[go: up one dir, main page]

Even the flora mourns
The Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion is surrounded by trees that express a lost, forlorn aura. Photo by Jennifer Lynn: https://flic.kr/p/rBFFBn

A very important part of the queue decoration is the landscaping and plant selections, which lend an aura of authenticity to the architectural settings proposed by the facade designs. The Tokyo and Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion grounds are carefully designed to appear overgrown and ancient, with roses growing into brambles and trees scaled to empasize the imposing nature of the brick and mortar facades. The Mansion's lawn has even been allowed to grow long and thick, with a few weeds poking up here and there.

The vast acreage of the Walt Disney World Resort requires a different type of groundskeeping than the horticulture at Disneyland. For example, to cut down on the sheer amount of man-made chemicals that would be necessary to maintain the 47 square miles that compose the resort, an army of 10.5 million beneficial insects are released each year to control plant pests, according to Jack Spence, writing for AllEars.net. "A diverse group of over 600 horticulture professionals - gardeners, arborists, irrigation specialists, and pest management specialists - join the bugs in keeping the flora beautiful," Jack continues.

Of course, Walt Disney World's attention to horticultural detail owes a lot to Walt Disney's original desire for Disneyland to be a world class destination, and a lot of that original inspiration can be attributed to Walt's original team of landscape designers.

The trees surrounding the Haunted Mansion are carefully groomed to appear unkempt and dreary. Installation of the queue pathway for Disneyland's Haunted Mansion, 1963.
A focus on Disneyland

Disneyland's Haunted Mansion grounds contain plants that may be carefully groomed to maintain a proper, well-tended apperance, while still offering a hint of sorrow, in a wonderful landscape design by legendary horticulturalist Morgan "Bill" Evans. As the Mansion was placed in a pre-existing grove of Southern Magnolia trees, a few still remain around the Disneyland facade. A neatly manicured lawn sets in front of the Mansion, though it is adorned with carefully placed sections of Mondo Grass, to give a loose, overgrown effect around planters and props. A walkway wanders through the lawn, from the front gate to the porch of the Mansion, with a fork heading off along the side of the house. (Pictured at right: Construction of the inset walkway at Disneyland was completed after the main facade was finished.) A number of drooping plants and trees are used in the landscaping, to give a "weeping" appearance, as if the plant life itself were in mourning.

Disneyland's pet cemetery demonstrates numerous dark and grassy plants.

"An important step was the visual exclusion of the twentieth century by the construction of a 20 foot 'berm,' a mound of earth completely surrounding the park," said Bill, in his 1965 book "Disneyland: World of Flowers." "The separation was further effected by dense plantings of trees and shrubs atop the berm, which form the horizon in many vistas from inside Disneyland," which includes the Haunted Mansion queue.

An interesting point to note is the fact that Disneyland also customizes the earth in which its plants live, which only makes sense; it's hard to fathom spending all the time, attention and money on these carefully selected plants just to have them perish quickly due to pests or disease. Returning to Bill's book: "In order to do justice to the bedding plants, we manufacture our own soil," Bill wrote. "It is made up of approximately equal parts of fresh redwood sawdust and clean granular sand, plus the essential chemical nutrients. Eight to ten inches of this soil mix is placed in the beds where, with systematic supplemental feeding, it will sustain four or five plantings per year. After two years the mix is replaced with a fresh batch, not because the soil is worn out, but to dispose of any pests or soil diseases that may have moved in in the interim."

"Even when Disneyland was still just a series of sketches and plans, Walt Disney was keenly aware of the importance of imaginative landscapes in the park," Bill wrote. "Today, Disneyland's horticultural display charms visitors with its unusual plants from around the world."

Disneyland's Haunted Mansion queue includes a variety of unsettling plants.
Keeping it spooky

“The point is that the Haunted Mansion is kind of scary,” said Adam Schwerner, a more recent director of horticulture and resort enhancement at Disneyland Resort, as reported in the Orange County Register. “What plants tell that story? We don’t want plants that are poisonous or dangerous, but we do want to have plants that convey a feeling of intrigue or suspense.”

