A "Nightmare" In Tokyo Disneyland!

I have mentioned before that Tokyo Disneyland allows adults to wear costumes to the park for just two weeks out of the year (the first week of the park's Halloween season which is in mid-September and then also during the last week of October). Today's pics were taken in October of 2008 and show costumes with a "Nightmare Before Christmas" theme.


Just as we were entering the Haunted Mansion to see Tokyo's Holiday Nightmare overlay , we spotted "Oogie Boogie" in the crowd. I snapped this next picture pretty quickly, fearing that I might not get another chance for a photo.

As it turned out, we spotted him/her again at the exit and asked if we could take a picture. Most of the park guests are MORE than happy to stop and pose for photos. Incidentally, I just read the rules for wearing a costume to Disneyland/Anaheim for the Mickey's Halloween Party events and it stated that guests that come dressed as Disney characters can NOT pose for pictures. What's up with that?

Since this next photo was taken just one day before Halloween, a stage was already being erected for the park's annual Christmas shows. These next two guests were posing in front of that stage.

The "Jack Skellington" on the right even had the toy duck with the bullet holes attached to her shoulder.

Well, I am leaving tomorrow for Tokyo! I should be coming back with more photos of some cool costumes. I will post them when I return!

To see more pictures of Tokyo Disneyland guests wearing Halloween costumes, click here.

I hope everyone has a safe and happy Halloween!

Tokyo Doombuggy & Scary Teddy Too!

Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea usually have some very nice merchandise for sale. I always end up buying more souvenirs when I visit those two parks, than I do when I visit any of the Disney Parks here in the U.S. This is one of my favorite items from Tokyo. It was sold at Tokyo Disneyland during their 2007 Halloween/Christmas season. It's a wind-up toy of Scary Teddy from "The Nightmare Before Christmas," riding in a Haunted Mansion Doombuggy.

Last year, I posted a complete photo tour of the holiday version of Tokyo Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, which included some additional souvenir items. To view that series, click here: (Link).

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I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!

Holiday Haunted Mansion Ride-Thru (Part 6)

This is the last post of my Tokyo Holiday Haunted Mansion series! The first two pics are from the graveyard and they look like they could be right out of Anaheim's holiday version. The only difference....the giant pumkin angel in the photo below actually has a blast of air come out of his horn as you pass under it. Anaheim's is lacking the air effect.

Next, we enter the crypt and see Lock, Shock and Barrell popping up out of packages in the spot where the hitchhiking ghosts normally stand. In Anaheim's holiday version, this is where Oogie Boogie stands and spins his wheel. Anaheim originally had a different scene in this spot before Oogie Boogie was added. (That scene can be viewed here over at Davelandweb.com). Remember, Anaheim's Haunted Mansion Holiday attraction has had some changes made to it since that first year that it debuted. Another major difference was that they did not originally use the Danny Elfman music on the soundtrack. I believe that was because in the first year, there was a problem securing the rights to his score.

After seeing Lock, Shock and Barrel, the Doombuggies pass by the mirrors that would normally have the illusion of the hitchhiking ghosts riding with the guests, but for the holiday version, Lock, Shock and Barrell are seen reflected in the mirrors. Beyond that, the Doombuggies continue on and pass beneath "Little Leota" (non-holiday version) or "Little Sally"(holiday version). This is similar to the scene that guests see while exiting up the Speedramp in Anaheim's Mansion. In Tokyo and Florida, the Doombuggies ride through an extended crypt setting and actually ride underneath a ledge containing the miniature scene. After this scene, the Doombuggies then enter the unloading area.

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I hope everyone enjoyed the tour of Tokyo's Holiday Haunted Mansion. Over the next couple weeks, I will continue posting other holiday photos from Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea.

Holiday Haunted Mansion Ride-Thru (Part 5)

This is the second to the last installment on Tokyo Disneyland's holiday version of the Haunted Mansion....one more post and we'll be done! Once again, these scenes are almost identical to Anaheim's holiday version. Jack Skellington (as Sandy Claws) and his dog Zero replace the graveyard's night watchman and watchdog. This is Tokyo's second fully audio-animatronic Jack Skellington. The first one was seen in part one of this series of posts.

The singing busts are covered up for the season with singing jack o' lanterns.

A flying reindeer skeleton holds a tray of drinks in it's mouth.

Check back tomorrow for the final post in this series featuring the last of the Graveyard scenes as well as the Crypt where we'll see who (or what) replaces the Hitchhiking Ghosts in the Tokyo version. We will then move on to other Christmas happenings in the park.

Holiday Haunted Manison Ride-Thru (Part 4)

Today's photos are from the attic scene of "The Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare" at Tokyo Disneyland.

Tokyo's attic is almost identical to Anaheim's holiday version. The train on the chewed-up track is included, as well as the toy duck with the bloody bullet holes (sorry, I don't have a photo of him). The exception here would be the "naughty and nice" list that the snake is eating. Tokyo's list includes some Japanese names. I am assuming poor little "Eiichi" won't be getting anything from Santa this year since he has a little skull and crossbones next to his name. Or does that mean he is the only one on the list that WILL be getting a present?

