Here Comes the Bride, Part Six: Connie Loses Her Axe

 .UPDATES ADDED 2-28-25 

Los Angeles Times

Kid you not, within days of the debut of the New Constance (Jan 18, 2025), I began getting inquiries as to why I hadn't said anything yet. "Well? Where's the post??"  *sigh* That's how things go these days. Everyone wants instant analysis. But I say it's better to let the first wave of excitement/outrage run its course before taking to the keyboard. Otherwise, you end up saying things that look embarrassingly knee-jerky and outdated within a very short time.

We'll deal with all the other new stuff—the stuff outside the attic—in the next post. That will include not only the new queue and the execrable Somewhere Beyond, but all the other items as well. There are quite a lot of them, actually. Some are good, some are bad. You'll see.

 

What's New?

We had better begin with what was actually done and who did it. According to my sources, the new attic and all the rest of the new changes to the Mansion were done locally, at Anaheim, rather than by Walt Disney Imagineering. If so, don't blame WDI (at least not directly) if there's anything there you don't like, or praise WDI if there are things you do. I'm told this was done by Disneyland, and for good or ill, responsibility for the whole thing goes ultimately to DL's art director, Kim Irvine.

The New Connie is an odd combination of Pepper's Ghost and mapped projection onto a blank white mannequin. If the latter sounds a lot like the old Connie, you hear correctly. They put in a huge piece of glass at a 45º angle, tilting toward you. The reflected image in it is projected from a very shallow hollow in the floor. They evidently wanted a blowing fabric effect for the dress, which wouldn't have been very easy to accomplish if the reflected image were laying horizontally, so we've got this mannequin along with Pepper, which is strange, because it seems to defeat the whole genius and raison d'être of Pepper's Ghost: its magical transparency. The face is totally Pepper's, so there's no real reason why it couldn't be animated to some degree, and perhaps it will be in future.

 You can see the new diagonal beams on either side of her, put there to support and hide the edges of the sheet of glass, which is well-done, but in some videos, you can glimpse part of the figure in the floor.

One problem with Pepper's is that the large sheet of glass in use can inadvertently pick up reflections of irrelevant objects that happen to be in the wrong spot and are too brightly lit. Ever since Connie debuted in 2006, this has been an irritant, because the Ambrose portrait and other items in that attic tableau can be seen reflected in the ballroom glass as you scoot along. Alas, the same issue is found here, as a pile of brightly lit packages and dishware on the floor next to the Connie & George portrait can be seen floating upside down in the air near the attic ceiling while you're looking at the new bride.

 

VicariousCorpse

You've heard of the mystery of the haunted wedding gifts, haven't you? Some say they float along the ceiling upside down. Others say it's only a trick of the light.

Maybe they'll fix that. I'm told that they were still tweaking the thing until the last minute, and it shows. The bride's nose is all wonky in the early photography. (See the pic they released to the LA Times at the top.) Hopefully they will fix it.* Of course, I kept saying that about the old Constance too. I'm also struck by the fact that the new figure is totally static. The older brides swayed back and forth and moved their candle arm. This one just stands there, stock-still.

*UPDATE 2-12-25: Looks like they did.

Steven Lewis

They haven't changed the bride's name. "Constance" is still attested numerous places in the hubby-portrait tableaux, so we haven't got a new bride so much as a complete overhaul and reinvention of the old one.

 

One has to wonder whether "Hatchaway" is still supposed to be her maiden name, since the pun is now inappropriate. It has been canonical these last 20 years, since it's on the marriage certificates that have been on public display in the attic (albeit a little irregularly), even though riders can't possibly read them.

 

But if those are gone now (yet to be confirmed as of this writing), "Hatchaway" may be considered gone as well.

So . . . why the change?

Technological Advances? 

If you check out the Tom Martens article about the new bride in the LA Times, you will be told that it involved, among other things, an updating of the technology.

