The Haunted Mansion
The Haunted Mansion is an attraction located in Liberty Square
Contents
History
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 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.
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 opened on August 9, 1969.
Museum of the Weird
When the Haunted Mansion was originally being developed by Walt Disney and 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:
- The red chair that appear to have face
- The wallpaper in the "Corridor of Doors" with various faces and eyes.
- The gypsy cart that sells merchandise outside of the Disney World Haunted Mansion. Originally a similar cart would have been located in the Museum of the Weird and would have interacted with guests.
Disney Imagineers
The main Disney Imageneers that worked on the designing and construction of the Haunted Mansion were:
- Harper Goff (original sketches and design)
- Ken Anderson (storyline)
- Yale Gracy & Rolly Grump (special effects)
- Claude Counts (plot/storyline)
- Marc Davis (character design/storyline)
- Blane Gibson (sculpting-many of the ghosts including the hitchhiking ghosts and the singing busts were sculpted by Blane Gibson)
Other Imagineers who contributed to the creation of the Haunted Mansion include Harriet Burns and X Atencio.
Disney World Construction
During the time the Haunted Mansion was being finalized in Disneyland, plans for a identical version in the not yet open Walt Disney World. Props and sets for the Disneyland Haunted Mansion were copied and shipped to Florida. Unlike the Disneyland version however, the Haunted Mansion was set in the American Northeast, not New Orleans (due to the fact that Liberty Square replaced New Orleans Square in Walt Disney World). The change in location is evident in the architecture. Unlike the Gothic feel of the Disneyland Haunted Mansion, the version in Walt Disney World is built with a colonial/Hudson River Valley architecture. In fact, the Harry Peacher Mansion in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania was the influence for the Disney World Haunted Mansion. The Haunted Mansion opened with the park on October 1, 1971.
Attraction Plot
The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride which takes guests through an aging Hudson River Valley mansion where 999 ghosts live and roam about.
The Queue
The Foyer
The first room that guests see when entering the mansion is the Foyer. The Foyer has orange wall paper, wood finish and is dimly lit by candle chandeliers. Guests may notice a organ playing in the background, although none is seen. On the left side of the Foyer is a fireplace with a potrait of a young man hung above it. If guests watch the portrait they will notice that the man appears to be aging before their eyes. The potrait of the man changes in succession of steps from a young man into a rotting skeletal corps. In the Foyer the Ghost Host greets the guests saying,
"When hinges creak in doorless chambers. When strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls. Whenever candlelights flicker when the air is deathly still... That is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight."
To hear the organ music in the Foyer click play below:
The Stretching Room
After the Ghost Host introduces guests to the Haunted Mansion, guests are ushered into an octagonal gallery known as The Stretching Room. The room features verticly stripped wallpaper and menacing green gargoyles. The room also features four seemingly normal portraits of a unknown people. The Ghost Host once again speaks to the guests saying:
"Welcome! Foolish Mortals, to the haunted mansion, I am your host, your ghost host. Hmmmm. Our tour begins here, in this gallery. Here where you see paintings of some of our guests, as they appeared in their corruptible, mortal state. Kindly step all the way in please, and make room for everyone. Theres no turning back now!
As the Ghost Host speaks, the walls begin stretch upwards. The paintings are also elongated to show the true nature of the portraits, a depiction of various Haunted Mansion "residents" deaths. When the room stops stretching the Ghost Host says:
"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!...Of course, there's always my way!"
At this point lighting flashes above the room to show the corpse of the Ghost Host hanging in the rafters. (having apparently committed suicide).
During the 2007 refurbishment of the Disney World Haunted Mansion, the gargoyles that light the room were given dialog. After the Ghost Host tells guests to "stay together please" the gargoyles whisper "stay together" and then giggle like haunted children.
To hear the Ghost Host's narration in the Stretching Room click play below:
The Loading Area
After leaving the stretching room the guests enter the loading area. Here guests board their "Doom Buggies" and begin to ride through the mansion. Having guests ride through the attraction in Doom Buggies, allowed Disney Imagineers to control what scenes guest would see at a particular time.
On the walls inside the loading area are nine of the eleven "Sinister Pictures". The Sinister Pictures are the portraits who's eyes seem to follow guests as they move.
The Ghost Host gives riders instructions in the Loading Area saying:
"Do not pull down on the safety bar please, I will lower it for you. Heed this warning, the spirits will materialize ONLY if you remain quietly seated, at all times. Oh yes, and no flash pictures please, we spirits are frighfully sensitive, to bright lights."
To hear the Loading Area narration click play below:
The Library and Music Parlor
Now in their Doom Buggies, guests exit the loading area, go up a stairwell and enter a landing. Here two more of the sinister portraits can be found, and various "changing pictures" can be seen. The changing pictures appear to normal enough at first, but when lightning strikes the pictures become much more ghoulish (an example of this: A portrait of a young lady changes in a portrait of Medusa when the lightning strikes). Guests also can see a floating candelabrum in the room, a sign of things to come.
