- 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 Haunted Mansion (videogame)
| The Haunted Mansion | |
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| Attraction type | Dark ride |
| Theme | Haunted house |
| Vehicle names | Doom Buggies |
| Vehicle capacity | 2-3 |
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The Haunted Mansion is a 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. Both parts of the attraction showcase special effects and spectral Audio-Animatronics.
Contents |
History
Original concept
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| The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland | |||
| Disneyland | |||
| Land | New Orleans Square | ||
| Designer | WED Enterprises | ||
| Opening date | August 9, 1969 | ||
| Guests per car | 3 | ||
| Ride duration | 10:00 minutes | ||
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Artist and Disney legend Harper Goff was commissioned in the mid-1950s to design the attraction, which was originally conceived by Walt Disney. Walt had hoped to capture the look and feel of two Paramount Pictures movies, The Cat and the Canary and The Ghost Breakers.[1] The house originally had a rural American design and was intended to be at the end of a crooked path that led away from Disneyland's Main Street, U.S.A. At one point, Disney's concept for the attraction was for it to be entirely walk-through and for it to empty near a restaurant with a theme of The Museum of the Weird;[1] this would be similar to other attractions like Pirates of the Caribbean, which is paired with the Blue Bayou Restaurant. Eventually, 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.[2] 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[2], 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 and 1965 and to an attraction redesign after Walt's death in 1966. A Disney legend, Rolly Crump, was assigned the task of designing the attraction, having just completed the sculptures of the gods statues that appear in the Enchanted Tiki Room.[1] Although supposedly an abandoned structure, the exterior appears new and the surrounding grounds meticulously maintained. Designers wanted to make the exterior of The Haunted Mansion look like the stereotypical haunted house, but Walt vetoed the idea, proclaiming, "We'll let the ghosts take care of the inside. We'll take care of the outside."
Revised concept
After Walt's death in December of 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 as far as suggesting building two identical attractions to get double the number of guests through.[1] One rumor for the change was that the original attraction had frightened a guest so badly that he died of a heart attack. Since the attraction was never implemented as a walkthrough experience, this rumor is clearly false. No guests have ever died of fright riding the Haunted Mansion.[2] On August 9, 1969, the Disneyland version of the attraction was completed, and remained essentially unchanged for years. 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".[1] 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 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 other incarnations of the ride are very similar, but are not without their differences. The Haunted Mansion is the only attraction to appear in a different location of the park in each of the Disney theme parks. The Disneyland version is located in New Orleans Square and is modeled after a Southern plantation home. Walt Disney World's version of the ride is located in Liberty Square and has a Gothic Revival facade.[3] Tokyo Disneyland (which does not have a Liberty Square or a New Orleans area) placed the Mansion in Fantasyland. The Tokyo version is basically identical to the Florida version before its major rehab. The Ghost Host's narration is in Japanese, while the other speakers such as Madama Leota still speak in English. Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris is in Frontierland, and is designed in a Second Empire architectural style. It also features a full orchestral score, an Old West theme, and a more cohesive storyline than the other three Mansions. When the Haunted Mansion was transplanted to other Disney parks, space management was much less of a problem. For example, in Disney World's Magic Kingdom, the entire show building is located within the park boundaries.[4] 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.
Haunted Mansion Holiday
Every holiday season the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland is transformed into Haunted Mansion Holiday. This crossover, based on Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, began in 2001. The Haunted Mansion is closed every 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.