According to the Times, the new bride utilizes "the latest in projection technology," and you're looking at a technological "advance." He got this rubbish from Kim Irvine, who told him the "projection technology on the prior figure had become so outdated as to necessitate regular maintenance," which is an odd thing to say since everything needs "regular maintenance."

What I'm told is that the projector in the floor is exactly the same projector used for the old Constance. So much for technological advance. Someone might point out here the gee-whiz magical effects that come with the new bride, those ghostly little orbs floating around her in three-dimensional space. Whatever else you might say, no one can deny that the effect looks very cool . . . 

 

. . . just like it did in 1957:

Matter of fact, if you check out the current incarnation of the Sleeping Beauty walk-thru, you'll see an array of impressive Pepper's effects beyond which the new Connie advances not a single millimeter.

Sensitivity Issues?

Kim sez: "The bride that used to be in there was an ax murderer, and in this day and age we have to be really careful about the sensitivities of people. We were celebrating someone chopping off her husband's heads, and it was a weird story." Not surprisingly, these kinds of comments have sparked a lot of mockery and indignation, but at the same time there's a kernel of truth in all that. As I argued years ago, the Connie story doesn't jibe well with the artistic statements of the HM, which are two: (1) the afterlife may be joyful rather than horrifying. However, (2) justice must be served. It was the attic's job to temper the Mansion's otherwise universal message by adding a detective story, brilliantly told in about one minute of actual time. The essence of all detective stories is that evil exists and the demands of justice must be met. That stern claim cannot simply be wished away. (It may be washed away by an act of atonement, but at that point we're talking about Christianity.) Anyway, as I pointed out, the Constance story does not fit either message: it was a story in which the devil wins, which is a common horror theme but foreign to the Mansion until 2006. So yes, however much wicked fun people got out of her, there was always something out of place with the Constance saga. Talking about "sensitivity" may not be the best approach to the problem, but it does recognize that something smelt funny about her.

The Boring Truth?

It's possible I'm wrong about this, but if I am, there's an extraordinary coincidence that wants explaining. The original Constance character was brought to (after)life by two talented ladies, Kat Kressida and Julia Lee.

 

Kat provided the voice and Julia the look (although it's never been absolutely clear whether Kat as well as Julia contributed something to the heavily-doctored and digitized visual projection of Connie). Anyway, Connie debuted in May of 2006, so these gals most likely contracted with Disney in 2005.

Shortly after Connie's debut, Julia added a credit to her now-defunct website:

 

That "next twenty years" business is VERY strange. Disney normally owns outright the performances for which they contract, and yet it's hard to account for these comments unless they represent something or other in the contract. Can you think of any other way to explain them? Okay, well, do the math, people. 2025 is 20 years after the original contract with Julia (and presumably Kat?). Of course, Julia's visage still appears in the hubby portraits, but perhaps this "twenty years" business pertains only to the video imagery. Whatever. Until I learn otherwise, this will be my answer to the "why" question: Expiration date reached.

These are from one of the Julia Lee photoshoots:

 

Why the Why? What About the What?

Yes, let's do the real Long-Forgotten stuff. What is supposed to be going on with the new bride? Irvine has given out some blather about bringing back the sorrowful figure that the original Imagineers imagined, a bewildered bride searching for her lost husbands. A story of lost love. So sad.

Ugh. You can read the whole "Here Comes the Bride" series here at LF if you want to know what the original Imagineers were up to. It's true that in many ways the new Connie is a throwback to the old Beating Heart bride, but the original figure was the Corpse Bride, and she was scary.

 

Not only that, but the Hatbox Ghost made it pretty clear that she was a murderer who beheaded her victim. It's true that after Hattie was gone and Beating Heart continued to evolve (the Black-Faced bride, the Blue-faced bride), she became more ambiguous. I myself used the word forlorn in those discussions, so if Kim wants to claim that bride was sad, I can't say she's crazy to think so. Once the Hatbox Ghost was gone, the murder mystery was destroyed anyway, and people were free to read the bride in multiple ways.

