| The Haunted Mansion | |||
| Disneyland | |||
| Land | New Orleans Square | ||
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| Designer | WED Enterprises | ||
| Theme | Haunted house | ||
| Opening date | August 9, 1969 | ||
| Hosted by | Paul Frees as the Ghost Host | ||
| Music | Buddy Baker | ||
| Vehicle names | Doom buggies | ||
| Vehicle capacity | 2 or 3 | ||
| Maximum speed | 3 mph (4.8 km/h) | ||
| Number of lifts | 1 | ||
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| The Haunted Mansion | |
| Magic Kingdom | |
| Land | Liberty Square |
|---|---|
| Designer | WED Enterprises |
| Theme | Haunted house |
| Opening date | October 1, 1971 |
| Hosted by | Paul Frees as the Ghost Host |
| Music | Buddy Baker |
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| The Haunted Mansion | |
| Tokyo Disneyland | |
| Land | Fantasyland |
|---|---|
| Designer | WED Enterprises |
| Theme | Haunted house |
| Opening date | April 15, 1983 |
| Hosted by | Teichiro Hori as the Ghost Host |
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The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride located at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland. A significantly re-imagined incarnation of the ride, known as Phantom Manor, is located in Disneyland Paris. Each incarnation of the attraction features a ride-through tour of a haunted house in Omnimover vehicles called Doom Buggies, preceded by a walk-through show in the queue. The attraction showcases a number of age-old tricks, advanced special effects, and spectral Audio-Animatronics.
Entering the queuing area through a pair of ornate gates, guests find themselves in the mansion's well-tended gardens and courtyards. The queuing path leads guests past a mausoleum featuring humorous epitaphs, and a white carriage hearse, led by an invisible horse, out of which sounds can be heard. The path leads guests onto the porch, where they are led into the mansion's foyer by somber maids and butlers.
The guests are ushered into an octagonal portrait gallery and encouraged by the staff to move into the "dead center" of the room. As the wall behind them slides closed, the Ghost Host (voiced by Paul Frees) introduces himself with an eerie voice:
“Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion. I am your host – your ‘ghost host.’
…and taunts them:
“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…?”
As the voice speaks, the guest's eye is drawn up to four portraits on every other wall of the octagonal room. The floor quietly sinks downwards, elongating the paintings and revealing the morbidly comedic fates of previous guests:
“...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...”
The lights go out, lightning and thunder effects fill the gallery and, in a rare instance of Disney dark humor, a glimpse of the earthly remains of the Ghost Host is shown hanging from a noose high above in the cupola. A dreadful scream is followed by the sound of bones shattering. The ghost host apologizes for the pre-mature haunt, then a wall mysteriously opens, leading the guests further into the mansion.
Guests are then led down the hall of portraits with thunder crashing from outside the windows to the left while the portraits of several people on the right wall mysteriously transform from the image of them in their original states into corpses and monsters. At the far end of the hall, two statuary busts depicting a man and a woman are stationed. As the guests move past, these two statues appear to turn and follow them with their gaze.
Next, guests step into a dark and misty loading area, where they are guided to their carriages, or "Doom Buggies". The ghost host lowers the safety bars, provides the safety speil, and the journey begins. The Doom Buggies glide upstairs to the second floor and point guests toward an endless hallway. A lone candelabrum floats down the hallway, while a nearby suit of armor comes to life.
Turning away from the endless hall, guests travel past a deserted funeral in the conservatory. A large raven perches next to a coffin adorned with dead plants, with the corpse inside trying to break free.
The ghosts become more restless and try to escape from their hiding places, which results in a corridor full of shaking, knocking, moving, and breathing doors. Demon-faced wallpaper adorns the walls as well as black-and-white photos of goblins and ghouls. A demonic grandfather clock chimes 13 as the hands spin wildly backwards, the shadow of a claw passing over it.
