Phantom Manor during its closure in Feb 2019
The Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris reopened this week after a 16 month refurbishment that saw many internal enhancements and two notable audio changes. The first was a welcome change to many – the return of the Vincent Price narration.
The second was not welcomed by fans of the Parisian park. In the ballroom scene, composer John Debney’s sweeping, original orchestrated adaptation of the Haunted Mansion soundtrack was removed and replaced with the organ music from the soundtrack to the Haunted Mansion attraction from the United States. Guests who had early access to the reopened attraction during an annual pass soft opening were not impressed and they weren’t quiet about it.
By the time the Phantom Manor fully opened to the general public on May 3rd, its official re-opening date, John Debney’s orchestrated ballroom scene had been restored.
The question now is, why did Disney backtrack on the update? There has been guest outcry about changes to the parks before and the company didn’t budge (I’m looking at you, Epcot Wand). Is this a case of Disneyland Paris being more open to its guests feedback than US parks management? Were they more direct about their feedback (formal letters, emails, complaints at guest services) rather than just tweeting their frustrations? And given all of this, what can we do to bring back Maelstrom!?