Euphorbia (or "Medusa's Head" - pictured at right), Weeping Mulberry, and Weeping Juniper are all examples of this style of planting. Calla Lily, Lambs Ear and English Holly are other familiar varieties used in this careful display of vegetation. The groundskeepers at Disneyland have a carefully compiled list of all of the plants in each section of the park, including the grounds of the Haunted Mansion: "We contribute to the creepy atmosphere by planting darker colors - black and blood red," according to the document, "and plants that remind us of funerals or overgrown graveyards, like Lilies, Dracaenas, False Aralia, and Wandering Jew, for example." Click here to read this internal document which lists all of the plants that contribute to the Haunted Mansion's sorrowful aura.

The Haunted Mansion's hearse

Although it is widely rumored that Disneyland acquired the coach that carried Mormon Pioneer Brigham Young's body to its grave, this is just another one of the many myths that surround the Haunted Mansion. According to Glen M. Leonard, director of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Museum of Church History and Art, the historical records are conclusive that the hearse couldn't possibly have been used for Young. "Historical evidence shows no hearse was used," he said, although he allowed for the possibility that the vehicle may be an authentic carriage from Young's era that originated in Utah.

The Disneyland Haunted Mansion queue hearse.

There exists an intriguing story, however, about how the hearse was acquired. The beautiful white hearse, which was already fully restored when purchased, was found at King Richard's Antiques in Whittier, California (itself a storied place built in an old citrus packing house in 1903.) The previous owner, Dale Rickards - a Hollywood horse wrangler, was selling off some of his collection of antiques. Rumor has it that a buyer for Knott's Berry Farm's Ghost Town had spied the hearse and just had to acquire it, despite the $21,000 price tag, so he rushed off to get a company check - but good ol' King Richard let the Mouse know that the hearse was going to be out of their reach forever if they didn't up the ante a bit, so by the time Knott's buyer returned, the hearse had been sold out from under him.

Reservations accepted sign inside of the Disneyland hearse.

In his book, Imagineer Jason Surrell explains that the hearse would have been used in a proposed Indiana Jones Stunt Show for Disneyland - a strange fit, though it may explain the quick rush to keep the thing out of Knott's grasp. Of course, the Haunted Mansion was also considered a natural setting for the acquisition, but Surrell also goes on to explain that Imagineer Tony Baxter, a reliable stickler for backstory, didn't think the hearse should just be randomly parked in front of the attraction. However, the popular carnival "ghost dogs" which were also available at Disneyland's magic shops provided inspiration for a great Marc Davis-style gag, and the "ghost horse" which was hitched to the hearse gave it the proper storyline.

Additionally, a gag sign was placed inside of the hearse (alongside a rotting funereal floral arrangement) as an homage to a sign that sat in front of the Haunted Mansion for years while it was under construction. The original sign asked for ghosts interested in dwelling in this "happy haunting ground" to send their resumes to Disneyland's "Ghost Relations Dept." - so this new sign does likewise.

The Disneyland ghost horse concept was revisited in this concept art for the 2003 Haunted Mansion film staring Eddie Murphy.

The ghost horse gag proved so effective that it was even implemented in the 2003 movie "The Haunted Mansion," as demonstrated by the conceptual art of the film's hearse and ghost horse pictured here. In fact, due to the prop's popularity, die-cast models of the hearse were created to sell at the theme parks - a black one that resembles the hearse parked in front of the Walt Disney World Mansion, and a white one to resemble Disneyland's hearse. An interesting note: the Florida hearse has a show-biz pedigree. It appeared in the John Wayne flick "The Sons of Katie Elder," and was subsequently purchased and parked in the Magic Kingdom.

While the truth of the Disneyland hearse's creation may never be known, it can be said with certainty that neither Brigham Young (nor Joseph Smith, for that matter) were ever transported in this particular coach. It is also reasonably certain that no carriages throughout history have ever been pulled by invisible horses, though we give Disneyland extra credit for including even the horseshoes embedded in the ground in this clever display.

