The Disney Attractions Discussion Series: Haunted Mansion

[Robin Hood]

The Haunted mansion is one of my favorite rides in the park.

[Loomis]

Aside from the changes in the inteterior of the rides, there's 3 different versions of the exterior of the house at different Disney parks . . .

I was just looking at the Disneyland Tokyo exterior (so is that 4 different types?) and I love the design of it:



Official Site:
http://www.tokyodisneyresort.co.jp/tdl/ ... unted.html

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

I go to Disneyland every year( ), but for some reason, I haven't been going to the original Haunted Mansion for the past 5 years. I mean the only time I went on it, it was during Christmas, which is obviously a completely different ride!

So since I just went to Disneyland earlier this July, I decided to go on the Haunted Mansion, I truely forgot what a great ride this is! In fact I now like it more than Pirates of the Caribbean!

The music is excellently dark and catchy and the theme is TERRIFIC with alot of nice little touches that are fun to catch and the special effects are also amazing!

Of course it's also fun to go on Christmas time and see what Jack has done, because it really is fun to go on holidays!

As for Walt Disney World, even though the outsides are completely different, (I also like WDW's outside better BTW) the inside is almost an exact clone! However I still like Disneyland's version better because there are some special effects that are done better at DL than WDW.

Best example of this is the famous elevator room, at DL, it actually is an elevator, however the one at WDW stays in one place and the top part stretches!

[Roger Rabbit]

The effects on this are really nice, and what really is neat is nothing it too highly technical (a lowering roof for one). The one time I remember so well is the time it actually broke down and the car I was in was stuck on an incline so I felt like I was in a really tilted recliner for probably ten minutes.

[Unregistered]

I didn't see any pictures of the attraction in Disney World and took the liberty to post some. Hope it's okay. They're from July 2006.

I simply loved this ride! Both because it was a nice break from the heavy rain outside, but also because it's obvious coolness The ride actually broke down in the middle of our trip, and we were stuck for a 5 - 10 minutes or so. It actually began being kinda scary for a second there. When everything just stops and you're sitting there, being able to study the wallpaper with the yes really closely, and hearing things.

[PrincePhillipFan]

I was going to start a new topic on this, but luckily I found and dregged it back up before Scaps could correct me on it.

Anyway, I think that the Haunted Mansion is probably one of the pinnacles that Disney has ever done in entertainment in general. As you can probably tell from my new siggy and avatar I'm a huge HM nut.

Even before I saw any of the feature films, Disney World was my first experience into anything Disney, and the Mansion and Pirates were two of my very first experiences and have stuck with me ever since. So many people just stare blankly and ask me "How can you be so nuts over a theme park ride?" I think the answer is simple is that it's just Disney at its best. Walt brought what he knew from experience storytelling in animation to the theme parks and it completely immerses you in its environment and its cast of characters such as the Ghost Host, Madame Leota, Ezra, Phineas, and Gus, and others. It's also the high point of so many great Disney artists turned Imagineers: Marc Davis's character designs, Claude Coats's moody atmosphere, Rolly Crump's bizarre architecture, X. Atencio's terrific script and Buddy Baker's music, Yale Gracey's illusions, Blaine Gibson's masterful sculpting. It's just pure Disney to me, and always will be favorite thing that Disney has ever done, even trumping Sleeping Beauty to me.

And just a random plug for myself, I've been working lately on some collages to showcase the art of the mansion from sketches I've scrounged up from various places over the years. Hope you enjoy them. I'm working on more, and if anyone would like to see, just let me know.

The first two showcase Marc Davis's character work for the attraction.

[kbehm29]

Sigh. So wonderfully said. Love the collages too. You just totally made me miss Disneyland.... WHY do I have to live so far away??? If Great America and Disneyland could switch places I'd be in heaven.

[PrincePhillipFan]

Sigh. So wonderfully said. Love the collages too. You just totally made me miss Disneyland.... WHY do I have to live so far away??? If Great America and Disneyland could switch places I'd be in heaven.

