The Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride located at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Park in Paris (as Phantom Manor). 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. Another interesting fact about this ride is that it is in different lands in each park!

Although the 'Spirit' of the ride is the same at all parks (insert evil laugh), there are differences between the attractions:

Entrance
Disneyland:
Guests enter from New Orleans Square.
Years ago, the cemetery paid tribute to the Imagineers, much like the one at Florida and Tokyo, but was changed when the queue was expanded some time after the mid-80s, to make room for the handicapped entrance.

When plans were being made for a Young Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Disney bought a hearse for the show. When plans were scrapped for budget costs, the hearse was given an invisible phantom horse and placed outside the Disneyland mansion.

Walt Disney World:
Guests enter from Liberty Square.
Another invisible phantom horse and hearse, this one death black, also waits here.
One feature unique to the Florida mansion is a tombstone for Madame Leota. On it is a bronze carving of her face that, by way of animatronics, occasionally opens its eyes and looks around.
In the back of the pet cemetery (top left), there is a headstone of Mr. Toad in tribute to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride closing in 1998.

Tokyo Disneyland:
Guests enter from Fantasyland.

Disneyland Paris
Guests enter through Frontierland.

Small Foyer
Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland:
A portrait of Master Gracey rests above the grand fireplace and slowly morphs into a portrait of a rotting corpse.

Disneyland:
Guests enter a small rectangular room containing a dusty chandelier and a wood floor (in the design of a spiders web)

Disneyland Paris
A portrait of Melanie Ravenswood fades in and fades out through a mirror.

Octagonal Room
Disneyland and Disneyland Paris
A feature only in Disneyland and the Phantom Manor, the room is, in fact, an elevator with no ceiling. The room is being lowered slowly to give the illusion that the room itself is stretching. This brings the guests down to where the ride begins, below ground level. This elevator effect was necessary to lower the guests below the level of the park-circling railroad at Disneyland. The actual ride building of this attraction is located outside of the berm surrounding the park, and the Disney Imagineers developed this mechanism to lower the guests to the gallery leading to the actual ride building.

Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland:
Guests enter a chamber in which the floor is stationary while the ceiling itself rises, as do the portraits. As both rides (Florida and Tokyo) were built on stable ground, there was no need to lower guests down and out of the park. For the 2007 refurbishment, Walt Disney World's stretch room was given new wallpaper and stretching sounds. Shortly after the stretching sequence, if you stay in the gallery long enough, you can hear the gargoyles whisper. You may also be fortunate enough to hear a loud whisper telling you to "Get Out!"

Disneyland Paris
Instead of the regular portraits, guests see four portraits of Melanie. In the first one, Melanie steps through a stream. In the second, she holds a parasol, in the third, she picks flowers, and in the fourth, she is having a picnic with her fiance. As the room stretches:

• Melanie steps through a stream, and reaching for her foot is a hand, connected to a water monster.
• Melanie clutches a parasol, while in a boat, above a vertical waterfall.
• Melanie picks flowers, above a gravestone, while a skeleton emerges from the ground.
• Melanie is having a picnic with her fiance, as ants raid their food, and a snake, scorpion, spider and water beetle approach.
  

The skeleton of the groom, hanged in the rafters in the ceiling over the stretching room, replaces the hanged version of the Ghost Host.

Leaving Octagonal Room
Disneyland:
The wall opens into a portrait corridor. When the walls finally do open, guests are ushered into a portrait corridor with paintings that depict seemingly innocent scenes. Windows on the left give guests a peek at the thunderstorm raging outside. With every flash of lightning, the paintings flicker with ghastly images, including a demure young woman sprouting snakes from her scalp (Medusa), a magnificent sailing ship at sea becoming a tattered and ghostly version thereof in a storm, a man who changes into a decrepit corpse (often known as Master Gracey), a knight and horse in which they both turn into skeletons, and a woman sitting upon a sofa to find that she is a were-tiger. The grim busts of a man and woman (who respectively appear to be a Roman emperor and an old schoolmarm) placed at the end of the hall seem to turn their heads, glaring at the guests as they walk past.

