The Haunted Mansion

This article relates to the theme-park attraction. For the film of the same name, see The Haunted Mansion (film). For the video game see The Haunted Mansion (video game)

The Haunted Mansion
File:Haunted Mansion.png
Ride statistics
Attraction type	Dark ride
Theme	Haunted house
Music	Buddy Baker X Atencio (lyrics)
Duration	7

The Haunted Mansion is a complete dark ride attraction located at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Park in Paris (as Phantom Manor). Each incarnation of the attraction features a ride-through tour of a haunted house in Omnimover vehicles called Doom Buggies, preceded by a walk-through show in the queue. The attraction showcases advanced special effects, and spectral Audio-Animatronics.

History

Original concept

The Haunted Mansion
The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland is designed to look like a southern plantation.
Ride statistics
Designer	WED Enterprises
Theme	Haunted house
Music	The Haunted Mansion - 30th Anniversary
Vehicle type	Omnimover
Duration	6:00
Must transfer from wheelchair

The attraction's roots date back to even before Disneyland was built, when Walt Disney had just hired the first of his Imagineers. The first known illustration of the park showed a main street setting, green fields, western village, and a carnival. Disney Legend Harper Goff developed a beautiful black and white sketch of a crooked street leading away from main street by a peaceful church and graveyard, with a run-down manor perched high on a hill that towered over main street.

While not part of the original attractions when Disneyland opened in 1955, Walt assigned Imagineer Ken Anderson to make a story around the Harper Goff idea, and design of his new 'grim grinning' adventure. Plans were made to build a New Orleans themed land in the small transition area between Frontierland and Adventureland. Weeks later New Orleans Square appeared on the souvenir map and promised a thieves' market, a pirate wax museum, and a haunted house walk-through. After being assigned his project, Ken studied New Orleans and old plantations to come up with a dirty drawing of an antebellum manor overgrown with weeds, dead trees, swarms of bats, and boarded doors and windows topped by a screeching cat as a weathervane.

Despite praise from other Imagineers, Walt wasn't too thrilled with this drawing, hence his well known saying, "We'll take care of the outside and let the ghosts take care of the inside." Despite this, Walt journeyed out to the Winchester Mystery House and became deeply captivated with the massive mansion with its stairs to nowhere, doors that open to walls and holes, and elevators. Ken came up with stories for the mansion including tales of a ghostly sea captain who killed his nosy bride and then hanged himself, a mansion home to an unfortunate family, and a ghostly wedding party with previous Disney villains and spooks like Captain Hook, Lonesome Ghosts, and the headless horseman. Some of the Universal Monsters were even planned to appear.

Rolly Crump and Yale Gracey, two Imagineers put in charge of the spectral effects, recreated many of Ken Anderson's stories. Walt gave them a large studio at WED enterprises; they studied reports of hauntings and Greek myths and monster movies, eventually making quite a show in their private studio. Some of these effects frightened the cleaning crews that came in at night to such an extent that the management eventually asked the crew to leave on the lights and to turn off the effects after hours. Defying this, Crump and Gracey connected all the effects to a motion-sensitive switch that, when passed, would turn everything on. The next day when the two returned to work, all the effects were running with a broom in the middle of the floor. Management told them that they would have to clean the studio themselves, because the cleaning crew was never coming back.

The duo made a scene where a ghostly sea captain appeared from nowhere. Suddenly a wretched bride emerged from a brick wall and chased the ghost around in circles. The frightened pirate melted into a puddle and flooded the entire scene only for the water to mysteriously vanish with the bride. "A ghost haunted by a ghost!" Rolly told Walt between chuckles. Walt and the Imagineers were amazed, but Walt still didn't like how the project was coming out. That put the mansion on hold for quite some time.

So, the decision was made to place it in the New Orleans Square section of the park, and thus the attraction was themed as a haunted antebellum mansion. In 1961, handbills announcing a 1963 opening of the Haunted Mansion were given out at Disneyland's main entrance. Construction began a year later, and the exterior was completed in 1963. The attraction was previewed in a 1965 episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, but the attraction itself would not open until 1969. The six-year delay owed heavily to Disney's involvement in the New York World's Fair in 1964–1965 and to an attraction redesign after Walt's death in 1966.

Many Imagineers such as Marc Davis, X Atencio, and Claude Coats contributed ideas after the fair and after Ken left the project. Rolly Crump showed Walt some designs for his version showing bizarre things like coffin clocks, candle men, talking chairs, man eating plants, tiki like busts, living gypsy wagons, and a faced mirror. Walt liked this and wanted to make the proclaimed "Museum of the Weird" a restaurant side to the now named Haunted Mansion, similar to the Blue Bayou at Pirates of the Caribbean. Although the idea died off, most of it lived on in the final attraction.

Marc Davis and Claude Coats, two of the mansion's main designers, were in a constant argument over whether the ride should be scary or funny. Claude, who had a life of a background artist, made moody surroundings like endless hallways, corridors of doors, and characterless environments, wanted to make a scary adventure. Marc, who designed most of the characters and zany spooks, thought that the ride should be classic Disney silly and full of gags. In the end both got their way when X. put all the scenes together.

After Walt's death in December 1966, the project evolved significantly. The Museum of the Weird restaurant idea was abandoned, and the walkthrough idea was replaced by the Omnimover system used in Adventure Thru Inner Space, renamed the Doom Buggy, a promising solution to the problem of capacity. Imagineers had been fighting the low-capacity nature of a walkthrough attraction for years, even going so far as suggesting building two identical attractions to get double the number of guests through.