Guests enter a dark séance room full of floating musical instruments. Madame Leota, a medium whose disembodied head appears within a crystal ball, summons the mansion's spirits while levitating above her table. Madame Leota says the following:
"Serpents and spiders, tail of a rat/Call in the spirits, wherever they're at./Rap on a table, it's time to respond/Send us a message from somewhere beyond./Goblins and ghoulies from last Halloween/Awaken the spirits with your tambourine./Creepies and crawlies, toads in a pond/Let there be music from regions beyond./Wizards and witches wherever you dwell/Give us a hint by ringing a bell."[1]
Next, guests pass onto the balcony of a magnificent ballroom where the happy haunts begin to materialize. A ghostly birthday party appears to be taking place at the dining table (a dinner plate and two saucers on the left side of the table combine to make a "Hidden Mickey"). Some spirits sit on the chandeliers, gorging themselves on wine, while other ghosts enter the hall from an open coffin in a hearse. A ghost wraps his arm around a woman bust, and two portraits of men with guns come to life, dueling with their pistols. A ghost plays an organ (Captain Nemo's original organ from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), while spirits float up out of the pipes and transparent couples waltz nearby.[2]
The attic is an irregularly shaped room that the Doom Buggies enter immediately after the ballroom scene. It features a collection of gifts, personal items, mementos, and wedding portraits. In each portrait, a common bride is featured with a different groom, whose heads disappear to the accompaniment of a hatchet sound. Eagle-eyed guests may notice that with each successive photograph, the bride gains another string of pearls. Just before the Doom Buggies leave the attic, the same ghostly bride from the pictures is seen floating in the air, intoning twisted wedding vows. As she raises her arms, a hatchet appears in her hands.
The Doom Buggies drift out a window, turn around, and tip backwards down a fifteen percent grade surrounded by dark, ghoulish trees with knotted expressions. On a branch overhead, a raven caws at the guests.
The Doom Buggies reach the ground, and turn towards the gate of the graveyard. There stands a caretaker, one of the few living characters in the entire attraction, his knees shaking in fright and an expression of terror on his face. Beside him is his emaciated dog, whining and whimpering. Around the corner, a ghostly band of minstrels plays a jazzy rendition of "Grim Grinning Ghosts".
Ghouls pop up from behind tombstones, a king and queen balance on a teeter-totter, a young princess swings back and forth from a tree branch, and a hellhound howls from behind them. The Doom Buggies travel down a hill and turn to see five singing busts continuing the song of "Grim Grinning Ghosts".
Next, guests encounter a tea party of ghosts surrounding a hearse stuck in the mud. An arm protrudes out of a crypt with a wine glass in its bony hand, while banshees ride bikes in the distance. Nearby, the ghost of an old bearded man struggles to understand the words of an awakened mummy via hearing horn.
The Doom Buggies turn to face two phantoms of the opera, blasting their voices up into the night. Beside them are three other ghosts — a decapitated knight, his executioner, and a prisoner — who also join in the song.
Guests pass a spook bricking himself into his own tomb and enter a crypt where they encounter the attraction's unofficial mascots, the three hitchhiking ghosts. Passing by three large mirrors, guests discover that one of the trio has hitched a ride in their Doom Buggy.
The last apparition guests see as they exit the mansion is a tiny spectral figure—the Ghost Hostess—who encourages them to:
“Hurry back... be sure to bring your death certificate, if you decide to join us. Make final arrangements now. We've been ‘dying’ to have you…”
The attraction's roots date back to even before Disneyland was built, when Walt Disney had just hired the first of his Imagineers. The first known illustration of the park showed a main street setting, green fields, western village, and a carnival. Disney Legend Harper Goff developed a black-and-white sketch of a crooked street leading away from main street by a peaceful church and graveyard, with a run-down manor perched high on a hill that towered over main street.
While not part of the original attractions when Disneyland opened in 1955, Disney assigned Imagineer Ken Anderson to make a story around the Harper Goff idea and the design of his new 'grim grinning' adventure. Plans were made to build a New Orleans-themed land in the small transition area between Frontierland and Adventureland. Weeks later, New Orleans Square appeared on the souvenir map and promised a thieves' market, a pirate wax museum, and a haunted house walk-through. After being assigned his project, Anderson studied New Orleans and old plantations to come up with a drawing of an antebellum manor overgrown with weeds, dead trees, swarms of bats, and boarded doors and windows topped by a screeching cat as a weathervane.