The first room that guests tour in the mansion is the library. In the library books seem to be flying about by themselves. Ghosts are also present in the room as unseen ghosts who stand on rocking ladders to reach and move books to and from the shelves. Another ghost is seemingly reading on a rocking chair in the corner of the room. The Ghost host introduces the library to the guests saying:
"Our library is well stocked with priceless first editions, only ghost stories of course, hmhmh. And marble busts, of the greatest ghost writers, the literary world has even known."
The marble busts of the ghost writers seem to turn and follow guests as they move through the library and into the music parlor.
The music parlor is a small room located after the library. In it, a rundown piano plays a somber version of Grim Grinning Ghosts (the attractions theme song). Although guests cannot see the ghostly piano player, his shadow can be seen on the floor. Outside the window, a storm is brewing and guests can see what appears to be a forest outside.
To hear the narration in the Library click play below:
The Staircases & Endless Hallway
When the Haunted Mansion was renovated in 2007, a new scene was added to the attraction. Known as the staircase scene, it is seen after guests leave the music parlor and before they see the endless hallway. The staircase scene is a space with various staircases and doorways to other dimensions in it. The staircases look like a maze, and even seem to defy gravity. Some of the staircases twist and turn, and others even go upside down. On the staircases ghostly, glowing footprints appear going up or down the stairs and then fade away.
When leaving the music room and entering the staircase scene, the Ghost Hosts makes an offer to guests:
"They have all, retired here to the Haunted Mansion, actually we have 999 happy haunts here, but there's room for one thousand. Any volunteers?? If you should decide to join us, final arrangements, may be made at the end of the tour."
After seeing the staircase scene, the Doom Buggies move past the endless hallway. The hallway seems to go on forever, and only a floating single candelabrum populates the hall. Next to the halls entrance is a moving suit of armor, which used to house a cast member who would jump out and scare guests.
To hear the Staircase narration click play below:
Conservatory
As the Doom Buggies move onward, the guests are spun to face backwards. The room guests find themselves in is the middle of a conservatory. At one time the room may have housed live plants and flowers, but now the plants are all dead and the flowers have rotted. In the middle of the room a wooden coffin is laid with a banner that says "farewell".A large raven settles on the coffin and squawks as the corpse inside begins to push its way out! The corpse inside begins to yell "let me outta here!", but the Doom Buggies continue on.
The Corridor of Doors
After leaving the conservatory, guests find themselves in the mysterious Corridor of Doors. The wallpaper in the Corridor is filled with demon eyes, who seem to be watching the Doom Buggies as they pass. Also on the walls, are various ghoulish family portraits which show different skeletons, ghosts and corpses. A sign next to the portraits reads "Tomb Sweet Tomb". A portrait of note fatures a man (possibly the Ghost Host) wearing a noose around his neck as his shadow lifts a hatchet.
As the Doom Buggies moved down the hall guests will notice they are surrounded by various doors. The doors seem to be holding something inside, and some of the door nobs begin to turn. Knocking, moaning, pounding and even begging can be heard coming from behind the different doors. Even some of the doors themselves seem to be breathing! The last door guests see has two skeletal hands coming out from behind it, and a strange green light immerses the doorway.
The Ghost Host once again speaks to guests in the Corridor of Doors saying:
We find it delightfully unlivable here in this ghostly retreat, every room has wall-to-wall creeps, and hot and cold, running chills! Ssshhhh, listen..."
The final thing that guests see before leaving the scene is a glowing grandfather clock. The hour hand of the clock reads 13, and the minute hand is seen spinning out of control. The clock has bones for hands, and a demonic tail as its pendulum. The head of the clock looks like it has horns, and fangs that engulf the face. As guests pass the clock, a shadow of a large claw swings over the face of the clock, giving the allusion that a large beast is swooping over the Doom Buggie.
To hear the Corridor of Doors narration click below:
The Séance Room
After escaping the Corridor of Doors, guests find themselves in quiet parlor and the Doom Buggies encircle a lone table sitting in the middle of the room. Floating above the table is crystal ball holding the disembodied head of Madam Leota. Madam Leota chants from inside the ball, trying to make a connection with the various ghosts in the mansion (One of her chants goes "Rap on a table, it's time to respond, send is a message from far beyond!). As Madame Leota chants her incarnations, glowing objects and other items begin to fly around the room. If guests look closely at Madame Leota's table, they will notice her spell book is open to page 1313. The page shows the Grim Reaper, while page 1312 shows that Hatbox Ghost and one of the Hitchhiker Ghosts.
The Ghost Host then tells guests:
"The happy haunts have received your sympathetic vibrations, and are begining to materialize. They're assembling for a swinging wake, and they'll be expecting me. I'll see you all, a little later."
Before advancing to the Grand Hall, guests may notice that there seems to be a green specter in the corner of the room.