On August 12, 1969, the Disneyland version of the attraction was officially opened to guests, though there were Cast Member (employee) previews on August 7 and 8, 1969, and then some "soft" openings when park guests were allowed to ride on August 9, 10 and 11, even though it was not advertised as being open. A special "Midnight" Press Event was held on the evening of August 11 (Officially at Midnight it would be August 12) and then the ride opened to the public on Tuesday August 12, 1969 at park opening. The opening brought in record crowds and helped Disney recover from Walt's untimely death. In the early 1970s, the Imagineers gave some semi-serious thought to resurrecting many of the creatures and effects that Rolly Crump had originally created for the Haunted Mansion's pre-show as part of Professor Marvel's Gallery, which was "... a tent show of mysteries and delights, a carousel of magic and wonder". This was to be built as part of Disneyland's Discovery Bay expansion area.

In 1999, a retrospective of the art of the Haunted Mansion was featured at The Disney Gallery above the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean. When the 2003 film The Haunted Mansion was released, a retrospective of its art was featured in the gallery as well.

In October 2005, Slave Labor Graphics began publishing a bimonthly Haunted Mansion comic book anthology giving the Disneyland Mansion a backstory, with the main recurring story of Master Gracey recalling the old sea captain storyline.

Other theme parks

The Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom in Florida has a much more Gothic Revival look to it based on old northeastern mansions in the Hudson River Valley.

File:Phantom Manor Paris.jpg

Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris uses a Second Empire design.

The attraction opened at the Magic Kingdom in 1971, Tokyo Disneyland in 1983, Disneyland Paris as Phantom Manor in 1992. For each of these parks, the Haunted Mansion is an original attraction.

The Haunted Mansion was an opening day attraction at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, opening in 1971. This attraction was developed at the same time as the Disneyland version, resulting in a very similar experience to the Disneyland version, though the slightly larger show building allowed the addition of several new scenes. The attraction was placed in Liberty Square, a small land that was a tribute to colonial America, as the Magic Kingdom did not have a New Orleans Square. Thus, the Mansion was given a Dutch Gothic Revival style based on older northeastern mansions, particularly those in older areas of Pennsylvania and in the Hudson River Valley region of New York.

At Tokyo Disneyland the Mansion was placed in Fantasyland and was a near complete clone of the Magic Kingdom version. The only exterior differences from the Magic Kingdom are two bronze griffin statues guarding the main gates, as well as the left bottom and top windows being both smashed open, and the top having some velvet curtains hanging out. The narration is in Japanese.

At Disneyland Paris the attraction goes by a different name, Phantom Manor. Its architectural style is Second Empire.

When The Haunted Mansion was transplanted to other Disney parks, space management was much less of a problem. For example, in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, the entire show building is located within the park boundaries. Luckily, the placement of the show building has no bearing on the quality of the experience. Most guests give little thought to whether they are actually inside the mansion they saw while in line.

The attraction

The basic attraction

The following scenes are common to all versions of the attraction except The Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris, and taken as a whole form the basic ride experience.

After entering through a pair of ornate gates, guests find themselves walking through the mansion's well-tended gardens and courtyards. A cemetery featuring tombstones bearing humorous epitaphs adorns the grounds. A pet cemetery is also seen nearby, with marble representations of some dearly departed critters. Guests are led into a Small Foyer by Cast Members dressed as maids and butlers.

After a few minutes, the guests are brought into an Octagonal Room (also known as the Portrait Gallery, the Stretching Room or the Expanding Room), and encouraged by the staff to stand in the "dead center". The door they entered through then becomes a wall, and the chilling voice of Paul Frees introduces himself:

“Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion. I am your host – your ‘Ghost Host.’

…and taunts them:

“Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis. Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your imagination, hmm…?”

As the voice speaks, the audience's eye is drawn up to four portraits on every other wall of the octagonal shaped room. The walls quietly stretch upwards, elongating the Marc Davis-designed paintings on them to reveal the comedic fates of previous guests:

1. A bearded man (Alexander Nitrokoff) is seen in the dress of minor nobility... and red and white striped boxer shorts... while standing on a keg of dynamite with a lit fuse.
2. A demure young woman (at Disneyland, known as Lillian Gracey. At the Magic Kingdom, known as "Poor Mary") holding a parasol... and calmly balancing on an unraveling tightrope... above the hungry jaws of a waiting crocodile.
3. An old lady (Constance Hatchaway) sits... atop a tall gravestone... which features the bust of a man (George Hightower) with an axe through his head.
4. A man with sideburns sitting... on a fat, mustached man who is sitting... atop a lean, pale-looking gentleman... who is chest-deep in quicksand.

“…And consider this dismaying observation: this chamber has no windows, and no doors... which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Of course, there's always my way...”

The lights go out, lightning and thunder effects fill the gallery and, in a rare instance of Disney "dark humor," a glimpse of the earthly remains of the Ghost Host is shown hanging from a noose high above in the cupola. The ceiling above is a piece of fabric called a scrim, which conceals the hanging body until it is lit from above. The Ghost Host apologizes for frightening the guests so early, and a wall mysteriously opens, leading the guests further into the Mansion.

Guests are then led down a dimly lit hallway with thunder crashing from outside the windows to the left while the portraits of several people on the right wall mysteriously transform from the image of them in their original states into their doomed appearance. At the far end of the hall, two statues which depict one of a man and another of a woman are stationed. As the guests move about, these two statues follow whichever direction they take.

Next, guests step into the dusty and deathly cold loading station room, where they are led around to be placed in their Doom Buggies. Stepping on a moving carpet synced to the motion of the Doom Buggies, guests are seated and ride to the next scene. The Doom Buggies point guests down an Endless Hallway. A lone candelabra floats down the hallway, and a suit of armor (which moves) stands at the hallway's entrance.

