I was fortunate enough to get a special backstage tour of the Haunted Mansion in Disney World (Orlando, FL.) and got to see the workings close up of the Ballroom scene, as well as others...That was an awesome experience..

Bigwolf- I did too notice changes such as what you noticed with the modified Tiki Birds show, and I hope they stop there with it, and don't change the real classic shows/rides like Haunted Mansion, the Pirates of the Caribbean, and of course, the Country Bear Jamboree, to make them like the movies based on them...That would really stink.

-Andrew

FYI - a smaller portable version of Pepper's Ghost is Owen Magic Supreme's Reincarnation. I built a special version (from their highly modified plans) of this for my own use around 30 years ago. This illusion resembles Stoddard's Sphynx illusion in that a head appears within a small table mounted chest. Reincarnation goes farther by having the head visibly change into a skull.

I redesigned the illusion to be even more portable and eliminated the table. The chest stands on four legs. Also rather than only one visible change, my unit allows up to four visible changes. My "story behind the illusion" was that the chest is an exact replica of one used by the high priests of ancient Egypt to determine authenticity of a potential new pharaoh. It does so by revealing past lives. The spectator's head changes several times - one of the changes is into Frankenstein's monster as the original life form. So much for that guy being the true heir to the throne!

The visible change under full illumination is really amazing. The spectator can even see it from within the chest when a mirror is placed in front of the box.

The drawback with all such illusions is a very limited field of view. Reincarnation is good for a long narrow room, as spectators need to be directly in front of the chest to appreciate and see the miracle.
Jim

My favorite using this principle is the Girl to Gorilla.

I need to check with Johnny Thompson about his version too.

The Haunted Mansion "mock up" that was used to SELL the concept to Walt Disney himself is at the Magic Castle and I was fortunate enough to photograph it and all the inner workings for Genii magazine article on the Magic Castle.

Check it out.

To clarify: Our blue room, is NOT by any means small, but it is tour-able LARGE room (think ata cases the size of Copperfields 13 illusion) The hardware is fantastic. Anyone see the Will Smith movie “Wild Wild West”? The whole movie has an industrial era to all its sets, lots of black steel with bolts rivets and whatnot. This prop is pretty cool, very industrial, lots of bolts and rivets … very cool piece of apparatus,
The effect is darker in outcome though, based off of the movie “13 Ghosts”, and involves a randomly (a real) audience member. I will post pictures as soon as its road tested and released to be sold. This has been a long hard journey for us, but it’s nearly ready to go.

When visiting Disney World's Magic Kingdom, you can see ANOTHER version of Pepper's Ghost. In the Winnie the Pooh ride, you'll pass an exhibit that has Pooh's "dreaming spirit" leaving his sleeping body -- it's classic Pepper's Ghost.

Also, one of the best "Black Art" shows can be seen at the Disney-MGM theme park at Disney World -- it's the Little Mermaid show. Excellent, assuming that some idiot doesn't use his flash camera. Also, it seems to me that they have illuminated the EXIT signs as of late, which tends to spoil the effect.

Reg:

The most recent big change to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was to the "chasing the women" sequence. Here's some more info:

Cahttp://pages.cthome.net/chrisfoxx/pc/

I saw the attraction a few years ago and was also disappointed that the cannons didn't make as much noise as I'd have liked. Not sure if the sound was changed to be quieter. It's more likely the televised sound was enhanced. Don't you hate it when they fool you like that?

Any pictures yet on this Ryan. Love to see them :O)

Michael