To hear the Séance Room narration click play below:
The Grand Hall (Ballroom)
After leaving the Séance Room, guests enter perhaps the most famous scene in the Haunted Mansion, The Grand Hall (also known as the Ballroom). Here ghosts have begun to gather for a "swinging wake" (apparently arriving by hearse). The Doom Buggies actually look down into the Ballroom where guests can see ghostly couples waltzing as they disappear and reappear. An organist plays a crazed version of the attractions theme "Grim Grinning Ghosts", on a large pipe organ. When the organist strikes a note, ghostly banshees come flying out of the pipes and then disappear.
On the right side of the room, various ghosts have gathered around a table to celebrate a birthday party. The cake has 13 candles, and various ghosts are seen celebrating. Two drunk ghosts (an Egyptian and a solider) are seen swinging on the chandelier, while another ghost lays under the table. Another ghost can be seen hanging on the chandelier by his cane. Various other ghosts pepper the room, including one ghost sitting on the mantle of the fireplace, who shoots flames out his mouth and an elderly ghost sitting in the corner of the room knitting. If guests look up above the Ballroom they will see two portraits of duelists. The ghosts of these duelists emerge from their paintings from time to time and shoot pistols at each other. After passing the Ballroom the Doom Buggies head upstairs to the attic.
The Attic
Following the Ballroom scene, the Doom Buggies go up one floor to the attic. Here guests see a crammed, dusty room full of wedding gifts and furniture. As the Buggies progress, guests see various wedding portraits of Constance Hatchaway and her various husbands. Next to each portrait are wedding gifts, which seem to increase in quality after every marriage. The portraits include:
- Ambrose Harper & Constance Hatchaway (1869)
- Frank Barks & Constance Hatchaway (1872) (If guests look closely at the cabinet near this portrait, they will see a po
- Marquis de Doom & Constance Hatchaway (1874)
- Reginal Gaine & Constance (1875)
- George Hightower & Constance (1877)-- (This may be the same George who's tombstone we see in one of the stretching room pictures. In the stretching room a widow sits atop a gravestone reading Beloved George, with a hatchet in it.)
When the Doom Buggies pass each portrait the head of the grooms disappear. The story goes, the Constance married and killed her husbands in order to gain money and social status. In fact, if guests look closely at Constance in the portraits they will notice that she gains a string of pearls after each husband. After passing all 5 portraits, guests come face to face with Constance herself, who is wearing a wedding dress and standing near the window. When the Buggies go by her, she says ominous phrases (Such as: "Tell DEATH do us part"). After passing Constance the Doom Buggies "escape" from the attic and fall below into the graveyard.
The Graveyard
Following the close encounter with Constance, the Doom Buggies "fall" out the window and turn backwards. When they land on the ground, ghosts appear to be flying all around. Guests now find themselves at the gates to a graveyard located near the mansion. Outside the gates, a caretaker quivers in fear as his dog whimpers. After passing some scary looking trees, guests enter the graveyard where the ghosts seem to be having a party. A ghost band is playing a jazzy version of "Grim Grinning Ghosts", as various other paranormal beings party. The band is made up of a drummer (banging on headstones), a flutist, a harpist, a bagpipe player, and a horn player. Various cats and owls harmonize with the band, and demon dogs can be heard howling in the distance. Near the band, a king and queen teeter on see-saw, while a duchess sips tea behind them.
As they move through the Graveyard, the Doom Buggies pass the "Phantom Five", a group of singing marble busts. Located on the guests right hand side, these busts sing and express the song "Grim Grinning Ghosts". All around the graveyard, ghosts pop up and try to scare guests, while other specters simply enjoy the party. Those enjoying the party include, a mummy who is drinking tea, and oracle, and various ghosts riding bicycles around tombstones. Ghosts that can be seen in the Graveyard include an executioner and his victim (a headless knight) and the prisoner hitchhiking ghost. Standing next to the executioner are two opera singers, the female is overweight with pig tales and is wearing a viking helmet, while the mail is thin and wears a mustache.
Across from the opera singes, a couple are seen having tea (with a floating tea pot. Joining them is a corpse who has fallen out of his casket, and a mariner who is sitting cross legged. , a mummy, a deaf old man, a mariner, two opera singers, and even the Grim Reaper himself. After traveling through the graveyard guests come across an old crypt, leading to the attractions fianl scene.
To hear the Phantom Five singing in Graveyard click below:
The Crypt and Unloading
Upon entering the crypt the Ghost Host once again joins the guests:
"Aaahh, there you are! And just in time, theres a little matter I forgot to mention, beware of hitchhiking ghosts! They have seleced you to fill our quota, and they'll haunt you until you return! hahahaha".
While hearing this warning guests pass by the three hitchhiking ghosts (the prisoner, the skeleton, and the traveler, , before venturing further into the crypt and encountering a mirror. When guests look into the mirror, they will notice that they are not alone! One of the three hitchhiking ghosts will be seen inside the Doom Buggies, and will interact with the guests (Eg. The ghost will switch two of the riders heads!). After exiting the crypt, guests reach the unloading area where a ghostess says she can make "final arrangements for you". Following her speech the Ghost Host tells guests one final thing:
Now, I will raise the safety bar, and a ghost will follow you home!
To Hear the Crypt and Unloading narration click play below:
