting corridor full of knocking doors from the inside (not to mention one that looks like it is breathing); and a ghostly grandfather clock with a demonic physique and 13 hours on it, a dark shadow of a claw passing over it as it chimes midnight (this clock is, in fact, moving backwards).
The Séance and the Ballroom: Guests enter a dark séance room full of floating musical instruments. Madame Leota, a gypsy trapped within a crystal ball, summons the mansion's spirits as she floats gracefully around the table. A wispy green spirit flies around in the corner of the room. Next, visitors are whisked up a dark spiral staircase. As guests pass into the magnificent grand ballroom, the happy haunts begin to materialize. Translucent couples waltz to the musical rantings of macabre organist, while a ghostly birthday party appears to be taking place at the dining table. Some spirits sit on the chandeliers, engorging themselves with wine. All the ghosts in this scene are created using the Pepper's Ghost effect. An important part of Disney history is located in the ballroom scene of the original Anaheim attraction, that is the Hidden Mickey, you might see it. The pipe organ on the far left of the scene is the original prop from the studio's 1954 release, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Prior to the construction of the Haunted Mansion, the organ had been on display in a shop in the "Main Street, U.S.A." area of the park.
The Attic: After leaving the ballroom, guests work their way through the mansion's eerie attic. A ghostly bride's dead heart sends a throbbing red glow through her billowing gown while a phantom pianist pounds out a minor-key rendition of Wagner's wedding march (Here Comes the Bride). All around the attic, playful spooks pop up behind random junk and scream "I do!", as if wanting to marry the ill-fated bride. As of May 2006, the attic features a collection of wedding gifts, personal items, mementos, and wedding portraits. In each portrait, a common bride is featured with a different groom, whose head disappears to the accompaniment of a hatchet sound. Just before the Doom Buggies leave the attic, the same ghostly bride from the pictures is seen floating in the air, intoning wedding-related phrases. As she raises her arms, a hatchet appears in her hands.
The Graveyard: The Doom Buggies exit the attic onto a balcony in the windy night. Stars twinkle overhead in the cold black sky. Ahead, guests can see ghosts rise up from the ground, and a mysterious fog covering the Graveyard below. The Doombuggies turn around and plunge backwards down the side of the mansion, surrounded by ghostly trees with knotted expressions. On an overhead branch, a crow caws mockingly at the guests. The Doombuggies reach the ground, and turn towards the Graveyard's gate, where a Grave Keeper stands, his knees shaking in fright an expression of horror on his face. Beside him is his dog, whining and whimpering in fear. Around the corner, a ghostly band plays a jazzy rendition of "Grim Grinning Ghosts". A king and queen balance on a teeter-totter, while a young princess swings back and forth from a tree branch, all of them singing with the band members. The Doombuggies travel down a hill and turn to see "The Phantom Five," five singing busts continuing the song of "Grim Grinning Ghosts". Next, guests encounter a tea party of sorts, where ghosts are having a "swinging wake" and singing along too. Next, guests see a mummy and an old man. The old man tries to listen to what the mummy is saying through an ear phone, but the mummy is just too hard to understand underneath its bandages. The Doombuggies turn to face two opera singers, blasting their voices up into the night. Beside them are three other ghosts, a headless knight, a prisoner, and an executioner, who also join in the song.
The Exit Crypt: At last, guests pass into a crypt where they encounter the attraction's unofficial mascots, the three Hitchhiking Ghosts. Passing by three large mirrors, they realize that one ghost has hitched a ride in each Doom Buggy. Guests disembark and are bid farewell by a tiny woman, nicknamed "Little Leota" by fans and Disney Imagineers (as this is the second appearance of Leota Toombs, who also provided the face of Madame Leota), before returning to the outside world.
Facts and trivia
Though the attraction is delightfully creepy throughout, the mood progresses from downright eerie to morbidly light-hearted. Imagineer Claude Coats was mainly responsible for the dimly-lit, mysterious interiors of the first half of the ride. In these areas, the happy haunts are never directly seen, leaving the real scares to the guests' imagination. After the séance room, the mansion's inhabitants begin materializing, and the influence of animator Marc Davis becomes apparent. The characters become comical and zany, although the circumstances are quite morbid. The final scenes in the graveyard are kept light by the morbidly kooky song "Grim Grinning Ghosts."