After escaping the portrait corridor, the guests walk through an ethereal void, a boundless realm of LIMBO, where an eerie green, glowing fog floats endlessly, spider webbed-adorned walls, and cobweb-wrapped candelabras dimly illuminate the area. The Ghost Host points out that the house has 999 spirits with room for one more ("any volunteers?").

Walt Disney World:
The wall opens directly to the Doom Buggy load area, and will always open underneath the pink lady's portrait, no matter how the room is situated. Seven of the sinister 11 portraits are located in the load area.

Tokyo Disneyland:
The wall opens directly to the Doom Buggy load area. Instead of the sinister 11 portraits (the paintings with eyes that follow) the walls are adorned with urns.

Disneyland Paris:
The wall opens into a hall similar to that of the Disneyland version, but there is no Master Gracey portrait. At the end is a picture of Melanie Ravenwood dressed in her wedding dress. Guests pass a green bust whose eyes seem to follow them. Then guests enter the loading area with grand staircase, where a raging storm keeps turning off the lights.

After Load area and before Conservatory
Disneyland:
Guests are seated and ascend a pitch-black staircase. A chair whose embroidering resembles a hidden face accompanies the moving suit of armor in front of the Endless Hall where a candelabrum floats lonesomely down the corridor.

Walt Disney World:
After boarding the Doom Buggies, guests are taken through a room containing a stairwell leading up to a landing where a candelabra floats above. Two of the sinister 11 portraits are relocated here. The Doom Buggies then take guests down a long portrait corridor, past flashing lightning windows and ghostly portraits similar to those in Disneyland’s changing portraits corridor (minus the Master Gracey portrait).

Passing under an archway guests enter a library with staring busts, moving ladders, flying books, and an unseen ghost rocking in a chair reading a book by candlelight. After this is a music room where a shadow plays a mellow version of Grim Grinning Ghosts on a rundown piano. A stormy forest is shown in the window behind the piano.

The Doom Buggies then ascend a room full of staircases that defy the laws of physics (like the art of M.C. Escher). Green footsteps stomp across the upside down and side-way stairs, which creates a very disturbing sense. At the top of the stairs thousands of blinking eyes look around and morph into demon-faced wallpaper.

Tokyo Disneyland:
Doom Buggies take guests down a long portrait corridor, past ghostly portraits whose eyes seem to follow you as you pass. This scene was once at Walt Disney World until the 2007 refurbishment.

The guests ride through a dark room filled with giant spiders in webs.

Disneyland Paris:
This section of Phantom Manor is identical to the Disneyland version, but an audio-animatronic of Melanie bows at passing guests.

Endless Hallway
All parks (except Paris)

As guests ascend a narrow staircase, whether from the load hall at Disneyland and Disneyland Paris or in the grand staircase scene in Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland, guests come across a living suit of armor, a chair which is embroidered with a hidden abstract face, and a long, narrow corridor down the center of a parlor. Part way down the corridor is a candelabra, floating eerily down the hallway.

Disneyland Paris
In Paris, the scene is identical to the other versions, but guests see Melanie come into view and out of view, while the candelabra she holds remains in view.

Conservatory
All parks (except Paris)

As guests stroll through the conservatory, the Doom Buggy is spun backwards telling not a soul of what's behind them. On the side of the room is a glass room. Dead flowers adorn the whole room with a coffin in the center. A raven, well thought to be the mansion's mascot, sits perched atop a wreath with a banner dubbed "Farewell". When guests take notice of the coffin, they see that the lid is being raised by a pair of skeletal claws while a green glow emits from the inside. The coffin seems to be nailed shut, which explains why the corpse inside is screaming for help.

Disneyland Paris:
In the conservatory, there is a harpsichord on which sits the red-eyed raven of the other attractions. The keys on the harpsichord seem to play by themselves, an effect obtained by the use mechanically moving keys. The guests can see the shadow of a phantom pianist projected on the ground. This scene is very much like the Music Room at Tokyo and Florida.

