The Haunted Mansion: 999 Happy Haunts! What’s One More?
Welcome, foolish mortals! Today we are going to discuss The Haunted Mansion ride! This article will be discussing The Haunted Mansion as we see it in Disneyland, Disney World, and Tokyo Disneyland. We will discuss Mystic Manor in Hong Kong Disneyland and Phantom Manor in Disneyland Paris in an upcoming segment. Now, sit back and enjoy the ride - if you dare.
Although guests have been invited to become the 1000th happy haunt of The Haunted Mansion since 1969 in Disneyland (14 years after the park opened, and a number of years later than its original 1963 anticipated opening date) and at the opening of Disney World in 1971, the concept for The Haunted Mansion first began with Walt himself a number of years before the first Disney park even opened! How to get the ball rolling though?
A Disney Imagineer, Ken Anderson, was first assigned to work on conceptualisation/story for The Haunted Mansion in 1957. Its Disneyloand design, a Southern plantation styled manor, was based mainly on the Shipley Lydecker House built in the early 1800's. It also has hints of the infamous Winchester Mystery House - a house with nonsensical staircases to nothing among other oddities, rumoured to be haunted by all those killed with Winchester firearms.
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| The Haunted Mansion as it appears in Disneyland. |
Back stories for The Haunted Mansion have varied from a Bluebeard-style pirate who kills his curious wife and then hangs himself, to a home to a very unfortunate family, all the way to Disney villains and ghosts attending a haunted wedding party. A variety of these elements can still be seen within the ride today.
Fast forward a bit, and Marc Davis and Claude Coats had become the main designers ready to design this ride with Imagineers Rolly Crump and Yale Gracey to design the special effects (more on that in a bit!). One problem: Davis and Coats could NOT agree on the theming for The Haunted Mansion! Coats (who was originally a background artist) was dead-set that he wanted to create more of a traditional haunted house setting, whereas Davis (an animator by trade) thought the ride should be silly and whimsical.
So, what did they do?
THEY DID BOTH. Simply put, parts of the ride has that eerie feel, with other parts being filled with more zany and silly spooks. X Antencio, another Imagineer, created this transition from one end of the spectrum all the way to the other.
Now that we have a portion of the history out of the way, let's talk about the actual ride.
*SPOILER ALERT*
If you do not want to know more about the detailings of The Haunted Mansion, tuuuurrrrnnnn baccccckkkk nowwwww!
The ride starts off in the main foyer of the house, with you soon being ushered into the famous Stretching Room. As you listen to your Ghost Host, the walls appear to stretch, giving way to four "stretching" portraits: three men sinking in quicksand, a young lady on a tightrope above a crocodile pit, a man standing on a lit barrel of dynamite, and an old woman (rumoured to be the bride in the attic - more on that later!) sitting on the tombstone of what was her husband - who has an axe in his head! Fitting for later in the ride, I suppose.
Regarding the stretching room, this effect is achieved differently in both Disneyland and Disney World. In Disneyland, the ride is set up so you need to go below the main level of the park. The stretching is actually an elevator mechanism taking you down to the main ride. In Disney World, which does not have this issue, the walls are ACTUALLY stretching upwards. It's neat how they achieve this effect in two separate ways to fit the park.
After the portraits stretch comes one of the more macabre parts of the ride: your Ghost Host offers you a simple way to escape a room "with no windows, and no doors". He says, "There's always my way!" When you look up, there he is, hanging from a noose!! Like, literally hanging there like it's no big deal.
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| "Look Ma, no hands!" |
I actually saw a child crying hysterically when this happened the last time I was at Disney World! It is a fairly atmospheric moment in the ride; child-friendly though, that I'm not so sure of. If you have little ones who want to experience this ride, you may want to get them to cover their eyes when the light goes out in the Stretching Room.
After this, a panel in the wall opens up for you to enter. You either walk through the portrait room (Disneyland), or straight to the Doom Buggies (Disney World).
This Portrait Room is freaky, y'all. With every flash of lightning, what was a normal photo is transformed into grotesque nightmare fuel. From a beautiful woman who transforms into a Medusa-like being, to a man morphing into some disgusting lizard creature, all is not what it appears on the surface. Towards the end of the corridor is the Library - busts of a man and woman seem to follow your every move as you glide past.
