Mice At Work Podcast: Episode #32!
Played: 146 | Download | Duration: 00:52:59
This week we have a very special Disney's least magical ideas segment where we look at the recently added Haunted Mansion Interactive Queue disaster with Haunted Mansion Expert Dan Olson. For Dan Olson's Awesome Haunted Mansion Blog visit longforgottenhauntedmansion.blogspot.com!
I loathe the addition of what I call the "McMansionland Playground" to the exterior of Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion. Not only does it kill the ambiance and mystique of what once could be considered a work of amusement, entertainment and storytelling art, it is a slap of disregard and disrespect in the faces of the attraction's original creators and their passionate, ingenious leader, Walt Disney himself.
Walt never wanted the exteriors of his haunted houses to foretell what lay in store for those who dare to enter. In fact, he insisted that they be quite the contrary. He demanded that the grounds surrounding his mansions be pristine and beautifully landscaped, to match the rest of his park, and devoid of any ghostly activity. At The Magic Kingdom, the Florida theme park, the addition of the Madam Leota tombstone was the first departure from tradition and violation of Master Disney's Rule. But the monument's effect was so subtle and its appearance so lovely that it was excused.
By contrast, the new, so-called "queue enhancement" to the same park is an atrocity: a haphazard busy box spoiler of poorly-conceived, badly-placed, cheesy and noisy stand-alones that serve only to distract and add NOTHING to the attraction itself. As far as this ghost is concerned, the members of Team Disney Orlando and their superiors should be ashamed of themselves.
The purpose of art is to raise the perception of the viewer, the individuals(s) experiencing the masterpiece. Instead, TDO has sunk to appealing to the lowest common denominator. There are those who will argue that I'm overreacting and that it's only an amusement park. But is it really? There are plenty of other amusement parks, none of which I hold as dear as Disney's.
And who found fault with and didn't love The Haunted Mansion before?
It was The Disney Company's high standards of artistry and presentation that elevated their parks to a level of excellence head and shoulders above the rest. But now, TDO is resorting to fast food chain tactics. What next? Madam Leota's Crystal Ball Bounce and Whack-A-Ghoul??? It's a shame -- a downright shame -- that Disney has so lowered its principles, forgotten its philosophies and cheapened itself that this has become their idea of innovation and improvement. And it's an even greater tragedy that the company's leaders lack the wisdom, vision and integrity to realize it.
I do not believe that those in charge at Team Disney Orlando and/or their superiors have the capacity to understand the mechanics and intricacies of effective storytelling, staging and presentation. While it was second nature to Walt and his initial corps of Imagineers, the company's current decision makers, regardless of their background, are simply unqualified and too unsophisticated to meet the standards set by their predecessors.
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Please, REMIX this podcast. The background music drowns out the dialog. Listeners should not have to STRAIN to hear. Lower or get rid of the background music entirely. There's no reason to have it running throughout the entire show. You have interesting content but you're making listening to it almost impossible and very un-enjoyable. Listen to professional talk radio for examples of how to do sound. Professional broadcasters would never run background music at such annoying and distracting levels.
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Can't hear the voices over the music. The high-fidelity music is too loud, and the very low-fidelity voices are flat, muffled, and tinny - like a cheap transistor radio. Very difficult to listen to.
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Upon further testing, the results have shown that the audio is perfectly fine. Try listening to the episode without headphones.
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