avoiding the haunted mansion stretch room

[DisneyOma]

I bypassed the stretching room in July. Just pay attention to which door the entrance is. DH knocked on the wrong one and disturbed a CM’s break. He was nice and showed us the correct door.

Knocking on doors? You just ask one of the CMs that work there - you might have to wait for them to load the room (so it doesn't really get you on the ride any faster, BTW) but one sure way of getting a fancy escort out of the parks is to go around opening staff doors, etc.

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

Knocking on doors? You just ask one of the CMs that work there - you might have to wait for them to load the room (so it doesn't really get you on the ride any faster, BTW) but one sure way of getting a fancy escort out of the parks is to go around opening staff doors, etc.

Umm I never said we wanted to get on the ride faster- we actually waited for the rest of our group in the herding room instead of running to a doombuggy. And no worries we dont go around knocking on random doors at Disney or anywhere else. I can also Assure you we will never need a fancy escort out of Disney.

 

[Cinderella94]

....but one sure way of getting a fancy escort out of the parks is to go around opening staff doors, etc.

To be fair, she didn't say they went ahead and opened a door, she said they knocked. No one is getting a fancy escort out of anywhere for knocking somewhere. (I don't have a horse in this race either way, I've never skipped the stretching room so have no idea if it requires knocking)

 

[OhhBother]

My mom loves to tell the story of when my little sister was very young and we were all waiting to ride HM. As the Ghost Host said, "There's no windows and no doors...," my sister had a full-on screaming meltdown. Mom loves to say a door very quickly materialized as the staff got my sister out of there! LOL (And, no, she wasn't traumatized. She's in her 40s now loves the ride!)

 

[MinnieMSue]

I have much much more claustrophobia after the stretch room than in it. That crush where the crowd funnels down to single file is awful. I try to get to the back of the herd coming out of the stretch room. (To my daughter’s dismay)

 

[North of Mouse]

Not in the MK version of HM.
That is only true of the HM in Disneyland.
(The MK version does not lower guests at all, it is just an "effect.")

Sort of like the effect of the hydrolator in 'old' Living Seas where you went 'down' into the sea with bubbles on sides and shaking floor!! This was really cool. (actually may have gone down one floor - can't remember) They are truly missing the point of 'under the sea' in new version. Oh, well, I digress - sorry!

 

[Robo]

I have much much more claustrophobia after the stretch room than in it. That crush where the crowd funnels down to single file is awful. I try to get to the back of the herd coming out of the stretch room. (To my daughter’s dismay)

That only works if there are actually fewer guests.
When the crowds are heavy, there will be another (very full) load of guests who will enter that holding area from the SECOND stretching room (there are actually two of them) within
about a minute.

 

[Robo]

Sort of like the effect of the hydrolator in 'old' Living Seas where you went 'down' into the sea with bubbles on sides and shaking floor!! This was really cool.

(actually may have gone down one floor - can't remember)

Nope.
Absolutely a "straight-through, same level" experience.

Like standing in a phone booth with a vibrating floor.

 

[North of Mouse]

Nope.
Absolutely a "straight-through, same level" experience.

Like standing in a phone booth with a vibrating floor.

That's what I thought - just wasn't positive - knew it was only about 30 seconds LOL

 

[MinnieMSue]

That only works if there are actually fewer guests.
When the crowds are heavy, there will be another (very full) load of guests who will enter that holding area from the SECOND stretching room (there are actually two of them) within
about a minute.

Yep I’ve had both experiences. My love for the ride beats my claustrophobia. I hold onto my daughter’s hand and just keep swimming with the fishes in the stream - eventually we always make it through.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Yep I’ve had both experiences. My love for the ride beats my claustrophobia. I hold onto my daughter’s hand and just keep swimming with the fishes in the stream - eventually we always make it through.

Fellow claustrophobic here. Hopefully it helps OP to know the room never actually moves and the door is right underneath the girl with the parasol. Just keep looking up and keep in mind it’s only about a minute in the room and if worst came to worst a CM could easily open the door. Just knowing that helps me not to panic

 

[fla4fun]

Nope.
Absolutely a "straight-through, same level" experience.

Like standing in a phone booth with a vibrating floor.

Yes, there was one visit where they were using the exit hydrolaters for the entrance and they were just left in the open position on both ends. You could see right into the Seas from outside. We had a similar experience at HM where the entrance door to the stretch room opened for us to enter but the exit door from the stretch room hadn’t closed yet. We could see from the foyer through to the loading area. Actually that made my mom’s claustrophobia better because she knew in an emergency the doors could open and she could walk right out, no matter where in the “show” it happened to be. She hated elevators and worried about being trapped between floors.