Disneyland Paris’ Phantom Manor
Behind the Scenes of Phantom Manor
by David Goebel
Phantom Manor Phast Phacts:
The ride opened on April 12th, 1992
Ride duration is about 5½ minutes plus a 2-minute pre-show
130 “Doombuggies” are on 240 meters of track, with 6 back-up cars
92
Audio-Animatronics
58 individual special effects
54 animated props and more than 400 special show props
7-9 Cast members on site
In the mid-eighties, when Tony Baxter and his team of
“Imagineers” got the assignment of designing Disney’s first ever
European amusement park, (at the time called Euro Disneyland), Baxter
encouraged his crew to think of what could be done better than in the previous
Magic Kingdom parks. Instead of just copying the American attractions as had
been done for the Tokyo park, they wanted to improve or completely rethink the
concepts that were to be translated into the new park. Technological advances
and the different sensibilities of time and cultures were the key causes for
concept changes. There was also the concern of language barriers. Patrons would
be coming from all over Europe, and beyond. The park and attractions needed to
rely much more on visuals rather than dialog to be universally understandable.
These factors and the creative vision of the crew at Walt Disney
Imagineering (WDI) played a large part in the design of Phantom Manor,
the European version of Disney’s popular Haunted Mansion.
When experiencing the Haunted Mansions in Anaheim, Orlando
and Tokyo, the general impression, the atmosphere and spirit (no pun intended)
of the dark ride is generally the same. The difference between the attractions
is mostly in the details, such as an additional effect, a difference in staging
or style, or a different vocal track. At Phantom Manor, however, many of the
details remained the same (as did the general layout of the attraction), but
their context and surroundings were radically changed. Each of the Haunted
Mansions certainly has a dark theme, but the mood is mostly of a good-natured,
innocent darkness where chain-rattling ghosts sing a merry song. Phantom Manor,
on the other hand (while it does have its upbeat moments) builds on a
melancholy atmosphere as we witness the fate of an abandoned bride, accompanied
by a lush orchestral score.
Jeff Burke was assigned as the executive designer of
the Frontierland section of the park that became Disneyland Paris,
and thus got the role of Show Producer for Phantom Manor. It is generally felt
that the attraction would not be what it is today, had it not been for his
determined vision for the attraction. Another person integral to the creation
of Phantom Manor is Bob Baranick, a highly regarded Imagineer who caused
quite a stir when he left Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI) in 1999 to
found his own theme design company. Along with show writer Craig Thierault,
they devised a detailed storyline for the ride, which was firmly integrated in
the overall mythology of Frontierland. One major influence for the
attraction was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical version of the Phantom
of the Opera, and the design crew transported the storyline into an Old
West setting. Instead of the catacombs of the Paris opera, the Phantom of the
Manor dwells in a Western ghost town, visible near the end of the ride.
The Legend of Phantom Manor
Each of the Disney Haunted Attractions has a somewhat
incomplete storyline, either by design or by accident. The “missing details” of
each attraction have been filled in over the years by patrons and cast members
(park employees), mostly by word of mouth. The popular Disney Haunted Mansion
has a wealth of rumors and supposed “official” back-stories most of which are
pure fiction. While the storyline is a lot more complete at the Paris theme
park’s version of the dark ride, the Imagineers never wrote it down in its
entirety, and the little that is widely known of it today leaves many
interesting questions unanswered. The following is the “official” biography
of Phantom Manor, as provided by the park. It is taken from so-called Fact
Sheets created in 1996.
Legend has it that decrepit and dilapidated Phantom Manor, tucked away
in a lonesome corner of Frontierland, was once home to one of Thunder Mesa's
founding families. Among the first settlers to strike it rich during the town's
Gold Rush heyday, the family built the best house in town, high up on a hill
overlooking the river below and out to a private cemetery on the grounds. On
the day of her wedding, the daughter of the Manor was jilted, never to be seen
again!
The house, once the showplace of Thunder Mesa, fell into decay and ruin,
becoming the sinister-looking residence that we know today as Phantom Manor.
Haunted by a host of ghosts—predominantly by the evil "Phantom” and the
benevolent "Bride,” these restless spirits are constantly at odds within
the confines of the house. Daringly curious Disneyland Paris guests are invited
inside to experience frightful encounters with various ghouls, banshees and the
resident "Phantom” himself.
Even critical minds have expressed their fondness for the
architectural appeal of the attraction. Everything from the manor house itself,
to the surrounding gardens and gazebo, looks as if it was once beautiful, but
has fallen into decay and neglect. One early concept for the queue line was a
roofed structure resembling a barn, or stables, that would have covered part of
the waiting area. This was discarded in favor of a simpler garden pavilion
structure, probably due to budget restrictions. The look of the southern part
of Frontierland, where Phantom Manor is located, was inspired by Virginia
City, Nevada, and along with influences from classic Haunted Houses and
early concept art for the original Haunted Mansion, the looks of Phantom Manor
were developed from a building in Virginia City known as the Fourth Ward
Schoolhouse.
Fourth Ward Schoolhouse
On the South end of Virginia City is a 4-story Victorian school built in 1876
as a centennial birthday present to the state. It included state-of-the-art
(for the time period) running water, flushing toilets and central heat, with a
gymnasium on the top floor. The building now houses a Museum that includes an
extensive collection of artifacts and exhibits, which focus on the area’s
incredible past. Open May-Oct., admission is $2 for adults. Children under 12
are free. For further information call 775-847-0975.
The interior styling of the manor, while similar to the
Haunted Mansions, maintains an air of the wild west, and Imagineers traveled
all around the globe to acquire real antique items that would be appropriate
for a wealthy American family in the mid to late 19th century. What could not
be purchased had to be manufactured. Artist Julie Svendson created
twelve original paintings of the manor and the young bride. The Stretch Room
is, like at the Disneyland mansion, a disguised elevator used to transport the
patrons one floor down to the ride level. The following hallway, the Portrait
Gallery, tunnels patrons through the hill and behind a line of trees that hides
the actual show building. As with the Haunted Mansions, Phantom Manor uses the WEDWay
OmniMover system equipped with “Doom Buggies” to carry the patrons through
the rooms of the attraction. The Buggies rotate on the track to control
site-lines, and to direct the patrons’ attention to key elements of the ride.