The hearse, being installed at the Disneyland Haunted Mansion. A phantom character in front of the Haunted Mansion, staged for the fall 1969 issue of Backstage, Disneyland's house organ.
Oh give me a home where the Phantoms still roam

For a brief period of time in the 1980s, costumed characters roamed the queue area of the Disneyland Haunted Mansion near the front door in the form of cloaked "Phantoms," according to Jason Surrell in his book "The Haunted Mansion: from the Magic Kingdom to the Movies," though the Phantom characters tracked down by DoomBuggies.com recall their territories as being limited to the inside of the attraction. Commenting on a YouTube video, Inertia186 verifies seeing a Phantom character in the Disneyland Haunted Mansion's Corridor of Doors: "I personally witnessed the Phantom character when I was a kid. I believe it was the late '80s and I remember a black cape, black fedora hat. I don't remember if his face had a mask or not. I remember wondering why a cast member was wandering around the hall of doors. As a kid, I figured this was how cast members made repairs during ride operations, but that's just silly."

The Disneyland Main Street Opera House was briefly haunted by a Phantom-type character.

There is evidence that in the '80s, a character was developed that sounds like the one described above - a cloaked, shadowy figure in a top hat, similar to one of the Marc Davis-designed "Sinister 11" portraits that were on display at the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion at the time - and there is always the possibility that for a brief window of time, Disneyland experimented with placing this character in the queue as well as various locations throughout the ride. However, it is known that the Disneyland queue had been haunted by a Phantom during special Halloween events in the 1990s.

Disneyland also toyed around with a Phantom of the Opera character haunting the Main Street Cinema - a gag that was effective since no one expected a thrill of that sort on Main Street, but was also short-lived, because, well, no one expected a thrill of that sort on Main Street.

So whether costumed spooks ever were used to set a scary stage or not, the queue area of the Haunted Mansion has always been meticulously themed and carefully landscaped, to ensure guests would be in the proper mood for the mysterious happenings to come within the walls.

Ivy pours off of the ledge of the berm surrounding the Disneyland Haunted Mansion queue. Gravestones in the Disneyland queue as they appeared in 1972.
In memorium: cemeteries spill their secrets

While there is no definitive proof that the Francis Lichten book so instrumental to the look of the architecture of the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Haunted Mansions had any part of the development of the landscaping of the attractions, it remains fair to at least consider what the book has to say about Victorian era family cemeteries, as the book contains a full chapter on the subject (chapter 13, natch.)

"Going to the cemetery was a favorite outing, one in which duty was mingled with a pleasuable and sensuous melancholy," Francis writes. "Without a knowledge of the high mortality which prevailed throughout most of the nineteenth century, it is impossible to comprehend the Victorian absoption in the world of the dead." So, contrary to most typical Halloween-type ghost stories and imagery that show the family plot as one in which ghouls and the undead lurk around every corner, the Victorian family plot might better be considered another perspective on our time left on this mortal coil. Therefore, markers with pithy or even humorous epitaphs and engravings would be very possible remnants of a turn-of-the-century family cemetery.

Original Imagineers Ken Anderson, Rolly Crump and Blaine Gibson are honored along with vocal talent Paul Frees on this vault at the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion.

Having considered the historical perspective, the fact remains that a mansion can hardly be considered "haunted" if it doesn't have a family graveyard adjacent to it to provide the proper lineage of spooks, and Disney's Haunted Mansions are no exception. The Walt Disney World Mansion queue passes by a small graveyard outside of the Haunted Mansion, though now an "interactive" graveyard of sorts has been installed at the attraction, eclipsing the woody plot. Disneyland also had a cemetery in the queue (which is pictured above as it appeared in 1972 in a photo donated by Jeff Babb.) That plot has long since been removed - probably sometime in late 1972 - to make more room for guests to line up, leaving a faux vault along the wall in its stead. The Disneyland tombstones were then relocated to the berm outside of the queue, and then were removed altogether for many years - finally reappearing atop the berm in 2016, when it was reworked to be more of a retaining wall (pictured above). Despite all of the changes, one thing each family plot had in common was a plethora of silly epitaphs written to honor the various Imagineers and artists who worked on the development of the attraction. Pictured below are the epitaphs found on the tombstones of the original Walt Disney World family plot, which are similar to the headstones that used to appear at Disneyland. Pictured at left is a more recent addition to the Walt Disney World queue area, honoring some of the original Imagineers that weren't given tombstones when the attraction first opened.