Corridor of doors
Disneyland:
After leaving the conservatory, guests travel through a dimly-lit corridor. Portraits of family members, all of which resemble zombies and skeletons, hang upon these walls while monstrous voices echo through the halls. Many doors, at least seven, are seen here, while their handles are jiggling with no one in sight. Every door has a door-knocker, knocking by them selves. A cross-stitched sign reading "Tomb Sweet Tomb" hangs crookedly on these walls as well. A portrait of a man who's seem to wear a hangman's noose while holding an axe is seen to the left of the corridor. Next to that, a door seems to be breathing as if it where human. Two reliefs resembling a smiling and a snarling demon are found here as well. At the end of the corridor is a door with a pair of skeletal hands trying to open the door with an eerie green glow from inside.

Walt Disney World:
Much similar to the Disneyland mansion, but with newly drawn portraits and a different version of the hanging man's portrait (this time depicting the same decrepit man, but with a shadow of a man raising an axe behind him. This portrait is a spin off of one of the sinister 11 portraits and is often thought to be The Ghost Host after he hung himself.)

Tokyo Disneyland:
Related to both American parks, but instead of family portraits and the hanging man, a portrait of a man centers the corridor's walls, donning a top hat. But, with a slight twist, this portrait seems to grow a three-dimensional face, pointed outward, facing the guests.

Disneyland Paris
The Doom Buggies pass a series of ten doors. Knocking sounds can be heard behind the doors and the knockers seem to be moving by themselves. At the tenth door, two skeletal hands can be seen trying to force their way through above the door.

The Clock Hall
All parks:
Each clock hall contains a single Grandfather clock with features of those of a demon. As the shadow of a claw reaches over the face of the clock, the hands spin wildly counter-clockwise, striking the number 13 every other second. The tail of the demon is seen swinging back and forth at the bottom of the clock. The only difference of each clock is in the clock hands, and the number of hour markers on the face (the Disneyland clock only has 12 hours, with the twelfth hour marked as "13")

Disneyland
The hands resembles a demon tongue.

Walt Disney World
The hands look like a pair of skeletal fingers.

Tokyo Disneyland
The hands have a Japanese design.

Disneyland Paris
The clock's minute hand resembles a snake's tail, while the hour hand features a crescent moon shape. The demon wallpaper has faded into the darkness and its eyes are glowing a greenish color, blinking at guests. This was an inspiration for the second half of the grand staircase scene in the Florida version of the ride.

The Séance Room
Walt Disney World:
The crystal ball containing Madame Leota’s head floats mysteriously above the table. Floating objects and instruments respond to Leota's incantations while a wispy green specter roams about a corner of the room.

Disneyland
Madame Leota's crystal ball rests in her cradle. From 2006-2009, Madame Leota was given the ability to float and was later adapted to Disney World's mansion in this way. The instruments are still featured here but the wispy spirit that floats reveals a skull-like face in the background. Madame Leota was, for the most part, grounded back to her pedestal in 2009. More recently, the floating effect has been activated again.

Tokyo Disneyland
Madame Leota's crystal ball remains stationary while a specter floats about the room.

Disneyland Paris
Madame Leota's crystal ball sits on a floating table, summoning spirits to a ghostly ball.

The Ballroom
All parks (except Disneyland Paris)

After leaving the Seance circle, guests are brought up to a balcony at the point where the Ghost Host leaves us to join the festivities down below in the ballroom. The ballroom consists a series of ghosts dancing about. Many ghosts are seen entering the room through a broken door where a hearse is crashed with its coffin sliding out. Some eerie wraiths are seen flying in and out of the windows above. A merry ghost is seen sitting atop a mantle of a fireplace (spitting out green flames) with his arm wrapped around a familiar bust. An elderly ghost is seen rocking back and forth in a chair while knitting a sweater. Many ghosts have gathered around a dinner table where a birthday ghost is blowing out 13 candles on a cake. A ghost version of Julius Caesar can be seen at the far end of the table. A massive chandelier hangs above the table where the ghost of Cleopatra and a couple of drunks are swinging about, hanging on with their canes. Another balcony is seen across the room where a curtained doorway is settled between two unlikely portraits depicting two duelists. From time to time, the ghosts of the two duelists will come out and shoot each other with their pistols. A series of elegantly dressed couples are seen below waltzing to a haunting refrain of the theme song "Grim Grinning Ghosts". The humongous organ (at Disneyland, the organ is the actual one used in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. At the other parks, it is a replica of the original.) is played by a ghostly composer while skull-like Banshees fly out of the organ pipes. At Walt Disney World, shortly after the 2007 refurbishment, one of the sinister 11 portraits was relocated here whereas at Disneyland, a scene was placed here to conjoin the balcony with the attic consisting of an end table.

