Sadly, the new Disneyland Haunted Mansion gift shop is an astonishing failure of planning, architecture, construction, and theme park environmental design. It is not open yet and it is understood that more "work" will be done but that is likely the placement of props around the building ("set dressing" has already begun). The structure itself is in a completed state. I wanted to detail a few -- but not all -- of the known issues.
This set of images shows several, as follows:
1. WOOD SIDING REPEAT VISIBLE: The artificial wood siding has a wood grain pattern to it and no effort was made to hide the "repeat." As anyone who has installed floor tiles with a pattern (e.g., floor tiles simulating natural textures usually have a dozen or so different patterns within the boxes) knows to stagger and vary the placement to hide the repeated pattern. This image shows two boards directly above and below each other with the repeat pointed out with lines. This is a stunning level of ineptitude in installation and project management. A typical homeowner doing a DIY project would notice and avoid this.
2. EXIT AREA: As you can see in the image, the ugly back-of-house utilities of the gift shop are located right at the attraction exit. Clearly a gate/wall will be installed (the white vertical board on the back wall of the gift shop shows where this gate/wall will be located). But it will need to be a massive 8-foot tall gate to come close to hiding most of these unattractive elements and having a service gate like that be the first thing encountered at the attraction exit is bad enough. But as shown, it will not hide all the functional parts located back there including a cheap service light and a metal (rather than historic, and easily ordered wood) vent, among others.
3. FRONT GAP AT GROUND: The image of the front of the building shows the way the building meets the ground, with a gap and flashing. This is how modern -- not very expensive -- homes are built. And this contributes to the "cheap shed dropped into place" look. The structure is not "grounded" to the earth with a stone foundation. Such a foundation would have been more historic/thematic, and incorporating a second wall material would have added architectural interest, reduced the structure's visible scale, and allowed a material tie-in to the natural materials found at Fowler's Harbor across the walkway and Bayou Country.
4. FRONT PLASTIC BOXES AND RECESSED LIGHTS: The front view also shows some -- but not all -- of the various plastic boxes, junction boxes, and recessed lights highly visible at the front of the structure. All of these detract from the perceived quality and historic theming. This is just a lack of planning and attention to detail and lowering of standards.
5. BARN DOOR FRAME GAP: This image shows a minor detail where the frame around the barn door doesn't connect to the wall behind it -- there's a gap. Though a small detail, this showcases the sloppy construction. NO quality architect or builder would allow a gap behind a trim element like this as water would penetrate behind it. It's just an example of how poorly this building is detailed and built.