S.E.A. Here

Harrison Hightower V [she/her usually]

[hauntedhearse]

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad Disney IG: kadieinwonderland ∞

[plustheshow]

Defunct Mine Train, Rivers of America, circa 2008

[a-land-of-shadow-and-substance]

I'm equal parts surprised and relieved that Disneyland still has Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and that it still is like THAT

Everything else remotely scary, marginally less marketable, or potentially offensive is getting/has been removed, and Toad is still just, "Fuck it, here's some reckless driving and Hell."

[seriously-nobody]

*Walks in through Haunted Mansion doors* Honey, I'm home

[seahere]

Just watched Haunted Mansion (2023) and yeah, they did good. In my opinion, at least. (SPOILERS as I ramble my thoughts. Obviously.)

Enough park canon material included to make me very happy! And best of all! We still don't know the origin of the Mansion! Ahhh! Perfect!

They have the WDW Mansion belong to Hattie (movie verse's Alistair Crump), but our classic mansion, while owned by Gracey who made a big mess with the help of Leota, still has an undefined origin.

There was an emphasis on the Captain. I do like that. He's a major hitchhiking ghost and one of the friendlier ones right away (technically). He's still left ambiguous, though. His haunts make him the Mariner, but he's anyone from Captain Gore, to Culpepper Clyne, to unnamed and forgotten captain.

I am actually a big fan of Gracey and I love his inclusion. He's the owner, or was the most notable one, at least. Not the originator of the place, but he was handed the role of "fucked up stupendously" and I love that for him. I'm speaking lightly but genuinely, this movie does show us grief in a lot of its forms and I can honestly say that I laughed and cried my way through the movie. They did very well.

So yeah, I enjoyed seeing the way they played out the cycle of grief, his desperation inviting the madness of a dark player. Hattie's origins are good by me. I only cared that he was NOT tied to Constance. The two can be diabolical ghosts but I didn't want him to be one of her victims. Big bad murderer in his own right is good with me. Love that journey for him. I do wish the cgi had been a little more...greenish and glowy. And I wish he'd been a little more playfully devious. But I was good with it. No surprise villain or unexpected twist—just ghosts we know, weaved into a tale, and real humans that worked.

I also loved the art style during Bruce's expositional talk about Alistair Crump. Like, damn, I want more of that. Deeply love it.

From cheesy to heartfelt to genuinely nice, this was a great ride. I laughed, I cried, I loved the story. I love that it was about the people. It was about genuinely difficult emotions that none of us can outrun. I love that there's a Mansion full of Happy Haunts in the end.

It didn't feel like they were rewriting or forcing a new canon. Hell, they had Bruce reference the endless crazy theories about the place. The ghost appearances came straight from existing, physical characters (love the Mummy of course). Stories like the dueling brothers and Constance already existed, and played right into the Tragic Souls after Gracey and Leota had already poisoned the Mansion through his grief.

Hatbox Ghost was the only one given an expanded backstory because the story needed an antagonist. I was good with that. Honestly the Crump Manor bit surprised and delighted me. But I also don't care if people view this as only one of many possible theories. I, personally, quite like it. I could probably ramble on this point further but I'll end it here.

Good movie. Well suited to the material. Playful, spooky, intense. I will definitely be watching it again.

[dani-luminae]

I think that a Society of Explorers and Adventurers movie absolutely sounds promising, but I worry if Disney has the tact to pull it off respectfully. The SEA is, at its most basic, a bunch of mostly white people going around the world and collecting relics from a bunch of indigenous cultures on almost every continent. They’ve made the concept work so far by putting a distinct line between the “good” members of the SEA who received these treasures as gifts in return for help (such as Henry Mystic, Indiana Jones, Jock Linsey, etc.) and the “bad” SEA members who steal and pilfer their treasures (Harrison Hightower, whoever that dude was in the Halloween overlay of the Jungle Cruise attraction), and nonaffiliated ones like Albert Falls.

But it’s easy to separate the “good” and “bad” members of the SEA in the context of a theme park geared towards children. Adapting the SEA for a cinematic movie will introduce the concept to a much larger audience with a greater capacity for critical thinking, so Disney needs to be extremely careful with this concept. 

[seahere]

So I haven’t followed any news about the potential S.E.A movie or miniseries but I have some things to respond to here

Mostly, yes I think it’s good to be concerned about what potentially damaging ideas could be pushed by glorifying treasure hunters from the late 1800s till 1930s ish.

The information we have on Canon S.E.A is, however, extremely limited. The one group picture we have of them is from pre-1899 as Harrison Hightower III is present (and holding the stolen idol that will kill him). A lot could have changed since then. And I hope Disney chooses to explore a more modern look into what the S.E.A could be.

