Design in HK: Disneyland & the Mystic Manor
I had the absolute pleasure of visiting Hong Kong Disneyland this past week. For someone who has never been that big into Disney parks, I realized that I’ve been to four of them now. Upon arrival, we immediately beelined for rides that are unique to that park, one of which was the Mystic Manor (the Hong Kong equivalent of the Haunted Mansion).
The ride is the same in all other parks that it appears -except in Hong Kong. This is due to an interesting cultural difference: In China, ghosts aren’t meant to be scary. Your ancestors don’t claw their way out of their graves to come haunt you. As that’s the whole point of the ride, Disney had to come up with another concept that would scare people.
Instead, the Mystic Manor brings to life a series of inanimate objects. The ride’s narrative is one of an aged collector and his pet monkey. They bring home an enchanted box that is rumoured to bring inanimate objects to life. The curious monkey opens the box and releases the magic into the manor, subsequently animating all of the collector’s seemingly harmless artifacts.
Riders are then taken on a whirlwind tour of the manor where they are harassed by various objects and witness eerie transformations of paintings and statues into malicious beings. It all turns out okay though, as the monkey manages to close the box and stop the nightmare.
The setting strongly reminded me of Hotel Hightower at Tokyo Disney Sea. That ride tells the tale of a collector who brings home an enchanted artifact from a faraway land (sound familiar?), but the artifact is cursed and the collector mysteriously disappears.
I’m intrigued by this theme of haunted objects. Hotel Hightower and the Mystic Manor aren’t full of fully conscious evil spirits (who had past lives and grudges), as much as they are just full of things. Why is that scary in their culture, but not so much in the US? How does one group of people develop a shared fear of something so specific?
While many fears stem from culture, ghost stories are not the only thing passed down from generation to generation: there are some studies that suggest fear may be partially genetic. This would mean that your unexplained fear of boats may have more to do with your great grandmother’s life than your own. Isn’t that crazy?
At any rate, the Mystic Manor is a well-executed cultural exploration and use of trackless cars. If you’re at Hong Kong Disney, try it out (and try out the Iron Man Experience too because that one is also really cool. Go on Thunder Mountain while you’re at it!)
