Nala wrote:Is the Haunted Mansion scary. I've been to DL twice and WDW once but haven't ever gone into the Haunted Mansion. In '87, we couldn't find it. When we were at WDW in September, the lineups were too long and same thing happened when we were at DL in December. We're going to WDW in December.
As an adult, the Haunted Mansion I'd say is more fun than anything frightening. If you can handle Pirates, then you can certainly handle the Mansion, especially since it was created by a lot of the same crew. There are some dark scenes and gruesome situations (the stretch room going dark to reveal the Ghost Host's hanging corpse above, Constance with the portraits of her husbands' heads disappearing, etc), but it's all designed to have more of a mood of creepiness than anything horrorific. It's also a bit lighthearted and dark humor in the gags that Marc Davis provides in his characters and little sight gags you see in the ballroom and graveyard - the dead drunk sleeping under the table, the duelists firing at each other, the king and queen on the teeter-totter, the opera divas, the beheaded knight holding his head. I think it's a masterful attraction simply for the fact it combines both a very foreboding and creepy atmosphere along with dark humor and fun, thanks to the talents of Marc, Claude Coats, Rolly Crump, and the others. It reminds me a bit of what Charles Addams would have created if he made a haunted house attraction.
I hope when you get to go on it, you enjoy it. It's my favorite attraction in any Disney park and the thing that turned me into a Disney fan in the first place.
A whole bunch of new Mansion information has just been leaked in the past few weeks if anyone is interested.
Randy Thorton has announced that in honor of the attraction's 40th anniversary this year, Disney is releasing a completely new CD album at the parks on September 9. (DelivEars I'll be calling that day!) It'll include a new ride thru, along with new audio mixes and unreleased recording session outtakes. Also on the 9th at the parks, Disney will be releasing The Story And Song From The Haunted Mansion record album from 1969, starring Ron Howard and Robie Lester as two teenagers trapped in the Haunted Mansion for an evening, leaving the Ghost Host to take them on a tour of the house. Here's more info: http://www.magicmusic.net/topic/4288-wa ... d-mansion/
Also, currently released and available at the Once Upon A Toy shop at Downtown Disney, Disney has released "The Game Of (After) Life" with a Haunted Mansion. The artwork looks wonderful and sounds like a very cute game, so I'll be picking this one up as well. http://www.stitchkingdom.com/2009/08/14 ... august-21/
Also, last but not least, perhaps the biggest news. It comes from Al Lutz, so of course take it with a bit of a grain of salt, but he has announced that the infamous Hatbox Ghost long removed from the Mansion's attic in 1969 due to the effect not working properly, is at long last rumored to return home. Lutz announced that he should make an appearance in the Mansion after the HMH overlay is removed in January. http://miceage.micechat.com/allutz/al082509a.htm
Super Aurora wrote:Was the hatbox ghost in WDW's one at all? Will they might bring him to WDW's version? I hope.
Since the Hatbox Ghost was removed before Disneyland's version opened to the public because of issues with the effect, the figure was never installed in WDW's version. He's rumored to make an appearance at the same time the new figure is installed at Disneyland in January but until that happens we won't know for sure. Space does exist in the attic to put him there.
However Disney World's did supposedly have it's own figure installed and removed quickly after opening. It was a screaming man stuck in a spiderweb in the staircase scene (according to Doombuggies.com).
Flanger-Hanger wrote:However Disney World's did supposedly have it's own figure installed and removed quickly after opening. It was a screaming man stuck in a spiderweb in the staircase scene (according to Doombuggies.com).
I'm always rather curious about the screaming man myself. From the few reports I've heard (whose credibility I'm not sure of any way), describe him as a screaming corpse vibrating in the web and shaking violently. However, in the X. Atencio sketch of him from Surrell's updated HM book, he appears to be a skeleton long dead.
I think if they had just left it as a silent skeleton like X. envisioned, he would still be there today.