Despite praise from other Imagineers, Disney did not like the idea of a run-down building in his pristine park, hence his well-known saying, "We'll take care of the outside and let the ghosts take care of the inside." Despite this, Disney journeyed out to the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California and became deeply captivated with the massive mansion with its stairs to nowhere, doors that open to walls and holes, and elevators. Anderson came up with stories for the mansion, including tales of a ghostly sea captain who killed his nosy bride and then hanged himself, a mansion home to an unfortunate family, and a ghostly wedding party with previous Disney villains and spooks like Captain Hook, Lonesome Ghosts, and the headless horseman. Some of the Universal Monsters were even planned to appear.
Rolly Crump and Yale Gracey, two Imagineers put in charge of the spectral effects, recreated many of Ken Anderson's stories. Disney gave them a large studio at WED enterprises; they studied reports of hauntings and Greek myths and monster movies, eventually making quite a show in their private studio. Some of these effects frightened the cleaning crews that came in at night to such an extent that the management eventually asked the crew to leave on the lights and to turn off the effects after hours. Defying this, Crump and Gracey connected all the effects to a motion-sensitive switch that, when passed, would turn everything on. The next day when the two returned to work, all the effects were running with a broom in the middle of the floor. Management told them that they would have to clean the studio themselves, because the cleaning crew was never coming back.
The duo made a scene where a ghostly sea captain appeared from nowhere. Suddenly a wretched bride emerged from a brick wall and chased the ghost around in circles. The frightened pirate melted into a puddle and flooded the entire scene only for the water to mysteriously vanish with the bride. "A ghost haunted by a ghost!" Rolly told Walt between chuckles. Walt and the Imagineers were amazed, but Walt still didn't like how the project was coming out. That put the mansion on hold for quite some time.
The decision was made to place the attraction in the New Orleans Square section of the park, and thus the building was themed as a haunted antebellum mansion. In 1961, handbills announcing a 1963 opening of the Haunted Mansion were given out at Disneyland's main entrance.[3] Construction began a year later, and the exterior was completed in 1963. The attraction was previewed in a 1965 episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color,[3] but the attraction itself would not open until 1969. The six-year delay owed heavily to Disney's involvement in the New York World's Fair in 1964–1965 and to an attraction redesign after Walt's death in 1966.
Many Imagineers such as Marc Davis, X Atencio, and Claude Coats contributed ideas after the fair and after Ken Anderson left the project. Rolly Crump showed Walt some designs for his version showing bizarre things like coffin clocks, candle men, talking chairs, man-eating plants, tiki-like busts, living gypsy wagons, and a faced mirror. Walt liked this and wanted to make the proclaimed "Museum of the Weird" a restaurant side to the now named Haunted Mansion, similar to the Blue Bayou at Pirates of the Caribbean. Although the idea was never realized, some aspects of it lived on in the final attraction.
Marc Davis and Claude Coats, two of the mansion's main designers, were in a constant argument over whether the ride should be scary or funny. Claude, who had a life of a background artist, made moody surroundings like endless hallways, corridors of doors, and characterless environments, and wanted to make a scary adventure. Marc, who designed most of the characters and zany spooks, thought that the ride should be silly and full of gags. In the end both got their way when X Atencio put all the scenes together.
After Disney's death in December 1966, the project evolved significantly. The Museum of the Weird restaurant idea was abandoned, and the walkthrough idea was replaced by the Omnimover system used in Adventure Thru Inner Space, renamed the Doom Buggy, a promising solution to the problem of capacity. Imagineers had been fighting the low-capacity nature of a walkthrough attraction for years, even going so far as suggesting building two identical attractions to get double the number of guests through.
On August 12, 1969, the Disneyland version of the attraction was officially opened to guests, though there were employee previews on August 7 and 8, 1969, and then some "soft" openings when park guests were allowed to ride on August 9, 10, and possibly the 11th. The early opening to the public was advertised in full-page newspaper ads, creating the anomaly of either two official openings or an advertised "soft" opening. A special "Midnight" Press Event was held on the evening of August 11, and the ride opened to the public on Tuesday, August 12, 1969. The opening brought in record crowds and helped Disney recover from Walt's untimely death. In the early 1970s, the Imagineers gave some semi-serious thought to resurrecting many of the creatures and effects that Rolly Crump had originally created for the Haunted Mansion's pre-show as part of Professor Marvel's Gallery, which was "... a tent show of mysteries and delights, a carousel of magic and wonder". This was to be built as part of Disneyland's Discovery Bay expansion area.
