Disneyland

Guests enter the mansion's grounds through the front gate and walk through a garden containing a pet cemetery and a carriage led by an invisible horse. Once inside, the deep voice of the invisible Ghost Host (Paul Frees) introduces himself in the foyer. Guests enter the mansion's art gallery, which contains four paintings, each depicting a person from the chest up:

• An elderly woman holding a rose.
• A bearded man with a piece of paper in his hand named Alexander Nitrokoff
• A parasol-holding woman named Sally Slater.
• A man with his arms crossed.

While the Ghost Host challenges guests to find a way out, the room stretches vertically, and the portrait frames appear to elongate, revealing the following grim fates depicted in humorous fashion:

• The elderly woman is sitting on a tombstone with a bust of a man named “George” with a hatchet in his head, implying that the woman was an axe murderer.
• Alexander Nitrokoff is not wearing any pants and is standing on a dynamite keg with a candle lighting the fuse.
• Sally Slater is on a fraying tightrope over an alligator who wants to eat her.
• The man with the crossed arms is being carried by another man, who a third man is carrying, and they are sinking into quicksand.

As the Ghost Host states that the guests can take "his way" out, the room goes dark, the ceiling vanishes, and lightning flashes to reveal the cupola, in which hangs the Ghost Host's skeletal corpse from the rafters by a noose, implying that he committed suicide by hanging to try to escape. A shriek is then heard, followed by the sound of bones shattering. After the Ghost Host apologizes to the guests, a wall opens, exposing the portrait corridor leading to the loading area. The subjects of the portraits on the right flicker briefly into macabre versions of themselves when lighting flashes from the windows on the left. These portraits show:

• The Werecat Lady: a woman on a couch holding a rose turning into an anthropomorphic white tiger (originally a black panther) holding a bone.
• The Black Prince: a knight and his horse on a cliff turning into skeleton-like ghosts with the sky darkening.
• The Aging Man: a handsome nobleman turning into a skeleton in a rotting suit.
• The Flying Dutchman: a ship on calm waters turning into a ghostly version of itself in the middle of a storm.
• Medusa: a woman in a Greek temple turning into a stone gorgon in the temple's ruins.

At the end of the corridor are two busts who appear to "follow" the guests with their gazes.

In the load area, black carriages called "Doom Buggies" descend one staircase and ascend another to the second floor. A light green fog is in the back of the room and a wolf is heard howling in the distance. As they board the Doom Buggies, the Ghost Host gives a safety warning and lowers the safety bar.

Guests pass by a candelabra floating down an endless hallway. Near the hallway's entrance is a moving suit of armor and a chair with an abstract face. The Doom Buggies then turn to view a glass conservatory filled with dead flora surrounding a casket whose occupant (X Atencio) is heard calling out for help to escape, his bony hands are seen trying to pry the casket lid open. The Doom Buggies then travel down a hallway of doors where sounds of pounding, calls for help, screams, knocking, and maniacal laughter can be heard from behind the doors. Knockers and handles move independently, and some doors appear to be "breathing." Guests then pass by a demonic grandfather clock striking thirteen as the big hand turned backwards with a devil's tail that swings back and forth as a pendulum, while a shadow of a claw passes over it.

Guests enter a dark séance room that contains occult objects. Madame Leota (Eleanor Audley as her voice, Leota Toombs as her face), a blue-haired medium whose disembodied head appears within a levitating crystal ball, summons the Mansion's spirits. Floating musical instruments respond in turn to her spell.