Imagineers' names adorn tombstones in an earlier version of the Walt Disney World queue. The Randotti Company started marketing small plaster tombstones at Disneyland for guests to personalize and take home.

Some of the original show designers were given the original tombstones named after them, when duplicates were eventually made; X. Atencio and Yale Gracey used to display them in their yards at home. Yale used to claim that his gardeners would give the corner of the lawn that hosted the tombstone a wide berth. Despite being a literal reminder of our mortality, Disneyland's cemeteries and tombstones seemed to set the perfect morbidly zany mood for guests about to enter the attraction. In fact, for many years, Disneyland and Walt Disney World both sold small plaster tombstone souvenirs designed by the Randotti Company, which guests could have personalized with their names for a fee, so that anyone could get in on the fun.

Pictured below, at left: The Osmond Brothers pose in Disneyland's small queue cemetery in 1970 as promotion for their "Disneyland Showtime" episode, which featured the Haunted Mansion. Below right: Disneyland's vault, which is located adjacent to the wall that used to border the cemetery and sits below the berm which currently hosts the gravestones.

The Osmond brothers post with tombstones in the queue of the Haunted Mansion in 1970. Vaults line the walls outside of the Disneyland Haunted Mansion queue.
Grave humor

Some of the original tombstone epitaphs follow:

In memory of our patriarch - dear departed Grandpa Marc; Requiescat Francis Xavier - No time off for good behavior; Rest in peace, Brother Huet - We all know you didn't do it; R.I.P., good friend Gordon - Now you've crossed the river Jordan; Master Gracey laid to rest - No mourning, please, at his request; At peaceful rest lies Brother Claude - Planted here beneath this sod; Here lies good old Fred - A great big rock fell on his head; Here rests Wathel R. Bender - He rode to glory on a fender; Dear departed brother Dave - He chased a bear into a cave; Here lies a man named Martin - The lights went out on this old Spartan.

This tombstone dedicated to Madame Leota has a surprise for guests who are carefully observant.
Breathing life into stone

In 2002, Walt Disney Imagineering created a new effect for the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion queue, which featured a mysterious tombstone for the infamous Madame Leota. Of course, since Leota was a medium during her tenure in the mortal realm, you might expect her tombstone to be somewhat different from the rest. According to Chris Caines, reporting for DoomBuggies.com, the new animated prop fits perfectly into the decor outside of the Haunted Mansion, where it is set alongside the other tombstones, being the last thing guests see before entering the ride. "The head movements are very subtle," Chris said. "The eyes only open for a little bit. This thing is definitely creepy. The funny thing was that kids were noticing it before the adults were, and they would tell their parents... and their parents would say "It's not moving." The kids would see it again and this would repeat. Very funny. It was cycling about every minute. If they increased the cycle time, it wouldn't be as creepy as it is now."

Since the tombstone was added in 2001, the timing, frequency and range of motion of the animatronic has been experimented with, to find the proper blend of mystery and surprise. The tombstone inscription, which was written by Imagineer Jason Surrell, is a sly reference to the character of Madame Leota, a disembodied fortune teller inside a misty crystal ball that haunts the attraction. It reads: Dear Sweet Leota, Beloved by All; In Regions Beyond Now, But Having a Ball.

In a conversation with Mouse Planet, Jason talks about the tombstone: "Coincidentally, Leota Toombs, the Imagineer who supplies Leota's face, never got her own tombstone and yet virtually all of the other major Imagineers that worked on the show had been saluted with a tombstone of their own. This [new tombstone] allowed us to not only tie into a character the guests would be meeting in just a few minutes but to also finally give Leota her own tribute and I'm really, really proud of that."