Recent changes
Following the 2004 Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay, some new effects were introduced to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion in January 2005. The Stretching Room now has better lighting, so the gallery does not get darker as it moves up and away. Along the Changing Portrait Hall, as visitors exit the stretching gallery, new portraits have been installed. Instead of a simple "fading" effect, the portraits now change in sync with the lightning from across the hall, just as they originally had when the attraction opened. Also, the Cat Lady portrait has been altered (instead of white dressed lady to black panther, it is now black dressed lady to white tiger), and the April-December painting has been replaced by the Master Gracey portrait from Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion, and placed in the planter outside of Pirates of the Caribbean. Near the Endless Hallway, the suit of armor that used to be there was replaced, and it now twitches and moves when the Doombuggies pass. Probably the most major effect was in the seance room. Instead of having Madame Leota's crystal ball simply sit on a table, it now freely floats around and above the table. As of May 3, 2006, new changes went into effect at the Disneyland Haunted Mansion. The new show scene introduced in the attic portion of the ride follows a ghostly bride named Constance (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, Frank, Reginald, Marquis, and George) in an attempt to gain their vast fortunes. The new effects start when visitors first enter the mansion's attic. When the visitor enters the attic, the pop-up ghosts that used to 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 do...I did", "You may now kiss the bride", "And we lived happily ever after", "As long as we both shall live", "For better or for worse", "Here comes the bride", "'Till death do us part", "Through sickness and in...wealth". Every few sayings, she raises her hand and an axe 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 by a pole and a fan). At Walt Disney World Resort, The Haunted Mansion closed for refurbishment on June 7, 2007 and reopened September 13, 2007. Changes to 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 floating around visitors' heads, all new wallpaper, and all new scarier audio sound effects for the stretching room, as well as an exclusive Escher-esque staircase scene. After the staircase scene, there are all new ghoulish eyes that glow while monsterous sounds echo through the halls. The original Disney World Attic is now replaced with the new Disneyland attic scene including the five changing husband portraits and featuring the new Constance. The Disneyland enhancements were also implemented at Walt Disney World including the now floating Madame Leota with much clearer projection, and The Sinister 11 (the portraits with the following eyes) were replaced with the changing portraits from Disneyland's portrait gallery. Some of the Sinister 11 are now hung up in the loading area or at a corner just after the Ballroom Scene.
The one thousandth ghost
On October 21, 2004, a bidder on a Disney-sponsored auction on eBay won the right to be the first non-Disneyland employee to have his name added to an attraction. Cary Sharp, a doctor and health-care attorney from Baton Rouge, Louisiana placed a winning bid of US$37,400 to become Disneyland's one thousandth ghost with the addition of his nickname, a joke epitaph and the signatures of Disney Imagineers on a tombstone to be displayed in the attraction. Its placement is guaranteed for ten years and will remain as a permanent exhibit. According to the Los Angeles Times, the opening bid of $750 was placed by horror novelist Clive Barker. Sharp, who had only visited Disneyland once before, placed the bid in good faith as a way to entertain his friends and never expected to win. The tombstone is located near the end of the graveyard scene and can be seen just as the vehicle enters the graveyard gates. The name on the tombstone is "Jay." The money has been donated to the Boys and Girls Club. Half went to the local Anaheim chapter of the main charity while the other half went to the Baton Rouge chapter.
The attraction
The Queue
The queue of the Haunted Mansion is outside the building, winding, first past a pet cemetery, and then to a Mausoleum built into the hillside as well as a cemetery above. Eventually guests end up on the porch of the mansion and enter through the front doors. Each headstone has a humorous epitaph and visitors have been known to slow down the flow of guests through the queue because of their interest in reading them. This caused Imagineers to arrange the headstones at Walt Disney World in an order that encouraged forward movement, and forced the removal of some headstones from Disneyland. Some headstones were re-introduced near the handicapped queue area, and the pet cemetery was revamped in 1993 with even more headstones, arranged in a similarly forward moving order. Walt Disney World soon got a pet cemetery as well.[5]
In 1995, a white horse drawn Hearse was added to the Disneyland queue,[6] drawn by an invisible ghost horse. The Hearse has been falsely rumored to have carried the body of Mormon prophet Brigham Young.[6] Walt Disney World later received a similar black version of the vehicle.[5] In 2002, Walt Disney World added a headstone for Madame Leota,[5] one of the prominent ghosts in the attraction, but with a scary effect. Her face is shown on the tombstone as a relief carving. About once a minute, the face moves outward ever so slightly, the eyes blink and move back and forth, and the face returns to its original position. The effect is achieved with simple animatronics.
Foyer and Stretching Gallery
Guests stand in line outside the mansion, and are led into a spooky parlor by Cast Members dressed as maids and butlers. From there, the guests are brought into an octagonal room, and encouraged to stand in the "dead center". The door they entered through then becomes a wall, and the chilling voice of Paul Frees introduces himself as their "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? 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...
