The Disneyland Book of Secrets 2014: One Local's Unauthorized, Rapturous and Indispensable Guide to the Happiest Places on Earth (94 page)

During this
final leg of the trip, the
Ghost Host
delivers a last silky taunt:

Ah, there you are!  And just in time.  There’s a little matter I forgot to mention.

Beware of hitchhiking ghosts!

They have selected you to fill our quota, and they’ll haunt you until you return.

Now I will raise the safety bar, and a ghost will follow you home!

The safety bar does snap up, as abruptly and crisply as it was lowered, so keep your hands and your little ones’ hands clear.  Step out of the
Doom Buggy
quickly but safely, left foot first.  You’re stepping onto another moving walkway, so use caution.

This area where Guests exit their
Doom Buggies
is rumored to be haunted.  If you see a little boy near the exit ramp, look closely–is he a ghost?  Frankly, I’ve never seen anything remotely spooky in this area, and there’s so little room there for anyone (even a ghostly child) to stand, that I tend to file this report under “urban legends”.  For now.

As
your now-empty
Doom Buggy
curves off into the stygian darkness to pick up new Guests, the moving walkway carries you up a ramp to return you to street level.  (Remember, most of this attraction is in a giant show building
outside
the
berm
; you reach it and exit it underground.)

As you climb the ramp
you see the final tiny, holographic effect of this endlessly fascinating house of spooks.  A miniature spirit in bridal gown, dubbed
Little Leota
because she’s played and voiced by
Leota Thomas
née
Toombs
, leaves you with these final thoughts:

Hurry back!  Hurry back!  Be sure to bring your death certificate

if you decide to join us.  Make final arrangements now.

We’ve been dying to have you.

Hurry back!  Hurr
y back!  Hurry back.

As you emerge into the light of day, or dark of night, don’t be surprised if you’re a little unsettled, as one is after reading a great tale by American horror authors Edgar Allan Poe or H.P. Lovecraft, or seeing a classic ghost film.  The
Imagineers
’
Haunted Mansion
is the last word in artistically engineered haunting. And they continue to
plus
it.  In summer 2010, the digital projection of
Madame Leota
’s head in the crystal ball received a major upgrade, made startlingly clear and crisp; the singing cemetery busts also received projection upgrades.  Dazzling! And with the recent upgrade of the
Hitchhiking Ghosts
this amazing attraction ends on an even more astonishing note.
Did You Know?
  Look carefully as your
Doom Buggy
glides past the
Grand Hall
; there are one or two (sources differ) bullet holes in the left portion of the glass partition between you and the “happy haunts”.  There is definitely one bullet hole camouflaged by a large spider web, and once you’ve seen it, you can’t miss it.  In 1974 a Guest fired either a BB or .22-caliber bullet at the glass; based on the size of the hole, it appears to have been a .22.  Apparently there’s a spare pane on property, but replacing the damaged glass would’ve meant removing the
Haunted Mansion
’s roof.
Imagineers
opted for a simpler solution:  they camouflaged the bullet hole(s) with a spider web. The same shooter is suspected of damaging the glass in front of the
Primeval World Diorama
and
Adventure Thru Inner Space
(now
Star Tours
).
Did You Also Know?
  Contrary to the chatter you might hear in line for the attraction (or on the Internet), there has never been a death at
Disneyland
’s
Haunted Mansion
.  Sadly, a teen in Florida at
Walt Disney World
’s
Haunted Mansion
perished after climbing out of his
Doom Buggy
in the
Séance Room
, not realizing that the gap between his vehicle and the séance set had a steep drop.  When he slipped into that gap, he broke his neck.  A tragic incident, and a reminder of how crucial it is to follow all safety procedures.
Raven Vision:
  Sharp-eyed Guests will spy miniature ravens topping some of the lampposts along the path of the exterior queue, as well as a large stone raven that resembles
Diablo
(
Sleeping Beauty
).
Night Vision:
 
