Updates

Broken Items from Ebay

July 8th 2013

   Sadly from time to time it happens to all of us, that day when you are waiting so excitedly for your new item to arrive in the mail. You open the box ever so carefully with fingers crossed and look down and your heart drops. That expensive item you purchased off EBay was received damaged. What to do now? I've had this issue before in the past and the issue has never been resolved. I have called multiple post offices all saying they are unsure how to handle a broken but insured item or telling me different answers than the previous post office. My local post office tells me the shipper must fill out the paper work and submit it since he is the one who sent the item. The shipper told me that his post office said I must fill it out since I received the broken item. In the end nothing was resolved and I was stuck attempting to repair the item myself.
   Well this just happened again last Friday when I received my new Gargoyle statue candle holder. It was packed very well in Styrofoam, put into a very large box and surrounded by tons of new paper. It was insured through the post office but given that my post office either is dumb of plays dumb so not to have to pay for a damaged item the seller and I went over options. I at this point already paid $86 for a item that originally and still goes for $59 at Disney. The seller wanted me to pay to have it shipped back to him which costs $13-15 shipped the slow method due to the boxes large size. He then would swap it for another one and pay the $13-15 to ship it back to me ending with an additional total cost of $30 to the items already high total. We discussed a solution that he would refund me $20 and I would keep the item. This would save money and hassle on both ends and I would try and glue the item back together.
   I thought this was very kind of the seller especially since I do not know who is at fault. Did USPS stack something heavy causing the weight to break it? Is it just another fragile Disney item? I've purchased items from the Art of Disney store and before walking out the sales person always opens the box and examines the item. I would say about quarter of the time the items have been broken. Once the 2nd item they pulled out was broken too! Disney you make some wonderful items but please in the future put more thought into strength during your design process!

Common Interests

July 15th 2013

Since Making this page I have already made some new acquaintances. Having a common interest with someone is a great way to start off a friendship. Being a Mansion fan often I am alone in enjoying my collection. There is however a large number of other fans out there so long as you can find them. Recently I got to talking with two great people who share the same passion for this wonderful ride, discussing stories, trips and collectibles with one another. Heck one of them has even surprised me... I have wanted the new Hourglass Gargoyle figure that has been released but cannot find them in my area. EBay as usual has prices at 4-5 times retail. The first day of talking and he said to me he has an extra in his possession needing a home and mine looks to be a good place for it. He just recently sent it out in the mail in fact It's on its way as I type this (let’s hope it makes it here in one piece.) All he said in the end was if I like it then maybe I could return the favor someday, perhaps even send him one of my prints of the "Foggy Morning scene". I will gladly do this!! It just shows that there still are great people out there who trust one another. It's also nice to have a connection willing to trade back and forth between CA and FL for merchandise almost like a modern day pen pal only not with letters but items. Also while having these conversations it gave me an idea for a future project regarding the Haunted Mansion Wallpaper.... I don't want to give it away yet since I'm still tossing around ideas but if it works It will be fantastic!
Last night my girlfriend and I visited Downtown Disney for our much needed date night. While there I couldn't help myself but take a gander for merchandise. I did buy the new HM Ears listed at $23 for one or 3 for $50. This might make a nice trade item in the future as well since I now have a spare or two. Also while at the Art of Disney store my girlfriend and I stumbled upon a new canvas print of the Mansion with the 3 Hitch Hiking Ghosts. Normally the canvas prints run $400-1000 but this was only $150 plus tax! It measures around 11.5 wide and 17 inches tall and is limited to 1,500 total. A great find indeed the photo of it is to the left of this update.

Park Prop

July 27th 2013

Today my girlfriend and I went to a Disney store that sells rare Disney items as well as park used props. I was on the hunt for something related to the Haunted Mansion of course. I did come across a couple signs. One was the Servants' Quarters sign that was park used. The store recently received a few of these in yesterday and already sold them all except for one. As tempting as it was I had an eye on another sign but it was extremely expensive! The lady was wonderful at sales doing and saying anything to get me to agree to purchase it. With a little talk about a price drop and a call to the owner they agreed to knock off $100 and put it on a layaway deal for as long as need which I can assure you won't be long with how excited I am!

