Changes

Like many of the original Magic Kingdom attractions, the Haunted Mansion began as an idea for Disneyland. Before the park was even built, Walt Disney and artist Harper Goff were working on an idea for a haunted house type attraction. The original sketch by Goff was titled, "Church Graveyard and Haunted House", and featured a Gothic style mansion on top of a hill. The original haunted house attraction was originally envisioned as a walkthrough attraction , in which guests would see various haunted scenes. Some of the original ideas for the attraction included : a ghostly sea captain who killed his wife, an unfortunate family living in the mansion, and a ghost wedding which would have featured various Disney ghosts and villains including, Captain Hook, the Lonesome Ghosts, and the Headless Horseman.

When the addition of the Haunted Mansion was being planned for Disneyland. The , the Mansion was going to be located off a crooked alley on Mainstreet USAMain Street. Soon however , the planned Mansion attraction’s home was moved to Frontierland, but before plans for the Mansion were eventually put on hold. When and when Disneyland opened in 1955, The Haunted Mansion was nowhere to be found. The Soon after Disneyland opened, the Haunted Mansion project was brought back howeverinto the spotlight. In 1958, when Walt Disney decided in 1958 that he wanted to expand create an expansion for Disneyland called “New Orleans Square”. The Haunted Mansion was chosen as one of the attractions for the new area, and construction began in 1962. From the beginning however problems began to plaque the Haunted Mansion. Story line problems were a constant for the Haunted Mansion, and in 1964 Disney's attention was turned towards the New York World’s Fair. Another blow to the struggling project came in 1965 when Walt Disney, the driving force behind the project died. With Walt gone, Imagineers were divided about what tone to give the Haunted Mansion. Imagineer Marc Davis wanted to present the ride in a comical matter (giving the attraction a lighter tone) while Claude Counts thought the Haunted Mansion should be a real haunted house with a new land called dark and ominous tone. Eventually, Imagineers decided on a compromise. The beginning of the attraction was given a darker tone while the latter half would be more "New Orleans Squaresilly" and feature a "swinging wake". Imagineers also decided to make the Haunted Mansion a dark ride, with "Doom Buggies" as the attractions vehicles (the change from walkthrough to dark ride helped solve the problems- guest capacity)

Construction on With the Haunted Mansion took place in 1962, but from the beginning problems plagued the new attraction. Story story line problems were a constant for the Haunted Mansion, and in 1964 Disney's attention was turned towards the World Fair instead of Disneyland. Another blow to the struggling project came in 1965 when Walt Disney, the driving force behind the project died. With Walt gone, Imagineers were divided about what tone to give the Haunted Mansion. Imagineer Marc Davis wanted to present the ride in a comical matterfinally decided, giving the attraction a lighter tone. Another Imagineer, Claude Counts thought the Haunted Mansion should be a real haunted house and wanted to give the ride a darker tone. Eventually, Imagineers decided officially opened on a compromise. The beginning of the attraction was given a darker toneAugust 9, and had scarier ghosts. Later 1969 in the attraction the ghosts would become more "silly" and the "swinging wake" would begin. Imagineers also decided to make the Haunted Mansion a dark ride, with "Doom Buggies" as the attractions vehicles. The change from walkthrough to dark ride helped solve the problem of guest capacityDisneyland.