Turning away from the endless hall, guest peek into the Conservatory where a long forgotten funeral is taking place. A large raven perches next to a dead plant-adorned coffin, with a corpse trying to break free.

The ghosts become more restless and try to escape from their hiding places, which results in a Corridor full of shaking, knocking, moving, and breathing doors. Demon-faced wallpaper adorns the walls as well as black and white photos of goblins and ghouls. A demonic grandfather clock chimes 13 as the hands spin wildly backwards, the shadow of a claw passing over it.

Guests enter a dark Séance Room full of floating musical instruments. Madame Leota, a medium appearing within a crystal ball, summons the mansion's spirits while levitating above her table. Madam Leota says the following:

"Serpents and spiders, tail of a rat/Call in the spirits, wherever they're at./Rap on a table, it's time to respond/Send us a message from somewhere beyond./Goblins and ghoulies from last Halloween/Awaken the spirits with your tambourine./Creepies and crawlies, toads in a pond/Let there be music from regions beyond./Wizards and witches wherever you dwell/Give us a hint by ringing a bell."

Next, guests pass onto the balcony of a magnificent Ballroom where the happy haunts begin to materialize. Translucent couples waltz to the music of a macabre organist. A ghostly birthday party appears to be taking place at the dining table (a dinner plate and two saucers on the left side of the table combine to make a "Hidden Mickey"). Some spirits sit on the chandeliers, gorging themselves on wine, while other ghosts enter the hall from an open coffin in a hearse. A ghost wraps his arm around a woman bust, and two portraits of men with guns come to life, shooting each other with their pistols.

The Attic is an irregularly-shaped room that the Doom Buggies enter immediately after the ballroom scene. It features a collection of gifts, personal items, mementos, and wedding portraits . In each portrait, a common bride is featured with a different groom, whose heads disappear to the accompaniment of a hatchet sound. Just before the Doom Buggies leave the attic, the same ghostly bride from the pictures is seen floating in the air, intoning wedding-related vows. As she raises her arms, a hatchet appears in her hands.

The Doom Buggies fly out a window, turn around, and plunge backwards down a fifteen percent grade surrounded by dark, ghoulish trees with knotted expressions. On a branch overhead, a raven caws at the guests. (This gag is from an earlier idea, which was to have the raven narrate the tour.)

The Doom Buggies reach the ground, and turn towards the gate of the Graveyard. There stands a caretaker, the only living person in the entire attraction, his knees shaking in fright and an expression of terror on his face. Beside him is his emaciated dog, whining and whimpering. Around the corner, a ghostly band of minstrels plays a jazzy rendition of "Grim Grinning Ghosts".

Ghosts pop up from behind tombstones, a king and queen balance on a teeter-totter, a young princess swings back and forth from a tree branch, and a hellhound growls from behind them. The Doom Buggies travel down a hill and turn to see five singing busts continuing the song of "Grim Grinning Ghosts".

Next, guests encounter a tea party of sorts, where ghosts are having a "swinging wake" and singing along too. An arm protrudes out of a crypt with a tea cup in its hand, while ghouls ride bikes in the distance. Next, guests see a mummy and an old man. The old man tries to listen to what the mummy is saying through an earphone, but the mummy is just too hard to understand underneath its bandages.

Before the Doom Buggies turn to face two opera singers to the right, they see the inside of a tomb, where there is a phantom dressed in a robe-like outfit. The Doom Buggies turn to face the two opera singers, blasting their voices up into the night. Beside them are three other ghosts — a headless knight, a prisoner, and an executioner — who also join in the song.

A brick tomb can be seen at the graveyard's exit, and a cadaverous arm protrudes from an opening in the wall where a couple of bricks are missing. A trowel in the spook's hand implies that he is actually walling himself in. At last, guests pass into a Crypt where they encounter the attraction's unofficial mascots, the three hitchhiking ghosts. Passing by three large mirrors, guests discover that one of the trio has hitched a ride in their Doom Buggy.

As the vehicles prepare to convey guests out of the Crypt, a tiny ghostly figure -- "Little Leota" -- is seen above the exit and encourages you to:

“Hurry back… Hurry back! Be sure to bring your death certificate, if you decide to join us. Make final arrangements now. We've been [snicker] ‘dying’ to have you…”

This tiny woman in a bridal gown (though referred to as the Ghostess in early versions of the attraction script), is commonly known as "Little Leota" because her voice and face are those of Leota Toombs (who also provided the face of Madame Leota.)

Differences between attractions

The following are elements that are unique to each particular attraction.

Entrance

• Disneyland:
  • Guests enter from New Orleans Square.
  • Years ago, the cemetery paid tribute to the Imagineers, much like the one at Florida and Tokyo, but was changed when the queue was expanded some time after the mid-80s, to make room for the handicapped entrance.
  • When plans were being made for a Young Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Disney bought a hearse for the show. When plans were scrapped for budget costs, the hearse was given an invisible phantom horse and placed outside the Disneyland mansion.
• Walt Disney World:
  • Guests enter from Liberty Square.
  • Another invisible phantom horse and hearse, this one death black, also waits here.
  • One feature unique to the Florida mansion is a tombstone for Madame Leota. On it is a bronze carving of her face that, by way of animatronics, occasionally opens its eyes and looks around.
• Tokyo Disneyland:
  • Guests enter from Fantasyland.

