Disney Parks is celebrating The Haunted Mansion’s 50th anniversary the right way, with tons of merchandise released over the entire week, and a two-night swinging wake over at Disneyland Park. One of the most hyped pieces of merchandise that was previewed in official releases was the introduction of new, interactive Host-A-Ghost Jars. We weren’t sure what exactly to expect here. Were these just decorations? What was the extent of the “interactive” elements? Turns out the short answer is yes, and not very much. Now, do not pull down on the safety bar for this review. I will lower it for you.
We find ourselves materialized at the “The Haunted Mansion: Celebrating 50 Years of Retirement Unliving” event, where guests have exclusive first access to merchandise released just for the 50th Anniversary. While a lot of supposedly exclusive merchandise actually went on sale at both Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom this week, at least they did a good job of keeping these jars under wraps. Starting tomorrow, these should be available to the general mortal public on both coasts.
Each Host A Ghost Jar costs $59.99. You can choose between the Hatbox Ghost, Sarah “Sally” Slater, Hitchhiking Ghosts Gus and Ezra, Professor Phineas Plump, Amicus Arcane, Constance Hatchaway, Captain Culpepper Clyne, and Victor Geist (the Annual Passholder exclusive.) The jars are plastic and battery-powered, but feature a raised sculpted Haunted Mansion logo on the top lid, as well as weathering to make them seem old and harrowed. The label for each character is specifically designed and includes a short blurb giving context.
Each jar comes in a satin-lined box with a commemorative “Death Certificate” as well as a chain pertaining to each character. You have a ball and chain for Gus, a stack of books for Amicus Arcane, a bowler hat for Ezra, ballet shoes for Sarah “Sally” Slater (of Stretching Room fame), and so on. If you want to get creative, you could work the chains into a Disneybound outfit, but the chains are meant to be worn around the jars themselves.
The conceptual history of these is neat in that the jars themselves are designed after the jars that line the shelves at Memento Mori in the Magic Kingdom. Madame Leota keeps these ghostly spirits contained in these jars, and upon purchase, you become their caretaker. The characters featured in the series span both embodiments of the attraction, with Hatbox Ghost pertaining to Disneyland and both Amicus Arcane and Captain Culpepper Cline coming from the interactive queue at Walt Disney World.
However, that’s where the extent of the coolness with these kind of ends. The main issue we have with these is the lack of sounds, or any real interactivity. Upon touching the lid of the jar, there are three different sound bites. You have Madame Leota saying a cute, custom jar spiel:
Family, friends, next of kin… summon a spirit from the Mansion! Ghoulies travel from near and far, all invited to reside in a jar!
The recording doesn’t sound anything like the original voice, though. Tap the lid again and you get the Haunted Mansion foyer music, and once again for the voice of “Little Leota” (as she’s known) saying, “Be sure to bring your… death certificate.” Snapping the lids on or off will yield laughs and cackles from beyond. Of course, the jars light up with artwork featuring each character inside (as you can see from the photos), but they turn off once the sound bite is over. The missed opportunity here lies with the sounds. Each of these could’ve had their own sounds, or at least different variations for each jar. Having them all be the same just makes these items feel rushed and cheap.
We took a moment to show you each and every one of these jars as well as show you how they work. Check out the video below to view Tom fiddling with the ghost jars:
All in all, these will make great Halloween decorations moving forward or would also look great in any Haunted Mansion room or office. The jars come in different sizes, so you can arrange them in all sorts of ways. Do we feel like foolish mortals for paying $60 for plastic light-up jars? Absolutely. But as they say at the Mansion, there’s no turning back now…
I guess a ghost will follow me home, after all.
The stain in the box looks like a coffin! Sad they are plastic, though.
I was thinking the same about plastic vs. glass, but being made overseas this decision probably reduces the breakage in shipment. Still pretty cool though.
Naaah, glass is shipped from China every day, along with ceramics and other types of items made there and sold in the export market. The Disney company just wanted a cheaper item. I think the price is outrageous for a plastic jar. The effects are neat, but come on guys, Plastic, really? And why didn’t they stick to the Anaheim HM Themed Characters. After all its the Anaheim Park Mansions 50th Anniversary not the Mansion in Walt Disney World. LOL
What’s really a great Shame about these is that they are plastic, and the names of the ghosts aren’t only of the Disneyland Haunted Mansion. Only the hatbox ghost is from our mansion which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The others are named characters from the Haunted Mansion in Walt Disney World. It’s sad the company couldn’t keep it just “our” mansion’s anniversary. Sure I get it that so many people on either coast love both attractions, which are near identical (with different mansion architecture). But it would have been more fun, if they’d used the names of the dearly departed on the tombstones in the Disneyland Anaheim Graveyard on these bottles and the images of those in the stretching portraits and the hitchhiking ghosts or our ghosts in the cemetery instead, in keeping with the actual theme of Our mansion and its anniversary.
The Leota voice isn’t the same one as in the Mansion, that actress is long gone, so yeah it would be tough to get her back to do new recordings. But, it is the same as the one Disney hired a few years ago for that limited run Haunted Mansion subscription box series. I thought it was a nice touch that they got the same actress back to do Leota again for these jars. It’s a nice bit of continuity between a different project Disney did involving the mansion.
Thank you. These say coming soon on shopdisney.com today. I think this is a hard pass for me now after watching the video.