The Haunted Mansion-Walt Disney World

Welcome Foolish Mortals! Everyone has a favorite ride at Walt Disney World. One that they always check the wait times for. One that they rush to at rope drop. One that they know trivia about and love to share with friends. My favorite ride is the Haunted Mansion.

Danny Elfman has said that this is also his favorite ride!

I have ridden countless times and I still feel like I notice new things every single time. There are so many details inside and outside the house and even throughout the queue.

I have watched the Behind the Attraction episode on Disney+, I have ridden the Mansion in Disneyland (when it was normal and during Christmas/Halloween when it gets transformed to Nightmare Before Christmas), I have even been on the Haunted Manor in Disneyland Paris.

My husband and I recently took a special 5 hour tour in the Magic Kingdom (The Keys To The Kingdom Tour) and learned even more about the ride in the tour. With all these fun facts haunting the corners of my mind, I thought it would be fun to write a blog sharing what I know about the house that hosts 999 happy haunts.

The Haunted Mansion first opened in Disneyland on August 9th, 1969, after years and years of planning and deliberating (about 12 years actually). Unfortunately, Walt Disney did not live to see the Mansion in all its glory. Luckily, he left behind an incredible team to carry out his vision. As the Imagineers were working, they made two of everything so that there would be duplicates for the attraction in Disney World. The attraction opened in Disney World on October 1st, 1971.

I suppose I should start with the exterior of the Mansion. There are so many details that went into the design of the Mansion and of the grounds. I never really mind if there is a line because I get the opportunity to pause and admire all the nooks and crannies of the house.

Walt Disney did not want an old decrepit looking run-down house. He wanted the outside of the house to look pristine and maintained, like the rest of the park. He said, “we’ll take care of the outside, and let the ghosts take care of the inside”. Ken Anderson worked on the design of the outside of the original Mansion in California (he is also responsible for the hanging man idea and the elevator for transport), but for Disney World changes had to be made as the Mansion was now in Liberty Square, not New Orleans Square and it needed a Hudson River/Dutch Gothic vibe.

I feel like this bat is overseeing the line and guarding the house.

Speaking of the line, if you ever see a 13-minute wait time, it is code for NO wait time!!! They do this at Tower of Terror also!!

Even the landscaping around the Mansion is special. Did you know that the rose bushes in front of the house were specifically designed for Disney and for the Mansion? They are called Blood Red Roses. The older they are the darker they get. Our tour guide told us that they even cut the lawn with scissors!!

There is so much to see when looking at the house itself. Have you noticed the coffins beside the front door?

Imagineer Marc Davis had several small models of the Florida Mansion as he was trying to get the design right. He was also a lover of chess and was known to play a game or two to clear his mind. While his office was left unattended, an office prankster would often come in and place the chess pieces on top of the model of the Mansion. It is said that once he finally completed his work on the Mansion, he felt like the silhouette of the roof top didn’t look quite right. He decided to incorporate some of the chess pieces back onto the Mansion. Can you see the Pawns, Bishops, Rooks, and Queens? No knight can be seen on the outside of the house because “it is always night inside”.

You can usually find a PhotoPass cast member just behind the horse and hearse up against the fence when you come off the ride. We have gotten some really cool photos of the house here and they also put in some great magic shots, and they are different depending on the time of year!

Speaking of the Hearse, it was originally purchased from a local antique dealer in California and meant for the Young Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. Unfortunately, that fell through, so a Phantom Horse was added, and it was placed in front of the Mansion to help it fit the theme. The hearse at Disney World was used in the 1965 film The Sons of Katie Elder (a western).

There are also guards surrounding the boarder of the conservatory, ensuring the haunts stay inside.

In 2011 Disney World added interactive elements to the queue. The first you will come across are the busts of the Dread family. Did you know that there is a mystery here for guests to solve? Each bust says how the person died, but also gives a clue to help you figure out the murder mystery! Click the link to find out more about the Dread family and to hear about how the original Imagineers dreamed up the stories of the Dread family and how to solve the mystery of their murders.

The Dread Family

There is no relation I swear!

As you continue through the queue, you will also be able to tap on the musical crypt, see the Sepulcher of the Sea Captain, pay respects to the Tomb of the Posthumous Poetess, and enjoy the books that mysteriously move at the Secret Library.

You will also come across the tomb of Master Gracey as you go through this part of the queue. Many of you may not know but most of the headstones are dedicated to the Imagineers who worked on the attraction. Yale Gracey played a huge part in making the Haunted Mansion the ride we all know and love today. He is responsible for the marble busts in the library that follow you with their eyes, as well as the pictures in the hallway leading to the Doom Buggys and just after you get on the Doom Buggys that are enchanted.

