Hinges have been creaking in doorless chambers
for over three decades, first opening in 1969 at Disneyland, and
a few years later at the Haunted Mansion in Walt Disney World
Resorts Magic Kingdom. Thirty years and this
old house still kicks Bob Vilas pasty white butt,
summed up Geoff Carter of the Las Vegas Sun.
Even after more than a quarter-century of haunting,
this classic attraction still amazes young and old alike. To this
day, the average patron of the Haunted Mansion has no idea how
those ghosts appear and disappear right before their eyes (as
they have since the day the attraction opened) or how those singing
busts can vocalize with such lifelike expressions. Even Disneys
own Bill Nye, the Science Guy, writing for a column
that appeared in a ZDNet feature about Walt Disney Worlds
25th Anniversary, chalked the disappearing effect up to holograms.
The truth is that the Haunted Mansion owes its most spectacular
effects to a combination of turn-of-the century stage effects
and good theming. Holograms, while not unknown in 1969, would
have been quite a remarkable technical feat to pull off in a theme
park attraction 30 years ago, even by the high standards set by
WEDs Imagineers. The Imagineers are the engineering
and design team formed by Walt Disney to create the magic behind
his theme parks.
Disneys Haunted Mansion attraction owes its
enduring appeal to more than just special effects. Dave Collier,
a movie effects-industry professional working with Hunter/Gratzner,
has also spent nearly 20 years in the field of Halloween events.
Atmosphere is the key to any successful Haunted Attraction.
Disneys Haunted Mansion surpasses this expectation because
they meet every single key element to make the experience one
that will be remembered for years to come, explained Collier.
From tiny architectural animistic details almost imperceptible
in the shadows, to a remarkably versatile theme song that can
transform itself chameleon-like from a mournful funeral dirge
to an insane ballroom waltz, then to a jazzy graveyard jamboree
without losing the melody, the Disney attraction stops at nothing
to establish a perfectly kooky (and even occasionally spooky)
atmosphere.
The Concept
Walt Disney had planned to have a haunted attraction in his theme
parks from the beginning. The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland was
the first to open, and the original neat and trimmed plantation-style
façade was built in the Anaheim park in the early sixties,
where it sat, unoccupied, for six years. Many different concepts
were bandied about during that time for the attractions
innards, as the building sat alone, deserted but clean as a whistle.
While some designers questioned the tidy appearance for a manse
rumored to be haunted, Walt did not want the theme park sullied
with an uglified, ramshackle construction. (The Walt Disney World
version of the attraction neatly sidesteps this issue by utilizing
a powerful brick Mansion; neither tidy nor ramshackle, yet completely
foreboding.)
Many ideas for the original ride were considered
and discarded, including a colonial-style encounter with the headless
horseman, a museum of oddities and the supernatural, and a walk-through
attraction similar to a fun house. Generally, people working
on this were trying to do something with telling a story,
recalled late Disney legend Marc Davis, speaking at a 30th anniversary
celebration for the Haunted Mansion in 1999. But Walt Disney
did not want to tell a story, or to do it like any of the [other
park] attractions. So we tried different things.
Because of this, the Mansion evolved into a collection
of vignettes, without an emphasis on storytelling, and the result
is a delightfully dreary selection of set pieces. The simple official
story holding it all together: 999 happy haunts have come out
to socialize
but theres room for a thousand. Any volunteers?
This story was amplified a bit for the Phantom Manor
attraction, which was built for Disneyland Paris. Although the
ride layout and gags are very similar and in many cases identical,
two central characters were introduced to the attraction to develop
a situation of understated despair. Those characters are a young
brideand a skeletal phantom, both of whom appear repeatedly throughout
the attraction.
Of course, an attraction as popular and oft-visited
as Disneys Haunted Mansion almost always attracts intense
curiosity, and a wealth of rumors and supposed official
back-stories have evolved over the past 30 years. This includes
a few with some merit, and most with none. Apparently, there are
a few truths that may be gleaned from stories considered by the
WED designers. One of these goes something like this: There may
have been an evil sea captain (Capn Blood, by some accounts)
who met a self-inflicted doom, possibly after murdering his new
bride, who haunts the manse in the attic to this day. The gruesome
nature of this story seems to run counter to the quirky fun of
the attraction as it exists today, so we can assume that this
back-story did not play a large role in the final design of the
Mansion (though in an oddly black and un-Disney-like moment, while
patrons are in the room with the stretching portraits there is
reference to the hosts suicide, as lightning flashes illuminate
his body, hanging from a noose tied to the rafters above.)
Over the years, employees at the Walt Disney World
Haunted Mansion (called Cast Members by the Disney
Company) still went on to create an intricate, involved history
of every person, ghost, pictured character and inhabitant of the
Mansion. This unofficial history has recently enjoyed wide circulation
on the internet, so the myths continue to grow. To this day, certain
Cast Members at the Walt Disney World Mansion might even show
you the imprint in the ground that the young brides wedding
ring made when she was thrown out of the attic window by the Capn
in a murderous rage.
The
Attraction
Unlike the white plantation mansion of Disneylands
New Orleans Square, the imposing brick mansion of the Magic Kingdoms
Liberty Square invokes a formal colonial solitude. Although both
Mansions were planned as the Disneyland version neared completion,
the Orlando version (which opened in 1971, a few years after the
Anaheim premiere) differs from its counterpart most markedly in
the architecture. Along the rooftop of the Orlando mansion, observant
patrons may note that the spires take the forms of chess pieces.
In fact, if one were to take note of all the spires, all the chess
pieces would be accounted for, except for the knight.
The cold brick façade is a near-exact replica of the Harry
Packer Mansion in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, which currently plays
host to weekend murder mysteries, Victorian ballroom
dancing, and romantic getaways. This real-life mansion was visited
by Disneys WED Imagineers as they decided which type of
building would best suit the planned attraction in the Liberty
Square section of the Magic Kingdom. While Disneylands Haunted
Mansion is supposed to exist in the land of Dixie, the Walt Disney
World version is intended to invoke memories of colonial New England,
and the architecture and queue area reflects those impressions.
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