Small Foyer

• Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland:
  • A portrait of Master Gracey rests above the grand fireplace and slowly changes into a rotting corpse.
• Disneyland:
  • Guests enter a small rectangular room containing a dusty chandelier and a wood floor (in the design of a spiders web)

Octagonal Room

• Disneyland:
  • A feature only in Disneyland and the Phantom Manor, the room is, in fact, an elevator with no ceiling. The room is being lowered slowly to give the illusion that the room itself is stretching* this brings the guests down to where the ride begins, below ground level. This elevator effect was necessary to lower the guests below the level of the park-circling railroad at Disneyland. The actual ride building of this attraction is located outside of the berm surrounding the park, and the Disney Imagineers developed this mechanism to lower the guests to the gallery leading to the actual ride building.
• Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland:
  • Guests enter a chamber in which the floor is stationary while the ceiling itself rises, as do the portraits. As both rides (Florida and Tokyo) where built on stable ground, there was no need to lower guests down and out of the park. For the 2007 "Rehaunting," Walt Disney World's stretch room was given new wallpaper and stretching sounds. Shortly after the stretching sequence, if you stay in the gallery long enough, you can hear the gargoyles whisper.

Leaving Octagonal Room

• Disneyland:
  • The wall opens into a portrait corridor. When the walls finally do open, guests are ushered into a portrait corridor with paintings that depict seemingly innocent scenes. Windows on the left give guests a peek at the thunderstorm raging outside. With every flash of lightning, the paintings flicker with ghastly images (including a demure young woman sprouting snakes from her scalp (à la Medusa), a magnificent sailing ship at sea becoming a tattered and ghostly version thereof in a storm, a man who changes into a decrepit corpse (often known as Master Gracey), a knight and horse in which they both turn into skeletons, and a woman sitting upon a sofa to find that she is a were-tiger). The grim busts of a man and woman (who respectively appear to be a Roman emperor and an old schoolmarm) placed at the end of the hall seem to turn their heads, glaring at the guests as they walk past.
  • After escaping the portrait corridor, the guests walk through an ethereal void, a boundless realm of LIMBO, where an eerie green, glowing fog floats endlessly, spider webbed-adorned walls, and cobweb-wrapped candelabras dimly illuminate the area. The Ghost Host points out that the house has 999 spirits with room for one more ("any volunteers?").
• Walt Disney World:
  • The wall opens directly to the Doom Buggy load area. Seven of the sinister 11 portraits are located here.
• Tokyo Disneyland:
• The wall opens directly to the Doom Buggy load area. Instead of the sinister 11 portraits (the paintings with eyes that follow), just as Walt Disney World's mansion still contains, the walls are adorned with Urns.

After Load area and before Conservatory

• Disneyland:
  • Guests are seated and ascend a pitch-black staircase. A chair whose embroidering resembles as much as a face, accompanies the moving suit of armor in front of the Endless Hall where a candelabrum floats lonesomely down the corridor.
• Walt Disney World:
  • After boarding your Doom Buggy, you are taken through a room containing a stairwell leading up to a landing where a candelabra floats above. Two of the sinister 11 portraits are relocated here. Doom Buggies take guests down a long portrait corridor, past flashing lightning windows and ghostly portraits similar to those in Disneyland’s pre-load area walking corridor (minus the Master Gracey portrait).
  • Passing under an archway guests enter a library with staring busts, moving ladders, flying books, and an unseen ghost rocking in a chair reading a book by candlelight. After this is a music room where a shadow plays a mellow version of Grim Grinning Ghosts on a rundown piano. A stormy forest is shown in the window behind the piano.
  • The Doom Buggies ascend a room full of staircases that defy physics (like the art of M.C. Escher). Green footsteps stomp across the upside down and side-way stairs, which creates a very disturbing sense. At the top of the stairs thousands of blinking eyes look around and morph into demon-faced wallpaper.
• Tokyo Disneyland:
  • Doom Buggies take guests down a long portrait corridor, past ghostly portraits whose eyes seem to follow you as you pass. This scene was once at Walt Disney World, until the ReHaunting of 2007.
  • The guests ride through a dark room filled with giant spiders in webs.

Endless Hallway

• All Parks
  • As guests ascend a narrow staircase, whether from the load hall at Disneyland or in the grand staircase scene in other uses, guests come across a living suit of armor, a chair which is embroidered with a hidden face (which resembles Donald Duck), and a long, narrow corridor down the center of a parlor. Just half way down the corridor is a candelabra, floating eerily down the hallway.

Conservatory

• All parks (except Paris)
  • As guests stroll through the conservatory, the Doom Buggy is spun backwards telling not a soul of what's behind them. On the side of the room is a glass room. Dead flowers adorn the whole room with a coffin in the center. A raven (well thought to be the mansion's mascot) sits perched atop a wreath with a banner dubbed "Farewell". When guests take notice of the coffin, they see that the lid is being raised by a pair of skeletal claws while a green glow emits from the inside. The coffin seems to be nailed shut, which explains why the corpse inside is screaming for help.

Corridor of doors

• Disneyland:
  • After leaving the conservatory, guests travel through a dimly-lit corridor. Portraits of family members (much a lot like zombies and skeletons) hang upon these walls while monstrous voices echo through the halls. Many doors, at least seven, are seen here, while their handles are jiggling with no one in sight. Every door has a door-knocker, knocking by them selves. A cross-stitched sign reads "Tomb Sweet Tomb" hangs crookedly on these walls as well. A portrait of a man who's seem to wear a hangman's noose while holding an axe is seen to the left of the corridor. Next to that, a door seems to be breathing as if it where human. Two reliefs resembling a smiling and a snarling demon are found here as well. At the end of the corridor is a door with a pair of skeletal hands trying to open the door with an eerie green glow from inside.
  • Walt Disney World:
  • Much similar to the Disneyland mansion, but with newly drawn portraits and a different version of the hanging man's portrait (this time depicting the same decrepit man, but with a shadow of a man raising an axe behind him. This portrait is a spin off of one of the sinister 11 portraits and is often thought to be The Ghost Host after he hung himself.)
  • Tokyo Disneyland:
  • Related to both American parks, but instead of family portraits and the hanging man, a portrait of a man centers the corridor's walls, donning a top hat. But with a twist, this portrait seems to grow a three-dimensional face, pointed outward, facing the guests.