However, Connie 2.0 is not the only new character in the attic. There is also a black cat at her side.

 

You'd look grumpy too if someone stuck a candy corn in your eye (pic: Mike Kindrich)

 

Is She a Witch?

As everyone knows, this feline friend of Connie's is a tribute to the unused X. Atencio concept, the One-Eyed Black Cat, and this, dear friends, is how tributes should be done: a subtlety found in something organically connected with the story, not a gratuitous addition put there just for the sake of having a "tribute." So kudos to Kim and Co. for that. But with that black cat there, the message I immediately receive is, "The bride was a witch." I've been told that the team responsible for the new attic weren't aiming for that. Irvine has explained the bride as something quite different, a sympathetic character. It is supposed that the black cat is adequately accounted for as a tribute to X and nothing more should be read into it.

But artistic intention only counts for so much if you're trafficking in cultural symbols and stereotypes. "Spooky woman with a black cat at her side" = she's a witch. I feel a little stupid defending that reading, because we are talking here about a pretty firmly embedded symbol in the collective (sub)consciousness of our culture, many centuries old. And besides, what was that One-Eyed Black Cat, anyway? The Atencio character was unambiguously a demonic figure who only appears as a cat. Look up "witch's familiar" if you really need help here.

Some have argued that since she doesn't LOOK like a witch (pointy hat, broom, etc), the assumption is shaky. A ghost with a black cat is not automatically witchy. Neither is a bride with a black cat. So I guess it's every interpreter to their keyboard, and we still have ourselves an open mystery. Fair enough. WITCHever you decide, one must allow that there is BROOM for more than one view. What the HEX, I don't need to SPELL it out any further.

By the witchy reading, though, the interpretation of the new attic is fairly straightforward. The successive husbands of this woman, all of whom mysteriously disappeared, did so because she was an evil witch who probably did them in. That also neatly explains why husbands two through five were increasingly imbecilic in that they did not suspect anything was wrong. It's simple: they were bewitched! Of course, if Connie 2.0 is still a baddie, it means that the attic still gives us an anomaly, a yet-unpunished and yet-unredeemed villain, that all they've done is replace an axe with a hex. (Hmm . . . no wonder they thought a tribute to X fit here.) Finally, I will point out that a sinister interpretation is encouraged by retaining the name "Constance" and her hubby portraits, in continuity with the previous 20 years of history, which unavoidably bring with them certain expectations about her that will continue to hang over the whole place. We have not been given a clean break. (This will be taken up further in the next post, so stay tuned.)

 

The Hatbox Ghost Disappears Again

The worst thing about this addition, in my admittedly subjective opinion? With the total expunging of the beheading theme, there is no longer any organic connection between the Hatbox Ghost and the attic. He's been standing outside the attic proper for ten years anyway, but now he really is outside; that is, he can no longer be considered an "attic character." I suppose he's become so famous that he's no longer seen as requiring some particular reason for fitting him into the Mansion, no more than, say, the Opera singers or the Royals. But the fact that henceforth he does not tie in with any known narrative with regard to the Mansion's imaginative history feels to me like the unkindest cut of all.

 

The Candelabra Floats

I don't mind in principle their attempt to expand the character's presence in the Mansion by matching her candelabra not only to the one in the Endless Hallway but also to a new candelabra in the graveyard, which replaces the purplish wraith in the crypt by the Opera Pair.

 

Like others, I think the ghost was much more interesting than the new candelabra, and I always hate it when a 1969 original effect is scrapped. But the idea itself is agreeable in that it deliberately raises questions which it doesn't answer, like any good haunted house should.