Sorry about that. I live far away from WDW myself, but I manage to frequent there a few times a year with my gf, and we have to do mansion at least three or four times or more in a day. And thank you so much for the compliment on the collages! I'm going to work on some more now at the moment.

Another thing I forgot to add to my list is that Mansion contains exceptional voice work from some of the greatest Disney voice actors and singers in the industy, such as Paul Frees, Eleanor Audley, and Thurl Ravenscroft. Also the voices behind the graveyard sings have had long careers with Disney and in Hollywood, and I often feel they don't get enough recognition as say Frees or Thurl. With the information and pictures I have, I could probably do a whole post here on just them but I don't know how many people would be interested to read it.

[jimdotbeep]

For such an old atraction The haunted Mansion has great special effects.
in 20008 they enhanced the atraction. The surrond sond in the gallery is the shiz-Knight !!! Master Gracey (a.k.a. The ghost host) voice actually comes from different parts of the room as he talks to you. They also added some new dispalys in the attic. I particually like the part where the ghost bride says stuff like "I do... and I did".

As cool as that stuff nothing beats The Haunted Mansion Holiday. The Nightmare Before Christmas is my favorite Disney movie.

[PrincePhillipFan]

As cool as that stuff nothing beats The Haunted Mansion Holiday. The Nightmare Before Christmas is my favorite Disney movie.

I guess I'm in the minority of mansion fans, but I've actually never liked Haunted Mansion Holiday that much at all. I enjoy Nightmare Before Christmas and think it deserves its own attraction, and I'm not opposed at all to the Mansion having a macabre holiday makeover, like the way Small World always gets a holiday makeover. But to me the characters and universes of both are drastically different and just really clash to me. I like Jack, but I don't think he belongs in the mansion. And I'm thankful that here in Florida I can ride the mansion in its true form during Christmas time.

Well, I finished up three more collages if anyone would like to take a gander. First one here is my third and final one for Marc Davis:


The next one is a collage from Ken Anderson's work. 12 years before the mansion opened, Walt called Ken from the studio to work on ideas for the Haunted Mansion after his work on Fantasyland. Ken devised it first as a walk thru, and then an idea for a ride thru, along with his ideas for a storyline. Captain Gore and Priscilla, Bloodmere Manor, and Headless Horseman are a few of those ideas. Even though none of his storylines were used in the ride, many of his initial ideas managed to find their way in the mansion: Changing portraits, staring busts, a grand ballroom scene, rising spirits, a hanging corpse from the rafters, and ghosts traveling with you in mirrors.


And last but not least is Rolly Crump's work. Rolly was working an idea called the Museum of the Weird, a post-show area that Walt had planned where guests could walk through at their own pace, looking at weird and occult objects collected from all the over. Even though the idea didn't survive from the mansion's transition from a walk-thru to a ride-thru attraction, many of Crump's bizarre human architecture can still be seen in the mansion today.

[dizfan]

I look forward to Haunted Mansion Holiday every year, it is one the most creative holiday overlays that Disney has done. I can always ride the original mansion the following January

[PrincePhillipFan]

So, to get the ball rolling again on discussion, what does everyone think of the new updated WDW Mansion? I personally love the new Escher-esque staircase scene, as well as the new portrait gallery. I had a few mixed feelings on Constance in the attic, but I've taken a liking to her character. What does everyone else think about the new changes?

[dizfan]

I am very glad they re-did the WDW mansion with the enchancements that DL got several years ago like Constance and the floating Leota. And then some more.

Comparing it to what was there before it is like night and day.

Now I am hoping that they go back to DL's and enhance the audio like they did for Florida. Subtle changes, but improvements nonetheless.

[Super Aurora]

So, to get the ball rolling again on discussion, what does everyone think of the new updated WDW Mansion? I personally love the new Escher-esque staircase scene, as well as the new portrait gallery. I had a few mixed feelings on Constance in the attic, but I've taken a liking to her character. What does everyone else think about the new changes?

