The Hatbox Ghost: What's Your Head Doin' in That Hatbox?

In the last hullabaloo, I strained credibility by using the notion of a 'ghost in the machine' to discuss Paul Yanover's interview in yesterday's edition of Forbes about his work with Disney Online. Having no shame, I extended my creaky reference to the Haunted Mansion and happy haunts.

But that dark literary cloud had a spectrally silver lining because it led me to the cool blog of former Disney designer Kevin Kidney who last year sculpted an absolutely evil, horrendous replica (I mean that as a compliment) of the Hatbox Ghost, an apparition channeled decades ago by Disney's Imagineers for the Haunted Mansion but long since dispelled.

The Ghost used to appear in the Attic Scene with the Forlorn Bride whose every heartbeat would cause his head to disappear from his shoulders and re-appear in his hatbox.

In Happy Haunt Materialized, Kevin explains how the trick worked and then he launches into a fascinating account of how he and his partner, Jody Smith, sculpted a scale replica of the Hatbox Ghost using everything from wood and plastic to lots of cloth and lots of needles (lots of band-aids, too, I bet...).

Their creation is astounding - and it went to the highest bidder at last year's D23 Expo. How'd you like to go to that guy's house next Halloween and see the Hatbox Ghost in the shadows?

MORE: Miehana (Kevin Kidney)

And a Ghost (in the Machine) Will Follow You Home

The term 'ghost in the machine' was coined by Gilbert Lyle, a British philosopher, to ridicule Rene Descartes, a French philosopher (why can't those people ever get along?). In later usage, especially, it refers to the primitive impulses residual in our modern brains.

As Disney delves deeper into digital worlds, their 'ghost in the machine' is our flesh-and-blood enjoyment of the theme parks, and their challenge is how to distill those 'primitive impulses' into immaculate code.

In an interview yesterday with Forbes, Disney Online Managing Director Paul Yanover didn't mention any ghosts but he did provide some enlightenment into what 'digital experiences' Disney thinks its customers want.

According to Yanover, Disney Online is all about the 'zeitgeist (another philosopher!): the essence of Disney brought to the home computer and encapsulated on the new home page instead of spread throughout a network of sites. Yanover wants Disney.com visitors to smell the bakery on Main Street while clicking over to play a Phineas & Ferb game or plan a new reservation or (perhaps most of all) visit a virtual world.

Today's kids live most of the time in virtual worlds powered by iPods, iPhones, and social media. Disney is aware that tomorrow's theme park parents will be far different from today's theme park parents. They'll be a tough crowd. Yanover doesn't spend much time discussing the company's inevitable full-bore expansion into virtual worlds, similar to the enormously popular Second Life and World of Warcraft, but he drops a tantalizing hint that our culture is entering a 'trans-media world where both platforms and experiences are merging into one another'.

Those worlds are sure to contain both happy haunts and troublesome ghosts.

MORE: Forbes (Brandon Gutman, Paul Yanover)

Disney Reference: Go Look It Up in Your Dis-tionary

As at least one other person knows, I stinkin' love IStinkinLoveDisney, a blog written by Ashley Metz who has now taken on the 'her'culean task of compiling a 'dis'tionary.

In plain English: a dictionary of Disney terms.

Ashley's lexicon is on the light side right now, with only a few terms defined and few of them unfamiliar to even the greenest of Disney guests. But what I especially like is Ashley's organization of dictionary terms under pictorial letters. Instead of the letter 'D' in big black bold text, for example, Ashley used a graphic of the letter 'D' that she found on Disney signage.

Identifying those signs from their tiny snippets is quite a challenge.

When you've successfully met the challenge (and not a moment sooner!), check out Ashley's recent review of Finding Nemo: The Musical. Ashley includes a behind-the-scenes video from the show and some soundtrack samples from YouTube. She says she laughed, she cried (you'd think she was watching Cats on Broadway). In the end, though, she stinkin' loved it.

MORE: I Stinkin' Love Disney (Ashley Metz)

Disneyland's Mickey Mouse Penthouse: Would Mickey Stay Here?

I was pretty excited when I heard about the Mickey Mouse Penthouse planned for the Disneyland Hotel. I imagined how I would decorate such a penthouse, drawing heavily on bright colors and happy characters and kid-friendly knick-knacks. Now I don't have to imagine because Heather Hust Rivera of the Disney Parks Blog published pictures yesterday.

Does anyone remember the Debbie Downer character from Saturday Night Live and the sound effect they played whenever she said something depressing and inappropriate? Wah-wahhhh.

I heard that sound effect when I saw the photos for the Mickey Mouse Penthouse.

I'm not a chronic downer. I love Disney's new Haunted Mansion rooms (a preview of which I hullabaloo'ed here on August 15). But the Mickey Mouse Penthouse - from Heather's pictures, anyway - is a pale ghost compared to the Mansion rooms and lacks Mickey's trademark warmth and friendliness. His Penthouse looks to me like an Austin Powers Junior set with leather chairs, funky geometric floor designs, and overhead bluish lights that I really hope don't turn into a strobe after midnight when Minnie (or Daisy, if you believe the rumors) turns up.

Even the kid's bedroom seems austere, though at least it comes with a DVD player and video games. The bathroom, however, is beautiful, and it's a shame that the light, happy touch employed there wasn't replicated in the main room and bedrooms.

Judging from the positive, gushingly positive, reader comments about the Penthouse pictures, I'm not sure you should trust my opinion, which is based on a total lack of design savvy. Check out the pictures yourself. And then try, try real hard, to imagine Mickey Mouse in that room.

MORE: Disney Parks Blog (Heather Hust Rivera)

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride into Oblivion

In the current installment of his "Lost Attractions" series, Danny Cox of the Examiner eulogizes (in a happy, upbeat way) the dearly departed Mr. Toad, who took his last Wild Ride at Disney World's Magic Kingdom in 1998 despite the protests of many fans.

There were, in fact, two versions of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, one at Disneyland and one at Disney World. Both rides opened on the same day that their respective parks opened. The Disneyland Toad rides on; the Disney World Toad, as Danny explains in his article, went ker-plop under his own wheels to make way for the better-known (and perhaps better-behaved) Winnie the Pooh.

Some aspects of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - the jailhouse, his arrival in 'Hell' - did not mesh well with Disney's long-term plans for Fantasyland, and the ride itself was notoriously unnerving for younger kids who prefer the gentler thrills of Heffalumps and Woozles, the scariest part of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which took over the premises after Toad skipped out.

If you stay sharp, you can see Toad's picture during the Pooh ride - his visage is not crowed with hellfire so we can hope he managed to hop into Heaven.

Danny has details in his article about what it was like to take the Wild Ride. But for those desperate to experience the ride again, I suggest a visit to VirtualToad where you'll find a "virtual reality" reconstruction of the ride. Very cool! (Make sure you read the instructions before you begin or like me you'll be waiting forever for the door to open by itself.)

Mr. Toad, may you ribbitt in peace.

MORE: Examiner | Virtual Toad (Danny Cox | Spencer Cook)

Site News: An Update on Games and Puzzles!

Yesterday, I announced the addition of a new section to Disney Dispatch: games and puzzles. To kick off the festivities in a big (okay, not so big) way, I unveiled a word search puzzle.

According to everyone who tried it, the puzzle worked just fine in their browsers. So today, another word search puzzle - this one featuring Disney World Resort Hotels - and a definite commitment to crosswords next week.