The buggies are pre-programmed to turn as much as 180-degrees, to the left or
right in the direction of each scene. The track (manufactured by Vekoma,
Netherlands) has a length of 240 meters and uses twelve engines to propel the
vehicles.
For all the changes in styling and the technological
progress of the years between the original Haunted Mansion at Disneyland
California and Phantom Manor, the special effects are still essentially the
same as those used almost twenty-five years earlier. The singing busts (a front
projection) along with the disembodied head of Madam Leota in her
crystal ball (a rear projection using fiber-optic transmission) and the Grand
Ballroom (the grandest of all Pepper’s Ghost Illusions) continue
to enchant the attraction’s patrons. Slight variations of rear projection and
Pepper’s Ghost are seen near the end of the ride in Phantom Canyon.
The pharmacist animatronic is equipped with a rear-projection of his face
morphing into a monster as he drinks his own concoctions (an effect that never worked
for long before stopping all together), and in the gambling parlor, invisible
card players smoke and drink whisky with the help of a screen onto which the
animation is projected, then reflected using the Pepper’s Ghost technique. Phantom
Canyon was inspired by the never-built Disney attraction Western River
Expedition, and was conceived by legendary animator turned Imagineer Marc
Davis, who also created many of the original concepts for the first Haunted
Mansion. Another variation is in the Endless Hallway illusion. In the
Haunted Mansions, a lone candelabra floats in what appears to be a very long
hallway. At phantom Manor, this same scene is used, but the ghostly presence of
the young bride holding the candelabra fades in and out of view.
Pepper’s Ghost
While this effect is grandiose (often bringing claims of
“holograms,”) it is also one of the simplest effects to achieve. The effect
known as “Pepper’s Ghost” (or the “Blue Room”) effect, was named for John
Henry Pepper, a professor of chemistry at the London Polytechnic
Institute. Based on a new technology in 1863 known as plate glass, Pepper
made the effect popular when he used it to create ghostly appearances during
theatrical stage performances. A large sheet of glass is positioned between the
audience and a backdrop or set. The prop or actor that is to appear as the
ghost is positioned out of view of the audience in a darkened area, and as the
lighting is dimmed up, their translucent reflection appears in the glass. The
more intense the light, the more solid the apparition appears. (Another famous
use of this effect is the transformation illusion known as the “Girl to the
Gorilla” illusion.) In Phantom Manor, the doombuggies travel along a balcony
elevated above (and below) animatronic spooks in a second hidden mirror version
of the ballroom. When the lighting is faded up on the animatronics enough to
reflect off of a large piece of glass, separating the two ballrooms, “ghosts”
appear, then when the lights fade down, they disappear. This 140-year-old
effect continues to amaze guests at Disney’s Haunted Mansion to this day.
One of the most outstanding parts of Phantom Manor is its
musical score. Movie composer John Debney (who went on to write the
music for films like Hocus Pocus, I Know What You Did Last Summer,
and Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove) took the Haunted Mansion original
theme song, Grim Grinning Ghosts written by X. Atencio and Buddy
Baker, and transformed it into a magnificently haunting orchestral piece.
In the same way that a movie soundtrack creates the mood of a film, Debney’s
score builds up the atmosphere and underlines the dramatic tale of the
unfortunate bride and the malevolent Phantom. To this end, each room has a
one-minute looping music track that (for the most part) uses the same chords,
time and tempo as the music of the previous and following rooms. Thus creating
a smooth transition between the scenes. There are a few points in the ride
where the music even changes from 3/4 time to 4/4 time, and even here, the transitions
work out right, thanks to clever planning of the musical arrangements. The
music for Phantom Manor was recorded with the London Chamber Orchestra,
using a total of sixty musicians, at the Abbey Road Studios in England
(best known for housing recording sessions of the Beatles, who even
named an album for the renowned studio). Several of the solo instruments were
played by Debney himself, and an original music box disk was created for the
music of a gazebo outside in the queue line. A studio chorus rounds off the
music with Imagineer and part-time opera singer, Katherine Meyering,
delivering the soprano parts that accompany each appearance of the bride.
(After all, the attraction was strongly influenced by the musical The
Phantom of the Opera.)
The first demo soundtrack mix used the laughter by horror
movie legend Vincent Price borrowed from the end of the hit song Thriller
by Michael Jackson. “Once everyone heard this, it became impossible to
imagine Phantom without Vincent Price’s laugh,” remembers audio producer Greg
Meader. “Fortunately for us, Vincent agreed to do the ride narration.”
Casting director Gabrielle Reynolds negotiated the contract, and in May
1990, in the Walt Disney Imagineering recording studios, Vincent Price recorded
his lines for the first scenes as the Phantom of Phantom Manor (the rest of the
ride doesn’t have narration; a testimony to the multilingual audience of
Disneyland Paris), plus at least a dozen variations of evil laughter for the
later appearances of the Phantom character. Unfortunately, the actor’s
performance did not stay in the attraction for long. Being an English-only
feature, this verbiage discontinued shortly after opening, once the park's
demographics were more clearly understood. French park officials insisted on a
French narration, and actor Gerard Chevalier re-recorded the Phantom’s
dialogue. While Vincent Price’s trademark laughter can still be heard during
the ride, his narration was only in place for a few months. (Fortunately for
fans and collectors, a demo track featuring the original performance, mixed by Greg
Meader in 1991, has been released on the Haunted Mansion 30th
Anniversary CD, at the time of writing available at Disneyland and Walt
Disney World.)
Actress Oona Lind provided the voice of Madame Leota,
the medium in the crystal ball, Little Leota as the bride, at the end of
the ride, as well as the load, unload, and emergency spiels for the ride. Her
bittersweet (bilingual!) performance is a perfect counterpart to either Phantom
narration. Paul Frees, the narrator of the American Haunted Mansions,
also has a cameo appearance as the voice of the mayor of the Phantom Canyon
ghost town, welcoming patrons using excerpts from the original Haunted Mansion
recording sessions.
A minimum of seven employees is needed to run the attraction
properly (and safely), although eight or nine are the standard. Operator duties
range from purely technical aspects to speaking rolls in the show as the
manor’s sinister butler or maid. Their costumes are designed to fit into the
role, and are kept in the symbolic colors of gold (wealth) and purple (Death).