After leaving the séance circle, guests move onto a mezzanine overlooking a massive ballroom where many ghosts are enjoying a birthday party (or a deathday one, in this case). Ghosts fly into the room from a crashed hearse and the windows. Several ghosts sit at the table where one, a blondette with a hair bun donning a purplish-pink gown, blows out the candles of a birthday cake. When she blows out the candles, the other ghosts seated at the table disappear to then reappear when she "inhales" again. Playing on the chandelier over the dining table are several drunken ghosts holding glasses of red wine. Six ghost couples waltz to music played by a gentleman's spirit on a pipe organ, several wraiths fly out of its pipes as the haunting refrain echoes throughout the scene. Hanging on the wall are the portraits of two duelers who come to life and fire their revolvers at each other. There's also the ghost of an elderly woman rocking and knitting: when she rocks back she disappears, only to reappear rocking forward. Guests enter the attic filled with wedding gifts and portraits. In each portrait, the same bride (who is the axe murderer seen in a portrait in the Stretching Room) is seen with a different groom, whose heads disappear only to reappear a moment later. The sound of a beating heart fills the room. They then see an invisible pianist playing a sinister version of the Bridal March and the ghost of the bride, Constance Hatchaway (Kat Cressida), the latter reciting wedding vows. As she raises her arms, a hatchet appears and disappears in her hands between vows.

The Doom Buggies drift out of an attic window and onto a balcony towards the Hatbox Ghost (Corey Burton) amidst a starry night sky. The Doom Buggies then fall backward underneath dead trees that have humanoid faces. Reaching the ground, they turn towards the gate of a private graveyard, where guests see a frightened caretaker holding a lantern and a shovel with his dog cowering at his feet. Around the corner, ghosts have risen from their graves and are partying enthusiastically. Ghouls also pop up from behind the gravestones, some of which appear to move. In the graveyard are multiple comical sights, such as the following:

• The Singing Minstrels: A group of five ghost musicians playing the attraction's theme song, with a group of cats and a family of owls joining in "with spooky harmony".
• The Stuck Hearse and the Cycling Ghosts: A horse-drawn hearse stuck in the mud; multiple ghosts on a hill riding bicycles.
• The Beheaded Knight and the Executioner: A masked executioner (Candy Candido) clutching an axe singing a duet with a decapitated knight who holds his severed head in his extended hand.
• The Mummy and the Deaf Guy: A seemingly deaf elderly man (X Atencio) trying to get a mummy, who's risen from its grave and is muffeldly singing the theme song through its grave wrappings, to speak up.

Other sights guests see in the graveyard are a skeleton's hand popping out of a hole in a tomb, a duo of ghosts singing opera, a king and queen balancing a teeter-totter on a gravestone and a duchess (Betty Taylor) sipping a cup of tea. Guests also pass by a group of five busts (Verne Rowe, Thurl Ravenscroft, Chuck Schroeder, Jay Meyer, and Bob Ebright) singing the attraction's theme song Grim, Grinning Ghosts. As the Doom Buggies approach the entrance of a large crypt, the Ghost Host warns them about hitchhiking ghosts as the Doom Buggies pass a group of three ghosts thumbing for a ride. Around the corner, in large mirrors, the guests see that one of the ghosts from the trio is in the buggy with them. The guests then disembark their Doom Buggies and begin to leave the mansion. A small ghost known as Little Leota (Leota Toombs) encourages them to return and to bring their "death certificates."^[1]

Magic Kingdom

The Magic Kingdom version features a Gothic revival-style.

The Haunted Mansion was an opening-day attraction at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, where it is part of Liberty Square. During the production and assembly of the props and audio-animatronics for Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, duplicates of everything were being made for Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion. It was decided that the Florida version of the attraction would be slightly longer and more elaborate than its California Counterpart with extra scenes such as the library and the music room. Paul Frees recorded additional voice-overs, including the "Ghost Host" to accompany the extra scenes in the ride.^[2] Because of the ample space within the park, the attraction's show building is much larger and not restricted by any railroad berm.

In the Foyer, there is a portrait of the Aging Man from the Disneyland version. The stretching rooms are not elevators; instead the ceiling rises. After this, the door opens to the Doom Buggy loading area.