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:
- A bearded man 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.
- A young demure woman holding a parasol... and calmly balancing on an unraveling tightrope... above the hungry jaws of a waiting crocodile.
- An old lady sits... atop a tall gravestone... which features the bust of a man with an axe through his head.
- A man with sideburns sitting... on a fat, mustachioed man who is sitting... atop a lean, pale-looking gentleman... who is chest-deep in quicksand.
The lights go out, lightning and thunder effects fill the gallery and, in a rare instance of Disneyland "dark humor," a glimpse of the earthly remains of the Ghost Host is shown dangling by a noose from the ceiling rafters above. At the attraction in Disneyland, the room is, in fact, an elevator with no ceiling that 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. The ceiling above is a piece of fabric called a scrim, which conceals the hanging body until it is lit from above. 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. This stretching room effect is duplicated at the three Mansions at other Disney theme parks, but only one of these requires guests being moved beyond the railroad tracks. The Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland attractions have stretching rooms with ascending ceilings, rather than descending floors. Only Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris uses the same descending floor as Disneyland, to transport guests toward the structure containing the major portion of the ride. When the attic scene was refurbished in early 2006, new elements were designed to tie in with the portrait of the woman atop the tombstone. In one attic wedding portrait, the bride Constance is shown much younger, holding a rose in the same manner as the woman in the portrait. The groom's name is on the wedding portrait frame, and is the same as the name on the tombstone: George. Also, the groom has a distinctive handlebar mustache, just as the bust on the tombstone does. Some have speculated that other stretching portraits also foreshadow the attic scene but there is no clear evidence that this was intended.
Portrait Gallery
When the walls finally do open, guests are ushered into an art gallery 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 (a la Medusa), a magnificent sailing ship at sea becoming a tattered and ghostly version thereof in a storm, and others). The grim busts of a man and woman placed at the end of the hall seem to turn their heads, glaring at the guests as they walk past. The effect, patented by Disney,[7] 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. The effect is unnerving and extremely convincing. (A similar effect is used in the Hollywood Backlot section of Disney's California Adventure.)
Hallways of the Mansion
The main stretch of the attraction consists of a continuous track of "Doom Buggies" in which the guests sit as they are brought through the mansion. The "Doom Buggies" are actually Disney's Omnimover system which "pan" the riders to focus their attention on specific scenes, much as a cinematographer would pan a motion picture camera. The special effects throughout the ride were groundbreaking when the mansion first opened. After ascending a dark staircase, guests embark on an eerie journey through the mansion and witness some amazing sights, all created with special effects. In the ride at Walt Disney World, guests see the library scene that involves books being pushed around, ladders moving from side to side, a group of staring busts and a piano playing on its own accord, followed by a disturbing room full of staircases that defy physics. Afterwards, the two rides are identical. Doom Buggies point guests down The Endless Hallway, a corridor which appears endless with a floating candelabra in its center; a conservatory that contains a coffin with a ghost trapped within, his skeletal hand trying to pry the lid open as he keeps crying to be let out; a long corridor full of doors knocking from the inside (not to mention one that looks like it is breathing); and a ghostly grandfather clock with a demonic physique and 13 hours on it with the hour hand on the 13 and the minute hand moving continuously, a dark shadow of a claw passing over it as it chimes midnight (this clock is, in fact, moving backwards).
Séance Circle
Guests enter a dark séance room full of floating musical instruments, and other things. Madame Leota, a medium appearing within a crystal ball, summons the mansion's spirits. In the Anaheim and Orlando mansions she floats gracefully around the table and in Anaheim a series of several green spirits stare at riders from the corner of the room. The Leota effect is accomplished through digital projection of an actress's face onto a featureless head sculpture. The movement of the cable-suspended sphere is synched to the projection via computer-control. In the Tokyo mansion (and in Anaheim during Haunted Mansion Holiday and when the projection is not lining up with the bust) and Phantom Manor, Leota's crystal ball rests in a cradle on the table. It is worthy to note that, during the Haunted Mansion Holiday, Madame Leota is one of the only remaining characters of the original attraction. During her chanting, she acknowledges the eerie gifts she received from the "thirteen days of Christmas" (an obvious allusion to the song, the Twelve Days of Christmas).