What was the change with the portrait pictures galleries? Last time I went on the ride was in second grade (I'm 21 now) and I remember that section have the pics following their eyes at you (creep me out back then). I vaguely remember one portrait being a woman and her cat having their yes follow you (Hers being red and the cat's green) and I believe one guy with heavy bushy beard.

So what was change they did there now?

Also the WDW one is the only one I've been to but I'm told that other than the exterior, the interior ride design is ALSO different. Can anyone tell me or explain to me the differences?

[PrincePhillipFan]

What was the change with the portrait pictures galleries? Last time I went on the ride was in second grade (I'm 21 now) and I remember that section have the pics following their eyes at you (creep me out back then). I vaguely remember one portrait being a woman and her cat having their yes follow you (Hers being red and the cat's green) and I believe one guy with heavy bushy beard.

So what was change they did there now?

Also the WDW one is the only one I've been to but I'm told that other than the exterior, the interior ride design is ALSO different. Can anyone tell me or explain to me the differences?

The "Sinister 11" portrait gallery as it was dubbed has now been replaced by the changing portrait gallery. In DL's version of the ride, right after the stretch rooms, is a portrait corridor you walk on the way to your doombuggies. As you walk by, one side of the hall are windows with a lightning storm outside. On the right side are portraits. With each lightning flash, the pictures change (a woman becomes a white tiger, a knight and his horse become skeletons, the Flying Dutchman becomes a ghost ship, and a Grecian maiden becomes a stone Medusa). For the new WDW refurb, the removed the old Sinister 11 staring portraits, and placed copies of the DL changing portraits in their place, complete with the stormy windows. However, unlike at DL, at WDW you now ride by them in your Doom Buggies.

And even though the Sinister 11 portraits are removed from their former gallery, you can find them all around the mansion now in different places. In the Doombuggy loading hallway, on the left wall as you exit the stretch room, you can see the Evil Villager, Jack The Ripper, and Mariner portraits. On the right wall behind the Doom Buggies, are the Hatchet Man, Witch of Walpurgis, Dracula, and Bearded Man portraits. In the first scene in your Doombuggy at WDW, the stairwell, you can see the Eldery Couple and the Widow December portraits there along the stairs. And last but not least, the Opera Glasses Woman (the one you described who is holding a pair of glasses and a cat) can be seen on the wall after you leave the ballroom and head into the attic. The only one of the Sinister 11 that's no longer there is Medusa, which I can see why since she now has her own changing portrait instead.

Here's also the breakdown of the different scenes in each ride version.

DL - Foyer, Stretching Gallery, Portrait Corridor, Loading Area/Limbo, Endless Hallway, Conservatory, Corridor Of Doors, Clock Hall, Seance Circle, Grand Ballroom, Attic, Graveyard, Hitchhikers Crypt, Unloading Area/Crypt, Little Leota

WDW - Foyer, Stretching Gallery, Loading Area/Entrance Hallway, Stairwell, Sinister 11 Gallery (Now Changing Portrait Gallery), Library, Music Parlor, Grand Staircases, Endless Hallway, Conservatory, Corridor Of Doors, Clock Hall, Seance Circle, Grand Ballroom, Attic, Graveyard, Hitchhikers Crypt, Little Leota's Crypt, Unloading Area/ Crypt

