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 <ref> http://blogs.disney.com/insider/2015/06/08/the-horrifying-history-of-the-haunted-mansions-hatbox-ghost-part-1/ </ref>. The original haunted house attraction was originally envisioned as a walkthrough attraction, in which guests would see various haunted scenes <ref name= "DoomBuggies1"> http://www.doombuggies.com/history1.php </ref>. 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 villains including, Captain Hook, the Lonesome Ghosts, and the Headless Horseman <ref name= "DoomBuggies1"/>.[[Image:MansionConcept2.png|400px|thumb|The idea of a ghostly bride was a part of the Haunted Mansion's early design]]

When the addition of the Haunted Mansion was being planned for Disneyland, the Mansion was to be located off a crooked alley on Main Street <ref name= DoomBuggies1/>. Soon however, plans for the Mansion were put on hold , and when Disneyland opened in 1955, The Haunted Mansion was nowhere to be found. Despite this, shortly after Disneyland opened the Haunted Mansion project was brought back into the spotlight. In 1958, Walt Disney decided that he wanted to create an expansion for Disneyland called “New Orleans Square”. The Haunted Mansion was chosen as one of the attractions for the new area <ref name= "DoomBuggies1"/>, and construction began in 1962 <ref name= "DoomBuggies2"> http://www.doombuggies.com/history3.php </ref>.  From the beginning however, problems began to plaque the Haunted Mansionproject. Story line problems were a constant for the Haunted Mansionattraction, 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 <ref name= "DoomBuggies2"/>. 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 Coats thought the Haunted Mansion should be a real haunted house with a 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 "silly" and feature a "swinging wake" <ref> http://www.doombuggies.com/history4.php </ref>. 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 capacity) <ref> http://www.doombuggies.com/history4.php </ref>.