Haunted Mansion (Disneyland) - Coasterpedia (2024)

Haunted Mansion is an Omnimover Dark Ride located at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California, USA. The ride is one of the most popular and long-lasting rides in the entire resort, and its influence has resulted in 2 clones of the attraction and two rides based on the attraction. It is one of the last rides to open with Walt Disney's input. The ride was also a pioneer for utilizing special effects, like Pepper's Ghosts, to create a convincing experience for riders.

The origins of Haunted Mansion and the mere concept of it came about before Disneyland was even opened, in 1951, when he hired his first Imagineers.^[1] Many ideas were proposed, but Walt ultimately rejected most of them. However, one idea that would stick was the ride being situated in a New Orleans Square area between Adventureland and Frontierland.

To get some ideas for the ride, he visited the Winchester Mystery House to gain some new ideas on what this new attraction for the park could be. His interest was piqued on the house's strange design and used it as a basis for his new ride.^[2] The park would open in 1955, and the square was on the map, but there were no signs of the attractions.

It would not be until 1961, when the land and its mansion began construction. A 1963 opening was promised for the attraction via handbills.^[3] Construction started a year later, and the mansion facade was finished in 1963.^[4] The attraction would then appear as a preview on the then-named anthology series Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.

However, the attraction was put on hold for some time. Walt's involvement in the 1964-65 World's Fair in New York paused things, further delayed by Walt's late death in 1966.^[5] After the fair, Imagineers like Mark Davis got involved with the project to redesign the attraction. Before his death during development, Imagineer Rolly Crump showed Walt some ideas, like spooky tombstones, singing ghosts, and other spooks for the attraction.

Walt accepted and he wanted to make a "Museum of the Weird" restaurant, similar to the Blue Bayou restaurants located near Pirates of the Caribbean. He put Imagineers Rolly Crump and Yale Gracey in charge of adding illusions for the ride, and further developing the project. They were given a workshop to where they could flesh out ideas. On one fateful night two Imagineers decided to play a prank that scared the nightly cleaning crew. As Rolly Crump put it:

"…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."^[6]

Marc Davis and Claude Coats, two of the Imagineers, had a feud on whether or not the ride should be scary or fun and lighthearted. Claude wanted spooky hallways, scary characters and eerie music while Marc wanted colorful characters and zany backgrounds. Eventually, they got both wishes, with the first half being dark and eerie, while the second half has delightful visuals and the iconic song, "Grim Grinning Ghosts', composed by Buddy Baker and lyrics done by Atencio. although the song is mainly heard in the second half it serves as an eerie instrumental in the first half.

After Walt's death in 1966, the project evolved massively. The restaurant idea was abandoned. The walk-through ideas were scrapped for good, being reused for the queue. However, a solution was called when Imagineers realized they could build a show building behind the mansion and have the ride be an Omnimover Dark Ride, like the then-operating Adventure Thru Inner Space.

Renaming the vehicles as "Doom buggies", the ride had the same system of continuous chains moving the vehicles along, with rotating vehicles to pivot to certain show-scenes. The small look of the vehicles perfectly set the tone for the ride's "lonely" atmosphere.

Construction of the ride finished in mid-1969. On August 6, 7, and 8, "soft" openings were held to Imagineers, including a "late-night ride" press event for the 11th of August. After much setback and nearly 20 years of development, the Haunted Mansion opened on August 12th, 1969.^[7] The ride was a smash hit, with a very very similar ride immediately planned for then-known "Florida park"'s opening day. It became one of the park's most famous, beloved and visited attractions. It was the second ride to open in New Orleans Square, opening 2 years after Pirates of the Caribbean.

In 1977, ideas were proposed to reuse Rolly Crump's designs for the then-proposed Discovery Bay area. However, the ideas were scrapped when the idea of the land was also turned down. In 1994, one of the animatronics, a phantom playing the piano was updated, and the formerly faceless bride was given a full appearance. In 2006, the original bride was replaced entirely by a new ghost named Constance Hatchaway, and a new storyline to coincide with the character.^[8]

In late 2001, a new overlay debuted. The Haunted Mansion Holiday is an annual overlay of the attraction that blends the original ghosts with characters from the 1993 film The Nightmare before Christmas. The overlay starts in October and ends in January.

In early January 2024, the ride closed for an extended refurbishment to the outdoor queue. The queue would remain mostly the same aside from new pavements and other features, but the nearby Magnolia Gardens and gift shop would be redone.