Disney's Hatbox Ghost Returns

On May 9, they finally did it, after 46 years! Disney added the Hatbox Ghost back to the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland!

The Whatbox Ghost?

The Hatbox Ghost is a frightening skeletal fellow with a deep coat, a large top hat, and an open hatbox. The entire Haunted Mansion is very Victorian, with its late 1800s theme and séance feel, complete with séance scene. The wonderful Hatbox Ghost is no exception.

When the Haunted Mansion (my favorite theme park ride) opened in August, 1969, cast members were treated to a preview of the ride on August 7 and 8. The Hatbox Ghost effect is that his head vanishes from his shoulders and appears in the box, then from the box to appear back on his shoulders. In 1969, they attempted to achieve this with spotlights that would alternately shine on his head, and then on the box. However, even though the Haunted Mansion is fairly dark inside (Try taking a picture without flash on a normal camera… you can’t.), there was still enough ambient light that the effect didn’t work. Cast members could still see the head that was not lit.

In the following years, the Hatbox Ghost became somewhat of a legend. Disney has had Hatbox Ghost merchandise for a long time, adding to the sense of mystery. This Disney trading pin came out in 2014, but this was hardly the first Hatbox Ghost item. Haunted Mansion fans really wanted to see it and hoped that Disney would someday get it to work.

The Amazing Return

Disney has been working on bringing back the Hatbox Ghost for some time, but didn’t let the public know, so it was a great surprise to fans when he appeared in the mansion over the weekend. My son and I rode the ride twice on Sunday to see him, and the effect is excellent. Clearly, Disney is no longer using alternating spotlights to switch the location of his head. Disney has done something much more sophisticated, some sort of CG mixed with a hologram effect. I’d like to know exactly how they do it, honestly! But the point is, it’s 2015, and it’s more the doable. (Afternoon update: It turns out that many Disney fans, myself included, simply missed the announcements. For the last year or so Disney has been working on the Hatbox Ghosts return and had let fans know he would return this year for the park's 60th anniversary celebrations. Though there had always been some Hatbox Ghost merchandise, they began selling more starting in 2014.)

SoCal Attractions 360 on YouTube took a low light video of our new friend, so you can enjoy the effect here. Yes, it does look slightly better in the actual attraction, but the videographer did a wonderful job.

If you’ve never been on the Haunted Mansion, or you just really want to enjoy it virtually, he also took a low light version of the entire ride. See why it’s my favorite ride ever.

Steamy Leia

So everyone knows, Steamy Leia, whose cosplay I wrote about in my last blog entry, has agreed to let me interview her. I send her questions yesterday and will get that blog post ready once she gets back to me! Keep an eye out for it.

Mailing List

I’ll be sending out a message to my mailing list later today to let subscribers know about this blog post. Their extra today will be something else Haunted Mansion related. I have an idea of what I want to share already. Mailing list subscribers always get something extra not in the blog!