Haunted Mansion

**Haunted Mansion** (or ***The*** **Haunted Mansion**) is an omnimover dark ride located at Disneyland Park in California, Magic Kingdom Park in Florida, and Tokyo Disneyland in Japan. Taking place inside an old abandoned manor, riders take a tour of the estate on a "doom buggy" and witness first hand the many creeps and spooks inside, particularly the 999 "happy haunts."

## History

Walt Disney and his team came up with the concept of the Mansion before Disneyland was even constructed. Back in 1951, Disneyland's oldest known illustration featured an area which resembled Main Street. Leading away from the street was a crooked and unsettling looking road which featured a small church and graveyard. At the end of the street resided a hill, and atop that hill sat an abandoned lo

oking manor. Overtime, plans for New Orleans Square began to pop up, and one of the attractions originally set to be there was a walk-through haunted house experience. Unfortunately, Walt resented the idea of having a run-down, creepy building located inside his park. Eventually, production of the Haunted Mansion was officially announced in 1961, with the ride scheduled for a 1963 opening. The facade was indeed completed by then, but the actual ride was far from done. It took six whole years after the scheduled opening for the ride to finally open on August 9th, 1969. Disney was certain the ride would be a smash hit, so they ordered two of each animatronic to be built for Magic Kingdom at the new Walt Disney World Resort (or Project Florida). That means while Disneyland's ride is older than Magic Kingdom's, the animatronics are the same age. Magic Kingdom's version opened with the park on October 1st, 1971, and Tokyo Disneyland's opened with its park on April 15th, 1983. The ride has a unique location at each of its three parks. At Disneyland, it is located in New Orleans Square. At Magic Kingdom, it is in Liberty Square. At Tokyo Disneyland, it is in Fantasyland.

## Ride Experience

### Disneyland

The facade is unique to Disneyland, with it being made to resemble an abandoned yet well-kept antebellum-era mansion. The first part of the queue takes place outdoors in a pet cemetery, then a mausoleum with humorous names written, and finally a regular cemetery. In the queue is a white horse carriage, but with no horse. Every so often, guests may hear the faint sound of a horse nicker. Once on the mansion's front porch, guests will eventually be lead to a door on the far right. Guests enter the dimly lit and cobweb filled foyer. As the door closes behind, a voice reads through an opening monologue.

"When hinges creak in doorless chambers, and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls, whenever candle lights flicker where the air is deathly still, that is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight..."

Also in the foyer is a portrait of a grand and sophisticated looking man. As the voice continues through his monologue, the portrait begins to turn from a real man into a ghoul-like skeleton. When the voice has finished talking, a pair of sliding double doors open into a large, octagonal room with a portrait on every other side. The voice speaks again, introducing himself as the guests' "Ghost Host," and announces that he will be taking them on a tour of the mansion. As the Ghost Host continues to speak, the entire room appears to begin stretching. This effect is achieved by the floor guests are standing on lowering underground. So essentially, the entire room is a giant elevator "or is it just your imagination, hmmm?" The reason the stretching effect was created in the first place was because of the Disneyland Railroad. It was physically impossible for the ride's show building to fit in front of the tracks. So, imagineers built the show building behind the tracks and used the stretching room as an elevator to take guests under the tracks while still keeping them immersed in the experience. Near the end of the pre-show, the Ghost Host informs guests that "this chamber has no windows, and no doors," and gives them a "chilling challenge... to find a way out!" He then laughs maniacally, before claiming "Of course... there's always my way..." The room goes dark, and lightning flashes to reveal a corpse hanging from a noose on the ceiling, implying the Ghost Host had committed suicide. A woman's scream can be heard, and then a crashing noise, before the lights turn back on. The Ghost Host cynically apologizes for scaring the guests prematurely, and states that the real scares are coming up soon. A wall then suddenly slides open, leading guests into the second half of the queue. Guests enter the portrait gallery. The portraits appear normal at first, but as lightning flashes from the windows on the opposite side of the room, the portraits turn into skeletons, ghouls, and monsters, before turning back to normal when the lightning stops. At the end of the hallway is a pair of human busts, which appear to turn in the direction of the guests as they pass by. This is because the busts are concave figures made to look convex, achieving the believable turning effect. Guests find themselves in an area lit by flickering candles, with what seems to be an endless stream of ride vehicles (or doom buggies as they are called in the ride) in the back of the room. Guests are placed by ride operators (dressed to look like ghouls) into their doom buggy, and the ride begins. The Ghost Host, talking from a speaker inside the doom buggy, informs guests not to touch the safety bar, as he will lower it for them, and proceeds to give a safety spiel. The buggy ascends pitch-black stairs and emerges into the first room. A suit of armor slightly moves, and the buggy leaves guests to stare down a seemingly endless hallway, with a candelabra floating in place by itself about halfway down. The buggy enters the conservatory, which is filled to the brim with dead flowers and other plants. Also inside is a coffin, with a spirit inside attempting to open the coffin, but to no avail, begging "Let me out!" Perched close to the coffin is a black raven with blood-red eyes. Next is the corridor of doors, which is filled with large, shaking doors. As the buggy passes by, screams, shrieks, and other noises can be heard, presumably from spirits inside the doors attempting to escape. The walls of the room are covered in what appear to be demon heads, and afterwards, a portrait of a deranged looking man holding a hatchet and a noose is seen hanging on the wall. This man is heavily implied to be the Ghost Host himself. The buggy comes across a pitch-black room, with the only light shining on a grandfather clock with no numbers, except for a 13 where the 12 would normally be. The hands turn counter-clockwise and a shadow of some sort of animal claw slowly passes over the clock, all while the clock chimes 13 times. The buggy then enters the seance room, where a ghost head, separate from the rest of it's body, can be found inside a floating crystal ball. This ghost is Madame Leota (Leota Toombs when she was alive), and she speaks several incantations as the buggy passes by.