The southernmost Disneyland Haunted Mansion queue.
Zig-zag-a-dee-doo-dah

The Disneyland queue currently zigzags along the southern side of the Haunted Mansion's facade, with the pet cemetery located to the east and the park's berm located to the west, atop which the renovated family plot was planted in 2016. While some folks have complained that the berm leaves little apparent room for the presumed bodies which would have also been planted there, the overall reception to the return of the tombstones (and, therefore, the return of the homage to some of the attraction's designers) was very positive.

Bluebeard's crypt is part of the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion graveyard, calling back to Ken Anderson's original plans for the attraction.

In Walt Disney World, the Haunted Mansion queue offers an off-ramp to visit an interactive cemetery of sorts, which contains a number of markers and "tomb-esque" structures that stretch the definition of a graveyard, yet offer interesting diversions to make a long queue seem to pass more quickly. The interactive element was installed in 2011, after being developed by a team led by Imagineers Peter Carsillo (art director and show designer), Eric Goodman (show producer), and Eric Jacobson (Senior VP of Creative Development). While Haunted Mansion fans differ in their opinions of the appropriateness of the space, there is a good argument to be made that as far as the general public's attitude is concerned, the interactivity and fresh tributes to old Imagineers offered the attraction's queue some needed revitalization. The stories told by the various interactive tombs, which would rationally seem to be related to characters we meet in the Mansion, appear to take place in an alternate universe to the Mansion's, which is a primary reason for the criticism directed toward the interactive elements. To listen to a description of the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion and its queue, check out the WDW Ride Guide's podcast about the Haunted Mansion.

Markers from the 2011 Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion queue. Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/antciardiello/24115272594 Pipes from the organ of the Decomposing Composer's tomb at the Haunted Mansion in the Magic Kingdom.

Listen to a sample of a song that emanates from the tomb of "The Decomposing Composer" in the Haunted Mansion queue at Walt Disney World. Guests can control the music by touching various sculpted instruments that are carved into the tomb. One side of the tomb depicts natural, orchestral instruments, while the other shows weirder, unworldly instuments. (The experience and instrumentations were developed by Polysonics Acoustics.)

The Magical Distractions blog offers this succinct review of the area: "Waiting for your entrance to The Stretching Room became a lot more immersive. Five busts of the Dread family (see photo, above) stand as a mystery for guests to solve, and each offers a clue as to how the previous family member met their untimely demise. The tombstone of Madame Leota is still present, of course, but in the expansion some really neat interactive features were added. The tomb of a composer displays various musical instruments that guests can touch and actually hear the music … from beyond the grave. The tomb of a sea captain leaks real water and the crypt of a writer shows the eerie composition of a new novel – a murder mystery – but the novel seems to be writing itself."

The Haunted Mansion's origina; Pet Cemetery, located north of the front facade of the Haunted Mansion.
Remembering man's best friends

In the early 1980s, Disneyland added a pet cemetery to its rarely-seen side lawn - a portion of the attraction that is typically only seen by guests that enter via the side entrance for wheelchair access, or guests with service dogs that need to use the lawn. Pictured below is Haunted Mansion Hostess Ashley in this original north-side pet cemetery, posing with the memorial for "Big Jake." The addition was the idea of Imagineer Kim Irvine, and she created the scene with off-the-shelf statuary, personalized with empathetic inscriptions written by WDI's Chris Goosman, such as those for "Miss Kitty" and "Bully" the bullfrog. Proving popular with the guests lucky enough to discover it, WDI decided to create a full-blown pet cemetery to install in the front yard of the Mansion. This newer version of the pet cemetery (installed in 1993) adds a subtle touch of humor to the queue as well.

Haunted Mansion Maid Ashley poses with the marker for Big Jake in the northern pet cemetery.

The original 1980s-era pet cemetery was located on top of some of the workings of the attraction in front of the tunnel through which the Disneyland Railroad passes, extending out toward the crypt from which guests exit the ride. In 2016, a large vent had to be installed in the middle of the lawn due to the nearby railroad tunnel, so it was cleverly disguised as an elephant's ossuary.

It should be noted that pet cemeteries were not unheard of in Victorian times, though they were novel at the time. The Imagineers would have been well aware of the "secret" pet cemetery in London's Hyde Park, which dates back to the 1880s. In fact, America had her own pet cemetery of some notoriety, which dates back to 1896.