Upon boarding, guests pass under the staircase, with a candelabra floating above, then pass the changing portraits as seen in the queue at Disneyland. Then the guests go through the library where busts of ghost writers stare and follow them when they pass by as also seen in the queue at Disneyland. Once they enter the music room, a pianist plays a sinister version of “Grim Grinning Ghosts” and into the Endless Staircase, where footprints can be seen and candelabras are blown out occasionally by unseen ghosts.

Passing by bat-eyed wallpaper that glows in the dark, the guests see the Endless Hallway, but the Hatbox Ghost appears next to it from a blue door, his footprints visible in front of the Hallway. Passing through the conservatory where a corpse tries to get out while crying for help, the guests travel through the corridor of doors. A demonic grandfather clock chimes 13.

Guests then enter the seance room, where Madame Leota is seen floating and reciting her spell as instruments play. A green specter floats alongside the instruments. The Doom Buggies enter the ballroom, where ghosts have gathered for a party.

The Doom Buggies then proceed to the attic. The piano player can be heard, but not seen. The bride is now blue and white and has a stained hatchet.

The Doom Buggies pass through the cemetery, where many of the ghosts are singing Grim Grinning Ghosts and into the crypt, where the Hitchhiking Ghosts are playing around in the mirrors. Little Leota appears above the vehicles as guests disembark and pass a mausoleum and then a pet cemetery.

In 2011, the queue's graveyard was reworked and expanded into an interactive experience, consisting of a Composer's Crypt designed after the Ballroom's pipe organ, the water-spouting crypt of Captain Culpepper Clyne (originally created by Ken Anderson for the ride), a library inspired mausoleum for a poet named Prudence Pock (related to Phineas Pock) that asks for help with rhyming couplets, and a set of busts with a murder mystery attached to them.^[3] When passing the graveyard gates in the queue, guests see six head busts, two on one stand, that contain the Dread Family: a family that killed each other for wealth. The members are Uncle Jacob, Bertie, Aunt Florence Dread (née McGriffin), twins Wellington and Forsythia, and Cousin Maude. Bertie killed Jacob with poison from his snake, Florence killed Bertie for revenge with her gun, Wellington and Forsythia killed Florence as revenge for Florence doing a rogue shot and killing their pet canary, and Maude killed the twins with her croquet mallet. Maude accidentally killed herself by forgetting that she put matches in her hair to hold her bun together and setting a fire that killed her, a solution that is shown in a painting added to the Hitchhiking Ghost vignette. At this time, the Hitchhiking Ghosts mirror effect was also updated to replace the physical figures with computer animated ghosts playing around with the images of riders reflections.

Tokyo Disneyland

Like the Magic Kingdom version, the Tokyo Disneyland version of the Haunted Mansion was an opening day attraction, but is relocated to Fantasyland rather than Liberty Square. This version is largely a duplicate of the Magic Kingdom version, although it has some minor differences, such as a haunted painting of a man vaguely resembling Peter Lorre whose face pops out and stretches, a tall, legless ghost in the Séance Room, and more advanced lighting. The attraction did not receive the changes made in the 2007 refurbishment of the Magic Kingdom version.

Development

The idea for the Mansion precedes Disneyland and WED Enterprises, dating to when Walt Disney hired the first of his Imagineers.^[4] At the time, the park they were developing the attraction for was supposed to be located across from the studios. In 1951, the first known illustration of the park showed a main street setting, green fields, western village and a carnival.^[5] 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.^[4]

Disney assigned Imagineer Ken Anderson to create a story using Goff's idea.^[4] 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.^[6] Anderson studied New Orleans and old plantations, landing on an image of the Shipley-Lydecker House in Baltimore, Maryland. He came up with a drawing of an antebellum manor with features from the Baltimore house, overgrown with weeds, dead trees, swarms of bats and boarded doors and windows topped by a screeching cat as a weathervane.^[4][7]