Every 15 minutes, the operators, or Cast Members, as Disney employees
are officially called, move into another shift position, after one complete
rotation, there is a 15 minutes break. Over the years, the employees gave their
positions appropriate names: the person standing at the outer gates is called “portier,”
the person in the Foyer is the mansion’s “majordomo,” while the person
at the unload position (in the Wine Cellar) is known as “sommelier,”
or wine waiter.
Unlike the Haunted Mansions, little attraction-related
merchandise is available in the park. There is a post card showing the facade
of the house, and a souvenir photo is taken in the waiting area from time to
time, with a Cast Member dressed as the Phantom character posing with patrons.
It comes in a nice display case featuring concept art by Dan Goozee, who
also created the art for the attraction poster.
With over 200 animated props and special effects, Phantom
Manor is one of the most elaborate attractions in any of the Disney Theme
Parks. Since its opening on April 12, 1992, Phantom Manor has attracted a
small, but steadily growing, dedicated fan following. The story, of which
little has been known before now, may never cease to offer food for discussion,
and the internet provides a fabulous link between the fans located all over
Europe (and beyond). According to park officials, Phantom Manor is the most
asked about attraction at Disneyland Paris, and I am very sure that the ride
will be as popular in twenty years as the Haunted Mansion is today. It
certainly has the potential to be a classic.
David Goebel, is a design and illustration student at
Ecosign Akademie in Cologne, Germany, with a life-long love of theme and
amusement parks. His other interests include music, animation and web site
design. You can reach him via email at ravenswood@t-online.de
or visit his web site devoted to Phantom Manor at http://welcome.to/ravenswood.manor.
The Manor Tour
Past the quaint shops and simple folk of Thunder Mesa, along the banks
of the Rivers Of America, a genuine paddle-wheeler floats by and runaway mine
cars careen around the Big Thunder Mountain. As you continue to head south
towards the end of Thunder Mesa Road, a slow and grim change takes place. The
blooming flowers give way to weeds and dead grass, the cobblestones become
uneven, and the once quiet shops are replaced with huge crumbling stone pillars
and a heavy, rusted over iron fence. The inscription on the gate reads
"NON OMNIS MORIAR," (I will not completely die). The gates loom
ahead, forebodingly unlocked, as if to let you in, to dare you to step inside.
Walking up the winding carriage road we see planters of dead
vegetation. The trees have grown wild and died, the lawn too is dead from
neglect. Decaying walkways and once pleasant steps have eroded away into
crumbling stone, all hints as to the lavish beauty that once filled these
grounds. As the wind howls somewhere off in the distance, the painful howling
of a stray dog is heard. Leafless tree branches scrape against the glass of an
old vine-covered gazebo as if trying to break open the door and reach inside. A
flickering light shines from within the small shelter, while a haunting music
box spews forth a simple but chilling melody.
Finally, you stop and gaze upward at an old Victorian Manor
that was abandoned years ago when the bridegroom of the daughter of the house
disappeared on the day of her wedding, and now awaits guests who are brave
enough to set foot on the once beautiful estate. The only sound now audible is
a lovely soprano singing from somewhere within the house. Taking a closer look
at the house's features, you might see a frail hand pulling back a curtain, to
allow unseen eyes to stare out at the unwanted visitors below. As you approach
the house, the two brick chimneys belch mysterious smoke, and a candle inside
the Manor is seen floating from window to window. Ominous sounds emanate from
within the Manor: a baying hound, a raven's squawk…or something never heard
before. A shutter flaps eerily in the wind, as dark silhouetted specters appear
briefly in a window.
The path winds through the garden pavilion, an open-air structure with a sheet
metal roof. In the center, water flows through a crooked old fountain as the
distant and distorted sounds of a celebration can be heard. This long-abandoned
winter garden is now so entangled in vines, overgrowth, and mold that one can
barely see through the foliage that climbs over the central fountain. Its
waters still run hauntingly from the broken statuary. From somewhere the sounds
of an old gramophone echo in the rafters, and disembodied voices call out to us
from the darkness. Just as suddenly they fade away, leaving only the eerie wind
whistling through the pavilion. Moving up onto the Manor's veranda, we can take
one last look at the desolate landscape; nothing but death surrounds this evil
place. The front doors of the manse creak open and the maid of the house
invites us inside.
In a corner of the room a hanging mirror reveals the dim
image of a fading portrait of a beautiful young bride, her expression quite
melancholy. It all starts in the Manor's foyer, which is very plain except for
the few windows. Long dead spiders have spun their webs over almost everything.
A flickering chandelier hangs in the center of the room; left untouched for
ages. Peeling wallpaper meets the patterned, plaster ceiling where rotted wood
molding fails to reach. In one corner of the room, two adjacent doors rest in
the walls, and a mirror hangs high between them, a heavy curtain framing it...
from somewhere above, a disembodied male voice calls out...(in French) “You,
you who have dared disturb the serenity of this place... You must have a lot of
courage to step through the door of this house...Come on, don't make me beg
you. Come in! What are you waiting for? Don't be afraid, you've come this far
already... Step into the plain light, so I can see you a bit!” Hideous
laughter rings out as a fading image of a young woman appears and disappears in
the mirror. (In English) “You've got nothing to fear, dear friends.
Come on, come in, I have so many things for you to discover!” As the voice
speaks the lush cinematic soundtrack plays a slow waltz, its notes haunting yet
beautiful, setting the perfect mood for the disembodied voice of our “Host.” As
he finishes speaking, the score dies down a bit.
The Stretching Room
A door slides open, revealing an ornate room and we are
ushered into the octagonal chamber. Gargoyles hold flickering candles, each
providing barely enough light to see the paintings above them. Wood paneling
extends to a cornice ledge just above our heads, and the walls above are
covered in vertically striped wallpaper, ending at an ornamental ceiling with a
recessed center. Simple, yet dignified paintings of a young woman hang on four
of the eight walls. As we enter the room, a panel slides shut behind us concealing
the only way out of the room. The voice speaks once again. Each one of his
lines is heard from a different wall in the directions of the paintings!