Influences

Since we're in the awkward position of denying what the Imagineering team claims they intended to do, there is no point in pulling up examples of stuff that may have influenced the new figure as a concept, but we can at least say a few things about visual influence. First of all, the new Connie looks a lot like some of the concept art for the old Connie:

The eerie flowing effect on her gown reminds me a little of the Falls of the Bride in Peru. It's possibly an influence, but I wouldn't press it. Otherwise, see the previous brides for visual influences.

Something Wicker This Way Comes

It took a long time for photos to finally appear, but as was reported earlier there is a wicker coffin in the corner of the attic where the HBG originally stood and where the Beating Heart bride stood from late 1969 until the spring of 2006.

yensidtlaw

Wicker coffins were popular during the Civil War period because they were cheaper to make, and they continued to be popular for various reasons through Victorian times and beyond (i.e., for transport, for displaying the body at funerals, for temporary use until a doctor could examine the corpse, etc.). Here's an authentic Victorian example:

 Also new is a pig-shaped picnic basket in the Ambrose tableau:

 

 yensidtlaw

 

Again, nothing original about these:

The grapes and bread are somehow still fresh, but then, so is the wedding cake, so . . . supernatural preservation, I guess.

I don't see any need to tie these new props together within some sort of new, united backstory. More likely, one or another of the Imagineers involved came across these antique wicker items online or in a shop somewhere and thought they looked kinda Mansiony.

Conclusions

The consensus to date is that the new Connie is visually an improvement over the old Connie, but that's a pretty low bar. The amount of money and effort that went into this new version hasn't produced anything like the hoped-for results. "Underwhelmed" is a word that keeps appearing, and I've encountered exactly that same reaction from die-hard Mansion freaks and casual park goers alike. Overall, an improvement, but it feels like a missed opportunity. Maybe more is coming?

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The "Enhauntsments" of 2021

Aug 12, 2021: Check out additional observations by Foxxy and others at the end of the post.

Mar 29, 2022: New note about the Conservatory.

Since the rather colorless term "enhancements" seems to be the only collective noun Disney is using for the changes and additions to the Anaheim Mansion this year, I have made bold to tweak it a bit and will henceforth use "Enhauntsments" as the official Long-Forgotten designation, inspired in part by the "Rehaunting" of the WDW HM in 2007. Now that I have visited the park in person, I'm in a position to give an eyewitness report.

When there is a major set of revisions or additions to a Haunted Mansion, I have found from previous experience that it's good to have a catalogue like this laying around somewhere, since it won't be many years before the memories will grow murky, and it will all start mooshing together in our overtaxed brains, and we won't remember exactly when this or that particular thing happened. 

I strongly suspect that most or all of these enhauntsments were intended as part of the Mansion's 50th anniversary in August of 2019. None of them were there, of course, but it seems like Disney gives themselves a generous, two year window for such things, so that anything that happens a year before or after the actual day being celebrated counts as being "on time." (Try using that same logic with your significant other's birthday and see how well it works.) Anyway, with COVID adding almost a whole additional year to the debut of the enhauntsments, it became absurd to try to connect any of them with the Golden Anny, so they didn't try. That's my theory, anyway.

Be that as it may, for posterity's sake, here's a catalogue of the changes made, at least as far as I've been able to glean from the many sources out there along with my own first-hand observations. If I've missed anything, leave a comment.

(1) Our Girl April!

©DISNEY

First and foremost, of course, is the return of April-December. As pointed out in our April post, she's been restored beautifully, and the place they have created for her is perfect. She's done in a six-stage, morphing form, which is a new presentation for her but utterly authentic and true to the original Imagineers' intentions, as we now know. Zero complaints! A+. I don't like to brag (well, yes I do, some), but I had been saying for a long time that the obvious thing to do for the 50th Anny was to bring back April, and obviously someone else thought the same, because they did.