Thought I would come along and post this now for more HM discussion or speculation. It's been known that when Ken Anderson was working on the Mansion as a walk-thru back in 1957, he created numerous ideas and storylines for the mansion, mostly being Captain Gore and Priscilla, and most famously Bloodmere Manor. Here is a description of the outline for Bloodmere Manor by Ken dated September 9, 1957, courteousy of the summary from the E-Ticket magazine. It's pretty long, so be prepared to read a lot, but I find it fascinating and as one of the Mansion versions of what could have been.
Our approach to the house on a shady back street of New Orleans is very easy to picture in the mind's eye. Anderson dre and described the exterior of the Mansion much as it finally came to be built: an antebellum mansion with a wrought iron gate "typical of New Orleans, circe 1800." This Ghost House, however, has a run-down neglected appearance: shutters hang off their hinges, paint is peeling, and one of the four distinctive chimneys has tumbled over. The house rests under vine and moss festooned trees which block out much of the sunlight, and sits well back from the street behind a grove of trees. This seems likely to be an attempt to accomodate Walt's desire that nothing have a shabby appearance in Disneyland, while giving Imagineers the creepy-looking house they felt it needed to be.
At the gatehouse (which servces double duty as a ticket booth) we sign our names to a guest register book and enter the mansion grounds. Perhaps we're troubled by the magazines posted on the booth with headlines of past atrocities connected with the Ghost House, but we're determined now to press on. Other disturbing details become apparent as we approach the porch. Occasionally, skulls and other bones can be seen "protruding from the silent paths" that we walk over. And did that statue tucked away in the unkempt, overgrown garden move when we looked away? Most distressing, though, is our glimpse of a girl in an upstairs window who screams suddenly and is "throttled by a large hairy hand which draws her back into the darkness." We hope we don't cross paths with the bearer of that hand later...
Gathering with a group of about forty people on the front porch, we are treated to an introduction to the house and its history recorded by none other than Walt Disney who explains how this creepy place came to Disneyland:
"Bloodmere" is the name of this old house, which was the lakeside estate of the unfortunate Blood family. It was built around 1800 in the swampy bayous near New Orleans, and was moved here intact because it was such a fine example of early architecture from that section of our country.
It had not been occupied for some time and was badly in need of repair, so we started the work of restoration as soon as it arrived at Disneyland, but, strangely enough...the work of each day was destroyed during the night...and the night watchmen reported that when he had passed the house he'd hear eerie screams and weird lights.
Every day we make a new attempt to repair the house, but in vain, for every morning the windows were broken...the furniture smashed...the shutters hanging by a single hinge, and even new coats of paint scratched and peeled off.
Additional night watchmen were employed to catch the vandels red-handed, but they were unable to do anything other than report weird and frightening apparitions.
The destruction continued unabated, and we were forced to halt the useless attempt to restore the house.
Meanwhile, we conducted a thorough investigation through special agencies in New Orleans, who furnished us with startling new facts...our house had a tragic and bloody history of unlucky owners who died sudden and violent deaths, which resulted in their unhappy ghosts remaining behind to fulfill the uncompleted missions of their lives.
We were warned to expect unusual activites from the ghosts, since they would be disturbed by being transplanted from their native haunts to Disneyland...and without their permission.
In fact, we are sorry to report that the latest tragedy of all occurred here in Disneyland...when one of our carpenters engaged in restoration work on the house disappeared completely from sight...and he has not been seen or heard from since.
The house has proven too dangerous to be lived in since 1900, but we succeeded in making it safe enough for a visit...when accompianed by one of our trained and competent guides.
Guides are made necessary by another strange characteristic of the house. It has rotted so long in the dank fastness of its lost hiding place in the swamps that not even Southern Califronia sunshine or the best effors of electricians and illumination engineers can dispel the dimness of the bayous...it mysteriously remains always night within the house...the night in which all ghosts are condemned to live.
Now we cannot promise you that anything at all will occur during your visit...since it is usually in the wee small hours that the dead ones live it up...
...However, be prepared to see and hear something or other, and take whatever precautions you please.
We recommend that you stay close together during your visit and please...above all...obey your guide's instructions...Thank you."