These are a breakdown of some of the differences. The WDW Foyer is paneled in dark wood with a fireplace and a portrait of Master Gracey, showing him age from a young man to a skeleton. DL's Foyer is a bit lighter, and has no portrait. DL's Portrait Corridor as I said before, you walk on by foot, past the portraits and windows. Also at the end are the staring busts. WDW, after the stretch room, you just go right to the Doombuggies. DL's loading area is more of a black void-like room, with cobwebs everywhere and large chandeliers and sconces. WDW's loading is more like a grand parlor/hallway with large dark paneling, 7 of the Sinister 11 portraits now there, and cobwebbed urns everywhere. At DL, once you board your doombuggy, you go straight up a staircase and to the endless hallway scene. At WDW though, the first scene you go through is a stairwell, where a candelabra floats by itself at the landing of the top of the stairs. You then pass through the now changing portrait hallway, and into the library. The library are where the staring busts are (WDW has 8 busts to DL's 2), along with effects of a swaying ladder, books shuffling themselves, and a chair rocking by itself. You then go into the music parlor where a piano plays on its own, and the moonlight shines through the window and reveals the shadow of the invisible pianist on the floor. You then go up into the Grand Staircases, a room full of staircases that go up and down and upside down, with ectoplasmic footprints running up and down them and disappearing. (Before the refurb, in this area it used to be just black like DL's loading area, with huge cheesy spiders in their webs). At the top of the staircase landing is then an effect with eyes blinking in the darkness, before they slowly fade into the corridor wallpaper. After that, you then go to the endless hallway scene and its practically identical to DL's ride from there. The only difference is at the end. At DL, after you pass by the hitchhikers in the mirror, you go sraight to unloading from your doombuggy. You exit up a moving walkway and see Little Leota at the end of the ride as you walk on your way out. At WDW however, after going past the hitchhiker mirrors, you go through a small crypt and Little Leota is standing above you. After seeing her, then you exit your doombuggy in the unloading area.

Whew, I hope that covered everything you wanted to know.

[Super Aurora]

WOW!! Thanks a lot. That really helped. Now Quick question on the Sinister 11: Since now they been located different places, do their eyes still move/stare at you or is it just a regular picture now?

I ask cause from what I remembered back then at that gallery section, when you see them up on the wall, they are close to you and a bit above you giving you decent outlook on the pictures. I don't think the walls in the loading area or in before the attic are they close to you.

Also from reading the information, It seems the WDW version is the better version than DL one as it has more stuff and experiences to see. Yet I always hear that many prefer the DL one. Know why? What's your preferred version?

Last, I also heard but not much that the Phantom Manor is a completely different ride or that it has different stuff in there.

Also I'd like to add that I was able to find a fan painting of the Opera glasses woman which I love a lot now.(although I cannot find any of the other Sinister 11 portraits images on the net. So hard to find. I'd like to see and recollect my memory what they looked like.)

[Flanger-Hanger]

Their eyes do not follow you now (my one complaint with the update).

The walls in the load area are not as close but could still work if they wanted to bring back the effect.

Phantom Manor is majorly different from the other HM attractions. Some searching on the web should explain all the details to you.

[PrincePhillipFan]

Here are some pictures of the Sinister 11. Hope they jog your memory























As for the mansions, I've been to both DL and WDW's and I think both are great in their own uniqueness. However, for my personal opinion, my favorite is WDW's and I think theirs now is the superior version. WDW has the benefit of having added scenes such as the library, music room, and grand staircases, and also the Sinister 11 portraits around the mansion. Plus, after the refurb, WDW has a lot of enhancements that DL doesnt have: new grating and surround sound effects to the Ghost Host's dialogue in the stretch room, new sound effects as well in the stretch room, the new grand staircase scene, the blinking eyes into the wallpaper, surround sound in the corridor of doors, and newly cleaned music tracks all around. WDW also got improved enhancements of new effects that DL already had (such as the floating Leota, and Constance in the attic), and just all around great new maintenance upkeep to the mansion that DL still doesn't have yet.

[Super Aurora]

OH WOW! Thanks! Man a lot of them did made me remember who thy are now.

My comment on the Portraits:

The opera lady - i think is best and favorite

The Guy with hatchet- remember him but i could of sworn he wasn't one of the Sinister 11. Wasn't he suppose to be the ghost host having the noose and all?

Dracula- remember the pose now but the face look slightly different from what i remember. One you showed me look but young and part pete pan and part werewolf. Come to think of it, wasn't he suppose to be one of the changing portraits that DL had where he actually turns into a werewolf?

Medusa- i remember now with her! But wait, wasn't she also a changing portrait from DL? Did it look like that one from the Sinister 11?

The evil Villager- Yea he another that i really remember now. Cool Picture.