Upon exiting the attic, guests encounter Scary Teddy chewing on a string of Christmas lights. As he bites down on it, sparks fly from his mouth. Anaheim has this same scene, but the placement of Scary Teddy is different....he is sitting on a branch over the Doombuggies, instead of off to the side.

As a side note, Tokyo's non-holiday version does not have the updated bride that Anaheim and Florida have.....fortunately! I say that because, while the idea probably looked good on paper, I don't think it works in the finished product. The effect looks too phony. The projection of Madame Leota in the crystal ball works because her face is projected onto a three dimensional head. I noticed the last time that I saw the new bride, that her face is not three dimensional, it's flat. I think this adds to the lack of realism because there is no "depth" to the features of her face. It's the same thing with her arms, they are just a "flat" projection. They may as well be showing her on a television screen!

In tomorrow's post, we'll head on down into the Graveyard scenes!

Holiday Haunted Mansion Ride-Thru (Part 3)

Today we will look at the Seance Room in the holiday version of Tokyo Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. The only real difference between Anaheim's and Tokyo's version is that the wall behind Madame Leota shows Lock, Shock and Barrel peeking into the room through a window. Madame Leota's spiel is identical in both versions. Part of a floating fortune card can be seen in the photo above. This year, Tokyo DL sold replicas of these in the form of playing cards and also as note cards. Below are scans of all the fortune cards that hang in the Seance Room. Sorry, they were scanned out of order.....reading from right to left instead of left to right. I just didn't want to go back and rescan them all again!

-On the thirteenth day of Christmas, my ghoul love gave to me, thirteen rings of power, embracing strength that never ends.

-Twelve signs of the zodiac that rule the future and transcend.

-Eleven candles floating. Their scent of mystery in the air.

-Ten telling tea leaves that (unintelligible) with secrets yet to share.

-Nine magic crystals that sparkle with a force that is pure.

-Eight Balls of knowledge that answer with a truth that is sure.

-Seven pearls of wisdom to keep my love bewitched to me.

-Six mystic mirrors reflecting futures yet to be.

-Five lucky charms to understand the right from wrong.

-Four wheels of fortune to spin their rich and golden song.

-Three life lines extending help to those in need.

-Two passion potions that love and romance may succeed.

-On the first day of Christmas, my ghoul love gave to me, a star, a brilliant star for my fortune card tree!

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Next, the Doombuggies enter the ballroom, which is a very difficult scene to photograph....so I do not have any photos of it. It is virtually identical to Anaheim's version except for the doorway at the top of the stairway on the opposite side of the room (below the dueling paintings). In Tokyo, there is a curtain there and behind that curtain are the silhouettes of Jack and Sally standing under mistletoe and he is handing her a present.

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In my next post, we will venture on into the Mansion's Attic!

Holiday Haunted Mansion Ride-Thru (Part 2)

Continuing with Tokyo Disneyland's Holiday Mansion tour.....after leaving the portrait hallway, the Doombuggies enter the library. This scene is also the same as in Florida's Haunted Mansion. It is here that guests see the busts that turn and watch you. The two familiar busts from Anaheim are here, as well as two additional busts not seen in Anaheim's Mansion. In the holiday version, Jack Skellington's dog Zero is here putting garland onto a tree made up of floating books.

Next comes the music room. In the non-holiday version, the piano plays all by itself, but in the "Nightmare" version, Scary Teddy pounds away on the keys as Sally watches from a nearby chair.

As the Doombuggies leave the music room, they start to ascend a stairway. In Florida, this is where an "endless stairway" scene has recently been added. In Tokyo, this scene still has the three large spiders and webs, but for the holiday version, a projection of Oogie Boogie has been added. His silhouette is seen jumping around in various poses and laughing. In his last pose, he takes on the shape of a Christmas tree. It is a simple projection on a wall, but the effect is done well and it's pretty humorous. Also added to this scene are several cages containing "bugs". The cages have gift tags attached to them that say "For: Oogie Boogie" and the bugs are clinging to the bars of the cages and shaking nervously.

After this scene, the Doombuggies go past the endless hallway, the hands trying to push the lid off of the coffin, the hallway with all the doors (and the man-eating wreath), and the clock that strikes "13". These scenes in Tokyo are all pretty much identical to Anaheim's Holiday version. Tokyo's non-holiday version however, has two things that are different. One of the bulging doors in the hallway is open just slightly with two hands coming out of the top of it and there is a green fog seeping out of the crack. Also, there is a portrait of a man hanging on the wall in this hallway and his flat painted face in the portrait starts to bulge outward into a three-dimensional shape for a few seconds and then goes back to being flat. It is really a great effect....all of the Haunted Mansions should have this effect!

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In the next post, we will venture on into the Seance Room.