(In English) “Our visit begins here, in this gallery,
where you can admire the softness and innocence of youth. Ah, things aren’t
always as they seem...This room’s walls, for example, maybe they don’t really
stretch?” The room begins to expand, the floor dropping into the ground,
and the four paintings on the walls lengthen until we can see they are not really
what they first seemed to be. The young woman picnicking with her fiancée seems
to be having a happy time, until we see that fire ants, spiders, scorpions,
cockroaches, and rattlesnakes are invading their festivities. It is revealed
that a “creature” under the water is about to grab the young woman wading into
a stream. A painting of the woman holding a parasol sitting under sunny skies,
reveals that she is sitting in a canoe about to topple off of an endless
waterfall. The same image of the young woman portrayed picking flowers in front
of a pristine Phantom Manor, gazebo and the winter garden exposes a rotting
corpse emerging from a grave on the other side of the fence. (In English) “And
as you may notice, there are no doors... no windows...What a frightening
problem to solve... where to get out? I'm afraid you'll have to follow
me.” With those words, the horrid truth about this room is revealed, as the
ceiling vanishes in a flash of lightning, we see into the bell tower, where a
Phantom stands, holding a rope from which a man hangs by the rafters... the
missing bridegroom! The dark cloaked Phantom figure laughs maniacally, as
thunder and lightning surrounds him. Suddenly we are plunged into total
darkness.
Portrait Gallery
The lighting then returns to normal and a wall panel slides
open, as we step into a long hallway, where paintings undergo disquieting
metamorphoses. Four paintings hang on both walls, a young woman reclining on a
sofa, a majestic sailing ship on peaceful waters, a beautiful young Grecian
woman, and a knight atop his steed. The Phantom follows us down the hallway,
his voice echoing in the flickering darkness....
(In English) “Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't
want to frighten you. Let's continue the visit. There are still so many things
to discover…So, keep your blood cold and stay together. I would be sorry to
lose you... so soon...While passing these so priceless works of art, perhaps
you sense a strange impression... Don't be afraid! It's nothing but an optical
illusion. The real beauty of this house awaits us farther on.” As we pass the portraits, they
slowly transform into horrible scenes. The woman on the sofa becomes a panther,
the ship becomes a ghostly wreck, the Grecian woman turns into medusa, and the
knight and his steed become flaming skeletons. At the end of this hallway hangs
a life-size painting of the bride in full bridal gear and wedding gown.
Grand Stair Case
Turning the corner, a demonic glowing green marble bust on
our right turns to follow us, no matter where we may be standing. Stepping
through a curtained doorway we see the huge staircase of the Grand
Hall. This gigantic room has polished tile floors, flickering sconces,
Victorian era furniture, and dead flower arrangements in large pots around the
room. To your left an unbroken chain of “doombuggies” passes before the main
staircase. The staircase rises up into a large balcony where three windows
overlook the desolate estate. The silhouette of a tree branch invades the view,
as storm clouds pass ominously by. The main soundtrack plays in the background
and occasionally the lights darken with a lightning strike, sending strange
shadows over the space. We are asked to step into one of the doombuggies
by the butler of the manor.
The Bride's Welcome
Once aboard this carriage, you pass under the balcony and
into a curtained archway. We see the young bride for the first time in an open
doorway just as she was dressed in the bridal painting. Candelabra in her hand,
she beckons us further into the house. She bows as we pass by her into the
gloom of a darkened corridor.
Endless Hallway
As the buggies turn the corner, we find ourselves in a dank parlor. A suit of
armor twitches in front of a backdrop of horrific wallpaper. The parlor leads
to a corridor, and in it stands the figure of the bride, frozen in time,
running down a hallway that stretches as far as the eye can see. We can hear
her sweet voice in the background and watch as her figure slowly disappears
before our eyes, leaving only the empty corridor.
Music Room
Passing through another curtained doorway, our carriage
turns to face an ornate piano placed before a large leaded glass window. The
keys move up and down mysteriously via invisible fingers, playing the distorted
wedding march. A gloomy landscape enshrouded by fog can be seen through the
open window as the animated shadow of the invisible pianist is seen on the
floor, (with a simple Gobo-projected shadow). A raven perched on
the music holder studies us as we pass.
Corridor of Doors
Proceeding along the corridor lined with doors on both
sides, we notice that something is trying to get out of the rooms. Doorknockers
rattle, door handles twist and unseen forces cause the doors to distort
drastically outward. A pair of skeletal hands clutches the edges of the last door,
pushing it out of its frame. At the end of the corridor, a grandfather clock
solemnly tolls the hour of “13.” The hands of the clock spin backwards counting
down the hours until the wedding, as the eyes of grotesque figures in the
wallpaper pattern glow ominously and seem to follow the moving vehicles (an
effect achieved by recessing the “pupils” behind the face of the wall).
Séance Circle
Moving into a dark and eerie circular chamber, our vehicles pass heavy drapes
hanging beside huge windows separated by gothic pillars, adorned with
dragon-like gargoyles. Your doombuggy turns toward a large crystal ball
illuminating tarot cards on a round table floating in the center of the room. A
raven is perched on the back of the lone chair at the table. Inside the crystal
ball, the disembodied head of fortuneteller Madam Leota gives off a bluish
light as she chants her evil incantations, (in English) “Goblins and
ghoulies, creatures of fright! We summon you now, to dance through the night!”
(And then in French) “Spirits and phantoms on your proud stallions, escort
the beautiful bride into the night.” (in English again) “Warlocks and
witches, answer this call, your presence is wanted at this ghostly ball...(back
to French) “As twelve strokes of Midnight sound from the bells, we will
waltz through the night, gruesome debutante.” (Back to English) “Join
the spirits in nuptial doom, a ravishing bride, a vanishing groom!”
Wedding Reception in the Grand
Hall
Soon we find ourselves on the second floor balcony looking
down onto the festivities in the Grand Hall below. Here the bride's ill-fated
champagne wedding feast plays out eternally to her displeasure. A moldy,
cobwebbed wedding cake sits atop a table surrounded by ornately wrapped gifts.
Spirit guests enter the room from a hearse parked outside of the French
windows. The poor bride stands midway up a staircase on the other side of the
room; singing and crying as she watches the spirits gleefully celebrate the
wedding party she never had. A painting of a beautiful Phantom Manor hangs on
the wall above ghostly couples that twirl and waltz. The eerie refrain is
pumped by a cloaked figure at the organ as ghostly skulls fly out of the pipes.