"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!

A sound relating to whichever incantation was said plays after each one. The buggy enters quite possibly the most famous scene of the ride, the ballroom. As the buggy travels across an overhead balcony, several different ghosts can be seen below, some dancing, some dining, among other activities. Near the top left of the room are two portraits, both of different military men holding their guns and facing away from each other. Every few seconds, ghosts of the men in the portraits will appear and fire a shot at each other. At the end of the room is an organ, played by a ghost wearing a top hat, emitting a ballroom variant of "Grim Grinning Ghosts" the ride's theme song. Several ghosts bellow out the organ's pipes. The buggy travels into the attic, which is filled with several items, including gifts, mementos, personal belongings, and most notably, portraits. These portraits each show the same bride with a different groom, and each groom's head will momentarily disappear before returning. The bride gains a new string of pearls with each portrait. Just before exiting into the largest scene of the ride, guests encounter Constance Hatchaway, the bride in the portraits, wearing her wedding gown and slowly and creepily uttering her wedding vows.

"Here comes the bride... As long as we both shall live... For better or for... worse? I do... I did, in sickness and in... wealth... You may now kiss the bride... We'll live happily ever after... Till death do us part..."

In between her vows, Constance raises her arms, and a hatchet can be seen briefly before disappearing. The buggy enters the ride's finale, the graveyard. Before descending, guests meet the famous Hatbox Ghost, whose head disappears from his body and reappears inside his hatbox while he faintly yet sinisterly laughs. Several ghosts rise from below as the buggy descends down a flight of stairs into the graveyard. As the buggy enters, the rides only living characters can be seen; a caretaker, who is in shock and fear at the sight of the ghosts, and his dog, who whimpers and whines. Inside the graveyard, the ghosts appear to be having a party, all while five busts, one with his head detached from his body, sing the theme song. Small ghouls pop-up from behind tombstones as the buggy passes by. The buggy leaves the graveyard and enters the crypt, where the Ghost Host gives guests a word of warning.

"Ah, there you are... and just in time. There's a little matter I forgot to mention... Beware of hitchhiking ghosts!"

Three ghosts thumbing for a ride can be seen. The buggy then takes guests in front of three mirrors, where one of the three hitchhikers is projected onto the buggy. As this happens, the Ghost Host speaks again.

"They have selected you to fill our quota, and will haunt you until you return!"

As the buggy enters the unloading area (which is separate from the loading area, giving the endless stream of buggies effect), the Ghost Host speaks one last time to the guests.

"Now, I will raise the safety bar... and a ghost will follow you home!"

Guests are lead out of the buggy into the exit corridor. Inside, a "Ghost Hostess" or "Little Leota" can be seen encouraging the guests to return.

"Hurry back, hurry back! Be sure to bring your death certificate... if you decide to join us... Make final arrangements now... We've been dying to have you..."

Afterwards, the path exits back out into New Orleans Square.