Here is a little history on the item, at the end of the ride there was a black sign which read "Dead End! Prepare to exit to the Living World". While these signs are park used mine was not park used what I am told due to the skull was not correct to how it was supposed to be. That was all the seller could remember. From talking with another mansion buddy I was told that he read somewhere something similar that at one point the scary more human like skull was made but it was too scary and the more happy cartoonish skulls were used instead. If this is true that makes my sign all the more rare since it would be considered an error. If anyone can prove this or back this up with a link of any sorts please contact me. I would greatly appreciate it!
These signs have been removed from both FL and CA mansions so a wall could be removed allowing wheelchair access for guests therefore removing the sign as well. This is what I read on micechat and if it’s true it makes this sign all the more rare seeing as it is gone and no more will come to sale for need to replacement. I hope in time this will increase the value of this item!

Dishes

July 31st 2013

For many years I have wanted to collect the dishes that are used by the mansion. The birthday scene is one of my favorite in the entire ride and who wouldn't like to own a little piece of it themselves? I was lucky enough to come across someone selling one of the Ruby red goblets years ago and purchased it off of them. It took some asking around to find out exactly what it was and it’s called Kings Crown Ruby Thumbprint. I have my mansion piece in my collection but started a separate collection of them in my hutch. Even though I had one kind identified I still had no clue what the other two dishware sets were called. I felt like I searched the entire internet for answers and can barely even find a somewhat decent photograph of them. I found my answers thanks to another mansion fan.
Florida uses J & G Meakin Romantic England Red dishes whereas California uses Spode Blue Italian dishes. I just now received my first piece in the mail. It was packaged poorly and can't believe it did not get broken in transit. I plan on getting two smaller plates or bowls and making the Hidden Mickey shape like the table has on the ride.

Light and Dark
June 9th 2014

It's amazing how different things can look with lights instead of darkness. The ride stopped for near 15 min with me sitting in blackness staring at these eyes. I've always wondered how they did this effect each time I passed by in my doombuggy.

I took the opportunity since I was stuck there to finally see and took a flash picture. I hope this photo doesn't ruin the magic for any of you. I just like to know how things work and figure many of you do too so I thought I'd share. Happy Hauntings everyone!

Concept Art - The Care Taker
June 13th 2014 (Friday the 13th...)

Tonight (Friday the 13th) I purchased a new piece of artwork from Celebrity Artist/Disney Master Artist Kevin-John at www.Kevin-John.com. He is working on his second official Haunted Mansion piece of artwork for Disney to be sold in their art gallery October 2014. He has made several concept pieces trying to get all the details perfect for his and Disney's liking and I had the option of purchasing one. This is the Caretaker and his dog walking through the grave yard. I love the colors and the spirits flying around in the background. KJ added a nice touch by giving the artwork a splattered and runny look. This is done purposely and is one of my favorite touches he adds to some of his paintings. This is my second piece of Haunted Mansion concept sketches from him and hopefully I will have many more to come in the future!

Much Needed updates!

January 12th 2015

I have been so extremely busy lately with a film crew I joined up with to help create a feature film www.UnderwoodMovie.com that I have been seriously slacking on updating this website. My wonderful wife bought me many new Haunted Mansion items for Christmas as well as other items she or I had bought here and there since my last update have not been showcased on this site yet. As some of you may know my wife is a cast member and part of the Holiday goodies cast members get is a 40% off merchandise deal. I wanted to take full advantage of this before it runs out in February. So while at the new Haunted Mansion store last night at Magic Kingdom I bought a few goodies!

About $600 worth of them actually... This was before the 40% was taken off thankfully. I purchased the new Crystal Ball, the new HUGE mansion plaque front gate sign, the caretaker figurine, the 5 statues of people found in the haunted mansion line. Sorry I can't think of the name of them off the top of my head at this moment. I also bought the new blueish grave stones, the mirror along with some other items. Also I forgot to mention what my wife bought me for Christmas. I received the Woman on the tight rope figurine, the new bookends and other little haunted mansion stocking stuffers. I plan on taking everything down, dusting them off and packing the smaller items away and only showcasing the larger items. Sadly I am running out of room and everything seems too cluttered for my OCD liking. I hope to invest in new shelves in the future to better display all of this goodness! :)