At the time of its release, the original Haunted Mansion was considered somewhat of a disappointment. Many of the Imagineers were upset with how the attraction turned out, one being Ken Andersen who was responsible for many of the mansion's early concepts and storylines. Another was Marc Davis who claimed that "too many cooks" were making the soup. Park guests were a bit disappointed as well after going through years of anticipation and hype. Pirates of the Caribbean had set a new level for following attractions and the Haunted Mansion met that level. Many wondered why the attraction wasn't scarier. Today the attraction is one of the most popular in the park, continuing to reel in thousands of guests every day. A humongous fan base has evolved. Die-hard mansion fans continue to support and research the attraction to this day.
In 1999, a retrospective of the art of the Haunted Mansion was featured at The Disney Gallery above the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean. When the 2003 film The Haunted Mansion was released, a retrospective of its art was featured in the gallery as well.
In October 2001, Haunted Mansion Holiday premiered, a seasonal overlay featuring characters from the 1993 film Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. The seasonal overlay was inspired by the question of what would happen to the Haunted Mansion if Santa Claus landed there.
In October 2005, Slave Labor Graphics began publishing a bimonthly Haunted Mansion comic book anthology, with the main recurring story (Mystery of the Manse) centered around "Master Gracey" and inspired by the sea captain concepts proposed for the attraction by Ken Anderson in the 1950s. The comics are non-canon.
In July 2010, Guillermo del Toro announced that he is set to write and produce a new movie based on the attraction, promising that it will be both scary and fun.
The attraction opened at the Magic Kingdom in 1971, Tokyo Disneyland in 1983, and at Disneyland Paris as Phantom Manor in 1992.
The Haunted Mansion was an opening-day attraction at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, opening in 1971. This attraction was developed at the same time as the Disneyland version, resulting in a very similar experience to the Disneyland version, though the slightly larger show building allowed the addition of several new scenes. The attraction was placed in Liberty Square, a small land that was a tribute to colonial America, as the Magic Kingdom did not have a New Orleans Square. Thus, the Mansion was given a Dutch Gothic Revival style based on older northeastern mansions, particularly those in older areas of Pennsylvania and in the Hudson River Valley region of New York. The mansion is surrounded by large oak trees adorned with Spanish moss, red maples, and pines, all of which are native to Florida.
At Tokyo Disneyland the Mansion was placed in Fantasyland and was a near-complete clone of the Magic Kingdom version. The only exterior differences from the Magic Kingdom are two bronze griffin statues guarding the main gates, as well as the left bottom and top windows being both smashed open, and the top having some velvet curtains hanging out. The narration is in Japanese.
At Disneyland Paris the attraction goes by the name Phantom Manor. Its architectural style is Second Empire (the same style as the Bates mansion in the 1960 film Psycho), based on the look of the Fourth Ward School House in Virginia City, Nevada. The attraction uses a Western plot to fit in with the Thunder Mesa and Frontierland backdrop.
At Hong Kong Disneyland the attraction will goes by the name Mystic Manor. The attraction will feature a "trackless" ride system, though what kind has not been specified. Whose vehicles move freely throughout the attraction through the use of a local positioning system and will feature a musical score by Danny Elfman. Continuing the Society of Explorers and Adventurers theme of Tokyo DisneySea, the attraction tells the story of Lord Henry Mystic and his monkey Albert. Having recently acquired an enchanted music box, Albert opens the box and brings everything inside the house to life.
When the Haunted Mansion was transplanted to other Disney parks, space management was much less of a problem. For example, in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, the entire show building is located within the park boundaries.[4] Luckily, the placement of the show building has no bearing on the quality of the experience. Most guests give little thought to whether they are actually inside the mansion they saw while in line.
The following are elements that are unique to each particular attraction.
In June 2010, Leota's floating technique was presumably replaced with a clearer and digital internal projection (just like the current projection of her at the WDW Haunted Mansion).
At Walt Disney World Resort, the Haunted Mansion closed for refurbishment on June 8, 2007 and reopened September 13, 2007.