The other incarnations of the ride are very similar, but are not without their differences. The Haunted Mansion is the only ride to appear in a different location of the park in each of the Disney theme parks. The Magic Kingdom's version of the ride is located in Liberty Square and has a Gothic Revival facade. The Disneyland version is located in New Orleans Square. Tokyo Disneyland (which does not have a Liberty Square or a New Orleans area) placed the Mansion in Fantasyland. The version at Disneyland Paris is in Frontierland, and is named The Phantom Manor; it is designed in a Second Empire architectural style. The Phantom Manor features a full orchestral score, an Old West theme, and a more cohesive storyline than the other three Mansions.
In the ballroom scene of the Disneyland Haunted Mansion, one of the floor-to-ceiling panes of glass that is used to create the Pepper's Ghost effect has damage at the guests' level that is a circular puncture, which is rumored to be a bullet hole. The damaged area has been disguised by a spider and its web. Because of the size of these panes of glass, it is impossible for it to be replaced without removing the roof of the show building.
In 1999, a retrospective of the art of the Haunted Mansion was featured at the Disney Gallery above the entrance to The Pirates of the Caribbean. When the 2003 film The Haunted Mansion was released, a retrospective of its art was featured in the gallery as well.
Beginning in 2001, the Disneyland attraction is changed for about three months just prior to Halloween until just after the new year, into "Haunted Mansion Holiday," a theme based on the 1993 Tim Burton stop-motion animation feature, The Nightmare Before Christmas. In 2004, Tokyo Disneyland received its version, "Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare." The Magic Kingdom attraction was rumored to receive its own version of the overlay for the first time in 2005, but the differences between Disneyland and Walt Disney World's visitors (more locals at the former versus occasional vacationers at the latter) have made the possibility of the Magic Kingdom receiving the temporary overlay less likely.
On October 21, 2004, a bidder on a Disney-sponsored auction on eBay won the right to be the first non-Disneyland employee to have his name added to an attraction. Cary Sharp, a doctor and health-care attorney from Baton Rouge, Louisiana placed a winning bid of US$37,400 to become Disneyland's "1000th ghost" with the addition of his nickname, a joke epitaph and the signatures of Disney "Imagineers" on a tombstone to be displayed in the attraction. Its placement was guaranteed for ten years and will remain as a permanent exhibit. According to the Los Angeles Times, the opening bid of $750 was placed by horror novelist Clive Barker. Sharp, who had only visited Disneyland once before, placed the bid in good faith as a way to entertain his friends and never expected to win. The tombstone is located in the finale and can be seen just as the "Doom Buggy" enters the graveyard gates. The name on the tombstone is "Jay."
The money has been donated to the Boys and Girls Club. Half went to the local Anaheim chapter of the main charity while the other half went to the Baton Rouge chapter.
In October 2005, Slave Labor Graphics began publishing a bimonthly Haunted Mansion comic book anthology giving the Disneyland Mansion a backstory, with the main recurring story of Master Gracey recalling the old sea captain storyline.
[edit]
Storyline
Note: The information below has never been confirmed or denied by The Walt Disney Company or by Walt Disney Imagineering.
The story behind the ghosts of the Haunted Mansion, while having many theories, has never been completely substantiated. However, one commonly accepted story goes as follows:
The Mansion was built in 1671, on the site of an Indian burial ground, by a Dutch patrician named Ubbe van der Iwerks, a play on the name of animator Ub Iwerks. It seemed to possess a strange nature throughout its history, as even he reported eerie goings-on. Van der Iwerks' family eventually lost control of the Mansion, and over the next two centuries it served as a bordello and pirate retreat. Then in the late 19th century, it was bought by the Graceys, a wealthy Rhode Island family. Master William Gracey, Jr., the scion (born 1890), fell under the spell (perhaps literally) of Madame Leota, an evil amateur spiritualist from Louisiana who hoped to gain great powers by summoning spirits. She became the young Master's advisor (as well as an illicit lover), taking up residence in the Mansion and attracting people from far and wide with her séances. While many of them were undoubtedly fakes, it is undeniable that she managed to draw in several spirits, and make the already cursed house a magnet for intense spiritual activity.