Various influences likely inspired the different tombstones, but as the only "cross"-shaped marker in the entire Haunted Mansion, the bone-shaped homage to "Fifi" stands out. Fifi's marker is planted in the center of the 1993 pet cemetery which is in front of the Haunted Mansion. An interesting note: long before Tim Burton influenced the Haunted Mansion by providing the story and film that form the basis for the Mansion's yearly holiday overlay, Tim also influenced the 1993 pet cemetery with his short film "Frankenweenie" (1984), a Disney production by Burton that the studio found difficult to place at the time, though it had a sort of cult following ever since it was made. A tombstone nearly identical to "Fifi's" can be found in the pet cemetery montage in the main titles of the film, for those curious enough to take a look. These facts, alongside the full history of Disneyland's pet cemeteries are inspected in depth in the Long Forgotten blog.

The Disneyland Haunted Mansion honored Sparky, the star of Frankenweenie, with a grave marker during the 2012-2013 holiday season.

In a sweet bit of full-circle synergy, after Burton remade "Frankenweenie" as a feature-length stop-motion film for Disney in 2012, a grave marker for Sparky - the canine star of "Frankenweenie" - was placed temporarily in the Disneyland queue pet cemetery during the concurrent Haunted Mansion Holiday season to honor the titular dog. The gravesite appeared to have been freshly dug up from within, as would have been the case had Sparky actually been buried there, according to the story told by the film.

Beastly rememberances

Following are the inscriptions on the stones in the current pet cemetery planted alongside the queue at Disneyland. Note that some of the markers are simply in the form of the animal they represent, with either no inscription, or simply a date.

Freddie the Bat / 1847 / We'll Miss You
Ol' Flybait / He Croaked / August 9 1869
Rosie / She was a poor little pig / but she bought the farm 1849
Buddy / Our Friend / Until the End
Beloved Lilac (Skunk) / Long on Curiosity... / Short on Common Scents 1847
Fifi (Poodle)
In Memory of My Rat Whom I Loved / Now He Resides in the Realms Up Above
Here lies Long Legged Jeb / Got tangled up in his very own web
Here lies my snake whose fatal mistake / was frightening the gardener who carried a rake

The Disneyland pet cemetery - details. The Disneyland pet cemetery - details. Remembering a famed amphibian in the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion pet cemetery.
Walt Disney World's ghosts loved their pets, too

Nestled alongside the grounds of the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion is the east coast version of the pet cemetery (pictured below), echoing and adding to the Disneyland version from the '80s. The flora is more wooded and fern-based (as seen in the photo below), in keeping with the climate and landscaping of the Florida version of the attraction. One interesting note: back in 1998, Walt Disney World closed its version of "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride," a dark ride that used to be in Fantasyland, in order to make way for a higher-tech "Winnie the Pooh" ride. As is the case when beloved attractions are shuttered, a period of great mourning and gnashing of teeth followed - largely by online communities. Fast-forwarding to 2006: in the farthest corner of the pet cemetery, behind the markers for a cockatoo and a macaque, there suddenly appeared a patinated, bronze statue of Mr. Toad - a late homage to the long-gone amphibian. To draw an overly-broad circle, it could be pointed out that the original theatrical release of Mr. Toad in 1949 was in the package film "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad," a movie that also debuted Walt Disney's version of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," which Ken Anderson drew upon as a possible theme for part of his original plans for the Haunted Mansion.

The Walt Disney World version of the pet cemetery differs slightly from Disneyland's. The Haunted Mansion's Pet Cemetery, located adjacent to the front facade of the Haunted Mansion.
A family affair

While we know that the ancient Phoenicians buried their dogs and anicent Egyptians their cats for religious reasons, history seems to indicate that our modern, i.e. Victorian, perspective of memorializing pets demonstrates a companionship-type love for the animals, which is a sort of stepping-stone toward the human relatives also buried on the grounds. In keeping with this familial post mortem theme, all of the Haunted Mansions include an adjacent family crypt constructed next to the facade. This is where guests eventually emerge from the attraction, once their experience is completed.

