The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (88 page)

It seems darkly fitting that
New Orleans Square
was the last land
Walt
developed before his passing.  Although
Walt
was healthy during most of the lengthy
New Orleans Square
design-and-development period, and didn’t realize he was terribly ill during the final phase, the land is absolutely suffused with symbols of mortality and legacy.

Throughout his life,
Walt
was an exceptionally hard-working and energetic man.  In his later years he finally enjoyed a good life materially as the result of his tireless work.  And he was demonstrably a generous man.  He always invested most of his money back into the company, so that he and his talented team could tell more stories.  He bought a house for his parents.  He provided for family members.  He invited his sons-in-law to work for the company.

Walt
understood that while material success is wonderful, there has to be love, friendship, family, creativity, and
purpose
at the core for a life to have real meaning.  And he understood the well-known maxim “You can’t take it with you”–any material goods you accrue in your lifetime remain behind when you pass on!  Your works, your creations and ideas, your good name and your love–
those
are what you leave behind;
those
are your legacy.

New Orleans Square
is one of
Walt
’s most profound legacies.  On the surface, he created it simply because he liked the
real
Crescent City and wanted to replicate some of its fine qualities in
Disneyland
. 
Walt
and
Ward Kimball
saw an impressive recreation of New Orleans’ historic French Quarter when they visited the Chicago Railroad Fair in 1948.  And
Walt
and
Lillian
enjoyed visiting New Orleans; they particularly appreciated the gracious elegance of its French Quarter.

Walt
wanted to emulate the French Quarter’s beauty and delicious cuisine.  In that
Walt
and his team were
extremely
successful, as
New Orleans Square
’s delightful architecture, décor, shops, and delicious food make abundantly clear.  So one can easily enjoy
New Orleans Square
on that level–as historic exhibit and shopping and dining area.

However,
there is
a lot
more happening in
New Orleans Square
than good shopping and good eats.  There are things happening in secret above and below the winding streets.  There are dark symbols and mysteries at every turn, as well as the park’s grimmest attractions.  One senses a deeper theme in the mysterious, twisting lanes of
New Orleans Square
and the darkly comic personalities of its top attractions, the
Haunted Mansion
and
Pirates of the Caribbean
.

Given the history of the
real
New Orleans–a unique city forever associated with trade and piracy, wealth and poverty, beauty and horror, magic, voodoo, and death–
Disneyland
’s
New Orleans Square
seemed destined to become a complex district that evokes often unnerving moods and meanings.

With its sometimes stultifying heat, its moss-draped trees
and decaying mansions, its famous above-ground cemeteries and so forth, as beautiful as it is the
real
New Orleans–and any place emulating New Orleans–wears an aura of living death, a sense of beautiful exteriors hiding decaying interiors–very much like the well-manicured exterior of the
Haunted Mansion
and its dusty, cobwebby haunts within.

With its
labyrinths and secrets and funereal art, its symbols of disguise and death, its images of greed and violence,
Disneyland
’s
New Orleans Square
often feels like a cautionary tale, a warning against the dark side of the American dream.  It’s an almost perfect evocation of the humid, perfumed wealth and decadence of old New Orleans, where there really were duels, pirates, treasure ships, and moss-covered mansions with tragic
histoires
.

Herbert Asbury, author of “Gangs of New York
,” famously chronicled the beauty and excesses of New Orleans in his book “The French Quarter”.  Once you’ve read Asbury’s book, it’s clear why horror writer and New Orleans native Anne Rice set much of her brooding, dark vampire series in and around New Orleans, just as, more recently, TV creator Gregory Ball set his darkly comic vampire saga “True Blood” in a small town in the Louisiana bayous.

The
Haunted Mansion
and
Pirates of the Caribbean
are two of the last attractions
Walt
personally conceived and vetted, and both, even with their comical aspects, are testaments to the futility and horror of greed and grasping after immortality.  The attractions anchor the points of the
New Orleans Square
crescent,
Haunted Mansion
at the western tip,
Pirates of the Caribbean
at the eastern tip, the
New Orleans Square
district cradled between them.

On the surface they are merely darn fine attractions, inventive, funny
, and spooky.  They are the offspring of
Walt
and some of the most talented
Imagineers
, creative geniuses like
Ken Anderson
,
X. Atencio
,
Claude Coats
,
Rolly Crump
,
Marc Davis
,
Alice Davis
,
Blaine Gibson
, and
Yale Gracey
.  These artists and storytellers gave us mystery, chills, and laughter.  Beneath the amazing effects and gags, though, there’s a fairly stark theme.  It hits us in the gut, however subliminally.

That’s
why these two attractions are always ranked among the top ten
Disneyland
experiences.  It’s not just that they’re fun and brilliant, they also affect us deeply.  Their images get seared into us.  The pirate skeleton seated on undulating mounds of gold coins, golden cups, treasure casks, and gems!  The irony is almost too rich; the rascal found the loot of a lifetime, but died with it, unable ever to spend or enjoy it!  And who among us doesn’t feel their own pulse quicken at the sight of all that lucre?