Changes to this version of the attraction during the refurbishment included the addition of a new audio system for the Ghost Host that makes it seem as if the spirit is circling above visitors' heads, new red, blue, and gold wallpaper (related to the paper at Disneyland but instead of green, it has blue), different and enhanced lighting throughout the attraction, and new stretching sound effects for the stretching room. The gargoyles in the stretching room now whisper with messages of "Stay Together", and emit child like giggles after the stretching room sequence. An exclusive Escher-esque staircase scene has replaced the empty dark banister area covered in cobwebs and the giant orange spiders. After the staircase scene, there are all new ghoulish eyes that glow while monstrous sounds echo through the halls. The foyer music has been changed to a lower key as well as taken out of the corridor hallways. The original attic sequence is now replaced with the new Disneyland attic scene including the five changing husband portraits and featuring the new Constance. The other major Disneyland enhancements were also implemented at Walt Disney World including the floating version of Madame Leota with a much clearer projection, and The Sinister 11 (the portraits with the following eyes) were replaced with the changing portraits from Disneyland's portrait gallery. Seven of the Sinister 11 are now located in the loading area of the ride (These include Jack the Ripper, Arsonist, Mariner, Vampire, Witch of Walpurgis, and the Ghost Host) while the other four are located in various parts of the mansion. The graveyard ghosts minus the deaf old man, the singing busts, and the mummy audio tracks now seem to come from the singer when near them. The once blue/purple ghosts are now green as well. A sharp-eyed guest will also notice that the Hitchhiking Ghosts now have empty sockets for eyes. The Doom Buggies have been fixed to a much more quiet sound than the high squeaking sound before the refurbishment.
In early October 2010, construction walls went up in the queue area of the Haunted Mansion, blocking the view of the small graveyard just outside the entrance. A new effect has also been added to the ride: a hand points to the left on the back of the Doom Buggies as guests exit.
In March 2011, the remodeled queue area was revealed, with new tombstones honoring Imagineers; a "murder mystery" for guests to solve involving the sinister Dread family; the Composer's tomb, which features musical instruments that play "Grim Grinning Ghosts" when touched; the Mariner's brine-filled sepulcher, whose ghost sings and sneezes from within; a crypt for the poetess Prudence Pock, which features a cryptic message written on the sides of the tomb on moving, haunted books, and Prudence's ghost writing invisibly in her poem book.
On April 6, 2011, changes to the "Hitchhiking Ghost" section of the ride were completed and debuted to park guests. The original audio-animatronics have been replaced with updated, more fluidly-moving versions. The mirror effects have also been extensively updated, using computer technology that simulates the ghosts physically interacting with riders. All three Hitchhiking Ghosts can now be heard for the first time, voiced by Disney voice-over artist and recording vocalist Kurt von Schmittou.
Since 2001, the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland is transformed into Haunted Mansion Holiday during Christmas, based on Disney's Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. The Haunted Mansion is closed in September for a few weeks as they revamp the attraction, replacing many of the props and Audio-Animatronics with characters and themes from the movie.
Leota Toomb's daughter Kim Irvine, now working at WED, created a rarely seen pet cemetery, once clearly visible to those entering the foyer through the side door reserved for handicapped guests and their parties. Since a wheelchair ramp was added to the front of the mansion, guests rarely see this area. This pet cemetery was popular with the few who saw it, so WDI created a larger one in the normal queue around the time the new ramp was installed. Kim Irvine, bearing a heavy physical resemblance to her mother, also played Madame Leota for The Haunted Mansion Holiday.
The original Disneyland Haunted Mansion required clever space management in a theme park that has always contended with a lack of space. When the New Orleans Square area was added in the early 1960s, there was no more room in that quarter of the park for large attractions. The Imagineers therefore placed the bulk of the two major attractions — Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion — outside the park's earthen berm. The famed "stretching rooms" were implemented simply so guests could be moved underground and outside of the park without them knowing. Most guests do not realize that the portrait hall is actually an underground passage leading under the berm behind the mansion facade. As they enter the loading area, they pass beneath the Disneyland Railroad's tracks and into a vast, approximately 37,000 square feet (3,400 m2), soundstage-like show building located outside the park boundaries. Painted dull green like most Disneyland show buildings, this 35-foot (11 m)-tall facility is roughly rectangular, with a front section that is covered by the berm and through which the train tunnel passes. Guests may catch a very brief glimpse of the building while riding the tram from the Mickey and Friends parking structure, or by boarding the Disneyland Railroad at the New Orleans Square station and facing backwards in the train. However, the show building has no visible above-ground connection to the themed façade within the park.