Thus warned, we cautiously enter the house and find ourselves in a large, dark entry hall as the main door closes by itself behind us. There are several other doors about us, and a rickety staircase that ascends to dark landings several floors above us, but is missing many steps halfway up to the next floor. Bats can be seen flittering about above, and an eerie wind can be heard along with creaking doors and rattling shutters. Peering up into the gloom we are startled to see a shadowy figure appear at the top landing and shake the large chandelier above us, then disappear with a maniacal laugh.
Our guide, a butler, enters from a door beneath the stairs and climbs just high enough for our whole group to see him. He introduces himself and happily informs us that the ghosts are unusually active today, and the last group through saw several of them. If we're lucky we may see even more. He warns us to stick close together, not dawdle behind, and especially to stay away from the walls where secret panels may appear. Just as he cautions us, the wall behind him slides open and a large hairy arm reaches menacingly for him - probably the same arm we saw grabbing the girl in the window upstairs. The butler explains that all guides are trained to deal with "Hairy the Arm, who was the insane brute of a man servant for the Blood family," and who "delights in picking off stray visitors." He invites us to follow him through a gallery of portraits to the library. We set off, marching to the tempo of the ghostly music that has begun to fill the room. "The house has a supernatual, musical atmosphere that we must get in tune with so as not to irritate the spirits as we pass through."
We walk through a gallery lined with locked doors suggesting "rooms too dangerous to enter" as well as several paintings. At first glance they seem ordinary, but their eyes follow us as we pass. Our guide explains that they are all ghosts, "both famous and infamous," who were acquaintances of the unfortunate Blood family, "which inhabited the house in life." He goes on to explain: "The supreme tragedy of the house occurred while the Blood family was hosting friends on the eve of the real life wedding of their beautiful daughter. An event too horrible to mention prevented the wedding, and it has been rumored that on every anniversary for the last 150 years the ghosts have been attempting to complete the ceremony which would lift the curse on the house."
Double doors lead us into a dimly lit library. Once again the doors close by themselves behind us, and a cold draft passes through the room - a well-known sign of an imminent supernatural encounter. Heavy bookcases full of dusty, leather-bound volumes line the room. More portraits hang above, and a large mirror is over the fireplace, opposite double doors that offer the only other exit from the room. The butler points out the period furnishing of the room, and explains that this room is haunted by the "Lonesome Ghost," so-called because he prefers human company to ghosts, and his own kind won't have anything to do with him.
With another blast of chilled air, the lonesome ghots makes his presence known to us as hear this "Pete Lorre like voice" circling the room just above our heads:
"Welcome...welcome...I am the lonesome ghost...did I hear someone mention my name? I'm not going to be lonesome today. This is a very special day...two of our ghosts form prominent old ghost families are getting married, and every ghost who is anybody is here already, and more are arriving by the minute. Since you are just in time fo rhte wedding...and I just love to be with people...I'll go along to the wedding with you. Oh...I forgot...you mortals can't see me."
With that the ghost "appears." His voice emanates from the center of the room amongst us, but we only see him standing in our midst in the refleciton of the mirror over the mantle.
"There now. That's better, isn't it? Now let me introduce some of our betrothed couple's relatives who have lived here at one time or another."
The lonesome ghost describes the subjects of the paintings around the room, with each lighting up eerily as he describes it. Some are comicl, like the "blue-blooded" relative whose portrait seems to fill up with gurgling blue ink. Others are creepy, like the rakish "handsome gay young blade" whose picture disintegrates "a la Dorian Gray."
As we gather to go, the lonesome ghost surprises us by referring to some of us by name. (The guest register at the front gatehouse is used to cue the cast member inside with names to use from the group). The guide gathers us to go on and opens the double doors only to find the looming figure of Hairy the Arm ready to menace him on the other side. He slams the door shut just in time and says apologetically "wrong door." The Lonesome Ghost tells us that is the long way around, and bids us to follow him as we hear his voice pass through the wall and into the next room!
"Oh dear me...I forgot you mortals can't walk through the walls...you'll have to use the bookcase..."