The Ballroom
Next, visitors are whisked up a dark spiral staircase. As guests pass onto the balcony of the magnificent grand ballroom, the happy haunts begin to materialize. Translucent couples waltz to the music of a macabre organist, while a ghostly birthday party appears to be taking place at the dining table (a dinner plate and two saucers combine to make a "Hidden Mickey"). Some spirits sit on the chandeliers, gorging themselves on wine. All the ghosts in this scene are created using the Pepper's Ghost effect. An important part of Disney history is located in the ballroom scene of the original Anaheim attraction: the pipe organ on the far left of the scene is the original prop from the studio's 1954 release, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Prior to the construction of the Haunted Mansion, the organ had been on display in a shop in the "Main Street, U.S.A." area of the park. The organs in the other parks are replicas of the prop. At the Disneyland Haunted Mansion, there is a circular hole (rumored to be a bullet hole from a pellet gun) in one of the floor-to-ceiling panes of glass used to create the Pepper's Ghost effect. The damaged area has been disguised by a fake spider and web. Because of the size of these panes of glass, they cannot be replaced without removing the roof of the show building.
The Attic
The attic is an irregularly-shaped room that the Doom buggies enter immediately after the ballroom scene. It features a collection of wedding gifts, personal items, mementos, and wedding portraits. In each portrait, a common bride (Constance) is featured with a different groom (Ambrose, Frank, Reginald, The Marquis, and George), 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 phrases. As she raises her arms, a hatchet appears in her hands.
The Graveyard
The Doom Buggies fall out of the the attic through a window in the windy night. Stars twinkle overhead in the cold black sky. Ahead, guests can see ghosts rise up from the ground as a mysterious fog covers the graveyard below. The Doom Buggies 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. The Doom Buggies reach the ground, and turn towards the graveyard's gate. A caretaker stands there, 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 plays a jazzy rendition of "Grim Grinning Ghosts". A king and queen balance on a teeter-totter, while a young princess swings back and forth from a tree branch, all of them singing with the band members. 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. Next, guests see a mummy and an old man. The old man tries to listen to what the mummy is saying through an ear phone, but the mummy is just too hard to understand underneath its bandages. Before the Doom Buggies turn to face the two opera singers to the right, inside of a tomb there is a phantom-like ghost dressed in a robe-like outfit and in his left hand (at the Magic Kingdom) his cloak forms a "Hidden Mickey". The Doom Buggies turn to face 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. also in the back are ghosts riding bikes in circles. 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 is in the unknown spook's hand, implying that he is actually walling himself in.
The Hitchhiking Ghosts
At last, guests pass into a crypt where they encounter the attraction's unofficial mascots, three hitchhiking ghosts. For those into Disney Trivia, they have been assigned official names. They are Gus (the small bearded ghost with the ball and chain), Ezra (the tall and skeletal ghost) and Phineas (the larger ghost, with the top hat.). Passing by three large mirrors, guests discover that one of the trio has hitched a ride in their Doom Buggy. Guests disembark and are encouraged to "hurry back," and not to "forget their death certificates" by a tiny woman in a bridal gown (though referred to as the Ghostess in early versions of the attraction script, this character is commonly known as "Little Leota" because her voice and face are those of Leota Toombs, who also provided the face of Madame Leota) before returning to the outside world. This effect is produced in the same manner as Madame Leota, Constance, and the graveyard's singing busts, by projection of a face onto a featureless figurine.
Behind the scenes
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) soundstage-like building located outside the park boundaries. Painted dull green like most Disneyland show buildings, this 35-foot-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. The show building extends an additional ten feet 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. The show building also 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 lead beneath the Doombuggy 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 top eight feet 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. [8] 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, aboveground connection to the main warehouse. To avoid exposing backstage to the guests, WDI uses trees and other rides to hide the building from view. Leota Toomb's daughter Kim Ivrine, 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 Ivrine also played Madame Leota for Haunted Mansion Holdiay.
