Home > Florida > Magic Kingdom > Haunted Mansion, The > Review Comments


 Review of Haunted Mansion, The @ Magic Kingdom
0 Rating Posted by: Canobie Coaster on 7/27/2005 9:21:00 AM
Year after year, Knoebels’ Haunted Mansion continuously receives accolade upon accolade and is commonly renowned as the best haunted mansion found anywhere, but is it really better than Disney’s much more famous Haunted Mansion? This truly classic attraction has been entertaining guests for years with its catchy tune and delightful ghost scenes that no one but Disney can emulate (well unless it’s the movie; that was horrible). Well, let me make this claim to start my review, you simply can’t compare the two. Knoebels’ focus is one scaring the living daylight out of riders, whereas Disney focuses on an enjoyable experience for the whole family and executes it to perfection.

Dominating Liberty Square, the Haunted Mansion looms in the distance with its ominous appearance that really does a great job of stimulating the attraction’s eerie atmosphere. There’s just something so dominating and powerful about the mansion’s appearance which just has to be experienced to be felt. Not only does the mansion itself look great, but the courtyard around the attraction is simply beautiful as well with its sprawling foliage and little details that Disney added as well.

Lines for such a timeless classic are sure to be outrageously long, right? Wrong! Despite the attraction’s popularity, lines rarely exceed 30 minutes thanks to its extremely high capacity. If you want no wait though, I recommend hitting the Haunted Mansion at night an hour or two before the park closes since I’ve yet to encounter a wait when I return that late at night for a reride or two.

Once in the visually-stunning mansion, the attraction begins with a creepy little pre-show that successfully establishes a serious tone for the attraction. But in all honesty, the pre-show is the most frightening scene in the entire attraction simply because of the powerful, dominating voice used and a really cool effect that I don’t want to share since it’s much better if you don’t know what’s coming.

Afterwards you proceed into one of the many Doom Buggies that really are an icon if you ask me. Once seated, the attraction is an absolute joyride from beginning to end where riders come face to face with “grin grinning ghosts” of all statures and all of them look excellent and really look as great as a ghost could possibly appear. Each scene is simply incredible, as the effects used for the scenes still wow me to this very day. Some of my personal favorite scenes are the dance floor, the courtyard scenes, and my absolute favorite, the finale where a few hitchhikes try to accompany riders on their exit out of the mansion. Not only is the attraction a special effect extravaganza and a joyride from beginning to end, but it’s also quite long.

The Haunted Mansion is truly a Disney icon that continues to wow me ride after ride. What the attraction lacks in fright, it makes up for in simply amazing effects suitable for any age to experience since nothing is actually scary at all. That being said, this takes the cake for the best haunted house I’ve ever been one since I prefer to be blown away rather than scared senseless, but really you can’t go wrong with either attraction, they’re just that amazing. This is by far one of the park’s best attractions, let along best on the entire resort, and no visit to the Magic Kingdom is complete without this timeless spook.
 
Post Review Comment
You must login or create an account to post a review comment.

 
Clicky Web Analytics