The Unauthorized Story of Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion by Jeff Baham

Author:Jeff Baham [Baham, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Theme Park Press
Published: 2014-08-08T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Eighty-Two Thousand,

Five Hundred Sixteen

The Haunted Mansion was one of Disneyland’s most anticipated additions ever, as a part of an eagerly awaited $7 million set of enhancements announced back in 1961. While even the title “Haunted Mansion” was still a work in progress, a pamphlet distributed at the park heralding “Coming Attractions” talked about the new land being built on the outskirts of Frontierland that would bring the French Quarter of New Orleans to Anaheim. Claiming that Walt Disney had “talent scouts” out gathering the “world’s greatest collection of ghosts,” the pamphlet promised the attraction would be coming to the park in 1963.

Well, at least the attraction’s facade was built by 1963—but nothing else. Public fascination with the proposed ride reached a fever pitch, and rumors started to fly. Most of them involved the demise of some lucky-unlucky soul who, upon being granted a sneak peek at the unfinished attraction, was literally “scared to death,” causing Disneyland to go back to the drawing board to avoid future wrongful death lawsuits.

As we’ve learned, the real reasons behind the delay included the New York World’s Fair, indecision regarding the Haunted Mansion’s focus, the passing of Walt Disney, and personal conflicts among the Imagineers. But Disneyland continued to whet the appetites of the parkgoers, as evidenced by this insert in the 1966 Guide to Disneyland souvenir book:

The world’s greatest collection of “actively retired” ghosts will soon call this Haunted Mansion “home.” Walt Disney and his “Imagineers” are now creating 1,001 eerie illusions. Marble busts will talk. Portraits that appear “normal” one minute will change before your eyes. And, of course, ordinary ghost tricks (walking through solid walls, disappearing at the drop of a sheet) will also be seen…and felt. Here will live famous and infamous ghosts, ghosts trying to make a name for themselves…and ghosts afraid to live by themselves !

Less than a week before the Haunted Mansion’s 1969 opening date, WED Imagineer Marty Sklar called Dick Irvine and asked if he might help select a title for Bob Gurr’s Omnimover, so Sklar could forward it on to the park and use it in his writing about the Haunted Mansion. After all, Adventure Thru Inner Space had named its Omnimover the “Atommobile,” so the Haunted Mansion needed something equally catchy. Sklar sent Irvine a list of suggestions that came from internal polls at WED. Among such suggestions as the “Seance Conveyance” and the “Ghost Mobile,” the “Doom Buggy” came out on top—because, as Sklar explained, it “would have an immediate connotation to the kids by relating to ‘dune buggy.’” [1]

The Haunted Mansion finally opened to the public on August 9, 1969. Exactly one week after the attraction opened its cobwebbed doors, Disneyland admitted a record 82,516 guests—a record that would stand for almost eighteen years. “It was the creak heard ‘round the world,” wrote Imagineer David Mumford. [2]

An interesting point of trivia presents itself regarding opening day. Disneyland Cast Members—the title Disney gives to its employees to remind them that they are always

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