The show building extends an additional 10 feet (3.0 m) below the backstage ground level, though much of the attraction takes place around ground level. The layout of the track is convoluted, but it's essentially a clockwise loop that runs through the outer areas of the building. Smaller scenes such as the conservatory and parts of the attic lay outside the loop formed by the track, but most of the major scenes take place on the inside of this loop. This leads to some interesting spatial relationships between them. For example, the organ in the ballroom is back-to-back with a number of crypts in the graveyard, and the back of the loading area shares a wall with the endless corridor.
The show building houses a number of backstage areas unseen by guests. One of the easiest ways for cast members to enter these parts of the attraction is by entering a small, shed-like protrusion behind the façade. Inside this shed is the entrance to a cast member break-room and a staircase that leads down below the berm, making a left turn into the attraction's control tower. This small room (about the size of the conservatory) is hidden between the unloading and loading areas, seen only by handicapped guests who must ride all the way through to the loading area. Another way into the show building from within the park is through a door in one of the queue's crypts. This leads down several staircases into the portrait hall.
Near the tower, a pair of stairways leads beneath the Doom Buggy track and into a passageway that travels between the loading area and the graveyard, below the endless hallway, and behind the ballroom. On the other side of the ballroom, several large maintenance and equipment rooms can be found.
The show scenes themselves are only convincing when viewed from the path of the ride; exploring these areas quickly reveals the fact that they are built much like movie sets in a sound stage. For instance, the wood that the ballroom walls are built of is easily seen from backstage. The back of tombstones also shows plastic, spray paint, etc.
The top 8 feet (2.4 m) or so of the building are separated from the larger area below containing the ride. Numerous air conditioning ducts pass through this attic of sorts, which can be accessed via a caged ladder on the north side of the building. The tops of the large, squarish indentations in the sides of the building mark the floor level of this attic space.
It is worth noting that at Disneyland, the Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain show buildings are very close to each other. When the Doom Buggies face the back of the graveyard, adjacent to the ghostly band, guests are looking at the building's northwest corner. Just a few yards beyond the back wall is a similar but smaller building housing Splash Mountain. Guests evacuated from Splash Mountain during a breakdown will verify that the Haunted Mansion show building is virtually indistinguishable from the Splash Mountain building, and that the two have only a few yards of pavement between them.[5]
Because of the Magic Kingdom's different layout, the Haunted Mansion show building is instead located next to the one that houses "It's a Small World". This version of the ride takes place within a similar building, though this one is larger and entirely enclosed by other areas of the park. This attraction differs from the original in that the ride takes place at the same level as the mansion itself. In addition, no berm separates the façade from the show building; the back of the mansion has a visible, above-ground connection to the main warehouse. To avoid exposing backstage to the guests, WDI uses trees and other rides to hide the building from view.
The bust effect, patented by Disney,[6] was achieved by creating inverted busts: they actually recede into the wall. A combination of dim lighting and optical illusion makes the busts appear to stare at the passing guests. (A similar effect is used in the Hollywood Backlot section of Disney California Adventure Park.)
The endless hallway has a mirror placed at the end of it that fools the guests into thinking they can see twice as far down it as they actually can. The mirror has a scrim over it which serves two purposes: first, to make the corridor appear to stretch away into the mist, and second, to deaden the reflection of the candelabra - the back of which is painted black - in the mirror.
The Leota effect is accomplished through digital projection of an actress (Leota Toombs)'s face onto a head sculpture with features of the actress. At Tokyo, the movement of the cable-suspended sphere is synced to the projection via computer-control (what Anaheim had originated), while in Florida the projector is located inside the Crystal Ball. In Tokyo, when the projection is not correctly synchronized with the movement of the bust, Leota's crystal ball rests in a cradle on the table.
The other floating objects in the room are held up by fishing lines.
Constance Hatchaway, the singing busts in the graveyard, and the Ghost Hostess are also created using the same projection technique as Madame Leota's.
