Building the Country Bear Playhouse (designed by Fred Folger) with my nephew. While constructing it, I realized that it’s really more of a model. So, I moved it to the area of the website with the rest of the paper models.

• Download the Country Bear Playhouse
• More about Fred Folger

I was refreshing my other website when I came across an old post. It was an interview I had done last year (exactly 1 year ago today!) for Zombos’ Closet. I read it, and was more than pleased at my writing style. Odd, I know, but I fell in love with writing in college, and I am always analyzing my work.

Any-who . . . I can proudly confirm that everything in that article still holds true, and it re-affirmed my Halloween convictions. If you haven’t read it, check it out.

“Dearest readers and foolish mortals,

The time has come. This blog, my friends, will officially be closing on our anniversary, October 28th. I want to thank you all for making this a wonderful three years.

Both the blog and website will be vanishing from the internet, in result, all posts will be disappearing. However, if you do wish to read a specific post contact me, for I will be keeping files of each one.

Thank you again, for reading and enjoying.

For the last time…

RIP,

Master Gracey”

Yet another Haunted Mansion site goes down. I actually worked with “Master Gracey” on a few occasions, and it’ll be sad to see the blog go. Sigh . . . my bookmark list will become a little shorter soon.

Farewell, Master Gracey’s Haunted Mansion.

Mine Train Thru Nature’s Wonderland.

I found this Blog a few days ago while surfing the ‘Net. It’s an awesome attempt at re-creating (with some modifications) the classic Disneyland attraction, Mine Train Though Nature’s Wonderland.

It’s an awesome model build with working train and animations. The videos are a must-see!

Okay, if you’re not a Disney theme park fan, you probably don’t get the title of this post. It’s a joke about the attractions’ Spanish safety spiel telling guests to “remain seated please.” I’m listening to Windows to Sky’s rendition of the Haunted Mansion/Grim Grinning Ghosts as I write this, and that line is in the audio track. It’s funny because it starts off reciting the mansion’s Spanish spiel, jumps to “cinnamon toast and tacos are on the floor,” and finishes in Spanish again. Great stuff!

That brings me to some late great Haunted Mansion finds. During the Halloween week, I am typically focused on nothing other than Doorless Chambers and decorating the front porch. It’s not until later that I find (or re-discover) Internet goodies. This year, I found all-mansion items.

Ray Keim, over at Haunted Dimensions, has a last-minute mini New Orleans Haunted Mansion paper model. Mini versions of his other models are coming within the next year.

Keith LuBrant has a jazzed-up guitar version of Grim Grinning Ghosts. It’s a must-have mp3.

The Mousetalgia team discusses Hallowen Time at the Disneyland Resort and has an exclusive interview with Kat Cressida, the voice of the black widow bride. Listen to episode #52 now!

David Occhino has updated his Mansion font to version 3.0. It features 18 styles and 4 variants, giving a wide array of chilling visual features to the classic Haunted Mansion typeface! His free Mansion Cryptbats (introduced during his participation in the 2009 Doorless Chambers event) is also available.

David’s Mansion Cryptbats have been popular. Not only have they been used in the creation of Louie Mantia’s “Eerie Eyes” wallpaper, but they’ve been used in the creation of a unique death certificate for DoomBuggies.com. Fill out the simple form, and the website spits back a custom-made Haunted Mansion death certificate PDF.

There’s a neat Fan Board update today. In particular, I wanted to focus on Becky’s childhood United World Kingdom.

If you’ve been watching the Fan Board, then you should be aware of Becky’s large holiday layouts. Today, I learned of her source of inspiration and how it started. The email was a little large for the Fan Board, and there was an awesome hand-drawn park layout that could only be appreciated if you saw some of the details (again, too large for the Fan Board). So, I thought I’d post the story here, along with a larger park map image. Take it away, Becky . . . Read More

I found this video about the Grizzly Flats Coach 5, which was purchased by Ward Kimball, one of the members of Walt Disney’s Nine Old Men. Ward was the creator of Jiminy Cricket, among other popular animated characters.

Ward’s coach, along with both of his steam engines, the Emma Nevada and Chloe, can be seen up close and personal at the Orange Empire Railway Museum. I recommend visiting on a weekend or holiday since that’s when the various trains run. You might even catch one of the two Disneyland-looking engines out on the tracks!

Well, I finally did it. I crashed my computer (missing/corrupt system file). That means no site updates, no artwork, etcetera. It’s too bad, too, because I was working on figuring something out for the Disney Experience’s tenth anniversary. Oh well. I couldn’t come up with anything anyway, so this will give me some time to brainstorm.

I keep all of my files on my computer’s secondary hard drive as well as an external hard drive (back-up). The main hard drive is what runs the computer, so if it has to be wiped, it shouldn’t affect my files at all. I just have way too many important files that I simply cannot lose.

The computer should be fixed within the week, so it shouldn’t interrupt anything. If I do have to make any site updates, I guess I’ll just have to do it the old-fashioned way. I just hope it doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg to get back to “normal.”

Be sure to visit the site on Halloween, and pick-up your treat. A link will be on the splash page, and on the news page (right here). You only have 24 hours to get your goodie, so be sure not to miss it!

Check out the <a href=”http://www.gothicmanor.com/” target=”_blank”>Gothic Manor website</a> with all sorts of Haunted Mansion recreations! Ask the creator, and you just may be able to have some made for your own home.