Disneyland Paris
At Paris, Melanie (the bride) is seen standing on the staircase, upset whilst the Phantom looks over from a window, laughing. Most of the rest of the ballroom is identical to other versions of the ride, except the table is set up for a wedding party.

The Attic
Disneyland and Walt Disney World:
The Doom Buggies pass portraits of wealthy men that adorn the eerie room. Each portrait contains the same bride. A ghostly pianist is seen banging the keys on an old run down piano. playing a grim version of Richard Wagner's bridal march, set to the chord progression and tempo of Grim Grinning Ghosts.

Every beat of the bride-yet-to-see's heart reacts to the men's heads disappearing from their shoulders. For each husband the bride marries, she gains a strand of pearls.
Eventually, the Doom Buggies come across the bride herself on the opposite side of the attic, uttering her wedding vows. Halfway through each of her vows, an axe appears in her hands, disappearing before she starts her next vow.

Tokyo Disneyland :
Upon entering the attic, a loud heartbeat echoes throughout the room, followed by the screams of skeletal ghosts which pop-up from random bric-a-brac. At the end of the attic stands a blue pale-faced bride whose heart beats a bloody red, while holding a candle stick.

The Boudoir (Disneyland Paris)
The Doom Buggies enter the Bride's Boudoir. Melanie is now an old woman and sits in front of a skull-shaped mirror, crying. Following the Bride's Boudoir, Phantom Manor follows a different series of scenes from the standard scenes of the regular Haunted Mansions.

The Graveyard and Ending
All parks (except Disneyland Paris):
The left hand of the phantom-like ghost’s cloak (near the opera singers) forms a Hidden Mickey in the Florida Version.

Disneyland Paris
There is no graveyard scene at Paris. Instead, guests leave the Bride's Boudoir into the Manor's backyard where you see the Phantom, standing before an open grave, laughing menacingly, which replaces the caretaker. Then the Doom Buggies pass an undead dog, which replaces the caretaker's live dog.

The Doom Buggies then travel underground, into some catacombs, and see a series of coffins being opened by their skeletal residents. Four white marble busts then come into view, bearing the expressive faces of four phantoms singing "Grim Grinning Ghosts".

As guests pass through a hole exiting the catacombs and enter Phantom Canyon, the supernatural version of Thunder Mesa, great rifts in the earth surrounding the buggies suggest that there is an earthquake happening. An eerie-looking figure is then seen standing before a ramshackle train station, offering guests train tickets to the Underworld. This character is nicknamed Ezra (because he resembles one of the Hitchhiking Ghosts from the original mansion, who shares the same name). Guests then pass a ruined town hall where a mayor stands, inviting guests to be the manor's 1000th ghost. (The Mayor's dialogue is made up of clips from the Paul Frees Ghost Host narration of the American versions of the Haunted Mansion). As he tips his hat, his head comes with it. A shootout follows between a bank robber fleeing a bank on a mule and a cowardly sheriff, with Big Thunder Mountain in the background. Guests see a pharmacy where a green-faced pharmacist drinks a deadly-looking medicine, followed by a saloon with a caved-in front wall. Inside it there is a dancing showgirl, a bartender, and a man playing a honky-tonk piano. Four invisible gambler figures play poker nearby.

Another figure of the Phantom leads guests into an open grave. This time, he more resembles a zombie than a skeleton. As they see the silhouette of the Manor ahead, they enter a dark passage and see Melanie's corpse pointing to the way out. The vehicles enter a subterranean chamber lined with large, gilt-framed mirrors in which a ghostly image of the phantom can be seen above the Doom Buggies along with a reflection of the guests themselves, replacing the Hitchhiking Ghosts. Then guests enter a wine cellar and disembark.

Much of Phantom Canyon was derived from a planned scene of a mining town called Dry Gulch in the never built Western River Expedition at the Magic Kingdom. Phantom Canyon is also based on a supernatural version of Thunder Mesa per the backstory surrounding both Phantom Manor and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Disneyland Paris.