Since 1969,
Guests have witnessed the comical but ultimately poignant spectacle of the
Haunted Mansion
’s “999 happy haunts” trying to live a life they’ve actually left far behind.  They’re so greedy for life they keep going through the motions, particularly in the
Grand Hall
, where one elderly ghost, a chubby
grandmére
type who will never celebrate another year of life, balances on a chair and perpetually blows out the candles on her birthday cake.  In the cemetery finale, a veritable necropolis of ghosts play musical instruments, sing, quaff wine, play cards, and otherwise deny the reality of their passing.

In
recent years a
Haunted Mansion
refurb added an even more pointed back-story about a greedy woman who marries and beheads a succession of increasingly prosperous husbands, in pursuit of ever more wealth.  Such was the fate of the husband who owned the mansion, although he apparently hanged himself
before
she could behead him.  Ultimately her efforts were for nought, as we realize when we encounter her chilling ghost (an impressive projected “hologram”) in the mansion’s
Attic
, still clad in her bridal gown, her smile grisly, her eyes glazed and insane.

New Orleans Square
remains a mysterious district no matter how often you visit it.  One never knows what to expect beyond each bend in the street or canal.  Guests are tantalized by the scent of delicious food and entertained by jazz musicians, but there’s always a sense of menace underneath.  The streets are intriguing labyrinths, and the rooms above street-level and the watery caverns below are honeycombed with secret rooms, caves, and corridors.

One of the best shopping and dining areas in the park,
New Orleans Square
has polish and lushness; visiting it is a lovely experience, but beyond the glimmer of the expensive crystal ware, and the heady scents of the flowers and magnolia blossoms, there are disturbing images and gruesome hints of our own mortality in funereal urns and images of angels, vanity, and voodoo.

Some of t
he lovely pieces of merchandise once sold in
New Orleans Square
were estate pieces.  Their former owners had gone ahead of us, to realms where sparkling rings and gem-encrusted pendants no longer have meaning.  One cannot help connecting this thought with the image of the skeleton perched on mountains of 400,000 gold pieces in the pirate caves deep below, or with the ghosts cavorting mindlessly, repetitively, in the crumbling interior of that grand mansion on the northwest edge of the land.

Few
Guests realize that the menacing underground chambers of
Pirates of the Caribbean
and the
Haunted Mansion
are not the only secret rooms riddling the
New Orleans Square
district and its environs.  This replica of the Crescent City hosts a vast underground kitchen complex with secret corridors, elevators, stairs, and bridges connecting pantries, storerooms, Cast Member break and locker rooms, and a CM cafeteria.  As you stroll the elegant lanes, know that behind every wall and window, hard-working Cast Members are scurrying about with carts, trays, and food.

One of the Cast Member doors is hidden just beyond the
men’s rest room.  If you see a female Cast Member materialize in that area, you know she’s emerged from the
New Orleans Square
catacombs.  If you’re interested in the history and escapades of this unseen realm, you’ll want to read
Kevin Yee
’s entertaining book
Mouse Trap
, detailing his many years as a Cast Member in the
New Orleans Square
restaurants.

On
September 1, 2009,
Disneyland
undertook a massive refurbishment of this kitchen complex.  While the kitchen was rebuilt, construction workers, engineers, and architects plied their trades silently below the square.  Food for the
New Orleans Square
restaurants was covertly transported from other kitchens within the park.

In his lifetime
,
Walt
had a special club built in the rooms above
New Orleans Square
, with stunning views of the streets below, the
Esplanade
, and the
Rivers of America
.  This club was meant to provide fine dining and relaxation for the executives of
Disneyland
’s sponsor corporations.  Corporate sponsorship has always been a crucial element of the park’s ongoing financial well-being, and
Walt
knew that it was important to find ways to thank corporate partners, to make them feel special and give them privileged glimpses of the park’s beauty and
magic
.

Known as
Club 33
, this exclusive area is off-limits to everyone except its members,
Disney
executives, their guests, and assigned Cast Members. Guests who take the
A Walk in Walt’s Footsteps Tour
get a glimpse of the lobby.  (If you’re interested in this tour, call (714) 781-TOUR for reservations.  Expect to pay upward of $64 per Guest with a 20 percent discount for AAA and
Disney Visa
members and
Premium
and
Deluxe Annual Passholders
.)

Guests who look carefully as they
stroll along
Royal Street
will find the
Club 33
entrance and can pose in front of it for a photo.  However, they cannot enter the premises (unless they are part of the aforementioned tour).

In years past, there were ways for
Guests to enjoy a bird’s eye view of
New Orleans Square
.  An elegant balcony overlooking the
Esplanade
served as a vantage point for Guests who paid a fee for this unparalleled view of the nightly
Fantasmic!
show.  In addition to the vista, Guests were regaled with coffee, beverages, and desserts.

Sadly, that practice has been discontinued. 
But you can still reserve a prime spot to view
Fantasmic!
by calling (714) 781-SHOW 30 days in advance and requesting
Premium Seating
.  (The cost is about $60 per person aged ten and up, and about $50 per child three to nine years old.  Children under three attend for free.)