The Clock Hall

• All parks:
  • Each clock hall contains a single Grandfather clock with features of those of a demon. As the shadow of a claw reaches over the face of the clock, the hands spin wildly counter-clockwise, striking the number 13 every other second. The tail of the demon is seen swinging back and forth at the bottom of the clock. The only difference of each clock is in the clock hands. At Disneyland, the hands resembles a tongue, while at Walt Disney World, the hands look like a pair of skeletal fingers, at Tokyo Disneyland, a Japanese design, and at Disneyland Paris, a clock design which resembles a snakes tail. The demon wallpaper has faded into the darkness and it's eyes are glowing a greenish color, blinking at guests. This was an inspiration for the second half of the grand staircase scene at Walt Disney World.

Séance Room

• Walt Disney World:
  • The crystal ball containing Madame Leota’s head floats mysteriously above the table. Floating objects and instruments respond to Leota's incantations while a wispy green specter roams about a corner of the room.

Disneyland

• • Madame Leota's crystal ball rests in her cradle. Since 2006-2009, Madame Leota was given the ability to float and was later adapted to Disney World's mansion. The instruments are still featured here but the wispy spirit that floats reveals a skull-like face in the background.

Tokyo Disneyland Madame Leota's crystal ball remains stationary while a specter floats about the room.

The Ballroom

• All parks
  • After leaving the Seance circle, guests are brought up to a balcony at the point where the ghost host leaves us to join the festivities down below in the ballroom. The ballroom consists a series of ghosts dancing about. Many ghosts are seen entering the room through a broken door where a hearse is crashed with its coffin sliding out. Some eerie wraiths are seen flying in and out of the windows above. A merry ghost is seen sitting atop a mantle of a fireplace (spitting out green flames) with his arm wrapped around a familiar bust. An elderly ghost is seen rocking back and forth in a chair while knitting a sweater. Many ghosts have gathered around a dinner table where a birthday ghost is blowing out 13 candles on a cake. A ghost version of Julius Caesar can be seen at the far end of the table. A massive chandelier hangs above the table where a couple of drunks are swinging about, hanging on with their canes. Another balcony is seen across the room where a curtained doorway is settled between two unlikely portraits depicting two duelists. From time to time, the ghosts of the two duelists will come out and shoot each other with their pistols. A series of couples are seen bellow waltzing to a haunting refrain of the theme song "Grim Grinning Ghosts". The oversize organ is played by a ghostly composer while skull-like Banshees fly out of the organ pipes. At Walt Disney World, shortly after the 2007 Rehaunting refurbishment, one of the sinister 11 portraits was relocated here whereas at Disneyland, a scene was placed here to conjoin the balcony with the attic consisting of an end table.

The Attic

• Disneyland and Walt Disney World:
  • Upon entering the attic, portraits of wealthy men adorn this eerie room, each with one bride. A ghostly pianist is seen banging the keys on an old run down piano (later replaced with assorted instruments at Walt Disney World), playing a demonic version of "Here Comes the Bride". Every beat of the bride-yet-to-see's heart reacts to the men's heads disappearing from their shoulders. For each husband the bride marries, she gains a strand of pearls. Eventually, you come across the bride on the opposite side of the attic, uttering her wedding vows. Every time she speaks an axe would materialize in her hands.
• Tokyo Disneyland:
  • Upon entering the attic, a loud heartbeat echoes throughout the room, followed by the screams of skeletal ghosts in which would pop-up from random brick-a-brack. At the end of the attic stands a blue pale-faced bride whose heart beats a bloody red, while holding a candle stick.

The Graveyard

• Walt Disney World:
  • The left hand of the phantom-like ghost’s cloak (near the opera singers) forms a Hidden Mickey.

Recent changes

Disneyland

On May 3, 2006, new changes went into effect at the Disneyland Haunted Mansion. The new show scene introduced in the attic scene during the ride follows a ghostly bride named Constance Hatchaway (played by Buffy The Vampire Slayer actress Julia Lee and voiced by Kat Cressida), now described as a "black widow bride," and slowly uncovers her bloody past, which includes the murders and decapitations of all her previous husbands (named Ambrose Harper, Frank Banks, Reginald Caine, the Marquis De Doom, and George Hightower) in an attempt to gain their vast fortunes. The new effects start when visitors first enter the mansion's attic.

Now, when the visitor enters the attic, the pop-up ghosts that shout "I do!" are gone. This is to make room for the current effects. As the visitor enters the attic, the first new things seen are an amber-glowing glass lamp, various treasures and china, and multiple portraits of different grooms, each with the same bride. An axe-like sound echoes from the pictures throughout the room, and in each portrait the groom's head disappears.

The phantom piano player is still there, but the music is louder than before. Near the end of the attic, an ethereal glow is seen and a sweet but sinister voice is heard. It is Constance in her wedding gown. She repeats her vows in a menacing tone ("I do...I did", "You may now kiss the bride", "And we'll live happily ever after", "As long as we both shall live", "For better or for...worse", "Here comes the bride", "'Till death do us part", "In sickness and in...wealth". Every few sayings, she raises her hand and a hatchet appears in it.

The bride is basically a white mannequin in a white wedding gown. When the lights go off, a projection illuminates the entire body, showing her as a wispy but realistic spirit. Her face and her entire body are projected, very similar to the Leota effect in the Seance Room and the Little Leota effect at the end of the ride. Constance also floats mysteriously above the floor (made possible through use of a pole and a fan).