Gracey eventually married Lillian O'Malley, a Georgia trapeze artist; however, he likely had several affairs with Leota after his marriage, much to Lillian's detriment. Leota grew violently jealous and in 1937 convinced Lillian to perform her trapeze act once more; she then magically undid the rope as Lillian was crossing an alligator-infested river, whereupon she fell in and was devoured. (This scene, of course, is depicted in the "stretching" portrait in the entrance room.)
Distraught, Gracey was shortly thereafter introduced to Emily Cavanagh, his second cousin, who had recently lost her parents. The 16-year-old girl was quite taken with him, and fell head over heels in love. But on their honeymoon in 1941, she and her new husband played hide and seek. She hid in a large trunk in the attic. But Leota snuck in, and pulled the lock. Panicked, Emily suffocated. Her ghost is the eerie bride in the attic. As if to add injury to insult, during her funeral, Leota made the horses drawing the hearse panic, rushing off into the Florida swampland and driving Emily's wedding ring, knocked from her coffin, deep into the front walk, where it could never be moved. Emily's body itself was never found.
In early 1943, when Leota tried to use the Mansion to conjure up more powerful spirits, Gracey refused. In the ensuing discussion, Leota told him that she had killed his ex-wives. Finally realizing her danger, he tried to escape, but found all escape routes cut off, as Leota was controlling all the servants. She then began a spell which would imprison him in her crystal ball. Trapped, Gracey hung himself in the Mansion's attic rather than be imprisoned by Leota. As a result, the spell reversed, trapping Leota herself in her own ball, where she remains to this day.
Leota also had a daughter, commonly known as "Little Leota". Her father's identity was never disclosed, but at social functions, whenever she gestured toward Master Gracey, he would blush and remain silent. She was quite a practical joker, with an extremely macabre sense of humor, always enjoying scaring people. (One of the other ghosts, the housekeeper, was actually scared to death by her.) She would often stand outside the property gates, telling guests leaving her mother's séances to "hurry back" and "Bring your death certificate." She was also quite a flirt, and seduced many men who stayed at the Mansion. Three men whom she was never able to reach were the Graceys' butler, footman, and handyman, who were understandably frightened of the consequences of any affair. Finally, one day she had had enough. She lured the men out into the nearby swamp with Hellhound, the Graceys' bloodhound, where they eventually blundered into a patch of quicksand. The three stood on each others' shoulders to try and reach a tree branch, but to no avail. (This scene too is depicted in the "stretching room".) Meanwhile, Little Leota sat in a nearby tree, laughing. But then the branch snapped under her weight and she too fell in.
The biggest death that took place in the Haunted Mansion was in the cemetery. The Graceys had a Halloween party in their cemetery for the towns folk. Victoria Boufout, Master Gracey's great aunt (the ghost in the ballroom with the birthday cake) hosted the party and gave all of the guests name tags with names like "Dustin T. Dust" and "M.T. Tomb". The party was in full swing during the course of the evening, with a musical band, a see-saw made out of a gravestone and a plank of wood and even a crashed hearse. But near the end of the party everyone except the Graceys died, from contaminated water used to make the tea everyone was drinking. Most of the ghosts can be seen in the graveyard scene of the ride.

Top ten. My least favorite attractions at disney world.

10. Hall of presidents. Its just really boring.
9. Mad Tea Party. You can go on this ride anywhere.
8. Cinderella’s Golden Carrousel... Once again not unique to the Disney parks.
7. MGM Backlott tour. This ride really stinks.
6. Basically anything at animal kingdom. No offense to anyone who likes this park.. But I don’t like it.
5. Mission Space. Any ride that kills more than one person should not be at Disney world.
4. El Rio Del tiempo. Its just stupid. Its like a Mexican version of its a small world.
3. The updated version of Journey into your imagination. This original was way better.
2. Living with the land. It makes me snore. Especially if your guide is really boring.
1. My least favorite ride at Walt Disney world is Stitches great escape. I can’t name one person who actually enjoys this attraction. I’m guessing all they did was put Stitch into Alien Encounter. And that was my Top TEN.

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COUNTDOWN TO PIRATES 3
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