Disney, however, rejected the idea of having a run-down building in his park.^[4] He visited the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, and was captivated by the massive mansion with its stairs to nowhere, doors that opened to walls and holes, and elevators.^[5] Anderson envisioned 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 well-known Disney villains and spooks.^[4]

In 1961, handbills announcing a 1963 opening of the Haunted Mansion were given out at Disneyland's main entrance.^[8] Construction began a year later, and the exterior was completed in 1963.^[6] The attraction was previewed in a 1965 episode of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color,^[8] but the attraction itself did 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.^[4]

After the fair, many Imagineers such as Marc Davis, X Atencio and Claude Coats contributed ideas to the project.^[6] By this time, Ken Anderson had left the project. Rolly Crump showed Walt some designs for his version, which included bizarre objects like coffin clocks, candle men, talking chairs, man-eating plants, tiki-like busts, living gypsy wagons and a mirror with a face.^[5] Walt accepted these ideas 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.^[4]

When Walt put Imagineers Rolly Crump and Yale Gracey in charge of creating illusions for the attraction, they intended to make the "Museum of the Weird" into a separate section that guests could walk through, where they could see transparent ghosts and other apparitions utilizing the Pepper's Ghost technique used in the theater since the early 1800s.^[4] Crump and Gracey were eventually given a large workshop to develop their ideas. One night, the two Imagineers decided to play a prank on the night cleaning crew. As Crump explained: "…We got a call from personnel saying that the janitors requested that we leave the lights on in there due to the creepiness of all the audio-animatronic ghosts and such. We complied, but put motion sensors in the room that would extinguish the lights and turn on all the ghost effects when triggered. The next morning, we came in and found all the ghost effects still running and a broom lying in the center of the floor. Personnel called and said that the janitors would not be back."^[9]

Marc Davis and Claude Coats, two of the Mansion's main designers,^[10] disagreed on whether the ride should be frightening or enjoyable. Coats, originally a background artist, wanted a scary adventure, and produced renditions of moody surroundings like endless hallways, corridors of doors, and bleakly spooky environments. Davis, an animator and character designer, proposed a variety of mostly comical characters, and thought the ride should be silly and full of gags. In the end, both artists got their ways when X Atencio combined their approaches and ideas, creating a transition from dark foreboding to "spirited" entertainment. The ride narration was performed by Paul Frees in the role of the Ghost Host. The attraction's theme song, "Grim Grinning Ghosts", was composed by Buddy Baker with lyrics by Atencio.^[4] Different versions of it can be heard in nearly every area of the ride.^[5]

After Disney's death in December 1966, the project evolved significantly. The Museum of the Weird restaurant idea was abandoned. The Imagineers objected to a walk-through attraction's low capacity, going so far as suggesting building two identical attractions to accommodate twice as many guests.^[4] A solution appeared with the development of the Omnimover system for Adventure Thru Inner Space.^[5] Renamed the Doom Buggy, the system's continuous chain of semi-enclosed vehicles offered high capacity. The cars could be set to rotate in any direction at any point, allowing the Imagineers to control what guests saw and heard.^[5] Because each car held from one to three people, it was a convenient way to divide guests into smaller groups—a better fit with the story of people wandering "alone" through a haunted house.^[6]

Debut

Attraction's exterior at Disneyland in the evening.

Employee previews of the Mansion were held August 6, 7, and the 8th, followed by "soft" openings on August 9 and 10 where limited numbers of park guests were allowed to ride. A "Midnight" Press Event was held on the evening of August 11. The Mansion opened to all guests on August 12, 1969.^[4]

In around 1977, WDI considered utilizing the unused designs, creatures and effects that Rolly Crump had originally created for the Haunted Mansion and the Museum of the Weird as part of Professor Marvel's Gallery—"a tent show of mysteries and delights, a carousel of magic and wonder," to be built as part of Disneyland's Discovery Bay expansion area. The idea was dropped when the expansion's plans fell through.^[11]

