Mansion wins! Mansion wins!

Sixteen days ago, two heavyweight fighters climbed into the ring to battle for Magic Kingdom supremacy. After a late-round flurry of “punches”, The Mountain raised its fist in victory. Meanwhile, The Mansion screamed fluke and demanded an immediate rematch. Well, just two short weeks later, the Victorian Gothic manor …

… got its wish. Leading the charge from wire-to-wire, The Haunted Mansion has become the All in WDW Readers’ Favorite WDW Attraction! Congratulations, Mansion!

In truth, it was a tough four-way battle. Taking a look at the 214 votes that were cast, they were pretty fairly split.

The Haunted Mansion, 35.51%, (76 votes) Splash Mountain, 29.91%, (64 votes) Expedition Everest, 20.56%, (44 votes) The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, 14.02%, (30 votes)

Nothing to be ashamed of in these vote totals. Four very good attractions – one had to win.

It was very interesting to see the commentary from our readers as the results unfolded yesterday.

From Facebook, a dismayed reader noted, “Haunted Mansion. Really?! I must have missed something because I rode it in September for the first time and thought it was just so-so. I wouldn’t even care if I never ride it again, honestly! I’m surprised that this many people think it’s the best attraction in all four parks!” For my part, I think it’s fair to say that nostalgia plays a big role in the results of these polls.

On Twitter, @amber_cntrygrl announced, “Voted! Splash Mountain is my FAV!!”



At the same time, @ResortLoopBob countered with, “Haunted Mansion!”

@EPCOTbabyMama said, “I’m so amazed that it’s Haunted Mansion in the lead. Good for HM!”

@plusthemagic was on the same page with me, saying, “My faves are all out too. I’ll vote on what remains, but it’s just not the same!” @RyanTrasamar, in line with that, commented, “I like your four choices [including Illuminations and Spaceship Earth] better!”

From Touring Plans Lines chat, @weasus agreed with them, “Hmm, not what I expected the top four attractions to be at all!”

@elslav added, “The only one I wouldn’t agree with is Splash in that Final Four. I voted again for Tower of Terror. If Splash wins again it’s truly a ‘Cinderella’ attraction!”

On the other hand, @dhcomer countered with, “I personally LOVE Splash! It’s my favorite ride at WDW. I love the story, the characters, the music, and there’s even a couple of fun drops.” @simkat posted agreement with, “Also love, love Splash for all the reasons @dhcomer said!

One of the deepest thoughts of the day came from All in WDW reader, LAZARUS, who said on yesterday’s post, “What I find interesting is that, in the Magic Kingdom-specific poll, Splash Mountain beat out Haunted Mansion, but, now, in the cross-park poll, Haunted Mansion is beating out Splash Mountain. I wonder if there is a logical reason for that — e.g., different selection heuristics or choice preferences depending on whether the comparison is in-park vs. across-park. Or, if this is more a function of the fact that the different polls draw different polling audiences — e.g., for the in-park poll, you get more dedicated park aficionados … whereas for the cross-park polls, you get more generalists. An interesting puzzle.” A puzzle indeed, LAZARUS.

The theory I would propose goes back to the conversations I saw in the aftermath of Splash’s victory in the Magic Kingdom poll. Back then, it became clear that, when popular attractions like Wishes, Space Mountain, Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Peter Pan’s Flight, and it’s a small world fell out of the competition after the semi-final round, Splash did a much better job of picking up their votes than did Mansion. And, there were a lot of votes to pick up … all told, those six attractions got 262 votes in that “tournament’s” 3rd Round. The other two finalists at the time – Big Thunder and Pirates – just couldn’t compete with Splash and Mansion’s appeal.

In the case of this, just-completed, competition, I would propose that the 156 semi-final round votes that went to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, IllumiNations, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Spaceship Earth were more evenly spread across Mansion, Splash, Everest, and Tower. In the end, the presence of two additional really strong alternatives – Everest and Tower – killed Splash’s chance to pick up the 13 meager votes it would have needed to repeat its triumph over the ghostly manor.

Having said that, I think we might need to go back to Lines chat for another pretty logical answer. @walljasper presented one of the best ideas of the day with, “Maybe there should be a family ride category and a thrill ride category. In my opinion, Everest is, by far, the most adventurous [and] exciting ride on this list. But, I have never seen a thrill ride win in these [votes]. EVERYONE can enjoy Haunted Mansion bcecause it’s simple and visually stimulating. And, the whole family can enjoy [it]. The thrill [rides] involve possible motion sickness, fear, and nervousness … which obviously doesn’t appeal to everyone. And, yes, I LOVE Tower of Terror too. But, notice where it is on the list also?”

Hmm. A family ride poll and a thrill ride poll? I think I like that! It would also solve a big problem that I just got hit with. Splash Mountain has been yelling and screaming for a rematch all morning long! Sheesh!

Thanks for all the commentary, my friends! Thanks for all the participation! We really appreciate your support, and your kindness and attention keeps us forging forward. We LOVE Disney, and we know you do too. We just want to put fun things out there to help bring “The Magic” to us when we can’t go visit it!

Cheers!