With that, a secret panel behind a bookcase opens and the ghostly marching music accompanies us through to the Gallery.
As the bookcase closes behind us, we find ourselves in a large room with a high ceiling and a balcony along one side with doors on either end. A full flight of stairs lead to the floor above, and another pair of doors looks like a promising way out...but that has proved to be a dangerous assumption by this time! Another fireplace is here, beneath the balcony, and through windows we see and hear the wind is really whipping up into a storm now. The Lonesome Ghost is upset; several spirits were here a moment ago, and he wanted to introduce them to us. As he lists the famous ghosts we just missed, he is interrupted by a bloodcurdling scream from one end of the balcony: "The ghostly figure of a woman appears through the closed door and in a sort of slow motion flight crosses the balcony and disappears once more through the opposite door. Still screaming, we hear her round the corner out of sight and then appear at the head of the staircase where she reappears and, losing her balance, falls foward, losing her head which continues screaming as it falls down the stairs towards us!" The tension from this frightful scene is relaxed as the Lonesome Ghost quips: "Isn't she lovely? That's Anne Boleyn. Of course she'll have to pull herself together in time for the wedding."
The butler tries to lead us out the double doors and is once again menaced by a shadowy figure beyond. The Lonesome Ghost calls from behind a secret panel that opens to reveal a passageway in-between the walls beyond, and the ghostly marching music accompanies us as the butler ushers us through.
We find ourselves in a space running between rooms, with unfinished walls on either side and spider webs and fluttering bats overhead. Rounding a corner we find ourselves in a bedroom, with the butler mysteriously arriving ahead of us. A three-tiered plaform lets our whole group arrange itself on one end so all can see well as he points out the antique, empty four-poster bed. Behind us is another shuttered window through which we hear the storm growing even fiercer, now punctuated by an occasional thunder clap. The room "comes to life" as a green fire ignites itself in the fireplace and an empty rocking chair beside begins to rock. The bed is suddenly occupied by five "hideous little Charles Addams type child monsters" and a door in the back swings open to reveal a bathtub in which an invisible bather washes with visible sponge, brush, and wash cloth...he starts singing "I'll be glad when you're dead, you rascal you." And we realize it's the Lonesome Ghost, who calls out for us to go on ahead and he'll be along as soon as he's cleaned up for the wedding.
As our guide prepares to move us on, he is suddenly shanghaied from behind by Hairy the Arm, who finally grabs and pulls him struggling through a secret panel and out of our sight. The lights and fireplace in the bedroom snuff out and we're left alone in the dark, with only the sound of "considerable commotion and scuffling" through the wall giving us a hint of the fight our butler guide is putting up for his very life...followed by silence.
After a moment, the door at the end of the platform opens upon a lighted room and our guide calls us to join him. His hair and tie are disheveled, but he reassures us that all the guides are very capable of handling Hairy if need be, and displays to us his special ghost gun that they carry at all times.
At the centerpiece of our tour, we find ourselves in the ruins of a grand salon. The once-ornate domed ceiling is high above us, and the rotting planked floor slopes down towards the shattered ruins of a grand bay window looking out over a moonlit scene of wind-swept, moss-filled trees and bayous beyond. A broken wall in the middle distance fences in an abandoned family graveyard of above-ground vaults typical of the marshy New Orleans area.
Far off, a werewolf howls, and the scene outside darkens as clouds obscure the moon. Lightning flashes on the horizon and a distant rumble warns of the approaching storm, but our attention is closer as ghostly skeletons rise from the tombs, growing larger as they approach the window then seem to enter the room above us. These are the guests arriving for the wedding, and the sound of galloping hoofs approaching heralds the arrival of a guest of honor: the Headless Horseman. We don't glimpse him until he thunders past just outside the window, his dark cape billowing behind, but eerily fastened to shoulders that hold no head above.
It's time to move on with our tour, and the guide climbs three steps to a double door taht opens to reveal a darkened hallway beyond..and the gruesome figure of the lost carpenter, who falls out upon him! He shoves the body back and slams the door. Luckily, the Lonesome Ghost comes through for us again as the fireplace rises reveals another secret passage. "This way to the wedding! Follow me!" Calls the Lonesome Ghost, as the guide leads us through the dark passageway accompanied by the ghostly marching tune.
