There’s good news for Tim Burton fans. Disneyland’s much acclaimed seasonal show — “Haunted Mansion Holiday” — is reportedly heading to WDW’s Magic Kingdom in 2004.
According to reliable sources, “HMH” — a Christmas-themed show which entirely changes the style and tone of Disney’s venerable “Haunted Mansion” attraction by adding an overlay of characters and decorative elements from Burton’s stop-motion cult favorite, “The Nightmare Before Christmas” — will be making its Orlando-area debut sometime in early October 2004.
Why’d it take Walt Disney World officials so long to import this obviously successful show from Anaheim to Orlando? WDW execs reportedly wanted to wait ’til “HMH”‘s second season (1st week of October 2002 – 1st week of January 2003) to see if Disneyland fans were still as gaga over Jack Skellington & Co. Given that “Haunted Mansion Holiday” was an even bigger hit with DLR guests during its second go-round, Disney World officials admitted that “HMH” wasn’t just a fluke but was a really-for-real hit with Disney theme park guests. Which is why they then finally began making plans to bring this highly acclaimed show to WDW’s Magic Kingdom.
Of course, given that this is the Walt Disney Company that we’re talking about here, the Mouse is going to try to make as much money as possible off of WDW’s “HMH” event. Which is why there are reportedly already plans in place to turn the crypt area (You know? That outdoor area — just beyond the attraction’s off-load area — that features all those awful grave-related puns: MT Tomb. CU Later. Hale N Hardy.) into a merch area. So that WDW guests — almost immediately after they get off the reworked attraction — would have the opportunity to buy “Haunted Mansion Holiday” t-shirts, key chains and limited edition pins.
Mind you, the various WDW “Haunted Mansion” merch areas that are already located in place (I.E. that shop and cart that are just outside the wrought-iron fence in the attraction’s entrance/exit area) will still remain in business. This additional crypt area shopping venue (which may or may not be operated on a seasonal basis — no official decision has been made on this matter yet) is just being created so that Disney World can get the maximum profit possible out of this seasonal show.
Current plans reportedly call for WDW’s “Haunted Mansion” to be closed during the first three weeks of September 2004 so that Disney World staffers can make the attraction’s initial “HMH” change-out. There’s also talk that Disney World will get its very own “Haunted Mansion Holiday” merchandise event, where Disneyana fans will pay top dollar for the privilege of getting to ride this sure-to-be-popular seasonal attraction early as well as purchase limited edition “HMH” merchandise. (Again, so WDW can make the maximum money possible off of this seasonal show.)
So when will Disney World officially unveils its plans to bring “Haunted Mansion Holiday” to Orlando? There’s been some talk that the Mouse will finally spill the beans this December as part of the “Mickey’s Philharmagic” grand opening press event. But a more likely scenario is that Mickey’s press reps will officially announce to reporters that Sandy Claws is coming to town sometime in the Spring of 2004.
“Food” to make way for Epcot’s “Soarin'”
Are you a fan of the “Food Rocks!” show over at “The Land” at Epcot? If so … well, you’d better get in those visits with Fud Rapper now while you can. For this lame Future World attraction (which replaced the marginally better “Kitchen Kaberet” attraction ‘way back in March 1994) is reportedly coming to a close soon.
So what show is going to replace Epcot’s “Food Rocks!”? No show at all. This theater space on the ground floor level of “The Land” pavilion will be gutted entirely and will eventually become the new queue area/pre-show for Epcot’s soon-to-begin-construction “Soarin'” attraction.
The two massive Omnimax theaters (which house all of the attraction’s “hang gliding” apparatus) will be built outside of the “The Land” pavilion building (yo the left of the building’s entrance, on the Epcot’s “Imagination” side of the pavilion).
And — sad as this is to say — it does in fact appear as if Epcot’s version of “Soarin'” (at least for the attraction’s first year or two of operation) will feature DCA’s “Soarin’ Over California” ride film. Why for? Well, the internal argument among WDI ‘s senior staffers goes something like this:
1. “Soarin’ Over California” flies over a lot of land. So it does — in fact — fit in with the theme of this Future World pavilion. Sort of.
2. The “Soarin'” ride film also zooms over orange groves and the ocean (where fish come from). So it also illustrates where various forms of food come from. Which — again — sort of re-enforces the theming/story-telling of Epcot’s “The Land” pavilion. Sort of.
3. “Soarin’ Over California” ends with a fly-over of Disneyland, during which WDW guests will get to see walk-around versions of Mickey and Minnie as well as a CG Tinker Bell. And — given that Epcot officials are always looking for logical ways to bring even more characters in this park — this is really a bonus.
Okay. I know. This all sounds like a massive rationalization. Which it is. But — when you really think about it — Epcot’s “Wonders of China” 360 film ran in Disneyland’s Circlevision theater for years and years and nobody ever said a peep about that.
Which is why WDW officials still think that they may be able to get away with running “Soarin’ Over California” at Epcot for at least a year or two. Admittedly, the attraction’s ride film may not really fit the theming and/or story of Disney World’s “Science & Discover Park.” But “Soarin'” ride technology is so entertaining, so innovative that WDW officials are fairly certain that this show will be a hit no matter what ride film is being presented.
FYI: There are already plans in place at WDI to create several new “Soarin'” ride films. The first new show — which was initially slated to debut at Hong Kong Disneyland — is reportedly themed around fly-overs of various Disney fantasy kingdoms (IE: Belle’s Village and the Beast’s castle, the palace in Agrabah, Tarzan’s treehouse in the jungle. You get the idea). However, given that Imagineering officials are reportedly not all that enthusiastic with how the CG versions of various Disney characters for “Mickey’s Philharmagic” turned out, I’ve heard that WDI may now hold off on going forward with this completely computer animated “Flights of Fantasy” project for a while. At least ’til the company’s CG technique and/or technology improves somewhat.
Disney to cut back on clones?
Now … given that I’ve just written about how Disney World is soon-to-get copies of two very popular Disneyland attractions, this last little story may seem somewhat unlikely. But I swear to you folks it’s true.
As part of his presentation at last month’s N.F.F.C. convention, Randy Baumberger (Disneyland’s senior VP of resort operations) dropped a bit of a baumshell … er … bombshell. During a question-and-answer session, Randy revealed that DLR resort officials are now having second thoughts about adding more clones of popular WDW attractions to the company’s Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure theme parks. Which means that those long rumored copies of “Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin” and “Rock n Roller Coaster with Aerosmith” may not being coming to Anaheim after all.
Why did the Mouse change its position on this matter? Well, where once Walt Disney Company officials may have thought that their corporate cloning practice was just being cost effective (hence that infamous PowerPoint presentation that continues to float around the internet), nowadays … well … there are lots of Disneyland ops people who believe that one of the main reasons that DCA has had some real problems winning over the public is because the park relied far too heavily on successful WDW shows (I.E. importing “Muppetvision 3D” from Disney-MGM and “It’s Tough to Be a Bug” from Disney’s Animal Kingdom).
So now … given that clones are currently out of favor (at least among Team Disney Anaheim executives), this is why DLR officials have reportedly putting off extremely intriguing sounding projects like DCA’s “Sunset Boulevard” expansion area. But — on the upside — this means that both Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure may soon be seeing some all-new rides, shows and attractions.
Might one of these attractions be a new “Finding Nemo” themed overlay for Disneyland’s long-neglected Submarines? Well, that’s one of the ideas that WDI reportedly has in the works right now. As news on that particularly intriguing project continues to leak out of Imagineering headquarters in Glendale, JimHillMedia.com will keep you posted. Okay?
Your thoughts?