We just saw on Boing Boing that, due to complaints about some ad-libs, the employees of Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion are being scripted and sent to acting class. Butlers and maids in the Foyer and Portrait Gallery have long made up their own creepy lines, but now they'll have a set script, complete with blocking, to follow. Some of the lines that apparently offended customers, according to the story on Jim Hill's Disney blog: "Drag your wretched bodies to the dead center of the room," and "Please follow the blood red carpet into the Foyer."
We're with Jim: it seems sad that a few complaints could lead to an overhaul, but at the same time, isn't it amazing that for forty years, those ghouls have been saying whatever they felt like it? At Disney World, the land of the scripted? All free-form things must come to an end when a lot of money is involved, but in this case improvisation had a pretty good run.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. How anyone can find those lines offensive, particularly within the setting of a haunted house, is incredible.
Chris at 10:03AM on Jan 5th 2008
2. This is ridiculous. Disney should tell the complainers that they are welcome to never return. I'm getting sick of how sensitive many people have become.
Susan at 8:51PM on Jan 5th 2008
3. TOTAL IGNORANCE... if someone finds that offensive it's because they don't know anything about "Haunted Houses" experience, they should know what they are getting into, rather than blame the event. These people should be laughed out of Disney Land or World... Doubly ignorant for complaining...
Wagner Roberto at 10:43PM on Jan 5th 2008
4. At Xmas, an organization called Put Christ back in Xmas published a list of merchandisers considered to be "anti-" Xmas. They informed people to boycott the sellars considered to be anti-Xmas. The reasons? Lowes was having a "holiday" sale rather than a "christmas" sale. A pet store chain was named as having no Xmas spirit advertisements to celebrate Christ. Home Depot sold an umbrella-like evergreen called E-Z tree or something along those lines. The christ in xmas folks sent them their collective moans and groans until promised Christmas would be stickered onto the box. Xmas is considered secular and Franklin D Roosevelt acknowledged it as such when he made it a federal holiday. The intention wasn't to support Christ but something less holy i.e.,increasing store sales!
The irony of the Put Christ back into Xmas project is that they are just promoting the spending of money in the name of christ just as any secularist would spend in name of the holiday. I'm sure there must be some holiness in that, huh?
boredwell at 3:22AM on Jan 7th 2008