The ghosts in the ballroom are commonly believed to be holograms. However, all the ghosts in the ballroom scene are created using a clever variation of Pepper's Ghost, an illusion invented in the mid-19th century. The version of the illusion in the Haunted Mansion works like this: a row of columns in front of the mezzanine are supporting gigantic panes of glass, which are nearly invisible to the guests. The "ghosts" are merely the reflections in the glass of audio-animatronic figures, located in rooms above and below the mezzanine, where the walls are painted entirely black. The audio-animatronics for the ghosts that appear on or near the floor are located below the mezzanine, while the audio-animatronics of the ghosts which appear near the ceiling are located above the mezzanine. None of the reflections are at the guests' eye level, since that would require the audio-animatronics to be located in a place visible to guests.
This scene was designed for the most part by Marc Davis, who designed all the humanoid spooks and portraits. It is the largest example of the Pepper's Ghost effect in the world.
Disney used other techniques to make the graveyard ghosts appear to be ethereal. They are made of mostly translucent or transparent materials, which glow in the ultraviolet light that is used to light their scenes. They are made to appear blurry and indistinct through the use of scrims mounted between the guests and the ghosts.
The mirrors in which guests see the hitchhiking ghosts are actually two-way mirrors. The ghosts are audio-animatronics in a room behind the mirrors. They move along in sync with the Doom Buggies, and weak lights shining on them allow them to be seen through the mirrors.
The foyer, stretching room, and ride narration was performed by Paul Frees in the role of the Ghost Host. For the Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom versions of the ride, different recording sessions were used in some places. The Magic Kingdom version of the ride includes a library scene, in which a unique piece of narration is used. At Tokyo Disneyland, whose mansion is a replication of the one in Florida, both inside and out, the narration is provided by Teichiro Hori, a movie producer from Toho Studios (Hori also provides the voice of the talking skull in Tokyo's version of Pirates of the Caribbean). In 2002, an imitation of Paul Frees (by Joe Leahy) could be heard in the Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom versions instead of the original safety spiel, giving a more detailed warning in the load area, followed by a Spanish spiel. In Tokyo, the safety spiel is done by the Ghost Host himself.
Grim Grinning Ghosts was composed by Buddy Baker and the lyrics were written by X Atencio. It can be heard in nearly every area of the ride, with various instrumentations and tempos. Contrary to popular belief, "Grim Grinning Ghosts" is not performed by the Mellomen, but rather by a pickup group. The only member of the Mellomen heard is that of the deep bass voice of Thurl Ravenscroft (best known for voicing Tony the Tiger in television commercials), who sings as part of a quintet of singing busts in the graveyard scene. Ravenscroft's face is used as well, projected onto the bust. His face is oftentimes confused with that of Walt Disney himself.[7]
"Grim Grinning Ghosts" has also been used in various shows in Disney theme parks:
Disneyland Records released The Story and Song From The Haunted Mansion as a record album in 1969. It featured the story of two teenagers, Mike (Ron Howard) and Karen (Robie Lester), who get trapped inside the Haunted Mansion, with Thurl Ravenscroft as the Narrator, Pete Reneday as the Ghost Host, and Eleanor Audley as Madame Leota. Some of the effects and ideas that were planned but never permanently made it to the attraction are mentioned here: the Raven speaks in the Stretching Room, and the Hatbox Ghost is mentioned during the Attic scene. It was reissued in 1998 as a cassette tape titled A Spooky Night in Disney's Haunted Mansion.
A second reissue was released on CD in 2009 for the Halloween season. It used the original title of The Story And Song From The Haunted Mansion and used the original cover artwork. Along with the story from the record, the CD also contained the song "Grim Grinning Ghosts" in its entirety as a separate track. The CD was also enhanced with high resolution artwork drawn by Collin Campbell. The CD's case doubled as a story book depicting various scenes from the attraction with illustrations by Collin Campbell.
Previously, as the Haunted Mansion attraction was in its planning stages and still known as "The Haunted House," Disneyland Records released the album Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House (1964), a collection of sound effects and brief "stories in sound" introduced by a narrator, Laura Olsher. Many of the sound effects, originally created for the vintage Disney cartoons, were later used in the Haunted Mansion ride. Disneyland Records used the same title in 1979 for a new album of sound effects and story situations.
The video game Epic Mickey features a Haunted Mansion-like level known as Lonesome Manor. According to Warren Spector, it is the different versions of the Haunted Mansion ride thrown together.
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