(2) April's Hallway

I'll lump into one bullet point all the enhauntsments that accompany April in her immediate environment, including (1) the wallpaper, the wainscoting, and the new candle lighting along one wall of what was previously the right side of the limbo-load area as you enter, plus the visually pleasing metal screen to the left of the guests; (2) a new door beside April in the classic style seen elsewhere in the house, with a moving blue light in its transom, indicating a ghostly presence; and (3) a one-eyed cat statuette.

As noted before, the urns that used to be in this area have not been tossed out but are now congregated over by the staircase where the doom buggies come down.

The cat is recognized as a shout-out to an old, unused concept of X Atencio. You will recall that a one-eyed black cat gradually asserts its demonic presence throughout the ride and serves as your host (or co-host). The connection seems valid, since the new cat has a single red, gleaming eye, as did X's cat, but I hasten to note (and not without appreciation) that this particular enhauntsment offers only a subtle or partial hint to the old concept, not the sort of blatant, elbow-in-your-ribs "tribute!" that characterizes PLQ. The cat is white, after all, not black.

As others have noted, the statuette is actually an off-the-shelf, commercially available item.

It's really only there as an intriguing object to look at briefly as you pass, which is fine with me.

(3) Enhauntsments to the Portrait Hall

A few related changes have been made in the Portrait Hall. The official video makes a point of this, calling attention to the new, lighter color of the heavy drapes around the windows, and I gave them a good hard look when I was there, as no photography can do justice to such things. They looked fine to me. Here's the old on the left, the new on the right.

Also, the wallpaper was redone so as to match the wallpaper behind April around the corner, which is sensible...

...but I deeply regret the loss of the original paper, which offered so many opportunities for finding hidden faces. You can find a face or two in the new paper, but let's face it: the new stuff isn't nearly as rich an environment for that sort of thing.

Pity. Also, when I was there, the rain effect in the stormy windows was gone, and I dearly hope that isn't a permanent change.

(4) The Rolly Chair

At least that's what everyone seems to think it is. There's a new chair hanging around in the Séance Circle that is widely regarded as a tribute to the talking chair in Rolly Crump's unused "Museum of the Weird" artwork, but as far as I can see, their designs actually have very little in common.

The chair isn't animated in any way, and much of it is in deep shadow, so it's not even 100% certain that it has "eyes" (although that does seem likely). Very mysterious, this one.  Which bothers me not at all . Hmm. More may be coming with the new chair, but for now, it's a curious addition to the ride.

UPDATE June 14, 2023. The chair has been missing ever since Classic Mansion returned after the last HMH overlay. In other words, it didn't return. Why so is a mystery. But Brandon Hardy has made a significant discovery about it: it's an off-the-shelf item from Wayfair called a Deangelis Rattan wicker chair, and you can get one for yourself if you've got an extra $550 kicking around.

My Latin is a little shaky, but I think it's "The Rottenness of the Angels."

Okay, a LOT shaky.

In case you had any doubts...

Brandon Hardy

(5) Spruced, Juiced, and Loosed

The ballroom dancers and the ghosts in the graveyard (and perhaps others) have been spruced up and are now much more visible. When I visited in 2019 for the 50th Anny, I was unhappy to see that the vague gray blobs to which time and ultraviolet lighting had reduced the ghosts in the graveyard had not been refurbed for the Mansion's golden anniversary that year, but I now suppose that there were plans to do so soon enough thereafter to count as being part of that year's celebration, as described earlier.

pic by Matthew Bumgardner

pic by Matthew Bumgardner

(6) Another Cat Statuette, and a Refreshed Garden

Yep, they've added not one but two kitty statues. The Disney video calls attention to the new cat in the birdbath out front.

pic by Laurie Holt Dickey

(It's behind/beside the hearse, for those of you who have never noticed it.) That birdbath has been there, unmoved, since 1969, but it became a planter after only a few years and remained in such employ until this year. It's gratifying to the purists among us to see it restored to its original function. And with a macabre bit of statuary added for good measure, we are a happy crew.

