How the new Haunted Mansion hitchhiking ghosts work

Disney has posted a tantalizing behind-the-scenes look at the technology behind the new Hitchhiking Ghosts finale at the Haunted Mansion in Walt Disney World, in which ghosts in the mirror playfully swap heads with your reflection and play other pranks.

There's not a ton of technical info here, but the sharper pictures really show how great this effect must be in person. On the other hand, I still worry that once everyone can do this in their living room with something like this via Kinect-style systems, it will lose its lustre. Of course, Disney can continue to try to come up with stuff that's two years ahead of the state-of-the-art to continue surprising, but that's an expensive and fraught treadmill to get aboard.

Behind The Scenes: New Ways to Experience the Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World