Any WDW Haunted Mansion Holiday Updates?

[jennib5426]

We went to the opening night party for NBC/HM last year in Disneyland.
It seemed pretty popular to me, the tickets for the party sold out in a day, three months before the event. They put on a huge celebration for the opening with a preticketed party, food, drinks, games, band, dancing and all the cast members in great costumes. The drinks were a rum punch with green glow sticks, so cool!! The CM were in scary costumes, this was an adult event. One cm was running around with a knife in his head!
I met people at the party that had come from all over the world for this event.
I had never seen the NBC overlay before and I have to say it was incredable!!
Such detail and theming. Even if you don't know NBC you would enjoy the Halloween theming. It would be a shame not to have it again.
If it does come back next year I recommend taking a special trip just for that to DL, it is well worth it. I will be going back if it returns in the future.

 

[TDC Nala]

Actually Nightmare Before Christmas isn't very popular on the west coast either.

I'm sort of mystified by this considering I was out there in July and the store in New Orleans Square where they generally sell Haunted Mansion-themed stuff (I believe it is called Bat en Rouge, ha ha ha) now sells nothing but TNBC-related items. The CM there said the HM merchandise wasn't selling and she didn't see it coming back.

 

[NewEnglandDisney]

The 'east coasters' would be in for a real treat if this came to WDW.
The best thing about this show is, for those who don't want to see the old HM change, it will be back to its original self after the holidays are over. It's a win, win, win, win situation.

Ah, but that is the crux of the issue of bringing it over to the MK.

The average WDW and the average Disneyland guest are quite different.

It wouldn't be a "win win win" at WDW. Disneyland has many, many more locals attending - the average person who visits Disneyland lives within a days drive OR are visiting the area in general and stop in at Disneyland. This is unlike WDW which is a vacation destination - i.e. people don't just "happen" upon Orlando or even that area of Florida in general, they simply wouldn't travel there if it didn't exist.

The MK simply can't afford the same luxury of having 6-8 weeks of downtime every year where the HM is totally closed, and it's unlikely that it would add to any bottom line for the theme park. It works at Disneyland because they can advertise it to the locals - but Disney World isn't going to create a world-wide marketing awareness for a temporary exhibit. Therefore, most people would be unaware of it making it's value as an attraction to bring more people into the park much less than it is at Disneyland. All tolled, the traditional HM would be down for five months to do this - and WDW can't afford that many guests to not see a classic attraction.

So while the novelty would be "neat" for Disney fans who get to go to the parks regularly (even just every few months like myself), it wouldn't benefit the average Disney visitor enough to make the huge expense worthwhile. This is especially true because the Hanuted Mansion would need some severe upgrades in order to handle the overlay - the HM isn't in the best shape backstage at the moment (which is why an extensive, IASW-style rehab is expected in the next year or three anyway) to do so.

I agree with the rationale - I would much rather they put the money into permanent additions, as opposed to temporary overlays that only people who travel during specific times of year with ever experience and would cause the Haunted Mansion to go down for such an extended period of time on each end of the installation.

N.E.D.

 

[xmelissax]

Actually Nightmare Before Christmas isn't very popular on the west coast either.

I'm sort of mystified by this considering I was out there in July and the store in New Orleans Square where they generally sell Haunted Mansion-themed stuff (I believe it is called Bat en Rouge, ha ha ha) now sells nothing but TNBC-related items. The CM there said the HM merchandise wasn't selling and she didn't see it coming back.

I agree. I am from Anaheim and have an AP to Disneyland and the Nightmare Before Christmas stuff is always really popular here. Not only at Disneyland but I see kids wearing NBC hoodies and having NBC bags etc all the time. It's pretty popular with a lot of people here, especially teenagers/

 

[mikey13v]

Actually Nightmare Before Christmas isn't very popular on the west coast either.

I'm sort of mystified by this considering I was out there in July and the store in New Orleans Square where they generally sell Haunted Mansion-themed stuff (I believe it is called Bat en Rouge, ha ha ha) now sells nothing but TNBC-related items. The CM there said the HM merchandise wasn't selling and she didn't see it coming back.

I agree that TNBC has become very popular at DL, and that is due to the success of Haunted Mansion Holidays. But as a whole, the movie is accepted just the same on the west coast as the east coast.

I don't know how long DL's downtime lasts for the changeover, but I doubt it's anywhere near 5 months each year. And for those that arn't able to see the origingal when they visit, they will not be dissapointed, the NBC HM is a much better HM than the original, the only problem is that the holiday theme wouldn't work as well through the rest of the year.

Also, Our family visits DL very often, and it's much more than a day's drive. I do agree that there are many locals that visit DL, but it is still a destination location. WDW has many visitors that come multiple times throughout the year. I highly doubt that someone that really wants to see the original would not be able to.