Soundtrack
Narration
The foyer, stretching room, and ride's narration was performed by Paul Frees as the Ghost Host. Between 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 the library scene, in which a unique piece of narration is used. At Tokyo Disneyland, whose mansion is a carbon copy 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.
Phantom Manor
An opening narration by Vincent Price was recorded, and initially was used. However, due to a deal with French officials that attraction audio had to stay primarily in French, the narration was replaced with a different track by Gerard Chevalier, who, interestingly enough, had been a French dub voice for Price in some of his movies. Price's narration is available on the CD The Haunted Mansion - 30th Anniversary (1999 CD). It also features a full orchestrated score by John Debney.
Theme Song
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.[9]
Releases
- The Official Album of Disneyland and Walt Disney World (1991 CD) "Grim Grinning Ghosts"
- A Spooky Night in Disney's Haunted Mansion (1998 Cassette) "Grim Grinning Ghosts"
- The Haunted Mansion - 30th Anniversary (1999 CD) 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 (2005) 13 minute ride through
"Grim Grinning Ghosts" has also been used in various other shows in Disney theme parks such as:
A Spooky Night in Disney's 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 Madam 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. 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. Many of the sound effects, originally created for the vintage Disney cartoons, were later used in the Haunted Mansion ride. The same title was used by Disneyland Records in 1979 for a new album of sound effects and story situations.
Attraction facts
Disneyland
- Grand opening: August 9, 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 five through eight 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
Recently The Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom was closed for refurbishments. The refurbishments were completed September 12th, and the ride has opened for guests September 13th. The attraction was given a new scene not before seen at the other Haunted Mansions; a surreal, M.C. Escher-esque room of upside down staircases with ghostly footsteps walking up and down them. In addition, new audio and visual effects were added throughout the mansion, and many rooms were given paint and lighting touch-ups. Also, several elements were duplicated from Disneyland's Mansion, including the changing portraits, the floating Madame Leota and the revised attic scene with Constance.
Tokyo Disneyland
- Grand opening: April 15, 1983 (Opened with Tokyo Disneyland)
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"):130
In popular culture
- In the sing along songs video Disneyland Fun, during the song "Grim Grinning Ghosts", two of the kids go over to the ride and the girl wonders what happens there at night and in her thoughts we see Disney villains (the Evil Queen, Captain Hook, the Big Bad Wolf, and Maleficent), Donald in a ghost costume and dancing trees dancing in front of the Haunted Mansion. Then at the end of the song the boy taps the girl and they get in line. This was also in Let's Go to Disneyland Paris at the Phantom Manor only they used Jafar instead of Captain Hook.
- Also in Happy Haunting the kids and the Disney characters have the party in the Haunted Mansion.
- The Haunted Mansion was parodied in Timon and Pumbaa's Virtual Safari 1.5 on The Lion King 1½ .
- Cory Doctorows 2003 science fiction novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is about a future reconstruction of Haunted Mansion.
- The Hitchhiking Ghosts are parodied in the pilot episode of Clerks: The Animated Series.
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)
- List of Haunted Mansion characters
- Phantom Manor
References
- ^ a b c d e Jim Hill. A special what-might-have-been version of Why For.
- ^ a b c Urban Legends Pages: Haunted Mansion.
- ^ Although the Doombuggies website reports, "Back around 1970, some WED Imagineers visited Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania and studied the Harry Packer Mansion," nothing of the Second Empire style exterior, with its Mansard roof and Romanesque porch, appears on the Gothic Revival style Haunted Mansion in the Magic Kindgom.
- ^ Live Search: The Magic Kingdom's Haunted Mansion building within the park's boundaries http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=nr34cm8618c0&style=o&lvl=1&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=5219433&encType=1
- ^ a b c Jeff Lang. When it comes to the Haunted Mansion, theming is a matter of grave importance.
- ^ a b Hearseay.
- ^ US patent 5,782,698 "Optical Illusion Device", Keller; Allan, 1998.
- ^ Microsoft Live Site.
- ^ Busted!. Snopes (August 21 2007). Retrieved on 2007-12-06.
- 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.
- 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.
