The Hauntingly Interesting Origin of The Haunted Mansion
Throughout the history of the Disney Parks, there are many beloved attractions. From Peter Pan’s Flight to It’s a Small World to Pirates of the Caribbean, each continues to keep fans standing in line and smiling when they leave (similar to Disney movies!). Another example of a classic park attraction is The Haunted Mansion, which opened in Disneyland on August 9th, 1969, making today, August 9th, its 51st birthday! I thought we could explore the origin of this classic attraction.
Walt Disney first began thinking about “The Haunted Mansion,” as early as the 1950’s when he was developing Disneyland. He asked Harper Goff, one of the main designers of Disneyland and the uncredited production designer of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), to design the attraction. Goff initially conceived a rural American theme, as the ride’s original locale was to be at end of a path that led away from the Mainstreet U.S.A. area of the park. However, he the rest of the designers at WED (Walter Elias Disney) Enterprises later decided to put the ride in the New Orleans Square section of the park. Disney, Goff, and team had planned to introduce the attraction at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, along with “It’s a Small World,” and “The Carousel of Progress,” but that unfortunately was delayed due to the ride having to undergo too many conceptual changes.
At one point, it was considered that the attraction could actually be a walk-through instead of a ride, and it would be called “The Museum of the Weird.” They also came up with a more stereotypical design of a haunted house, but Walt wanted to make sure that his haunted house would be unique from any other theme park haunted houses saying “We’ll take care of the outside and let the ghosts take care of the inside.” Ultimately, it was decided in favor of the attraction being a ride-through, and the exterior was redesigned with an antebellum theme, to fit the New Orleans Square.
Buddy Baker was hired to compose the music for the attraction and Paul Frees (Disney’s original voice of Professor Ludwig Von Drake) was hired as the voice of the Ghost Host (the narrator of the attraction). Eleanor Audley, who is best known at Disney for doing the voices of Cinderella’s wicked stepmother/Lady Tremaine in Cinderella (1950) and Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty (1959), was also hired to voice Madame Leota, the crystal ball woman in the attraction. New Orleans Square opened at the park on July 24th, 1966, though Walt Disney tragically died on December 15th, 1966, which delayed the opening of the attraction. The ride officially opened on August 9th, 1969, and to this day, it has been unchanged, with the exception a “Haunted Mansion Holiday,” celebration in which the attraction is redecorated with a The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) theme every September, since 2001.
Haunted Mansion was an instant hit with park guests, and inspired the WED Imagineers to create a second version at Walt Disney World, opened in Magic Kingdom during Disney World’s official opening (October 1st, 1971). 12 years later, another mansion was constructed and opened at Tokyo Disneyland on the park’s official opening date, April 15th, 1983. Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland also have their own, unique versions of the attractions, Phantom Manor, which opened at Disneyland Paris on April 12, 1992 and Mystic Manor which opened on May 17th, 2013. In 2003, the attraction was made into a movie starring Eddie Murphy. The film unfortunately was a flop, but there is another one in development at Disney.
“The Haunted Mansion,” attraction remains a beloved attraction for today’s park visitors and shows no signs of stopping!
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