Following the 2007-2008 holiday overlay, Disneyland's mansion's speed ramp that guests step on when boarding their doombuggy was made to look like an endless carpet, and a new scrim was added to the stretching room.

As of May 2009, Madame Leota has been grounded back on her stand, rather than floating up in the air.

Walt Disney World

At Walt Disney World Resort, the Haunted Mansion closed for refurbishment on June 8, 2007 and reopened September 13, 2007.

Changes to this version of the attraction during the refurbishment included the addition of a new audio system for the Ghost Host that makes it seem as if the spirit is circling above visitors' heads, new red, blue, and gold wallpaper (related to the paper at Disneyland but instead of green, it has blue), different and enhanced lighting throughout the attraction, and new stretching sound effects for the stretching room. The gargoyles in the stretching room now whisper with messages of "Stay Together", and emit child like giggles after the stretching room sequence. An exclusive Escher-esque staircase scene has replaced the empty dark banister area covered in cobwebs and the giant orange spiders. After the staircase scene, there are all new ghoulish eyes that glow while monstrous sounds echo through the halls. The foyer music has been changed to a lower key as well as taken out of the corridor hallways. The original attic sequence is now replaced with the new Disneyland attic scene including the five changing husband portraits and featuring the new Constance. The other major Disneyland enhancements were also implemented at Walt Disney World including the floating version of Madame Leota with a much clearer projection, and The Sinister 11 (the portraits with the following eyes) were replaced with the changing portraits from Disneyland's portrait gallery. Seven of the Sinister 11 are now located in the loading area of the ride (These include Jack the Ripper, Arsonist, Sea Captain, Vampire, Witch, Rasputin, and The Hanging Man) while the other four are located in various parts of the mansion. The graveyard ghosts minus the deaf old man, the singing busts, and the mummy audio tracks now seem to come from the singer when near them. The once blue/purple ghosts are now green as well. A sharp-eyed guest will also notice that the Hitchhiking Ghosts now have empty sockets for eyes. The Doom Buggies have been fixed to a much more quiet sound than the high squeaking sound before the refurbishment.

Haunted Mansion Holiday

Main article: The Haunted Mansion Holiday

The Haunted Mansion Holiday

Since 2001, the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland is transformed into Haunted Mansion Holiday during Christmas, based on Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. The Haunted Mansion is closed in September for a few weeks as they revamp the attraction, replacing many of the props and Audio-Animatronics with characters and themes from the movie. The attraction is closed again in January when it is returned to the regular Haunted Mansion.

In 2004 a similar overlay was installed for Tokyo Disneyland as "Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare". To date, neither the Walt Disney World nor Disneyland Paris attractions have been fitted with a Nightmare Before Christmas overlay, though the exterior of Phantom Manor is decorated for Halloween along with the rest of Disneyland Paris.

Contributions of Kim Irvine

Leota Toomb's daughter Kim Irvine, now working at WED, created a rarely seen pet cemetery, once clearly visible to those entering the foyer through the side door reserved for handicapped guests and their parties. Since a wheelchair ramp was added to the front of the mansion, guests rarely see this area. This pet cemetery was popular with the few who saw it, so WDI created a larger one in the normal queue around the time the new ramp was installed. Kim Irvine also played Madame Leota for Haunted Mansion Holiday.

Behind the scenes

Building layout

Space management

The original Disneyland Haunted Mansion required clever space management in a theme park that has always contended with a lack of space. When the New Orleans Square area was added in the early 1960s, there was no more room in that quarter of the park for large attractions. The Imagineers therefore placed the bulk of the two major attractions — Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion — outside the park's earthen berm. The famed "stretching rooms" were implemented simply so guests could be moved underground and outside of the park without them knowing. Most guests do not realize that the portrait hall is actually an underground passage leading under the berm behind the mansion facade. As they enter the loading area, they pass beneath the Disneyland Railroad's tracks and into a vast, approximately 37,000 square feet (3,400 m²), soundstage-like show building located outside the park boundaries. Painted dull green like most Disneyland show buildings, this 35-foot (11 m)-tall facility is roughly rectangular, with a front section that is covered by the berm and through which the train tunnel passes. Guests may catch a very brief glimpse of the building while riding the tram from the Mickey and Friends parking structure, or by boarding the Disneyland Railroad at the New Orleans Square station and facing backwards in the train. However, the show building has no visible above-ground connection to the themed façade within the park.

The show building extends an additional 10 feet (3.0 m) below the backstage ground level, though much of the attraction takes place around ground level. The layout of the track is convoluted, but it's essentially a clockwise loop that runs through the outer areas of the building. Smaller scenes such as the conservatory and parts of the attic lay outside the loop formed by the track, but most of the major scenes take place on the inside of this loop. This leads to some interesting spatial relationships between them. For example, the organ in the ballroom is back-to-back with a number of crypts in the graveyard, and the back of the loading area shares a wall with the endless corridor.

Backstage areas

The show building houses a number of backstage areas unseen by guests. One of the easiest ways for cast members to enter these parts of the attraction is by entering a small, shed-like protrusion behind the façade. Inside this shed is the entrance to a cast member break-room and a staircase that leads down below the berm, making a left turn into the attraction's control tower. This small room (about the size of the conservatory) is hidden between the unloading and loading areas, seen only by handicapped guests who must ride all the way through to the loading area. Another way into the show building from within the park is through a door in one of the queue's crypts. This leads down several staircases into the portrait hall.

Near the tower, a pair of stairways leads beneath the Doom Buggy track and into a passageway that travels between the loading area and the graveyard, below the endless hallway, and behind the ballroom. On the other side of the ballroom, several large maintenance and equipment rooms can be found.

