It took about 36 hours after its arrival to eager recipients before a complete video walk thru was posted on YouTube, and a subReddit was created. An in-depth look at the various components and gameplay can be searched for online, while this article will touch on some of that, it will also lead into another discussion on what the mobile device portions mean to the future of theme park entertainment and how smaller regional haunts can take advantage of this.
It is said no good idea ever gets thrown away at Disney, and with that in mind, welcome to the missing artifacts from the “Museum of the Weird”. From design elements and audio queues found within all aspects of the product, the team behind this endeavor managed to capture the look and feel of the earlier design iterations of the haunted mansion. Rolly Crump’s designs of bizarre artifacts along with Marc Davis’s playful spooks heavy influence the story telling found in this tale of the Mansion’s predicament.
The run time for this first scene of the three part play, clocks in at about two hours, while short, it is entertaining and the ‘puzzles’ are targeted at a family friendly age of about 8 years old. The interface between the iOS app and the artifacts worked nearly perfectly, there were a few spoiled clues, due to the app misidentifying the tea cup as a saucer. By the way a saucer will be delivered in the next box. Spoiler? That answers the question of “why just a teacup and no saucer”?
Corrugated Cardboard “Radio”? Why it’s Craptastic!
The cardboard “radio” housing for the iPhone was the most disappointing piece found in the box and should have been better designed. The cardboard was too flimsy and would bend as it was being assembled. After a few attempts, it became clear that the housing was not necessary for continued enjoyment. It was quickly disassembled and return
Madame Leota takes control
to where it first was discovered, the bottom of the box.
The interaction of the tarot cards, the box itself, and Madame Leota during the divination game was fun and unexpected when it occurred. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be an easy way to get back to that portion of the game without listen to all 20 minutes of audio that preceded it.
The card stock ad for Bloodmere and Broome’s which contained encoded “mystery message” harkened to the scene from “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie locks himself in the bathroom to
Perforated and scored, yet only 6 of the holes are utilized in this round
decode the mystery message from Little Orphan Annie, which turned out to be an ad to “drink more Ovaltine”. Just like Ralphie listening to the Little Orphan Annie radio program to receiving instructions, the Phantom Radio app too gives out instructions in its radio drama, referencing the Bloodmere and Broome’s ad and how to use it to decode the secrete hidden message, which turns out to be nothing more than a message to hold on to this ad until the next shipment. A teaser Ad for the next box.
Agony due to the wait before it becomes useful.
While the ghost box physical items were nice, what really excited the Disney apostles was the sudden discovery that the purchase of the box granted one membership into a very exclusive club, more so than membership to the famed Club 33. A scavenger card game, themed to and accessible only by, those in possession of the fully unlocked “Phantom Radio” app. Plus a major surprise, a special customize audio ride within the Haunted Mansion that carries on the story of the spirits introduced in ghost post. With front of the line access no less.
The prices on eBay topped $550 for just the first box as fanatics raced to get a hold of a missed opportunity. That’s a 275%
Off to Disneyland we go.
markup for one box. This isn’t the only example. Long live the Disney fanatics.
This should not be a surprise to anyone who knows Disney fanatics; nothing will spur them into a fevered frenzy, more than exclusivity. Having that exclusive ride experience at one of Disneyland’s most beloved and iconic attraction made the box all the more desirable, much like “The One Ring”. Rest assured that when Disney releases another subscription box themed on one of it’s in park attractions, it will sell out in minutes, not hours like this one did. The faithful will not allow another missed opportunity to occur.
It is interesting that Disney is testing out technologies that rely
$200 VIP fast pass and a personalized experience? Yes please!
on BYOD (bring your own device). While this strategy has an inherent limitation on who can participate, it does provide a great deal of benefit for the company. Since Disney doesn’t have to maintain an inventory of devices, they are not bound to any one platform, freeing them to utilize industry standard technologies like built in cameras, Wi-Fi, GPS, and Bluetooth. The Imagineers are free to mix and match readily available consumer tools to use as their platform onto which they can create an interesting story. This freedom to focus on storytelling without the need to create new technologies should allow them to keep up with industry trends and incorporate them into the storytelling mix to keep things fresh.
How can a smaller venue take advantage of these technologies to enhance their storytelling? What technologies are available and what are the costs/benefits associated with using a BYOD strategy? In the next installment, I will give a run-down of the basic types of technologies that are being utilized and the pratfalls that can occur when trying to utilize them.