The video also highlights the garden landscaping throughout the Pet Cemetery, but in all fairness, the horticulture department at Disneyland has ALWAYS done a great job everywhere, including here, with appropriate plants around the various fixtures, so that what you find there now is not really as big a deal as they make it out to be, but only a sprucing up of something that had not and never has been allowed to fall into ruin in the first place. But all of that just makes me happier that the horti guys are getting the kind of proper shout out they deserve, and yes, some of the garden work is indeed new.

Incidentally, they had to take out the large Magnolia tree that had been in the Pet Cemetery area since before the HM was even built, and it's a relief to see that another large tree was brought in to replace it. I'm sure there was a good reason to remove the old gal (diseased? causing structural damage?).

(7) The Telescope

Hip hip hooray, the telescope on the upper balcony is back after a 20 year absence.

Intelligently, it's on a tripod rather than attached to the railing like the earlier model, so it can easily be removed for the HMH and put back afterwards. (That's what doomed the old one.) Really happy to see this one.

(8) Phineas Gets a Wardrobe Upgrade

Sharp-eyed Forgottenistas like yensidtlaw at the Micechat "Thread" have noticed that Phineas has been given a new cloak, one which more closely matches the concept art for the figure. Subtle stuff indeed, and well done. That's the old Phineas on the left, the new on the right.

Other Items

Some changes may not be changes at all but merely temporary flukes. The deaf guy with the mummy had lost his long beard, but last week it looked to me like it had miraculously grown back. I've mentioned the rain effect in the Portrait Hall windows. I also noticed that the door knockers in the Corridor of Doors were much quieter than they used to be. I hope this isn't a deliberate muffling. I like the clack-clack-clack. It gets your attention and has you looking for the cause, which is a good thing. I also liked that they were a "practical" effect and continued clacking noisily away even during "pranky spirit" interruptions. It makes sense, doesn't it? Some ghosts care not one bit what their prankier brethren are doing and are going to keep up their racket regardless. Screw you all; clack we shall. More power to them.

Reader Imagineer999 points out in the Comments that the Caretaker has his original scraggly beard once again. So far as I know, this is the first time he's had it since the earliest days of the Mansion.

Foxxy has some additional observations after visiting in August: (1) The changing portraits seem to have individual spotlights on them now, making them easier to "read." Mark Hille, in the Comments below, had already noted this; (2) the "monotone chorus" in the graveyard (by the hearse tea party) is more conspicuous, either louder now, or restored after being absent; (3) darker, more mysterious lighting on the exterior porches at night; (4) the so-called Donald Duck chair by the Endless Hallway is new and plusher looking. Vickie Bramm (at the Haunted Mansion fan club on Facebook) explained this to me a couple of weeks ago: The old chair was apparently too decrepit to clean up, so they just made a new one. It looks like it was made to resemble the old one as closely as possible.

When I was there, the blowing drapes were not blowing—in either doorway. The rotting fruit on the ballroom table is not yet rejuvenating. Little Leota's projection was out of alignment, like it was last time I was there. I wonder when the last time it was correct? Other stuff that is obviously just temporarily busted I won't bother mentioning, but I must say something about the pop-up spooks in the graveyard, which I saw July 20-22. They were a disgrace. One didn't pop at all, some did manage to pop but were unlighted, and some popped so anemically that the word pop almost seems like a dishonest use of language, unless, perhaps, in some such sense as "great-grand-pop." Ol' Blasty was working, but he barely cleared his sarcophagus lid. None of the seven were in tip-top shape, I'm afraid. Bad show, that.

NEW: The Conservatory

Overlooked at the time, it wasn't until early in 2022 that we noticed some changes to the Conservatory. Victorian-era details were added in the form of cards and banners with writing on them attached to some of the floral arrangements, only one of which has been deciphered at this point (Mar 29, 2022). When they were put back in, following the HMH of 2021-22, several were relocated. The largest placard then became much more noticeable. This clip is from 2021:

FreshBaked!

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