Disneyland's Haunted Mansion didn't always have Fastpass, until it did.
The Haunted Mansion gets FastPass

As further proof of its popularity, the Haunted Mansion was an early choice to receive Disney's "FastPass" technology, which is a means by which more guests can be admitted to the parks on busy days by allowing them windows of opportunity for shorter waits in line on selected big-ticket rides. Adding the FastPass kiosks necessitated an update of the queue area to some extent, though the general theme has been maintained particularly well (as you can see from the slideshow below), considering FastPass constitutes an entirely new method of moving guests through the line.

Due to the Haunted Mansion's high capacity, FastPass wasn't always turned on for the attraction in FastPass's early days, except for during the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay, which always brings capacity crowds to the Mansion's queue. However, with the advent of MaxPass at Disneyland, an app-based second generation of FastPass, the Haunted Mansion is once again a FastPass selection. At Walt Disney World, the advent of MyMagic+ and the "Magic Band" system of ride selection incorporated the Haunted Mansion, but nearly every attraction is included in that system.

Special celebrations

The facades and grounds of the Haunted Mansions both east and west have received various adornments from time to time, such as funeral wreaths or holiday decorations. Throughout the 50th anniversary celebration at Disneyland, a spider web was placed over the front of the Haunted Mansion facade with a large "50," a decoration that was given to many of the park's favorite rides and "E"-ticket attractions for the duration of the festivities. And at Walt Disney World, castmembers would often place red roses atop the gravestone marking "Master Gracey," commemorating the generally accepted opinion that this must have been the "master of the house" (though were a stone to actually be engraved with the title "master," chances are good that the reference would be to a child.) In fact, at times Master Gracey's tombstone has had an adult-sized mound of dirt placed in front of it, as if there was a fresh interment.

The Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion's graveyard features a tombstone to Master Gracey, often adorned by roses. The Disneyland Haunted Mansion's hillside berm sits above an exit route from the attraction. The Haunted Mansion's gate plaque - Sculptor Chris Mueller's reference photo, circa July 1969. The Haunted Mansion gate plaque - WED sketch
The entrance plaque

You may have heard (and if you haven't yet, you will shortly, dear reader) about the Haunted Mansion's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" connection in the Haunted Mansion's ballroom. But what most people don't know is that there is another direct link between that film and our beloved Mansion. Disney Studios sculptor Chris Mueller, Jr. is the artist responsible for creating the mighty squid (both the life-sized tentacles and the long-shot miniature) used in the most memorable scene from "20,000 Leagues" - and he's also responsible for sculpting the memorable entrance plaque, two bronze copies of which are affixed to the brick columns on either side of the entrance to the Haunted Mansion queue. (The image above left is Chris holding a life-size photograph of the plaque design, and above right is a copy of Chris Mueller's personal reference photo of the sculpture, taken in July of 1969. It's likely that Chris sculpted this detail for the attraction within a few weeks of opening day.)

As a brief aside, Disneyland's Jungle Cruise (nee the "Jungle River Boat Ride" in 1955) was also nearly attached to "20,000 Leagues" via Chris. While the scenes and potential animals to be sculpted were under consideration, Walt Disney himself suggested recycling Chris' mechanical giant squid arms as a gag for the boat ride. However, movie magic and live special effects aren't often the same beast, and all of the cables that made the tentacles move, alongside their general fragility, made the idea a non-starter. Chris did go on to sculpt many of the animals seen on the cruise today, however (and classic horror fans - I know you're out there - might be glad to know that Mueller also sculpted the original head and hands of the gill-man from "Creature from the Black Lagoon" [1954], following the creature's design by Milicent Patrick, one of the Disney Studios' first female animators - herself the daughter of Camille Charles Rossi, the architect who designed the Hearst Castle and estate in San Simeon, claimed by Rolly Crump to be one of Walt's inspirations for the original Haunted Mansion walk-through - but I could do this all day. Let's continue on into the Haunted Mansion's foyer, shall we?)