Along your haunted journey, you will pass by a moving suit of armour and what appears to be an endless hallway. You will also come across a coffin with its guest desperately trying to get out. An Edgar Allan Poe-styled raven sits nearby, watching you with hunger in its red beady eyes.
As you pass by doors leading to nowhere and everywhere, you will get a Twilight Zone vibe. This isn't real... is it? Passing through the demonic hissing wallpaper (I know, right?!) and past the grandfather clock, with what can only be described as having the face of Satan himself, will trigger in you a sense of foreboding for what is to come.
You come to a seance room, where Madam Leota's disembodied head is in a crystal ball. She is contacting the spirits of The Haunted Mansion. Your friend, the raven, is perched on a chair near where she floats. Madam Leota is played by Imagineer Leota Toombs Thomas, but is voiced by Eleanor Audley (who, appropriately, has voiced the likes of Lady Tremaine in Cinderella and Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty). This room is the transition period between the darker aspects of the ride of Coats' imagination to the more whimsical side of Davis'. Well, mostly anyways.
As you continue along, you come across a birthday party with ghosts partaking in the festivities. A young ghost blows out her candles while couples dance on the ballroom floor. A grandmother ghost reminisces in her rocking chair, while two ghosts duel it out above the entire scene.
Let's talk about how cool this scene is. What ghosts you are seeing aren't actually there. What do I mean? This effect is achieved by what is known as Pepper's Ghost. Two rooms are used: a main room and one off to the side that is unseen. The animatronics will be in this unseen room. With a large piece of glass and a little light, what is in the unseen room is reflected into the main room. Hence, you have your ghosts!
Moving past the birthday scene, you enter the attic. You will notice that there are a variety of photos with the same woman in a wedding dress with the various men's heads disappearing! If you look closer, you will see she has more pearls from one picture to the next. You finally approach the bride, Constance - AND SHE IS HOLDING AN AXE. No first date with this gal. It's off to the altar, then off to your doom. Pretty sure Kanye would not be messing with this gold digger!
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| "In sickness and in... wealth." |
If in Disneyland, you will have an encounter with the famous Hatbox Ghost. His head will disappear from his shoulders and reappear in the hatbox he holds. It is only since 2015 that this effect has been perfected enough to include in the ride. Prior to this, his head would appear both on his shoulders and in the hatbox at the same time. Needless to say, Disney took him out of the ride until such a time when the illusion could take place properly.
As you leave the graveyard, your Ghost Host warns you: "Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts!" You see the three of them along the side looking to follow you home to fill their ghost quota.
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| Phineas, Ezra, and Gus at their finest |
As you drift towards the exit, they can mess around with you on the screen: from switching your head with another rider to saying hello to you by name (it's the creepy charm of Disney at it again!). Little Leota waits for you at the exit, telling you to "hurry back".
Well, you made it! You've escaped The Haunted Mansion!
Now that you know (and hopefully love!) The Haunted Mansion, let's talk one of the main things any Disney enthusiast needs: merch!
I was fortunate enough to get the coffee cup shown below when a close friend went to Disneyland a few months back. This thing has been my morning saviour! Yes, I have to get up and adult, but look: happy haunts!
She also got me this great Haunted Mansion sweatshirt:
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| Soooo stoked! |
I owe her on my upcoming trip... :)
If you're like me, you need reminders of Disney to get you through to the next trip! This does not mean having to buy direct from Disney every time (though they do have great stuff!) - there are other fans just like you who have been inspired to create merchandise that will get you in that Hitchhiking Ghosts spirit! There are great Haunted-Mansion inspired ears (affiliate) on sites like Etsy, for instance. The sky is the limit in terms of getting your HM fix!
If you want to learn more, I've included some great (and entertaining) source material for you to check out below (affiliate):
This book is a great source for all things Haunted Mansion - I've read it from cover to cover numerous times and it never gets old! From the conceptualisation and set-backs, to how we see it today, this book is a must-read for all you Haunted Mansion enthusiasts!
What do you think of The Haunted Mansion? Is it one of your favourites or not? Comment and subscribe :)
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