March 21, 2005

The Map Police

I LOVE amusement park maps! I love looking at them, making them, and following them.
And I guess it is no secret that I am a tad bit obsessive about haunted mansion details.
Well, while examining an old map of the WDW Magic Kingdom, I spotted THIS!
Click image to enlarge!
Look what they did to my mansion! They turned the conservatory into a front yard gazebo, instead of attaching it to the East side facade where it belongs! And what's up with those steps leading to the terrace?! Eve rything is mixed up! Somebody call the authorities!
Yes, I'm kidding. Usually the artists who make these things have never visited the parks they map, and the map itself is only meant to represent the layout of the park. (otherwise each of our maps would need to be life sized! I wonder how small one could fold a 100 acre map?)
I just thought this was an interesting Observation.

March 14, 2005

The Gastley Mansion?


An interesting observation here. If you are in Frontierland in Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom, look for this sign post. It indicates the directions to Liberty Square, Splash Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but at the bottom is an unusual addition. The sign reads "Haunted Mansion", with the word "Haunted" scrawled by hand. A closer look reveals that the sign originally read "Gastley Mansion", but the Gastley name has been crossed out. Was this the original name of the Haunted Mansion? Is there a story related to this little scene which was never shared with the public?

March 10, 2005

A Ghost Toast!


I have a great photo of one of the ballroom ghosts holding "my" glass goblet, thanks to some great detective work from my pal Dale! Here is the original ghost photo, and beside it is an enhanced enlargement of the goblet. And then, beside that, I inserted a new photo of my goblet, trying to imitate the lighting conditions of the ghost photo, and the match is amazing! Thanks Dale!

  It's looking like we have a set of haunted mansion banquet goblets! Cool! 

March 6, 2005

My Haunted Goblets




My folks have a set of 18 glass goblets they received as a gift, probably some time in the late 60s, which would only come out once a year for Thanksgiving dinner. I recently noticed that they resemble the goblets used on the banquet table of at least one of the haunted mansions. I swiped one and took a pic of it. Here is my goblet pic, and a close up shot of the banquet table from the attraction (from Doombuggies.com).



I doubt that anyone could confirm whether my set of glasses are the same as the ones used in mansion, but I thought they looked pretty darned close! If you are a mansion CM, I'd love to hear what you think