Probably my favorite thing about the queue is looking for the lost engagement ring of Constance Hatchaway. I did not know anything about this until I took the Keys to the Kingdom Tour, but now that I know, I can’t help but look for it every single time! If you are not familiar with the story, click the link below.

Hint hint…the ring is somewhere over here…..

We are almost inside the house but there is still my favorite headstone to mention. The headstone of Madame Leota. You will see her floating around again a little later in the ride, but for now make sure you take a really close look at her headstone…don’t blink! You may miss something!

Some of the other headstones near the entrance to the house.

You will finally enter the house and pass through a chamber with a fireplace. If you take a closer look at the photo above the fireplace, you will notice that it has a very “Picture of Dorian Grey” feel to it because the longer you look at it, the older the man in the photo becomes.

Once you pass through this room, you will enter into a chamber with no windows and no doors. You will notice some lovely paintings all around the room. Fun tip, if you want to get onto the ride faster, get underneath the painting of the girl holding the umbrella (The Tightrope Walker). That will be where the door opens. You are now officially in the “elevator” chamber. Originally in Disneyland these stretching rooms took you 6 feet under where you would walk down a hallway and get on your Doom Buggy and begin your tour of the Mansion. In Florida, because of the water table, the walls still stretch but you actually go up.

The Tightrope Walker: Mistress Lillian Gracey

In the stretching room you are also introduced to your “ghost host”. This is Paul Freeze. He is an actor who was also the voice of Professor Ludwig Von Drake (Donald Duck’s Uncle), Boris Badenov from “The Bullwinkle Show”, and you even hear his voice in another ride in the park! He is the voice of the auctioneer in Pirates of the Carribean! He is actually represented in the room and is the man wearing the bowler hat!

There was always debate on whether the ride should be scary or funny. Walt Disney said from the beginning that “people liked to be scared”. The ride ended up being a perfect blend of Imagineers Rolly Crump and Yale Gracey (and many others) and you will see the funny and scary throughout.

If you are standing under the girl with the umbrella, you should see the blue light pictured above (that is the sensor) on the wall. That is the indicator that it is the door that will slide open, and this doorway will lead you into the hallway queue for the Doom Buggys. If you are wearing one of the new Magic Band +, you will start to feel a pulsing like a heartbeat and will notice your band glowing red! This really adds to the suspense and thrill of waiting to get on the ride!

The red heartbeat glow of your Magic Band + when getting on and off the ride.

You are finally in your Doom Buggy and the Ghost Host has taken over to begin your tour. He even lowers the safety bar for you. Did you know that the original concept for this attraction was actually supposed to be something you walked through? There would be guides at different areas in the house telling you about each room.

Happy in our Doom Buggy!

Did you know that back in 2019 Disney added a on ride photo? It is only on the Florida attraction! Do you want to get the perfect shot? Wait until you are in front of the Medusa painting. It is the last of the four paintings on the wall in the short hallway leading to the Library. I know you are not supposed to make eye contact with Medusa but this time I promise it will pay off! When lightning strikes, it is actually the flash of the camera taking your photo! You will get two different pictures in your My Disney Experience App.

Marc Davis was known as a “gag guy” and helped with a lot of the paintings.

Once you get your photo, you are taken to the library where you see the marble busts. They also see you, and they follow you with their eyes! The library leads you to the music room, and through the stacking staircases. Then you see the famous purple wallpaper with the different sets of eyes. Designer Tania Norris used Rolly Crump’s chandelier sketch to design this famous wallpaper. You will then see a long hallway of rooms and a mysterious candle floating down the hall. If you look closely here, you will see a chair with a hidden Donald Duck!

The floating candle.

The hidden Donald is on this chair.

As you continue down the hallway, you start to see some guest rooms. The details around the pictures, the doors, the light fixtures, and just every nook and cranny are astounding. There is something new to be seen every time I am on the ride.

Once you get down the long hallway and pass the grandfather clock, you make your way into the seance room. This room holds on of the Mansion’s greatest treasures, Madame Leota. She is a medium and she is calling forth the spirits to join you. The special effects in this room are incredible. The face/head of Madame Leota is actually modeled after Imagineer Leota Toombs. The voice, however, belongs to someone else. You do hear Leota Tooms voice much later in the ride, but for now you are hearing the voice of Eleanor Audley who also provided the voice of Maleficent in Sleeping Beauty, as well as the Wicked Stepmother in Cinderella.