The Couple- This one doesn't seems to spark my memory. Although the guy's face look familiar....lol kinda look like Lou Amano who played Mario in the TV show. Yea not sparking my mind here..

Old Lady ghost thing....- have no clue about her. Never remember this one at all.

Jack the Ripper- Holy shit, Now i remember this dude! One of the most scariest one that scared me. Still creepy even looking at him now.

The Bearded Dude- Yea the opera lady and this dude were the ones i remember the most. He was another creepy portrait that gave me chills.

The witch- saw her image at another site so i now know she's one and i vaguely remember her but not qute. Now here the thing that surprises me. At the other site, Her mage is bit different n the face department here's the pic

the one you showed- green eyes cat; two skulls with dagger into them; some bats.
the one i showed- yellow eyes cat; some weird monster; some bone hand as candles; witch's cloths are different color.

So which s real one? Personally like the one i showed. interesting enough about this one is that the background has a lot of symbols associated with it

Mariner- i don't remember him that much but i can say that i LOVE this picture a lot! He look so cool and badass.

Thanks for showing these for me! Mac Davis one who did all these right? Damn are they cool! it's funny cause looking at these and comparing them to his earlier work of Aurora and Alice, DAMN are they opposites! Although i do see a bit of Malificant in some of these drawings.

[PrincePhillipFan]

The opera glasses woman I'd say is my favorite one of the 11 too and I think also the creepiest. There's a very Picasso feeling I get from it.

Anyway, all of the final portraits in the ride are the work of Ed Kohn or Clem Hall, two Disney Imagineers and artists, but they were taken from Marc's original ideas and concept sketches. Here are the original Marc Davis sketches.


I've heard the thing too that this is the portrait of the Ghost Host, but I personally don't really buy it as official. Marc Davis labeled this portrait as "idea for visualization of Ghost Host." So it just one of a few concepts he did for what the Ghost Host might look like. I personally choose to believe Jason Surrell in his HM book that the "Master Gracey" changing portrait in the Foyer is the master of the house and the Ghost Host.

I don't have one of the Dracula portrait, but he did turn into a wolf like creature like you said.

The Medusa staring portrait was taken from the Medusa changing portrait, except the WDW Medusa portrait had a greenish tint to her. GrimGhosts had a good picture of WDW's version, but since they closed I haven't been able to find it, so I posted the after picture of DL's changing portrait. And here's the Marc Davis concepter


Here's Davis's concept for the opera glasses woman. She originally was actually planned as a random ghost figure in the attic, but found her way back in as one of the Sinister 11 portraits.


Like the vampire, the villager portrait again comes from an unused werewolf changing portrait concept by Davis.


The elderly couple again comes from yet another unused changing portrait concept.


Widow December comes from another after stage of a DL changing portrait, notably Miss April. Miss April was in DL's changing portrait corridor from the ride opening until 2003, when she was removed because the new changing portrait effect at DL wouldn't work for her portrait, so she was retired and replaced by a copy of Master Gracey's portrait from WDW. So now the only trace of Miss April in the mansions is her Widow December portrait in WDW's stairwell scene, and at Tokyo in the Sinister 11 Gallery. Here's the DL changing portrait:


You can also see that Marc Davis's concept for the Miss April/December was a lot more elaborate too, showing the June and September stages.


Jack The Ripper comes from yet another unused Davis changing portrait concept. This one is the after stage of the planned portrait, which would depict a human foot sticking out of Jack's coat pocket.


The Bearded Man comes from a before stage from another unused Davis changing portrait concept. This one was to depict Rasputin, but eventually they reused it as a Sinister 11 portrait and changed it from Rasputin to a generic creepy looking bearded guy.


The Witch of Walpurgis was (surprise! surprise!) another unused Davis changing portrait concept. In this one, the Witch was to change into a satanic goat creature.

And here's a close up of the original Davis concept for the before stage of her.


And last but not least, the Mariner portrait has its origins as a concept for a sea captain ghost Davis dreamed up that never made it as a figure in the ride, but did as a portrait.