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 Mansion attraction was going to be located off 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 alley on Mainstreet USA unfortunate family living in the mansion, and then Frontierlanda ghost wedding which would have featured various Disney ghosts and villains including, Captain Hook, but the project was eventually put on hold. When Disneyland opened in 1955Lonesome Ghosts, The Haunted Mansion was nowhere to be found. The project was brought back however when Walt decided in 1958 that he wanted to expand Disneyland with a new land called "New Orleans Square"and the Headless Horseman.

The Mansion was going to be located off a crooked alley on Mainstreet USA and then Frontierland, but the project was eventually put on hold. When Disneyland opened in 1955, The Haunted Mansion was nowhere to be found. The project was brought back however when Walt decided in 1958 that he wanted to expand Disneyland with a new land called "New Orleans Square".  Construction on the Haunted Mansion took place in 1962, put problems plagued the new attraction. 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, Imageneers were divided about what tone to give the mansion. Imagineer Marc Davis wanted to present the ride in a comical matter, giving the mansion 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 on a compromise. The beginning of the attraction was given a darker tone, and had scarier ghosts. Later in the attraction the ghosts would become more "silly" and the "swinging wake" would begin. Imagineers also decided to make the attraction a dark ride, with "Doom Buggies" as the attractions vehicles. The change from walkthrough to dark ride helped solve the problem of guest capacity in the Haunted Mansion. With the story line and tone of the Haunted Mansion finally decided, the attraction finally opened on August 9, 1969.===Museum of the Weird===When the Haunted Mansion was originally being developed by Walt Disney Imageneersand the Imagineers, Walt and Imagineer Rolly Grump came up with the idea for a Museum of the Weird. The Museum would have doubled as a restaurant and would have been located near the entrance to the attraction. Rolly Grump came up with various ideas for the museum including coffin clocks, candle men, man-eating plants, tiki busts, a faced mirror and a "living gypsy cart". With the death of Walt Disney and the subsequent uncertainty about the tone of the attraction, the idea for the Museum of the Weird was eventually scrapped.  Although the Museum of the Weird was never built, ideas from the museum can be found within the Haunted Mansion itself. Examples of this include:  ===Disney Imagineers===