Haunted Mansion Backstage

Photos collected from the internet showing many Mansion areas typically unseen by guests.

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Here's an interesting bit of California Disneyland Mansion lore. Around the summer of 1974, someone with a firearm within the park fired off multiple rounds. Two confirmed gunshots struck both the ballroom wall in the Haunted Mansion, and a snowflake on Adventure Thru Inner Space. A third hole was found in the Primeval World diorama on the train. Later investigation by Anaheim Police determined the holes to be .22 caliber with bullet fragments matching between the holes.

This left Disney with a problem. The panes of glass at the Ballroom scene are so large, the roof of the building would have had to be removed (i.e. destroyed) to replace them. Disney's solution was to cover up the hole in the glass by disguising it as a spider web and place a fake spider right over the hole. So next time you ride the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, when you leave the ballroom scene just before entering Madame Leota's room, look for a spider and web on the last pane of glass in front of you.

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Happy Halloween, everyone! Here's a treat for you.... some delightful Marc Davis Haunted Mansion concept art! Enjoy!

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Cast members after hours, on tours and off the clock.

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One of my favorite details about the Disneyland Haunted Mansion compared to the Walt Disney World version are these spooky trees with scary faces. You see these when you exit the Attic and travel down to the Graveyard. I wonder why they did not bring these to WDW?

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I'm really liking these graveyard shots from the Tokyo Haunted Mansion.

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The Haunted Mansion's only living human resident, the Caretaker. With his trusty lantern, shovel and canine companion, he keeps continuous watch over the Mansion Graveyard.

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A few more cool shots of the Staircase scene at Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion.

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The remaining screen grabs I took from Disney's HMH 13th anniversary video.

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Disney Parks recently released a video celebrating the Haunted Mansion Holiday's 13th anniversary. Here are a few screen grabs of some great backstage tidbits.

Check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yb7UtDHZiM

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The third and final installment of our lights-on look at the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay from 2012. Happy 13th anniversary!

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Continuing our lights-on look at the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. 2013 marks the 13th anniversary of this attraction. I got to experience this myself twice, once in 2003 and again in 2011. These photos are from 2012. Each year the gingerbread house that sits on the dining table in the Ballroom is a different design. And I love the sneak peeks at the feet of the chandelier ghosts above and the ballroom dancers below!

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Let's continue with the Friday the 13th love for the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion. Enjoy these AWESOME behind-the-scenes, lights-on photos taken back in 2012 during a tour of lighting industry professionals. My personal favorite is the Corridor of Doors shot that shows the true color of the creature wallpaper. Many flash photos blow it out to be a deep blue but it's really this pale purple color.

Stay tuned for more! 

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Happy Friday the 13th! Friday September 13, 2013 marks the 13th Anniversary of the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay at Disneyland's Haunted Mansion featuring the characters from Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. D23 recently posted these great lights-on, behind the scenes photos of some of the overlay's finer details. I'll have more HMH lights-on, after hours photos to post soon.

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An amazing perk offered to Disney Park cast members is backstage, lights-on tours of the Haunted Mansion and thankfully some of them have posted their photos online. I've tried, oh Lord I've tried to find a way to get myself in on one of these tours. My request actually made it pretty high up the chain based on knowing certain people in certain places, but it is just not to be. Cast members only. So I live vicariously through these unknown folks only imagining what this experience is like. As you can see, the favorite photo-op for all that take the tour is with the Organ. You'll see more of these same faces in other Mansion areas later on, but for now, all of the Organ pics I have, including some of the Mansion's own CMs enjoying their own photos..

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Video of the portrait at the Tokyo Mansion where the face pushes through. Pretty amazing.

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Yesterday's photos from Tokyo Disneyland's Haunted Mansion got me wondering what their full attraction was like. I always heard it was exactly like the old WDW version, but the portrait with the face pushing through is very unique. Here are some screen grabs from a recent ride through video showing some similarities to the former WDW version, and a few cool differences.

1. The entrance and signage is very different.

2. The classic gate plaque hangs at the entrance to the Foyer.

3. The Sinister 11 portraits still reside in the first scene.

4. The spiders still reside up the first staircase.

5. Another great look at the face pushing through the portrait.

6. A funny ghost with its arms up is in the Seance Room.

7. A version of the beating heart Bride along with the attic pop-up ghosts still populate the Attic.

8. These Hitchhiking Ghosts seemed much more animated to me.

9. What appears to me to be a unique version of Little Leota.

10. And finally a view of the Castle when leaving the Mansion grounds.

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The Haunted Mansion at Tokyo Disneyland has an interesting portrait effect in their Corridor of Doors. This portrait has a face that physically pushes itself in and out of the painting.

CORRECTION: This effect is at the Mansion at Tokyo Disneyland, not at Phantom Manor in Paris. Thanks to smittygirl.