Once you exit the seance room you enter the Ballroom, and this is where the ghosts start to materialize, and the real fun begins!! This has always been my favorite room in the whole Mansion because the illusion is absolutely incredible. As a child I remember watching the ghosts dancing in the ballroom and I thought it was absolutely captivating.

There is a lot to share about this room. First is the actual illusion. It is called Peppers Ghost and was invented by a magician named Henry Pepper in the 1800’s. Basically, it is like when you see a reflection of something in a window at home. Click the link for a full lession on Peppers Ghost and how the effect is created. While riding the ride, if you lean really far forward and look up, you can see the toes of the ghosts sitting on the chandelier right above your head (because what you see in the actual ballroom is their reflection).

Another fun fact is that the organ in the ballroom (not the pipes) is the organ that was used in the 1954 film 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. The one in California is technically the original and the others are replicas.

Like to find hidden Mickeys? In the ballroom, a plate and a pair of saucers on the dining table make up the iconic shape!

Next, we are transported to the Attic to visit the ghost of Constance Hatchaway, the Black Widow Bride. I love going through the attic because there are so many things to look at and so many details to take in! The Bride was created by Imagineer Ken Anderson and so named Hatchaway because she is seen carrying a hatchet.

As you exit the attic you get your first glimpse of the cemetery before turning around and going backwards down into the spooky jamboree below. Do you know why you go backwards down the hill into the graveyard instead of forward? It is for safety! When Walt and the Imagineers were testing the Doom Buggys they all fell out of the Doom Buggys onto the floor when going forwards down the hill! Since safety is one of the five keys, they decided it would be easiest to have you descend backward into the graveyard.

This is also where you hear the Grim Grinning Ghosts in full swing! You have been hearing it this whole time in different variations but now you get to really take it in along with the lyrics. The song was written by Frances X Atenico (Lyrics) and Buddy Baker (music). They were both musical directors on the Mickey Mouse club. Frances X Atenico wrote the lyrics for Pirates of the Carribean ride and was honored with a headstone outside the Mansion. The lyrics were inspired by Shakespeare’s poem Venus and Adonis. Click the link below to find out more.

Singing along to Grim Grinning Ghosts, are the loveable singing busts. The most loveable however, is the second one from the left, and that voice belongs to Thurl Ravenscroft. You may recognize his voice from “Your A Mean One Mr. Grinch”, but he was most famous for lending his voice to Tony the Tiger.

Something that our guide shared with us on the Keys to the Kingdom Tour was that while they were creating props for the ride, an Imagineer brought in their cat Pandi so that they could get their cat animatronics to look as realistic as possible. They used Pandi to model the cats for the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Carribean! Sweet Pandi gets to live on forever in each of these rides in both California and Florida!

Pandi in the Haunted Mansion

Pandi in Pirates of the Carribean

This one is really hard to spot, and the photo is even harder to capture but there is another hidden Mickey in the cemetery! As you are about to exit, you will be looking at the female opera singer and there will be a crypt to the right, and the ghoul inside will be holding a lantern. If you look closely, the ghoul’s hand and the handle of the lantern form a Mickey. You have to look behind you as the ride moves forward to see it and try to grab a picture (and mine is grainy and not great) but it is there!

Next you will see the hitchhiking ghosts! These guys were created by Marc Davis and are one of the famous icons of the ride! Gus is the short one, Ezra is the tall one with the hat, and Phineas is the one carrying the bag.

You have almost reached the exit! But first you get to see one final ghost, and the voice that you hear is that of the Imagineer Leota Toombs telling you to “hurry back”.

Once you exit your Doom Buggy and leave the confines of the actual Mansion, you will see a mausoleum to the left and you will hear birds chirping. These are not actual birds. This has been installed for a reason, and that reason is to keep birds away. If birds were to accidently fly into the opening allowing guests to leave the ride, they would become disoriented because of the dark and could get hurt or killed and go deeper and deeper into the ride. These bird sounds are territorial sounds that actually keep birds away so that this does not happen.

A little further to the left you will see the pet cemetery. There is a special headstone in the cemetery of Mr. Toad. Back in 1998 the ride Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride closed down in Fantasyland, and to pay tribute, Imagineers placed Mr. Toad’s headstone in the pet cemetery.

Well friends, that’s all the trivia I have, do you have any to add? Please put it in the comments! All the photos are either from a Photo Pass photographer on one of my trips, or I have taken myself. I added links to information where I thought you would want to know more. I hope you enjoyed learning fun facts about my favorite ride and that you look for some of these things next time you ride!