Originally Posted By AutoPost This topic is for Discussion of <a href="http://www.LaughingPlace.com/Latest-ID-76619.asp" target="_blank"><b>Latest: Haunted Mansion Replaces Hitchhiking Ghosts</b></a> <p>InsideTheMagic has posted a video from the Haunted Mansion with the Hitchhiking Ghosts at the finale replaced with projections. According to InsideTheMagic, this is only temporary while work is being done enhanching the animatronic figures.</p>
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub I just read that and no way do I read guaranteed temporary...Disney has unveiled a new but quite possibly temporary effect...and then it asks us to not go all insane poster crazy. We should just wait and see...which means...if the guests act all nonchalant then it will stay but if the backlash is horrendous then we(being Disney) will remove it back to original since we(being Disney imagineers) really don"t like it either...I will say I am not a big HM fan so I don't care what they do to the HH Ghosts or the Q. Now if that makes the HM Fans angry it is fairplay since many thought the Bonita Waterfalls was no big deal and other discussions were silly. We only care about our own happiness in the end..why does that make me think of the Jungle Cruise?
Originally Posted By EPCOT Explorer Don't know what to think yet... Don't fix what ain't broken (thematics wise... the actual mech was on it's last leg) but the ideas driving this could be cool. The execution, however, sucks. To say it bluntly. Hoping it's a temp...
Originally Posted By Disneymom443 I don't know maybe we should give it a go. I'll see it in a few months.
Originally Posted By SuperDry It's hard to tell how it comes off in person from just that video. But, the projections look pretty nice in that video, and certainly more modern than the old effect. The only problem is that it doesn't go along with the traditional notion that you see the ghosts ride with you in the Doombuggy. When I was a kid, I though that was the neatest thing. I don't know how kids these days react to it, given all the advances of technology. I suppose these new projections are just a different interpretation of "... and a ghost will follow you home!"
Originally Posted By utahjosh My guess is that the animated projections will replace the pepper's ghost effect normally used. It will still look like the ghosts are sitting (or flying around) next to you. I like it.
Originally Posted By leobloom I'm guessing it's a tech upgrade for an eventual on-ride phograph so that eventually the Ghost Host's dialogue can be amended to say: "Now I'll raise the safety bar, and a ghost can follow you home in a souvenir photograph and fightfully-funny collectable frame for only $19.99 plus tax, available at the Crypt Gift Shop near the exit!"
Originally Posted By Mickeymouseclub Actually that is already available if you attend the NotSoScaryHalloween Party and have your photo taken with the hearse in the background. The ghost host is magically there! And worth the price!
Originally Posted By skinnerbox This is a technology change I fully support. I hope it isn't temporary. If you've ever had the pleasure of seeing those upper torsos on their track behind the mirrors, looping over and over and over like a horizontal escalator, then you can appreciate the switch to digital animation. Less to break down, less to mechanically maintain. Plus, digital animation would be far more flexible. Imagine the ghost apparating from thin air into the doombuggy, but in a different spot each time. Or actually doing something while there, like smoothing down your shirt or patting your head or trying to look through your ear out to the other side. Or maybe have a chat or brief argument with the ghost in the next doombuggy. The possibilities are endless! Come on, be honest. If your hitchhiking ghosts could do stuff like that... wouldn't you want the old torso-on-a-stick technology to go bye-bye? I WOULD!!
Originally Posted By leobloom Physical props look real. Digital animation looks fake. It's true of CG in movies, too.
Originally Posted By CoolDisneyFan It looks pretty cool, but I am like a previous poster, when I was a kid that scene was really memorable. I hope that this truly is just a temp scene for something really cool and improved to come.
Originally Posted By danyoung > Imagine the ghost apparating from thin air into the doombuggy...< Apparating?
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<Physical props look real. Digital animation looks fake. It's true of CG in movies, too.>> OK, I'm missing something here. Ghosts are ethereal. They have extracorporeal forms of ectoplasm. Why would a solid physical representation of a ghost appear more authentic than a digital representation which can control better for transparency and luminosity? It's more difficult to make solid AAs seem transparent than visual effects. Ghosts in a reflective surface like a mirror are not seen from all angles, so three-dimensional figures such as AAs are not necessary. Putting digital animation into the mirror would give the ghosts new opportunities for varied and interactive behavior, with the riders or the other ghosts. I'd love to see WDI go for this in a big way.
Originally Posted By leobloom Not going to give a long reply, but suffice it to say physical props look real. CG doesn't. It's the same reason Nemo looks like a ride through a bunch of screens. But if it's temp, whatever.
Originally Posted By leobloom Not going to give a long reply, but suffice it to say physical props look real. CG doesn't. It's the same reason Nemo looks like a ride through a bunch of screens. But if it's temp, whatever.
Originally Posted By TMICHAEL I'm a bit torn on this. I like the idea of an update to the stale 'figures on a stick' schtick. But the change over from fairly static, 3 dimensional figures in the rest of the attraction to the CG animation, that moves all over the place, is pretty jarring.
