Today is the 46th anniversary of the Haunted Mansion's official opening at Disneyland. In honor of this anniversary, I'm posting an older photo of the bride in the Mansion's attic scene. I took this photo in either 1978 or 1979, but I actually didn't see it until many years later because someone at Fotomat didn't include it in my original set of prints!
A few years back, I was looking at some of my old negatives and realized there was an image on one of them that I had never seen. I'm not sure why they didn't print this one, but I discovered the same thing had happened with another set of negatives. I had taken two interior shots of the original Alice in Wonderland attraction in 1982 and didn't receive those prints either. It's almost as if someone was punishing me for taking flash pictures inside of a Disneyland attraction! I'll be posting those Alice pics in the near future.
The photo is a little overexposed. Note the candle in the bride's right hand and the wilted flowers in her left hand.
For a comparison of how the bride has changed over the years, here's a photo I took of her in 1996 when she "floated" in the attic. Both of these versions of the bride had the red "beating heart" effect inside her chest.
And here is the current version of the bride (minus the projection of her face and arms). I debated whether or not to post this photo because I do NOT like this version. If Madame Leota, Little Leota, and the singing busts in the graveyard are all projected onto busts that have three dimensional faces, why is the new bride's face projected onto a flat surface? It really is a horrible effect and is pretty much the equivalent of having a flat screen television monitor with her face on it.
I was hoping with the recent addition of the Hatbox Ghost, that this version of the bride would be removed....or at least improved upon. If it had been up to me, I would have brought back one of the earlier versions of the bride (since the current one seems to be universally hated), and moved her to the other side of the attic where she used to stand and then put the Hatbox Ghost on this side of the attic where he originally stood (albeit very briefly) 46 years ago.
Just for fun, here is Tokyo Disneyland's bride. Tokyo's bride still has the plastic "shower curtain dress" that the Anaheim version used to have back in the early days. And if you look carefully, you will see the faint red glow of her heart inside her chest.
Happy 46th Anniversary to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion....the place that in the words of E.J. Peaker, "Makes me feel creepy all over!!!"
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11 comments:
Excellent post Tokyo. I like the shot of the earlier bride. Even if it's slightly overexposed, adds to the effect. Creepy. Thanks for sharing the link to the video too. Great stuff!
You and your flash photography! ;-) I love seeing photos of the Mansion - and I guess I never knew (or forgot) that the bride "floated" at one point. It is amazing that the older, simpler bride worked WAY better than the new balloon-headed version.
Let's hope the Bride is next on the upgrade list. She really is awful.
Thanks, SWA! I'm glad you found the link at the end of the post and enjoyed the video!
Major, it really does make one wonder who is coming up with these changes and who is authorizing them?
Dave, we can only hope! Maybe someday we'll get to see the current Matterhorn vehicles fixed or replaced as well!
As long as we're talking about replacing ride vehicles, they need to get rid of those old clunkers that circle the Park. One of them's over a hundred years old. I mean - they're steam powered, for crying out loud. ;-)
Hi Chuck, I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that you might have meant that comment for my post from June 9th about Mickey's Mouseorail??? Just a guess. You are too funny! Yes, let's get rid of those old Disneyland trains. Why have they kept them for so long? I'm sure somebody could come up with a better design. Then they can convert one of the old engines into a street legal vehicle and have it tour the country promoting the park's 60th Anniversary. When the year is over, they can store it backstage until Star Wars Land opens....then they can chop it up and stick a portion of it into the queue for one of the land's new attractions. And if that attraction ends up closing in just a year or two, they can just scrap the train engine altogether!
I was actually referencing your comment above about replacing the Matterhorn ride vehicles, but your response captured my intent perfectly. The only thing missing is that they need to rip up and scrap the rails but leave the ties, right-of-way, trestle, tunnels, signals, and stations in place in a prominent area where guests and termite control can see them but never access them.
Ha ha, Chuck! I was confused because I didn't write anything about ride vehicles in the post. I forgot that I had written that in the comments. It was only 8 days ago, so you'd think I would have remembered! Thank you for clearing that up. Oh, and seeing the abandoned PeopleMover track and tunnels each time I go to the park is so frustrating!
Great Combination Budd. I Was at D23 Expo for a Second Year and It was Wonderful.
I agree about the bride as well. Now that Hattie is present in the ride, he makes her look extremely out of date. Hopefully, they'll update her in the same fashion and maybe add the arms and eeriness the bride has from the Disney World version.
Althegamefreak, I didn't know that WDW had a different version of the bride in their Haunted Mansion. I'm glad to hear that it isn't as horrible of an effect as Disneyland's bride. Now I'm going to look for footage of her. Thanks for the info!
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