One ballroom window above the staircase has blown open outwards into the yard, revealing
a raging storm. The howling wind blows the curtains, and flashes of lightning
reveal the silhouette of the Phantom hovering just outside the window. His
maniacal laughter rings out above the merriment.
The Bride's Boudoir
The buggies turn into a small, eerily lit room. A portrait
of the young bride hangs above a roaring fireplace, and a demonic-looking clock
slowly ticks away the minutes. Remnants of the bride's childhood sit about,
such as a cupboard filled with dolls, now covered in cobwebs. A music box winds
down on one side of the room, while an old gramophone plays on the other.
Passing through a curtained doorway, we can see the now-elderly bride gazing in
horror at her mirror, resembling a giant fleshless skull. (A scene inspired by Miss
Havisham from Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations). The
sound of a gruesome pipe organ leads us out into the estate’s garden through an
open window.
The Garden Graveyard
The storm still rages outside, with lightning that illuminates the shadows of
the old, weathered gravestones of Boot Hill. A raven perched on a tombstone
eyes us as we pass the rotted remains of a still quite active dog howling at
the moon with the same pain that we heard in the queue line. A burst of
laughter surrounds us as our buggy turns to face the Phantom. Through the
lightning we finally get a good look at our “host,” his face a gruesome,
deteriorating skull. A laughs erupts from his bared skeletal teeth as he
points to a freshly dug hole in the earth. Slowly the vehicle turns, facing us
toward the angry sky, as we descend backwards, down into the open grave.
Skeleton Catacombs
Muffled sounds emanate from the shadows of this dirt-walled
subterranean tunnel under Boot Hill. As the sky above us disappears, the
root-infested ceiling of the cavern blocks our view.
Ancient decaying coffins stick out of the earthen walls on
both sides of our buggy, and unnatural lights pours from every crevice. Screams
and shrieks are clearly heard, and we see skeletal hands emerging from a coffin
trying to displace the nailed-on lid. At the bottom of the slope the car spins
us forward turning into a tunnel and past two hideous, decayed corpses emerging
from their coffins. Some corpses are trying to reassemble themselves while
others appear to be disintegrating.
Silly Symphonies
The 1929 Disney short animated film, The Skeleton Dance,
inspired the musical skeletons found in the skeletal catacombs of Phantom
Manor. The film, produced in black and white, was the first in a series of 75
films entitled Silly Symphonies.
Macabre Music Makers
The music takes a jazzy air as we further explore this
underground world. Skeletons burst forth from the dirt walls, emerge from the
ground, and swing from the ceiling as they gather together to dance and sing. A
quartet of marble busts sings an upbeat yet ghostly rendition of “Grim Grinning
Ghosts” accompanied by one inventive soul who has lined up bones creating a
“Skull-O-Phone” skeletal music maker,
The song of the Marble Busts: Grim Grinning Ghosts
When the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake
Spooks come out for a swinging wake
Happy haunts materialize
And begin to vocalize
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.
Now don't close your eyes and don't try to hide
or a silly spook may sit by your side
Shrouded in a daft disguise
they pretend to terrorize
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.
As the moon climbs high o'er the dead oak tree
Spooks arrive for the midnight spree
Creepy creeps with eerie eyes
start to shriek and harmonize
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.
When you hear the knell of a requiem bell
Weird glows gleam where spirits dwell
Restless bones etherialize
Rise as spooks of every size
(Demonic Laugh)
Ghost Train & Hearse
We escape through a large crevice at the end of the tunnel, out into the valley
behind the hill on which Phantom Manor is perched. The Phantom's hideous
laughter heralds this change of scene, as smoke and an eerie glow come from
another crevice and storm clouds drift over the peaks of Big Thunder Mountain
off in the distance; the clouds transform into
ghost riders as they cross the twilight sky. As our carriage moves past a
ramshackle train depot, ghosts rise up out of the ground on both sides and we
see a crashed hearse and ruined train tracks. A ghostly conductor in the window
offers us “one way” tickets to Phantom Canyon.
Phantom Canyon
We head down Main Street of the old mining town as a
violent earthquake shakes the crumbling walls. Ghosts surround us as we pass by
city hall, where a tattered banner proclaims “WELCOME” and the rotund spirit of
the “Ghost Town’s” Mayor offers us the key to the city, a raven beside him on a
post as he speaks; “Ah, there you are! Welcome, foolish mortals! There's no
turning back.... Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding. We find
it delightfully unlivable here in this ghostly retreat! Actually, we have 999
happy haunts here, but there's room for 1000. Any volunteers, hmmm? If you
should decide to join us, FINAL arrangements may be made at the end of the
tour.” With that, he benevolently tips his hat, not realizing, or perhaps
not caring, that his head is still connected to it. Collapsed buildings rest on
both sides of the path, as they were right after the quake. Each and every
building is alive with the ghostly residents of the once prosperous town, each
and every one of them still having the time of their afterlives.
The smoking remains of what once was a bank marks a bandit's
attempt at a hasty retreat. The would-be robber holds a gun in one hand and the
lead rope of his ghostly mule in the other. The bandit attempts in vain to pull
the stubborn animal, burdened with too many bags of gold, across a crevice,
while across the street the cowardly sheriff takes determined but random pot
shots at the bandit from his hiding place behind a lamppost. The bandit takes
careful aim at the Sheriff as our doombuggies pass through line of fire of this
ghostly shootout.
A mild-mannered pharmacist is seen drinking one of his own
concoctions from a glowing beaker. As he does so his face contorts and twists
becoming a grotesque image of his former self. The town’s saloon has broken in
two, and we pass between the pieces. In what was the backroom a pianist merrily
pounds out a honky-tonk version of the theme, unconcerned that a ghoulish arm
emerging from inside the piano waves a lit candelabra overhead. A ghostly
can-can girl stands in the doorway, acting sultry and bowing to us as we pass.
Behind the bar a bartender mixes drinks for his unseen patrons. Across the
street in the game room, four invisible gamblers play a lively hand of
poker.
