The Hawthorne Village "Haunted House"
Hawthorne Village is known for producing little collectible trains, miniature Christmas villages, and miniature Halloween villages. So it wasn't a surprise that they would finally come up with a Disney-themed "Halloween Haunted House." What is surprising is that, apparently, they weren't granted the right to call it a "Haunted Mansion," even though it is clearly modeled after Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion (and it even features tiny Mickey and Minnie Mouse characters riding though it in miniature Doom Buggies.)
We at DoomBuggies have been tracking this item since last winter, when someone found some sort of direct-mail advertisement advertising installment payment plans and pre-orders (the total cost of the sculpture is around $150). But the item itself never showed up on the Hawthorne Village web site or anywhere else until just recently. Interestingly, Hawthorne Village reps have at various times said it was created way back in 2004, and never released until 2006, although we haven't been able to find any cases of the product being released publicly until this year.
Regardless, DoomBuggies forum members are starting to receive their sculptures in the mail, and reports are that the item is quite nice, and a great value for the price. There are various light-up elements, and "spooky" sounds (though they are not from the actual Haunted Mansion.) As mentioned before, a chain of Doom Buggies circles through the door of the house, and all of the "Fab Five" (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy) are represented on the piece somewhere.
Most interesting to DoomBuggies.com fans is the fact that the images that appear in the lit-up windows of the Haunted House are images that were lifted straight from DoomBuggies.com. Each of the images used was retouched and corrected by DoomBuggies from the original in a way that makes it plain that the window pictures are one and the same as the web site images. We at DoomBuggies are pleased to have been of service to Hawthorne Village in the development of this piece - even having found out about it long after the fact.
For more information, click the image below to visit Hawthorne Village.
RIP.
We at DoomBuggies have been tracking this item since last winter, when someone found some sort of direct-mail advertisement advertising installment payment plans and pre-orders (the total cost of the sculpture is around $150). But the item itself never showed up on the Hawthorne Village web site or anywhere else until just recently. Interestingly, Hawthorne Village reps have at various times said it was created way back in 2004, and never released until 2006, although we haven't been able to find any cases of the product being released publicly until this year.
Regardless, DoomBuggies forum members are starting to receive their sculptures in the mail, and reports are that the item is quite nice, and a great value for the price. There are various light-up elements, and "spooky" sounds (though they are not from the actual Haunted Mansion.) As mentioned before, a chain of Doom Buggies circles through the door of the house, and all of the "Fab Five" (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Pluto and Goofy) are represented on the piece somewhere.
Most interesting to DoomBuggies.com fans is the fact that the images that appear in the lit-up windows of the Haunted House are images that were lifted straight from DoomBuggies.com. Each of the images used was retouched and corrected by DoomBuggies from the original in a way that makes it plain that the window pictures are one and the same as the web site images. We at DoomBuggies are pleased to have been of service to Hawthorne Village in the development of this piece - even having found out about it long after the fact.
For more information, click the image below to visit Hawthorne Village.
RIP.
posted by Chef Mayhem at 2:55 PM
3 Comments:
I used to work for the parent company of Hawthorne Village, The Bradford Group. I knew a lot of folks in the design group. Typically, when a product hits print either in an ad or direct mailing for any collectible (whether that be a village sculpture, collectors plate, ornament, etc), it probably doesn't actually exist in reality. Most likely, much of this sculpture was a very detailed Photoshop job to assess interest and preorders.
If anyone knows where I can get one of the Disney-themed Hawthorne Haunted House figurines, please let me know. I got jerked around by Collectibles Today and had a confirmation number, only to be told two weeks after I placed my order that it was not available. After I found this out, I visited a website that "had" 5 left and when I went to order one he said he sold all of them the same day! I can't believe this!!!!!
Hi everybody. I actually own one of these. It is numbered 7. I don't know how many were made and that is what led me to this page. I can't find any info on it. I am currently selling it on ebay so if any doombuggie lovers need one you know where to find it. The item number is 150409937322
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