The show scenes themselves are only convincing when viewed from the path of the ride; exploring these areas quickly reveals the fact that they are built much like movie sets in a sound stage. For instance, the wood that the ballroom walls are built of is easily seen from backstage. The back of tombstones also shows plastic, spray paint, etc.

The top 8 feet (2.4 m) or so of the building are separated from the larger area below containing the ride. Numerous air conditioning ducts pass through this attic of sorts, which can be accessed via a caged ladder on the north side of the building. The tops of the large, squarish indentations in the sides of the building mark the floor level of this attic space.

It is worth noting that at Disneyland, the Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain show buildings are very close to each other. When the Doom Buggies face the back of the graveyard, adjacent to the ghostly band, guests are looking at the building's northwest corner. Just a few yards beyond the back wall is a similar but smaller building housing Splash Mountain. Guests evacuated from Splash Mountain during a breakdown will verify that the Haunted Mansion show building is virtually indistinguishable from the Splash Mountain building, and that the two have only a few yards of pavement between them.

Because of the Magic Kingdom's different layout, the Haunted Mansion show building is instead located next to the one that houses "It's a Small World". This version of the ride takes place within a similar building, though this one is larger and entirely enclosed by other areas of the park. This attraction differs from the original in that the ride takes place at the same level as the mansion itself. In addition, no berm separates the façade from the show building; the back of the mansion has a visible, above-ground connection to the main warehouse. To avoid exposing backstage to the guests, WDI uses trees and other rides to hide the building from view.

Special effects

Rotating busts

The bust effect, patented by Disney, was achieved by creating inverted busts: they actually recede into the wall. A combination of dim lighting and optical illusion makes the busts appear to stare at the passing guests. (A similar effect is used in the Hollywood Backlot section of Disney's California Adventure.)

Endless hallway

The endless hallway has a mirror placed at the end of it that fools the guests into thinking they can see twice as far down it as they actually can. The mirror has a scrim over it which serves two purposes: first, to make the corridor appear to stretch away into the mist, and second, to deaden the reflection of the candelabra - the back of which is painted black - in the mirror.

The seance circle

The Leota effect is accomplished through digital projection of an actress's face onto a head sculpture with features of the actress. At Tokyo and Anaheim, the movement of the cable-suspended sphere is synced to the projection via computer-control, while in Florida the projector is located inside the Crystal Ball. In Tokyo and Anaheim, when the projection is not correctly synchronised with the movement of the bust, Leota's crystal ball rests in a cradle on the table.

The other floating objects in the room are held up by fishing lines.

Constance Hatchaway, the singing busts in the graveyard, and Little Leota are also created using the same projection technique as Madame Leota's.

Ballroom

The ghosts in the ballroom are commonly believed to be holograms. However, all the ghosts in the ballroom scene are created using a clever variation of Pepper's Ghost, an illusion invented in the mid 1800s. The version of the illusion in the Haunted Mansion works like this: a row of columns in front of the mezzanine are supporting gigantic panes of glass, which are nearly invisible to the guests. The "ghosts" are merely the reflections in the glass of audio-animatronic figures, located in rooms above and below the mezzanine, where the walls are painted entirely black. The audio-animatronics for the ghost that appear on or near the floor are located below the mezzanine, while the audio-animatronics of the ghosts which appear near the ceiling are located above the mezzanine. None of the reflections are at the guests' eye level, since that would require the audio-animatronics to be located in a place visible to guests.

This scene was designed for the most part by Marc Davis, who designed all the humanoid spooks and portraits. It is the largest example of the Pepper's Ghost effect in the world. It is interesting to note that Marc Davis forgot to take into account the fact that the guests would not be seeing the actual audio-animatronics in the ballroom, but their reflections. Consequently, the women dancers appear to be leading the men.

Other ghosts

Disney used other techniques to make the graveyard ghosts appear to be ethereal. They are made of mostly translucent or transparent materials, which glow in the ultraviolet light that is used to light their scenes. They are made to appear blurry and indistinct through the use of scrims mounted between the guests and the ghosts.

The crypt

The mirrors in which guests see the hitchhiking ghosts are actually two-way mirrors. The ghosts are audio-animatronics in a room behind the mirrors. They move along in sync with the Doom Buggies, and weak lights shining on them allow them to be seen through the mirrors.

Soundtrack

Narration

The foyer, stretching room, and ride narration was performed by Paul Frees in the role of the Ghost Host. For the Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom versions of the ride, different recording sessions were used in some places. The Magic Kingdom version of the ride includes a library scene, in which a unique piece of narration is used. At Tokyo Disneyland, whose mansion is a replication of the one in Florida, both inside and out, the narration is provided by Teichiro Hori, a movie producer from Toho Studios (Hori also provides the voice of the talking skull in Tokyo's version of Pirates of the Caribbean). In 2002, an imitation of Paul Frees could be heard in the Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom versions instead of the original safety spiel, giving a more detailed warning in the load area, followed by a Spanish spiel. In Tokyo, the safety spiel is done by the Ghost Host himself.

Theme song

Main article: Grim Grinning Ghosts

Grim Grinning Ghosts was composed by Buddy Baker and the lyrics were written by X Atencio. It can be heard in nearly every area of the ride, with various instrumentations and tempos. Contrary to popular belief, "Grim Grinning Ghosts" is not performed by the Mellomen, but rather by a pickup group. The only member of the Mellomen heard is that of the deep bass voice of Thurl Ravenscroft (best known for voicing Tony the Tiger in television commercials), who sings as part of a quintet of singing busts in the graveyard scene. Ravenscroft's face is used as well, projected onto the bust. His face is sometimes confused with that of Walt Disney himself.