At the end of the ghost town’s Main Street, we can see
Phantom Manor resting on a rocky pinnacle above us, the sky aflame with oranges
and reds. Ahead, we see our old friend the raven, perched on the branch of an
old tree over the sinister figure of the Phantom, now a rotting mummified
skeleton, his formerly crisp cloak now ragged and worn. He laughs maniacally as
he offers us an empty coffin, urging us to stay.
This Way Out, Maybe
Your doombuggy returns to Phantom Manor Garden with the mansion visible off in
the distance atop a rocky pinnacle. All hope seems lost when a swirling vortex
of light appears and out of it emerges the skeletal ghost of the Bride still
clad in her now tattered bridal attire. Her mournful singing fills the air as
she directs us to a possible escape route.
Inside Phantom Canyon there are wine bottles placed in
different locations. Their labels were specially designed by WDI and they are
very funny. It’s almost impossible to read them while riding, but you can view
them in the book Walt Disney Imagineering by Hyperion. For example, one
bottle bears the label "Old Imagineer…" and another bottle bears the
label "Villa Chastain." Chastain and Tujunga are off-site
Imagineering facilities.
Disembark
Darkness surrounds us as we move through this dangerous
passage. Emerging in the light, the escape route turns into Phantom Manor's
wine cellar. The buggies rotate to face a row of four large oval mirrors on the
left wall. We see our reflection clearly, as well as the skeletal reflection of
a green ghost peering over the top of our doombuggy. Just before we pass out of
view of the last mirror, a brilliant flash of light banishes the unwanted
visitor from the back of our vehicle. Moving through a doorway, our buggy
enters a long room with somber brick and large wine barrels lining the walls.
Grim screeches and screams fill the air as the doombuggy draws beside a moving
walkway. A sinister Manor host asks us to step out of the buggy and helps us on
our way.
Little Bride
Traveling upwards toward the surface to make our escape, we
notice a hazy apparition of the bride still in her gown, no more than three
feet tall, atop a wine barrel in a barred off room. Moving towards the
sunlight, she calls out to us, (in French) “Come back! Come back! You've hardly
arrived... And I'm dying of solitude. (And then in English) Hurry back! Hurry
back! Be sure to bring your death certificate... We're just dying to have you.”
Boot Hill
Humorous Tombstones
Keeping with the tradition of the original Haunted Mansion,
the graveyard consists of tombstones with humorous epitaphs. Among the
inscriptions one will find the names of some Imagineers who worked on the project.
One of them, Michael Valentino (part of the “Hole in the Wallet Gang,”
according to the headstone), was responsible for the lighting design and the
special visual effects of Phantom Manor.
A wolf howls as we exit Phantom Manor. Turning left towards the decaying
wrought-iron fence, we linger among the crumbling marker of the cemetery called
Boot Hill, and the sound of mourning is heard. Situated on a small hillside
overlooking the Rivers of the Far West, this desolate graveyard was originally
built as a final resting place for the dynasty that was Phantom Manor, which is
now used by the Thunder Mesa townsfolk as well. The sound of a heartbeat
seems to emanate from inside a large crypt. Taking a closer look at the
crumbling tombstones and you may read:
Peg Leg McBrogue
The River Rogue
Walked the Plank
and Sank.
Jasper Jones
Loyal Manservant
Died 1866
"Kept the Master happy"
Anna Jones
Faithful Chamber Maid
Died 1867
"Kept the Master happier"
HERE LIES
SHOTGUN GUS
HOLIER NOW
THAN ALL OF US
B. ARNOLD
Cold is my bed, but oh, I love it,
for colder are my friends above it.
Red Hot Harry
"He got hot
but he was slow
so he got put
six feet below"
Here lies
LEADFOOT FRED
"Danced too slow
and now he's dead"
1802 - 1866
Rest In Peace,
Barroom Benny,
Seems He Took
One Drink Too Many
Henry Ravenswood, 1795 - 1860,
Martha Ravenswood, 1802 - 1860,
Quarreled And Fought As Man And Wife, Now Silent Together Beyond This Life
Mary Murphy, 1837 - 1859, "Til Death...
Frank Ballard, 1829 - 1859, ...Do Us Part."
Ma Ballard, 1800 - 1859, "Over My Dead Body"
"Shorty" Smith, 1862
No. 39 - These Miners Were Told / About Digging Too Fast /
They Lost All Their Gold / In A Dynamite Blast
(Written in French) - Dakota Dick, Hanged October 17, 1867, Fell to Death January
18, 1868, Stabbed December 18, 1868, Poisoned May 21, 1869, He Will Return
(Written in French on a Broken tombstone) - Valentine,
said the horseman, Here lie the remnants of a broken man.
(Written in French on a Violin shaped stone) - Jacques Shrillman, "Lynched by a
couple of music lovers, a wrong note was his end", May 9, 1865
(High on a hill) AS, In Memory, "The Hole in the
Wallet Gang", 1992, Roland Aylor, Phil Canata, Darlene Todd, Casey
Brennan, Jeff Burke, Michael Valentino, Ed Hanna, Nancy Gee, Richard Brown,
Stephen Court, Keith Ackland-Snow, Monica Ackland-Snow, Paul Ackland-Snow,
Robert J. Smith, Dave Giddens, John Flynn, George Hollis, Gerry Wilcox, David
Fardell, Michael Fleming
Copyright 2001 The Walt Disney Company
From Mansions to Manors: A History
of Disney Haunts
by Leonard Pickel
A Haunted House had been in the early
planning stages for Disneyland since the mid-'50s, when Walt
Disney asked conceptual artist and Imagineer Ken Anderson to start
working on a walk-through spook house. At one time or another all of the
designers at WED worked on the project (WED is the company name used for
non-cartoon projects, and was short for Walter Elias Disney; the division is
now called Walt Disney Imagineering). “Generally, people working on this
were trying to do something with telling a story,” recalled Marc Davis, the
late Disney legend. “But Walt Disney did not want to tell a story, or to do it
like any of the [other park] attractions.” Because of this, the attraction
evolved into a collection of vignettes, without an emphasis on storytelling.
The first Disney Haunted Mansion was
built at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Many renderings were created
in the early stages, as to what the façade of the attraction might look like.