This next room is octagon-shaped, with unfinished walls and ceiling. Windows are centered on three sides, all with broken panes, and another door shows a way out. Our group arranges itself at the railing around a pitch black pit in the center of the room. We can hear the footsteps of the ghostly mount below, and now more ghosts are arriving for the ceremony. Outside, the storm breaks with full intensity and rain pounds the windows. Skeletal ghosts float past holding skeleton umbrealls, and row boats as they pass through the downpour. With a series of lightning flashes, the ceiling turns transparent, revealing a view of the room above. We clearly see the underside of a bed, dresser, and an upset chair...and hanging above this last, from the highest point of the rafters, is a man in full dress clothes, a noose around his neck. The Lonesome Ghost pipes in with a joke - "The best man seems to be all tied up."
Other ghosts are now rapidly filling the room above and passing through into the house beyond, so we take their cue and move on ourselves.
The ghostly marching music this time accompanies us through a "short mirrored hallway of former elegance." The mirrors reveal there are as many ghosts here as tourists, all marching to the music and towards the macabre ceremony we will soon witness with our own eyes. We recognize many famous ghosts beside us, such as Frankenstein, Dracula, the Phantom of the Opera, and the Hunchback of Notre Dame.
We pass through double doors into another octagonal room this one entirely covered in mirrors. The reflections are jam-packed with ghosts all talking excitedly about the wedding, but their conversation is peppered with references to their unusual wedding gifts, such as "the matched set of poisoned darts gift," "Arsenic and Old Lace," and "Guillotine bookends." A catty ghost snidely remarks about the bride "I wonder where he dug her up?"
The Lonesome Ghost is delighted to mingle the room, chatting happily. Many famouos ghosts of history and literature are here, too, for him to meet, including Great Caesar's Ghost, Marley and Scrooge, Little Eva and Simon Legree, the Canterville Ghost, Lucretia Borgia, Anne Bonny, Captain Hook, and King Tut, not to mention those we saw in the hallway entering with us.
Suddenly, wedding bells peal and all the ghosts disappear, leaving us along with our reflections. The ceremony is beginning, and another set of mirrored doors open to allow us through onto the balcony of a two storied room, with wedding bells and ghostly music sounding from the floor below.
This is the Great Hall of the house, all decked out for a grand wedding circa the early 1800s. A large table on the floor below holds a wedding cake, candles, and flowers - all now long covered with cobwebs. An invisible organist plays below us, and bloody footprints march around the floor betraying the passing of spirits we can't see. Ghosts line the sides of the room below us, underneath our balcony all looking expectantly up to the other end of the level we're on, with two closed doors. With a fanfare, the ghostly groom enters through one and waits expectantly. Opposite him, his bride appears and slowly floats towards him.
As she approaches, he tenderly takes her head - literally. Removing it from her shoulders he kisses it, and her body responds with a resounding slap. "This causes a startling reaction of flashing lights with thunder claps and rattling shutters during the return of her head and instant change in tempo from the slow march to a Dixieland beat. The bride's head is again kissed by the groom - who is slapped again. Her head shuttles back and forth with kisses and slaps intermingled faster and faster to the crazy rhythm as the tempo of the celebration grows wilder. Footsteps run all around the floor and walls below while furniture is upset, and the organ is joined by various jazz instruments which materialize for the solo parts."
The storm builds to a climax as "all hell seems to break loose" and the wild ceremony is cut short as "the ceiling suddenly collapses and rain pours through the opening to the floor below from the now visible stormy sky." Once again, the terrible events that doomed the ghosts in the house have repeated themselves, and they're doomed to stay. "Invisible ghosts shriek and scream hysterically past the visitors and circulate wildly about the room as the guide opens double doors that let us out."
