Well, everything seems to be in order . . . and a little early I might add. If I’m feeling kind, the Haunted Experience may be up some time this evening.

I’ve also started work on a new version of the Haunted Experience. The new version will, of course, take place in the Haunted Mansion, but all of the graphics will be based on my own hand-drawings. Here are some proposed features:

• Theatrical Widescreen Format
  • How wide? Who knows.
• All-New Original Artwork
  • All images will be based on original hand-drawings.
• Multiple-View Map System
  • With the aid of an interactive map, you can jump to different locations in a given area.

With the majority of the big stuff out of the way, I can begin to settle back into my normal routine; I can finish the Main Street train station, and other projects. But first, I may a week off just to work on sketches for the new Haunted Experience.

While I’ve been busy getting ready for the Haunted Experience, finishing the train station model, and doing several other things, I’ve forgotten to create a new set of villain icons for next Sunday’s site update. I have one week left to get everything done, and there’s so much to do!

If I run out of time, I may have to make this year’s Villain Collection a complete Guest Request/Flashback edition. A lot of guests have been requesting villains anyway, and it’s not like anyone will go wanting—a brand-new set of villain icons was released in the last update anyway. Plus, there is a nice contest and some nifty Halloween treats coming up—both appropriately themed.

Final dimensions:

Height: 1′ 3″
Width: 4′
Depth: 8″

One gate down, and one to go.

Poles are being added to the gate. Cutting out the plethora of pieces for this part is tedious; there are so many tiny, nearly identical parts that need to be cut out. I’m not looking forward to building the opposite gate, but I do have a rhythm down.

I also have to create some additional support pieces to make the poles stand straighter since I’ve opted to omit the ironwork between the poles.

I thought I had some gold paint in the garage, but I guess I was wrong. I didn’t want the poles completely white, so I painted the tips black. I can always paint over them when I find some gold paint.

The finished station (sans gates ‘A’ & ‘B’).

The Baggage Claim section is finished. Next, I’ll attach it to the main section of the station and maybe add the two flag poles before I move back to gates ‘A’ and ‘B’.

The roof of gate ‘A/B’.

I only have a metal ruler, so it’s a bit hard to see the measurements. This section is a little under eight inches tall.

When I took reference pics during my last trip to Disneyland, I took the liberty of snapping some pictures of a Main Street trash can that was next to the station’s entrance. I thought three trash cans would make nice little accessories.

I had a chat this afternoon with the person who runs the server that hosts the Disney Experience, and I’ve come across some exciting but disturbing news. It seems that the site has become far more popular than what the server host likes. Here are some traffic (bandwidth) figures from November 2004 to August 2005:

Traffic has increased over 500% in less than a year! Because of this ever-growing level of traffic, I am now forced with either depending on donations (a grand total of $10 to date) to pay for the use of the extra bandwidth, or seriously scaling back the Disney Experience. That would mean less content and less availability . . . especially the paper models and other projects in the Ludwig Von Drake Laboratories.

The server host has been nothing but gracious in server space and bandwidth, not to mention help with server problems and goof-ups on my part. And all of this for FREE! But the bandwidth is growing, and it is beginning to encroach upon other Web sites that are hosted on the same server.

Back in July 2001, neither of us thought that the Disney Experience would reach the level of popularity that it has today, sitting side-by-side with great Disney fansites like MousePlanet, MiceAge, Doombuggies.com, Tell No Tales.com, Haunted Dimensions, etcetera.