Hatbox as we know him in the attraction, Mortal Hattie, and Him and Emily during their courtship.

Let me get this out of the way, I realize I accidentally made his mortal self look like a Tumblr sexy man…that was not the intention but oh well. Also, I realize he looks kind of similar to Gracey, but I promise they’re meant to be completely separate characters

Final Destination 3 (2006) is pretty much being James Wong's darker, less-goofy PG-13/R-rated 2002 original vision of The Haunted Mansion (2003) film (based on the popular Disney attraction of the same name) starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead as high school student Wendy Christensen (Rob Minkoff's PG-rated 2003 final vision of The Haunted Mansion (2003) film instead stars Eddie Murphy as realtor agent Jim Evers). The Dark Souls games and Bloodborne's soundtracks were sound like they were originally going to be written for Christopher Young (alongside Shirley Walker) for the soundtrack of The Haunted Mansion (2003) film's 2002 original vision by James Wong that was darker and grittier, while Mark Mancina's soundtrack of The Haunted Mansion (2003) film's 2003 final vision by Rob Minkoff is lighter and more-whimsy. July 4, 2003 release date was planned (due to independence day-themed climatic scene in James Wong's 2002 original vision of The Haunted Mansion (2003) film) before being pushed back to November 26, 2003 release because of poor test screenings (despite many fans of the attraction preferred Wong's original more-dramatic vision of the 2003 film over Minkoff's final more-comedic vision), Wong being taken over in the director's seat by Rob Minkoff, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as high school student Wendy Christensen got replaced by Eddie Murphy as realtor agent Jim Evers (in order to make the 2003 film more-comedic), Mark Mancina replaced Christopher Young and Shirley Walker as the 2003 film's composer (also in order to make the 2003 film more-comedic), a new script was written (taking place entirely in the titular mansion), Disney wanting the 2003 film to be more-family-friendly, Disney having the main cast changed and to be African-Americans (in appeal to a wider audience and to be hip and cool with the kids), and Disney wanting Pirates of the Caribbean's 2003 film adaptation to be released in the summer of 2003.

In 2019, Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris went through its biggest refurbishment, changing not only several things about the ride itself, but the story. This refurb received a very mixed reaction by PM enthusiasts. Some people liked it for revealing the identity of the phantom and making certain other aspects of the story clearer, some disliked alot of the changes the refurb brought, and they also disliked how the refurb brought new questions in the process.

But its been 5 years since that happened and I wanna know, how have those 5 years affected you and your opinion on the ride both pre and post refurbishment? Do you prefer the version pre or post 2019? Were you disappointed by the refurb? Did you like it better than the og? Overtime have those opinions changed and how? Or heck! If you’re like me and are a fairly new fan of phantom manor, how has that influenced your opinion and experience?

Personally, I didn’t find out about phantom manor until the beginning of this year. I’ve always been a fan of Haunted Mansion (tho I never really interacted with the online fandom until recently) but up until this year, I hadn’t done much to familiarize myself with the parks outside of the US. I found out about Phantom Manor through social media and got super excited about it. Coincidentally, I went to visit my mom in Spain for summer vacation and she decided to bring me to france so we could go to DLP for my birthday.

We rode PM and I honestly liked it quite a bit. After familiarizing myself with the differences between the original and the refurb, I’ve come to the conclusion that they both have their strengths. Theres things I prefer about the ride pre-2019 and things I like about it post-2019. But as it is now, I actually enjoy it alot even with its flaws. Maybe its the fact that my introduction to the ride was the updated version this year, but yeah!

I wanna hear your opinions! Go off!

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With Haunted Mansion having two film adaptations (plus all of the printed media of it), over the years many fans have asked for them to expand by adapting the stories of the other mansions, in this case Phantom Manor. Anyone familiar with PM and its lore is aware that it has a much more specific story whith a darker tone, in contrast to HM’s more lighthearted tone and vauge story. Its a pretty good candidate for a film adaptation, but despite its more explicit story, there are still several routes we could take for the films execution

What do you think would be the best way to go about it. Do you think the film should be just a straight up adaptation of the Manor’s established backstory. Everything from Henry showing up and founding his mining company to Melanie’s tragic story and the house becoming delapadated? Or do you think the movir should be about a living human protagonist who finds their way into the delapadated manor and having to escape the phantom and using the established lore from the ride as a backstory and setup for the plot?

Another thing to take into consideration would be wether to base the film on the ride pre or post refurb. We know if Disney made an official movie, they’d probably base it mostly on the refurb, but I know plenty of people who would rather it be based on the ride before the refurbishment. Me personally, please don’t attack me but I actually don’t mind the refurbishment for the most part. There’s elements I prefer about the refurb at the same time that there are elements I prefer about the ride before 2019. Its complicated but yeah. If it was up to me, the film adaptation would benefit from elements of the ride both pre and post 2019.

Stay with me on this one but I actually think the 2003 Haunted Mansion film has a good amount of elements that would work really well for a Phantom Manor adaptation. Like obviously I’m not including all of the unserious comedy from 2003 HM in order to commit to Phantom Manor’s dark tone, but once you remove that, HM 2003 has lots of things that work in PM’s favor. In a lot of ways, Edward and Elizabeth’s story is very similar to Melanie and Jake’s. Person A is a young wealthy person who is in one way or another the heir of their family estate falls in love with person B, a lower class commoner who works for the family. They get engaged and plan to elope but the person A’s older parental figure doesn’t approve for some reason, so they murder person B, trapping the person A in the manor and their afterlife is tainted by grief, deeming them unable to move on.

Maybe it sounds lazy since it’s already been done, but I would genuinely really like to see a film adaptation where one of the main goals is not only escaping the Phantom but also reuniting Jake and Melanie, lifting the curse from the estate and allowing them to finally move onto the afterlife, similarly to Edward and Elizabeth. It would keep the story’s dark tone, but it would also provide for a well rounded film narrative with a resolution and it would have a happy ending for Melanie and Jake, which they deserve.

What are your thoughts? How would you handle an adaptation for the phantom manor?

I visited Orlando twice in the 70s when Epcot was still Bulldozers and dirt. Before and after Space Mountain.

I am confused by current maps of the ride as I remember some aspects as visible on foot before loading onto the DoomBuggies. The Endless Hall illusion was visible as a background illusion on foot as people were loading. On current maps it appears as visible only once you are on the DoomBuggies. Was it ever visible in the loading area?

There is also a hallway of changing paintings that I remember as a walkthrough, yet I thought the stretch rooms opened immediately into the loading area. I suppose that hall is immediately between stretch rooms and loading.