Releases

• The Music of Disneyland, Walt Disney World and Epcot Center - "Grim Grinning Ghosts"
• A Spooky Night in Disney's Haunted Mansion - "Grim Grinning Ghosts"
• The Haunted Mansion - 30th Anniversary - 22 minute ride through & many elements of the ride
• Walt Disney World Resort: The Official Album (1999 CD) - Foyer, Ballroom, Graveyard, & Exit
• Walt Disney World Resort: Official Album (2000 CD) - Foyer, Ballroom, Graveyard, & Exit
• Official Album: Walt Disney World Resort Celebrating 100 Years of Magic (2001 CD) - Foyer, Ballroom, Graveyard, & Exit
• A Musical History of Disneyland - 13 minute ride through
• The Disneyland Resort: Official Album (2008) - Foyer, Ballroom, Graveyard, & Exit

"Grim Grinning Ghosts" has also been used in various other shows in Disney theme parks such as:

• Fantasy in the Sky
• Remember... Dreams Come True
• HalloWishes
• Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party

The Story and Song From The Haunted Mansion

Disneyland Records released The Story and Song From The Haunted Mansion as a record album in 1969. It featured the story of two teenagers, Mike (Ron Howard) and Karen (Robie Lester), who get trapped inside the Haunted Mansion, with Thurl Ravenscroft as the Narrator, Pete Renoudet as the Ghost Host, and Eleanor Audley as Madame Leota. Some of the effects and ideas that were planned but never permanently made it to the attraction are mentioned here: the Raven speaks in the Stretching Room, and the Hatbox Ghost is mentioned during the Attic scene. It was reissued in 1998 as a cassette tape titled A Spooky Night in Disney's Haunted Mansion.

A second reissue was released on CD in 2009 for the Halloween season. It used the original title of The Story And Song From The Haunted Mansion and used the original cover artwork. Along with the story from the record, the CD also contained the song "Grim Grinning Ghosts" in its entirety as a separate track. The CD was also enhanced with high resolution artwork drawn by Collin Campbell. The CD's case doubled as a story book depicting various scenes from the attraction with illustrations by Collin Campbell.

Previously, as the Haunted Mansion attraction was in its planning stages and still known as "The Haunted House," Disneyland Records released the album Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House (1964), a collection of sound effects and brief "stories in sound" introduced by a narrator, Laura Olsher. Many of the sound effects, originally created for the vintage Disney cartoons, were later used in the Haunted Mansion ride. Disneyland Records used the same title in 1979 for a new album of sound effects and story situations.

Attraction statistics

Disneyland

• Grand opening: August 12, 1969
• Designer: WED Enterprises
• Show length: 10:00
  • Omnimover - 5:50
• Required ticket: "E" (discontinued)
• Ride system: Omnimover
• Number of Vehicles (a.k.a.: "Doombuggies"): 131, buggies seven through ten made especially to accommodate wheelchair/service animal guests that need the attraction to stop in order to transfer.

Magic Kingdom

• Grand opening: October 1, 1971 (Opened with the Magic Kingdom)
• Number of Vehicles (a.k.a.: "Doombuggies"): 160

Tokyo Disneyland

• Grand opening: April 15, 1983 (Opened with Tokyo Disneyland)
• Number of Vehicles: 160

Disneyland Paris

• Grand opening: April 12, 1992 (Opened with Disneyland Paris)

Phantom Manor (version of Haunted Mansion in Frontierland)

• Number of Vehicles (a.k.a.: "Doombuggies"): 131

See also

• List of current Disneyland attractions
• Magic Kingdom attraction and entertainment history
• Tokyo Disneyland attraction and entertainment history
• Grim Grinning Ghosts
• HalloWishes
• Haunted Mansion Holiday
• Haunted Mansion (comic)
• Hatbox Ghost
• List of Haunted Mansion characters
• Phantom Manor
• New Orleans Square
• Liberty Square
• Fantasyland
• Frontierland
• Adventureland

References

• Disneyland's Ghost House. (2004). The "E" Ticket, (41)
  This is the Fall 2004 issue of the magazine The "E" Ticket that was dedicated to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.
• Eastman, Tish. (1997). "Haunting Melodies: The Story Behind Buddy Baker's Score for the Haunted Mansion". Persistence of Vision (9) 39
  Persistence of Vision is an irregularly published magazine "celebrating the creative legacy of Walt Disney." Back issues can be found at The Book Palace and its home page can be found here Site no longer active.
• Smith, Paul. (1997). "Tales from the Crypt: Life in the Haunted Mansion." Persistence of Vision (9) 89
• Surrell, J. (2003). The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movie. New York: Disney Editions. ISBN 0-7868-5419-7
  A book published by Disney giving a comprehensive history of the Haunted Mansion from early inception, in which it was a walk-through attraction, to its current form. It includes information on The Haunted Mansion movie.

External links

• Disneyland - Haunted Mansion
• Walt Disney World Resort - The Haunted Mansion
• Disneyland Resort Paris - Phantom Manor
• DoomBuggies.com – Fan site with very detailed information on the history, special effects, layout, etc.
• LA Weekly: Photo Slide Show - 35 Photos from 2008 of the mansion at Disneyland (Anaheim).
• Ravenswood Manor – Detailed Phantom Manor fan site
• Haunted Mansion Blueprints – Fan site with over 80 Haunted Mansion blueprints from Disneyland, Walt Disney World and the movie.
• Simulation of Phantom Manor control panel. Includes schematic/blueprint of ride layout and demonstrates the ride operation from the viewpoint of a cast member operating the ride.
• Magic Kingdom Video Ride-Through – Complete ride through of the Mansion after the 2007 refurbishment.