The only sort of modern character we have (considering the timeline) is Alberta Falls, Albert’s granddaughter who runs the Skipper Canteen (restaurant in WDW) and was responsible for the change from a river shipping company to the Skipper-focused Jungle Navigation Company. There is a lot of room for Disney to choose new members that were inducted, or maybe new ones who just found old documents and decided to be adventurers or researchers also! (and while it’ll likely never happen, I absolutely love the idea of new S.E.A. Members pulling reverse-missions from the old folks by robbing museums and returning stolen items back to the actual people they belong to)

While we can visit Henry Mystic in his Mansion, Harrison’s hotel, Mary’s oceanier lab on the cruise, and Indiana Jones on the rides/shows, all of those are out-of-time experiences. They are not current to an actual modern timeline. They have a lot of room to play with the timeline, even historically, about new members joining/getting recruited and telling new stories, or extending stories with new facts and characters… I just hope they do take that chance.

Also I am obligated to point out that, while a lot of people are of the belief that the Disney Parks are just for kids, they simply are not. Just my bone of contention here. A lot of rides could even be considered too thrilling or too intense for young kids, especially in the bigger parks. Yes, it’s a theme park with characters and fantasyland is definitely one of the more cutesy areas, but the parks are always for “the young and young at heart” (especially when you consider lands like epcot where you can drink around the world… ).

And following that often misplaced view of the parks, the Adventurer’s Club was an absolutely delightful location for fans of the S.E.A. in-park universe stuff. It was part of Pleasure Island and, especially after a certain time of night, was definitely an adult location. In fact, each of the buildings in Pleasure Island had little backstories that tied back into a wider park-universe of characters from the past. Sadly, that’s all demolished and removed now. It was rocky in the eyes of Canon anyways but it’ll still be missed.

Additionally, the few locations that reek with S.E.A. Vibes stateside are the Trader Sam’s Tiki Bar in the Disneyland area and the Skipper’s Canteen at Walt Disney World. I think there still is Jock Lindsey’s hangar bar in WDW Disney Springs too. One of these is straight up a bar. And I know Skipper’s Canteen is more popular among older kids and adults because the dishes are intentionally Adventureous and lil ones often shy away from those foods.

Okay ramble over for now!

[shaydystheshadowqueen]

If I can add to this conversation, I think I may have an idea on how to handle the potential of a S.E.A movie, based on two of Disney’s creations:

First, the upcoming novel series based on S.E.A and its first book “Shinji Takahashi and the Mark of the Coatl” This middle-grade series’s first book focuses on a boy who inexplicably ends up the conduit of an ancient guardian and now must team up with a tech wiz and a “venerable Society of Explorers and Adventurers and its ragtag cast of spelunkers, hackers, mapmakers, pilots, and mythology experts (among other things)” to return the guardian to its rightful home before it’s power accidentally kills the boy or even worse, falls into the hands of the Hightower Corporation and their nefarious intentions. Sounds pretty straight forward right? There’s nothing too judgemental or old-timey, but it still manages to hit the points that make S.E.A what it is, complete with a clear establishment of good/neutral/bad. Plus it sneaks in a bit of the darker tone that S.E.A can sometimes be.

Speaking of Disney media with sutle dark tones, the 2012-2016 TV show “Gravity Falls” shows exactly how to make a family-friendly piece of media with shades of dark comedy. It was a simple premise of two twins, one a believer of weird stuff and one that’s just weird, who get stuck at their con-artist great uncle’s tourist trap in a town in the middle of nowhere, who discover a journal that leads them to the discovery of several supernatural and cryptic things all over the seemingly normal town. Everything from classic cryptids to horrific curses to hidden cults to even the CIA was featured in this show! And it tackled some pretty serious topics on occasion (death, family, memories, etc).

So, yeah, if they’re going to tackle S.E.A, I fully agree that it should be modern-day, but not just modern-day. It should be as utterly wacky and crazy as a classic pirate film with all the humour of an old guy punching a pterodactyl with a pig attached to his chest, where the main cast is the biggest set of utter misfits that you will ever find outside of Goonies and the villains are either typical for-profit villains or supernatural entities or a mix of both.

I would very much watch that.

[mousecrossingtours]

All the birds sing words and the flowers croon

[wesleejones]

[disneylandparadise]

[themagicforless]

Swiss Family Robinson Tree house can only be done in very nice weather

[justdisneyposts]

[nrazei]

But Agrabah has something that no other place in the world has .

- Genie 

[secretsofdisneyland]

Disneyland Secret #230

18 seconds. The cast member in the Enchanted Tiki Room pushes a button to start the program. From there, there is an 18 second wait until Jose wakes up. Often members of the audience are asked to wake Jose up or the cast member him/herself may do it. It is also a request you can make if the cast member is obliging. Walt Disney use to come a wake up Jose.

Photo Credit: S.Deal

[shipperneko]

Sometimes happiness is a dole whip and adventure land.

[zintt]

[savingrae]

[secretsofdisneyland]

Disneyland Secret #229

In the planters, near the entry to Indiana Jones and the Temple of The Forbidden Eye, if you have a sharp eye, you can find this little house. This is the house of Patrick Begorra—a leprechaun who lives in Disneyland. This little man has a whole story which you can read in the book, The Little Man of Disneyland.