Fleeing this wild scene through twin double doors, the guide brings us into a trophy room decorated with mounted animal heads that seem to watch us as we pass by, much like in the portrait gallery we passed through on our way in. In fact this parallels that room both in function and location, taking us back from the giant hidden ride building into the show building that's seen in the park. The guide goes straight to the fireplace on the far end and presses a secret stone which opens the fireplace to let us pass into another interior corridor with unfinished walls. The sound of rain is even louder here, but passing through the doors at the end we finally find ourselves outside of the house, and are surprised to see it isn't actually raining at all. At a shelter right outside we are given pieces of ghost wedding cake as souvenirs "neatly wrapped in shroud material and tied with a bow of ribbon - suitable for placing under the pillow for inducing dreams" - or "Lonesome Ghost laperl buttons which plug a visit to the Ghost House." We are in a walled and fenced garden that has a "wishing well with echo effect" and "graveyard with humorous epitaphs" among its many paths, all of which lead to the exit back to Disneyland Park.
For anyone who's interested, here is an amazing Haunted Mansion ride thru video of WDW's updated version. It runs over a little hour long. I've never seen such a professionally made fan video before, and it's absolutely incredible. Hope you all enjoy!
Last edited by PrincePhillipFan on Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:12 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Sorry, I missed your post, but thanks for the Ames! I saw that a while ago last month, but it's great to be able to read it again.
Anyway, I just received the new Haunted Mansion attraction CD from the parks a few days ago, and thought I'd add a little review for it for anyone interested in the CD.
The ride thru I have mixed feelings about. It's wonderfully made, and I think it's great that we finally get to have Constance on the soundtrack, but they only included 4 out of her 8 lines of dialogue, leaving out "I Do..I did," "In sickness and in wealth," "You may now kiss the bride," and "As long as we both shall live." Also, I feel like the corridor of doors was extremely short, and half of the screams you actually hear were missing, which is a shame now too since the sound effects track from the old CD is no longer on there. Other than that though, I think the ride-thru track is absolutely fantastic and I can tell how much work Thorton put into it.
Next, is the music box that you hear in the queue for Phantom Manor, as well as the fastpass area during HMH.
Third track is the Otherworldly Concerto. Unlike the old Otherworldly Music track from the old CD which lasted about 4 minutes, this goes to 10 with a lot more different variations on the foyer music and the ballroom waltz. It's great fun to hear how many different ways Baker and Gaylord Carter tried to perform to get just the right one. Although I find it funny that even though Carter attempted to perform the manic waltz 8 times, it still wasn't good enough for Buddy so he went and got Bill Sabransky for the ballroom's music.
Next are the tracks for the background music in the graveyard, and the isolated track of the graveyard band, each one running their full minute loop.
After that is possibly my favorite track "999 Happy Haunts." As you know from my earlier posts on the singers, I'm a huge fan and appreciator of the talent of voice actors and studio singers of old, so this was a treat for me. This is a seven minute track, in full clear stereo, each highlighting the full audio tracks of the singers in the graveyard - the busts, the duke and duchess, the tea party ghosts, the opera singers, the mummy and old man, the beheaded knight, and finally the executioner and prisoner. Thankfully they're all the DL originals too, and none of the replacements from WDW's mansion. The track ends with the quintet's final rendition of GGG as you exit.
Finally, is the Phantom Manor Suite, which is absolutely beautiful. Every musical cue from PM is included, and best of all it's in much better sound quality than the old one.
My person opinion, for a Mansion audiophile like me, this is a wonderful release and I hope everybody gets a chance to pick this one up. It's a whole lot better sound quality than the old release. My only regret is that all of the snippets of the recording sessions with Paul, Eleanor, Leota, the radio ads, and the exit spiels are all gone. But it more than makes up for the absence I think with its spotlights on the mansion's music.
I don't often post the same thing in 2 different threads, but for those of you who don't care about The Nightmare Before Christmas, or just won't see the post in that thread, this is Haunted Mansion-related:
Thanks for the link, Ames! That was a very interesting read.
Thought I would come over again to this thread and share some more nuggets of Marc Davis goodness from some prints I got. The man was an absolutely brilliant character designer and animator.