### Magic Kingdom

The second version of the Haunted Mansion is nearly identical to the original, with only a few major changes. The biggest one is the facade, which is made to resemble a gothic-revival style manor. The building is a slightly dirty brown color as opposed to white, and it appears much larger and more intimidating than Disneyland's. The ride itself is located in Liberty Square, which is essentially Magic Kingdom's version of New Orleans Square. This area, however, focuses more on America and patriotism as a whole rather than just New Orleans. The queue is longer than Disneyland's, with most of it being relatively unthemed space under a tarp. Despite the lackluster decorations, guests can get a good view of the Rivers of America, the Liberty Belle, Splash Mountain, and Thunder Mountain (though not as much for the last one, as Thunder Mountain is really the only secluded ride in the park). Depending on the stand-by wait, guests may experience the normal or extended queue. If the wait time is short, guests will pass by most of the interesting parts of the queue. However, if the wait is at least moderately long (usually around 30 minutes or more) guests will go through the extended queue, which features many of Disneyland's props (minus the pet cemetery) and even has some interactive elements. Guests will eventually enter the mansion, where the foyer remains unchanged. The pre-show inside the stretching room remains the same, but the room is no longer an elevator. When designing the ride, imagineers did not have to put the show building behind the railroad tracks this time around, but they wanted to keep the stretching room. So, the ceiling rises to achieve the effect, while the floor remains stationary (the ceiling rises at Disneyland too, but only a few feet). As guests exit the stretching room, the loading area and doom buggies can already be seen, as the portrait gallery and moving busts have now been placed into the actual ride. Upon boarding the doom buggy, the Ghost Host gives his usual safety spiel. The buggy enters a small entrance like area and then makes it's way to the portrait gallery. It then enters the library, which is stocked with hundreds of ghost stories. The moving busts have also been placed in this room, and there are now five of them instead of just two. The buggy makes its way into the music room, where a piano sits, appearing to be playing itself. However, a shadow can be seen on the floor, meaning the piano player is invisible. The buggy travels into the final scene not present in the original, the endless staircase room. The room is filled with several black light, colorful staircases, with orange footprints appearing and disappearing every few seconds. Afterwards, the buggy emerges into the hallway, and from this point forward, the ride is almost an exact replica of Disneyland's, with all the same scenes in the exact same order. The remaining changes are all minor, with the first being the absence of the Hatbox Ghost at the end of the attic. Next, the Ghost Hostess is now a part of the ride as opposed to being in the exit area. Upon exiting the doom buggy, guests are lead up a speed ramp into the exit corridor. Afterwards is the final change, and that is the location of the pet cemetery being moved to the exit rather than the queue.

### Tokyo Disneyland

This particular version of the ride is a near exact replica of Magic Kingdom's, with the same scenes and even the same facade. The ride is located in Fantasyland due to there not being a "square" area in Tokyo Disneyland. The ride features two major differences from Florida's. First, Magic Kingdom's received a refurbishment in 2007, and the changes made there were not brought over to Tokyo. Second, Tokyo's receives the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay (which also occurs at Disneyland), while Magic Kingdom does not. Tokyo's also has slightly better lighting than Magic Kingdom's. There are no notable changes after that, besides the dialogue being changed to Japanese of course.

## Haunted Mansion Holiday

Every year at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, the mansion is closed in mid to late August to become Haunted Mansion Holiday, a Christmas/Halloween overlay of the ride featuring the characters from the popular 1993 stop motion film, "The Nightmare Before Christmas." The ride features several characters from the film, including Jack Skellington, Sally, Oogie Boogie, and many more. The overlay typically opens in September and closes in early January, becoming the original ride later that same month. Magic Kingdom does not currently have the overlay due to it being a much more visited park than all the other Disney parks. It was originally planned for Magic Kingdom, but executives believed it would be better to keep the mansion the same year-round. They thought that because of the extremely high attendance that many guests would want to ride the mansion in its normal state, and would be upset upon seeing the holiday version. The overlay has been in place in Anaheim and Tokyo since 2001.

## Trivia

* Many people believe the broken singing bust in the graveyard has the face of Walt Disney himself. However, it is actually Earl Ravenscroft, who had provided his voice in many other Disney attractions.
* The raven in the conservatory was originally meant to be the narrator of the ride, but imagineers thought it would be too small for riders to notice. So, the Ghost Host was created, and the rest is history.
* The Ghost Host himself is voiced by the late Paul Frees, who was primarily known for portraying several characters during the "Golden Age of Animation." He also portrayed Boris Badenov, the main antagonist of the well-known children's cartoon "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show."
* A Haunted Mansion film, simply titled "The Haunted Mansion" was released on November 26th, 2003. The film stars Eddie Murphy as a realtor who attempts to give him and his family a vacation by visiting the mansion, before finding themselves trapped. It features some characters from the ride, including Madame Leota, but most of the characters are original to the film. There are also some scenes from the ride incorporated into the film, but the story is almost entirely different from the ride. The film has received mostly negative reviews from critics. It currently holds the abysmal score of 14% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the critical consensus stating that the film is "Neither scary nor funny" and that it is "as lifeless as the ghosts in the movie," ouch.
* The second (and currently newest) Haunted Mansion film "Muppets Haunted Mansion" was released as a Disney+ exclusive on October 8th, 2021, 18 years after the original film. The film stars Gonzo (Dave Goelz) and Pepe the King Prawn (Bill Barretta) as they spend the night in the mansion, where The Great MacGuffin, Gonzo's favorite magician, had mysteriously disappeared 100 years prior. Although the film still has a plot quite different from the ride, it received much more positive reviews than the first film. It currently holds 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, and many review sites have praised the films mix of silliness and horror (but mostly silliness, this is the Muppets). The GATE even went as far as to say the film is "one of the best, and most entertaining Muppet experiences in years."
* A reboot of the first film, also titled "The Haunted Mansion" is set to release in theaters on March 10th, 2023. Although not much is currently known about the film, it appears to be yet another adaptation that loosely follows the story of the ride. The film will star Gabbie, a single mother, and her 9-year old son, who move into the mansion. Upon realizing the presence of the spirits, Gabbie calls a priest for help. The priest then gathers multiple people in an attempt to exorcise the mansion.