Updates

In 1994, Disneyland's Haunted Mansion was updated. A phantom piano player sat at a run-down piano in the attic scene, whereas the original faceless bride was given a full-fleshed appearance.^[4] In 2001, a newer, more detailed safety spiel was added to the Doom Buggies' onboard audio as they left the loading area. Recorded by voice-over artist Joe Leahy in English and Fabio Rodriguez in Spanish, in a recreation of the character of original actor Paul Frees' Ghost Host, the bilingual spiel was part of a park-wide campaign to increase safety. The seasonal overlay Haunted Mansion Holiday also premiered in October, featuring characters from the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas.^[6]

In 2004, the Seance Room was updated so the crystal ball with the talking head of Madame Leota floated above its table rather than sitting stationary on it, with the original projection-mapped effect replaced by a rear-projection effect within the ball. In 2006, the original attic bride was replaced by Constance Hatchaway and a storyline for the new character.^[12]

The extended queue line at Magic Kingdom.

In 2007, the attraction was renovated, with changes including the installation of the changing portraits and lightning-filled windows from the Disneyland version, and new vocals for most of the ghosts in the graveyard. In the Walt Disney World location, an endless staircase was added after being previously a dark space with spider webs. The portrait hall was originally decorated with portraits, known as the Sinister 11, situated on both sides and on a doorway, all of which have eyes that stared at guests as they pass through; these were later transferred to the load area during the refurbishment and their eyes no longer followed guests.

In March 2011, a new "interactive queue" debuted at the Walt Disney World location, with new crypts and tombstones honoring Imagineers; a murder mystery for guests to solve featuring the sinister Dread Family; the Composer Crypt, which features musical instruments that play variations of "Grim Grinning Ghosts" when touched; the Mariner's brine-filled sepulcher, whose ghost sings and sneezes from within, and a crypt for Prudence Pock the poetess, which features haunted moving books and Prudence's ghost writing invisibly in her poem book. Guests can solve the unfinished poems by speaking into microphones located on the crypt. The FastPass+ line skips the queue altogether and leads guests straight to the Foyer doors.^[13] There is also an extended queue line that uses the former Mike Fink Keel Boats dock.^[14]

On April 10, 2015, it was officially confirmed that an iconic Haunted Mansion character, The Hatbox Ghost, would return to Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. The character returned on May 9, 2015. The Hatbox Ghost was originally a part of the attraction when it opened in 1969,^[15] but was removed when the illusion involving the specter's head was not convincing enough.^[4] The Hatbox Ghost was added to Disney World's Haunted Mansion on November 30, 2023, as part of The Walt Disney Company's 100th Anniversary celebration.^[16]

On April 2, 2019, PhotoPass ride photography was added to the attraction at Magic Kingdom. A hidden camera takes pictures of the riders as the doom buggy passes the final portrait in the portrait gallery, with the flash disguised as flickering lightning. A black and white photo featuring the riders framed by several of the ghosts surrounding the photo is automatically added to the guests' PhotoPass account by reading the RFID data from the guest's second-generation MagicBand.^[17]

On January 21, 2020, Disneyland's Haunted Mansion was closed for an extensive refurbishment to add lighted steel panels, improved lighting, mechanical touch ups, and new paint and trims to the exterior of the attraction. The changes were originally scheduled for completion in spring 2020, but an extended park closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic created uncertainty.^[18] It was later confirmed that the refurbished attraction would reopen with the park on April 30, 2021. This refurbishment came with a refreshed pet cemetery, now with new greenery and plants. The portrait gallery was given new drapes curtains and the loading area is much more decorative with wallpaper and the return of one of the Haunted Mansion's original portraits being "April to December". Also featuring a statue of the one-eyed cat. The rest of the attraction was given repairs and new lighting.^[19][20] In addition, new secret entrance was added to the ride by using the chicken exit. Once the crypt door opened, visitors would be directed down a flight of stairs and through a utility passageway usually used by cast members.^[21]