One early example developed for use in Frontierland depicted a
dilapidated mansion, but Walt’s position was that he did not want the property
sullied with an “uglified,” ramshackle building. “We’ll take care of the
outside, and the ghosts will take care of the inside!” explained Walt in 1962.
The first public evidence of the attraction was in the form of a neat and
trimmed plantation-style residence, built in the New Orleans Square part
of the park in the early 1960’s, deserted but clean as a whistle. For the next
six years, however, this façade stood empty, while other outside projects
took priority. During this time many different concepts were bandied about for
what the attraction might entail. Because of the mass numbers of people
visiting the park, it became obvious that a higher throughput would be
required, and the attraction was changed from a walkthrough into a continuously
moving dark ride.
Unfortunately, Walt Disney died in 1966,
before the designs of the attraction were even close to being final, and
without his leadership, two factions developed within the ranks of the
Imagineers as to the direction the Haunted Attraction should take. One camp saw
the Haunted theme of the Mansion as an opportunity to create a truly frightening
attraction for the park, while the other camp feared the reactions of children
who would be frightened by the ride. There was already a public relations
problem with terrified children emerging from the Snow White ride, frightened to tears by the sudden appearance of
the malevolent witch. Crying children did not seem to fit Walt’s vision of “The
Happiest Place on Earth!” and the Imagineers decided to shelve the more
terrifying concepts. The only effect from the “dark side” that remained to the
final construction phase was the hanging body in the attic of the stretch room.
As the Disneyland version of the ride neared
completion in late 1969, the finishing touches were being made to a sister
attraction in the new Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World
in Orlando, Florida. This second Mansion opened only a few years after the
Anaheim premiere, and differs from its West Coast counterpart most markedly in
the architecture of the facade. While Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion is supposed
to exist in the land of Dixie the Walt Disney World version is intended to
invoke memories of colonial New England, and the architecture and queue area
reflect those styles. Unlike the white plantation style of the original façade,
the Haunted Mansion in Liberty Square neatly sidesteps the
dilapidation issue by utilizing a powerful Dutch revival brick Mansion,
invoking a formal colonial solitude. The façade, said to be a replica of the Harry
Packer Mansion in Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, is neither tidy nor ramshackle,
yet completely foreboding. This same façade was used on the Tokyo Disney
version of the attraction, also called the Haunted Mansion, even though
it is located in the Fantasyland section of that park. Each of the three
attractions have almost identical track and room design layouts, and vary from
one another only in some minor details.
Harry Packer Mansion
In the Victorian Village of Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, a
magnificent mansion stands as a sentinel overlooking the town. Now a Bed and
Breakfast, the Harry Packer Mansion offers hiking, biking and skiing, depending
on the season, as well as Murder Mystery Weekends.
Enjoy High Tea in the parlor, waltz the evening away at a
Victorian Ball, and then relax in luxury. For reservations at the Mansion call Pat
and Bob Handwerk at 570-325-8566, or drop them an email at mystery@murdermansion.com. For
information about upcoming events, check out their web site at www.murdermansion.com/index.html.
Then in the mid-eighties Tony Baxter
and the designers of Walt Disney Imagineering started work on what was to
become Disneyland Paris. The Haunted Mansion was so popular in the other
installations that it was only natural that one would be included in the new
park, but where to put it? Baxter was
looking for ways to upgrade the attractions that had become signatures of the
Disney brand, and at the same time, “culturalize” them into something that the
French people would be able to call their own. In this vein, Space Mountain
would be given a Jules Verne face-lift, (and a linear accelerator on the
lift hill) and the Haunted Mansion would be located in Frontierland and
called Phantom Manor.
Baxter and his team revisited the early
concepts not used in the original Haunted Mansion, and put into production many
of the ideas that had been discarded as too scary for the light-hearted theme.
The storyline approach for the ride was reintroduced, and because of the
different languages that would be spoken by the patrons, the attraction had to
rely more on visual clues to tell the story. The idea of a pristine exterior
gave way to a dilapidated western façade, with surrounding garden and graveyard
neglected and over grown.
Phantom Manor gives us a glimpse of what the original
Haunted Mansion might have looked like had the decision been made to make it
frightening on the inside and dilapidated on the outside. We will never know
what direction Walt Disney would have taken the project, had he not been taken
from us before the original concepts for the ride were completed. It will be
interesting to see which of these incarnations the Mansion will take when
Disney builds its next park. Phantom Manor is destined to become a classic, and
the debate over which attraction is the best will go on forever!
Editor of Haunted Attraction Magazine and partner in the
Haunt design/consulting team of D.O.A., Leonard Pickel can be reached at
704-366-0875, or by email at Leonard@hauntedattraction.com
The Haunts of Disney: A
Comparison
by Brandon Champlin
There are a total of four “Haunted Houses” at the Disney
theme parks around the world. In order of opening they are: The Disneyland
Haunted Mansion, the Walt Disneyworld Haunted Mansion, the Disneyland
Tokyo Haunted Mansion and finally the Disneyland Paris Phantom Manor.
While all four of the attractions are quite similar, down to the layout of the
track, each has distinct differences (with the exception of the Disneyland
Tokyo Haunted Mansion, which for the sake of this discussion is identical to
the Walt Disneyworld Haunted Mansion), caused by location, patron culture and
the evolution of the concept. Each of the these attractions has its own
character, and the details that distinguish one from the other are all part of
what creates the charm of the Haunts of Disney.
The Disney Haunts have the unusual notoriety of being the
only Disney ride to be in different “lands” in each of the parks. At
Disneyland, the Mansion is in New Orleans Square, at Walt Disneyworld it
is in Liberty Square. At Tokyo Disneyland the Mansion is in Fantasyland
and at Disneyland Paris the Manor is in Frontierland. As you might
expect, the most notable changes occurred with the latest haunting effort,
where even the name of the attraction was changed to Phantom Manor.
The most noticeable differences between the attractions are
the exterior facades. In New Orleans Square, the Mansion has ironwork
railings and a plantation-style building reminiscent of the South. In Liberty
Square, Disneyworld’s Mansion is in a Dutch Colonial style, with stone trim
and amazing brickwork. At Disneyland Paris, however, the Frontierland
version of the ride is a lapboard Victorian building, common among wealthy
landowners in the Old West. The only facade in “run-down” condition, the
Phantom Manor has architectural elements in common with the scary houses from
the movies Psycho and the Addams Family.