Holiday Haunted Mansion Ride-Thru (Part 1 - Continued)

All of the paintings above are framed and hang on the walls on either side of the portrait hallway. The painting below hangs above the doorway at the end of the hallway. The Doombuggies ride underneath it as they exit the hallway and go into the library.

In my next post, we'll take a look at the Mansion's Library and Music Room and see how they are decorated for the holidays.

Holiday Haunted Mansion Ride-Thru (Part 1)

Today we are going to continue our tour of Tokyo Disneyland's "Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare" attraction. (To see how the Mansion's exterior get's decorated for the holiday's, click here: Holiday Mansion exterior. And to see the pre-boarding walk-thru portion of the attraction click here: Stretching Room.)

After boarding a Doombuggy, guests immediately ride underneath a stairway with Jack Skellington and Sally above. This is a fully audio-animatronic Jack Skellington figure. As he talks to the guests passing below, Sally turns her head from side to side and Scary Teddy moves up and down out of the package she is holding. (Florida's Mansion has this same stairway and landing, but they don't decorate their mansion for the holidays. In Tokyo's non-holiday version, as well as Florida's Haunted Mansion, a candelabra floats around above the landing at the top of the stairs.)

Next, the Doombuggies turn and go down the portrait hallway....again, very similar to Florida's Mansion, but for the holiday version in Tokyo, the regular portraits are replaced with paintings of characters from "The Nightmare Before Christmas".

A few years back, Tokyo Disneyland sold sets of postcards of all the paintings that hang in the hallway. To view scans of these postcards, please see my next post entitled "Holiday Haunted Mansion Ride-Thru (Part 1 - Continued)" or just click (here.)

It's Lenticular!

This will hopefully make up for a couple of the poor quality photos from my last post. I still plan on continuing with my Holiday Mansion tour......this is just a quickie post in the meantime. I just found a lenticular postcard of the changing Jack Skellington portrait that I described in my last post.....the one that hangs above the fireplace in the foyer of Tokyo's Haunted Mansion. This scan of the postcard shows the painting in mid-transition.

I will begin the Doombuggy tour through the Mansion in my next post.

Some Crappy Mansion Pics

How is that for the title of a post? Doesn't it make you want to move right along to something else on the internet? Well, I must say that I always try very hard to use only quality pics in my posts, but I am trying to do a photo tour of the holiday version of Tokyo's Haunted Mansion, and unfortunately some of my pics just aren't that great....but I thought I would post them anyway rather than skip certain parts of the attraction. That said, here we go......

In my last post we looked at the exterior of Tokyo's Mansion. Now we will take a look on the inside. Upon entering into the foyer, guests get a view of this changing portrait above a fireplace. In the non-holiday version, this would be a portrait of a man (I believe it's Master Gracey....I'm not an expert on the attraction's back story.....it just never really mattered to me, I guess). In the holiday version, it is a portrait of Jack Skellington. As the narration plays, snowflakes begin to fall and he slowly changes from Jack Skellington into his alter ego, "Sandy Claws".

Next comes the stretching room. As an interesting side note, Tokyo's Mansion is like Florida's in that the building that houses the attraction is not on the other side of railroad tracks. Since this eliminates the need to lower guests below ground level, all the stretching effects are done from above. The floor does not lower like an elevator and there is no seam or crack to step over when entering the stretching room...the floor inside is continuous with the floor out in the foyer. As for the visuals in this room, they are pretty much identical to Anaheim's mansion for both the holiday and non-holiday versions (For Mansion diehards however, the wallpaper is a different color!).

Next comes the loading room. The loading setup is pretty much identical to Florida's. There are no changing portraits, and no busts that turn and watch you walk by like in Anaheim's Mansion. On the other side of the loading area is a wall and three huge urns. For the holiday version, "pumpkin snowmen" are placed on top of these urns along with wreaths, garlands and strings of orange lights.

In my next post, we will board a Doombuggy and take a look at more shots of the Mansion's interior.

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I want to wish everyone a very happy and safe Thanksgiving!

Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare

This is Tokyo Disneyland's holiday version of the Haunted Mansion. Their Mansion's exterior is very similar to Walt Disney World's. However, Walt Disney World does not do the holiday conversion on their attraction....not yet, anyway.

Below, is the clock that shows the standby wait time....and yes, it is showing a wait time of over one hundred minutes. The "Nightmare" version of Mansion is very popular in Tokyo. (Note the Christmas tree-shaped pumpkin vine behind the clock.)

The brick structure behind this scarecrow is not a part of the Mansion itself. It is actually next to the Mansion and is part of a crypt-themed area of the queue.

There are two "pumpkin snowmen" located just outside the entrance to the Mansion (one on either side of the queue.) Does anyone know if Anaheim has these snowmen in front of their Mansion? I know they have the pumpkin scarecrow.....I just don't remember the pumpkin snowmen.

My next several posts are going to cover the interior of the Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare, including full "ride-thru" coverage! To see the next installment, click on the "Newer Post" link below.