Walt Disney did not want run down buildings in the
park, so the façades of the Disneyland and Disneyworld Mansions are foreboding,
but pristine. Concerned about how to convey the fright level of the attraction
without a ramshackle facade, the Imagineers created a graveyard in the queue
line at Disneyland, with humorous epitaphs featuring the nicknames of the
Imagineers who developed the project. (Due to the need for added queue area,
this graveyard was later removed. Some of the stones were moved to the side of
the queue area, and this minimal headstone approach was used for all of the
Mansions.) In the concept phase of Disneyland Paris, it was decided that the
Haunted Attraction would be in the Frontierland section of the park.
Walt had long since passed away, and the Imagineers went back to some concept
sketches for the original Mansion depicting a dilapidated building and grounds.
The graveyard concept would not only be used, but also expanded for Phantom
Manor in an area after the ride exit, known as Boot Hill.
Another marked change from the Mansions to the Manor is the
soundtrack music. Where the Mansions rely on a solo organ or 1960s
jazz-pop/swing, the Manor uses a full orchestra throughout. The Mansions
attempt to create the music via things found within the scene, (a ballroom
organ, a graveyard band, floating instruments, etc.), while the Manor makes no
such pretense. The Manor music rises and falls with the desired mood of the
scene like that of a movie soundtrack.
At both the Disneyland and Disneyland Paris attractions,
patrons walk up to the porch and enter through the front doors of the building.
Not so with Disneyworld and Tokyo Disney. Here, the facades are not full scale,
and allowing patrons that close to the actual building would give this illusion
away. Instead, guests enter the attraction via a side door under a covered
walkway. Disneyland’s foyer has few windows and a magnificent chandelier. At
Disneyworld, you enter a dark room with fireplace and a changing portrait as
well as a chandelier. Phantom Manor's foyer is a room with a few windows, a
chandelier, and a mirror in which the bride appears.
While Phantom Manor does have pieces of the attraction that
are narrated by a ghost host, (the foyer and the Stretching Room and the
Portrait Gallery), the doombuggies are not equipped with sound systems that
narrate the journey as is the case in the Mansions.
All of the attractions have a Stretching Room. At
Disneyland, the floor goes down. At Disneyworld the ceiling goes up, and at
Phantom Manor, the floor goes down and ceiling goes up. With little variation,
the stretching paintings are the same in all of the Mansions, while the Manor
paintings, like many of the attraction’s effects, were themed to support the
sad story of a bride and her vanished groom. The wonderful stretching portraits
by Marc Davis in the Mansions have been re-themed and repainted by Julie
Svendsen for the Manor, creating rather morbid scenarios from the bride's
past. For the climax of this scene, at each location, a lightning flash makes
the ceiling transparent revealing a hanging body. At the Manor this body is the
ill-fated groom who was hung by the hand of the Phantom.
The Portrait Gallery, with paintings that change from normal
to the grotesque, was necessary to get patrons under the railroad berm to the
ride building at Disneyland. This hall was deleted in the Disneyworld Mansion,
and the only changing portrait is in the Foyer. At the Manor, the same
portraits return along with a large portrait of the bride at the end of the
corridor. Just past the changing portraits at Disneyland, two marble busts
follow patrons as they walk by. At Disneyworld, eight busts follow the buggies
as they pass the library, and in the hall before the Grand Staircase of Phantom
Manor, a single bronze bust follows the “guests.”
The Disneyworld attraction has scenes that the Disneyland
version does not; the library, the music room and the Grand Staircase. The
Conservatory in the Mansions was replaced with the Music room in the Manor and
the coffin with the hands pushing the lid open was moved to the Skeleton
Catacombs.
The animated suit of armor, originally a real actor at
Disneyland, is also in each of the attractions. Only the shield moves at
Disneyland. At Disneyworld, the suit shifts its weight back and forth, as does
the armor in Phantom Manor, which is equipped with a battle-axe rather than a
shield. The candelabra in the Mansion’s Endless Halls floats somewhat in a
circle. The candelabra in the Manor stays in a static position, while the
figure of the bride holding it appears and disappears.
Musical instruments float around the séance room in the
Mansions, but not at the Manor, which has decorative gargoyles and curtained windows. Madam Leota speaks in both English
and French at the manor, and her predictions are darker. In fact the whole
Phantom Manor ride contains material of a darker, more graphic nature, similar
in tone to Disneyland’s Indiana Jones Adventure.
The birthday party in the Mansion’s Ballroom is replaced
with a wedding party in the Manor, complete with presents toppling over along
with the tiered cake. The Bride stands watching the reception halfway down a
Manor staircase and the Phantom floats in an open window above the bride.
Neither the bride nor the window exists in the Mansion ballrooms. The organist
in the Manor is updated and hits the correct keys in sync with the music
soundtrack as if he is actually playing the music.
The attic in the Haunted Mansions became the bride's boudoir
in the Manor. The Mansions have graveyards that take up one-third of the ride,
while the Phantom Manor graveyard is relatively small. Phantom Canyon and the
Skeletal Catacombs take up the extra space. The Mansions have five singing
busts in the graveyard, while the Manor has four in the Catacombs, but they
sing the same song.
Instead of a Hitchhiking Ghost sitting next to you in one of
the final illusions of the Mansion rides, a ghost reaches over the top of the
buggy from behind to grab at the patrons. At Disneyland Little Leota is on a
ledge to the left of the unload belt along a wall of vaults for the dead; at
Disneyworld, she is above the doorway through which the buggies exit on the way
to the unloading station. In Disneyland Paris, the Little Bride stands in
between wine jugs in a room off of the exit corridor.
With differences caused by location such as the Disneyworld
Mansion, patron culture, like Phantom Manor or the evolution of the concept,
each of these attractions has its own personality and character. The
differences are in the details and it is those differences that distinguish one
from the other. These variations are what create the unquestionable charm that
is, the Haunts of Disney.
Brandon Champlin lives in the Haunt-Impaired town of
Hardin, Illinois
You can contact him via email at bchampli@hotmail.com
or check out his
website devoted to the Haunted Mansions at www.geocities.com/ghost_relations_999/