Haunted Mansion
lines are often shorter during nightly
Fantasmic!
performances, as Guests jam the shores of the
Rivers of America
to enjoy the show.  So, if you can navigate the crowds and reach the
Haunted Mansion
, you won’t have long to wait before boarding your
Doom Buggy
.  Another, less obvious advantage to experiencing this attraction at night?  Queuing in the dark means that your pupils expand to admit more light.  By the time you begin your
Doom Buggy
journey, you’re able to see far more detail within the dark-lit mansion than you do when entering the attraction from bright sunlight. 
Holiday Vision:
  Every year in mid-to-late September since 2001 the interior of the
Haunted Mansion
has received a fresh
Nightmare Before Christmas
overlay.  Essential elements of the house remain the same, but characters, music, gags, and chills from
Tim Burton
’s classic mash-up of Halloween and Christmas are woven into each scene.
Haunted Mansion Holiday
lasts from mid-to-late September through New Year’s Day, and is so popular, especially around Halloween, that the
Haunted Mansion
is linked to the
FastPass
system during that time of the year.  Visit the creepy, funereal area between the
Haunted Mansion
and the
New Orleans Train Station
to queue up for a
FastPass
–if you dare!  (“Bwah-ha-ha!”)  Each year the
Imagineers
develop new
Nightmare
–ish elements, but usually the
Doom Buggy
loading zone is ablaze with lurid colors and characters from
Burton
’s darkly creative brain, and adorably devilish
Scary Teddy
takes on the
Raven
’s normal role, popping up here there and everywhere to grin at you with disarmingly cute malice. In the
Stretching Room
(
Portrait Gallery
), the portraits are replaced by
Nightmare Before Christmas
-themed stained glass windows that seem to shatter and then stretch, and a giant Jack
Skellington
face replaces the grisly hanging corpse.  2013 was the 13
th
anniversary of this holiday overlay, so the
Imagineers
outdid themselves, adding an animated sequence projected onto the ceiling of the
Stretching Room
; it’s is quite fun and it’s quite scary.  Get ready to scream!  In the
Portrait Hall
,
Nightmare
characters appear to be standing outside in the gloomy landscape, peeking in at Guests, and ghostly dog
Zero
floats from portrait to portrait before your very eyes (another new effect added in 2013).  Once Guests’
Doom Buggies
are coasting along, one sees that the clanking suit of armor now has a pumpkin head, and tiny ghost dog
Zero
levitates far, far down the
Infinite Hall
.  In the
Conservatory
, we see that
Scary Teddy
has nailed the lid shut on the living (or undead) creature in the coffin; either way, the corpse still wants out, but
Scary Teddy
, holding a hammer, is sitting on the lid.  In the
Séance Circle
,
Madame Leota
chants a special Halloween incantation from within a Christmas ornament-shaped crystal; instead of furniture and musical instruments, giant Tarot cards inscribed with
Nightmare
characters and ghoulish scenes float in the air. Because the real
Leota
passed away in the 1990’s,
Leota
’s daughter
Kim Irvine
, also a renowned
Imagineer
and a dead ringer for her mother, plays the part of
Madame Leota
for the holiday
Séance Circle
.  (
Kim
is a second-generation
Imagineer
with impeccable credentials.  Mom
Leota Toombs
not only gave a face to the
Haunted Mansion
’s
Madame Leota
, she was also a member of
WED
, later
WDI
. 
Kim
’s husband is the son of
Disney Legend
Richard Irvine
.)  When you coast past the
Grand Hall
, search for the 25-foot tall dead Christmas tree, sniff the air for the scent of warm gingerbread, and check out the latest creative Halloween cake dreamed up by the
Imagineers
.  In 2008 it was a gingerbread-man sarcophagus, from which the gingerbread man tried to rise every few moments.  In 2009, it was an elaborate gingerbread merry-go-round with an iced cupola and three whirling gingerbread reindeer and
Zero
instead of horses.  2010’s creation was a gingerbread tombstone that looked an awful lot like the
Haunted Mansion
!  The gravestone was fronted by animated jack-o-lanterns, and
Jack Skellington
popped out from behind the grave.  2011’s cake was a pastel orange-and-purple mansion that opened to reveal blazing red eyes, sharp teeth and–of all things–an evil cookie!  (
Can
cookies be evil?)  In 2012, Guests were treated to the sight of the mansion’s tallest gingerbread house to that point, a 9-foot tall concoction of gingerbread and fondant.  The crooked mansion sat at the top of a crooked, jack-o-lantern-flanked staircase, with
Zero
circling the tower, and a colorful ghost train circling the base. 
Imagineers
outdid themselves in 2013, their 13
th
year presenting
Haunted Mansion Holiday
, giving the overlay “one of the biggest refreshes we’ve ever created” according to Senior Designer
Brian Sandahl
(
Disney Rewards
, Fall 2013).  New surprises for 2013 include the aforementioned animated sequence in the
Stretching Room
and
Zero
’s “fly-by” in the portrait gallery.  The 2013 gingerbread cake in the
Grand Hall
was a towering mansion with thirteen shuttered windows, each numbered from one to thirteen.  The effect is rather like a giant gingerbread advent calendar.  The
Haunted Mansion
’s
Attic
is always overtaken by giant, “scary” presents swathed in orange and purple wrapping paper; toys like a cartoonish skull pop out at Guests, making them shriek, and a giant striped snake devours a long naughty-or-nice list which bears the names of
Imagineers
, Cast Members, and their loved ones.  The
Graveyard
is especially chilly and blanketed in drifts of soft, thick snow.  The terrified
Caretaker
and his emaciated dog have been replaced by cheerful,
Sandy Claws
-clad
Jack Skellington
and his little floating ghost dog
Zero
.  Instead of the singing memorial busts, you’re entertained by sinister singing jack-o-lanterns; behind them rises a tall snowy tree decorated with more pumpkins.  Pumpkin-headed, icy angel statues tower over Guests as they glide toward the
Cemetery
’s final arch. 
Oogie Boogie
and
Lock
,
Shock
, and
Barrel
treat Guests to a ghoulish game of roulette in the unloading zone.  And instead of
Little Leota
, a tiny holograph of
Sally
bids you
adieu
as you depart, inviting you back with your
Sandy Claws
sacks.
FastPass:
  No, except from mid-September through January 1
st
, when the
Tim Burton
Nightmare Before Christmas
holiday decorations are in place and attendance spikes. 
Kid’s Eye View:
  The regular
Haunted Mansion
is so cool, but if you get freaked out easily watch out for the heads that pop up in the cemetery.  The Halloween/Christmas version is really cool because
Jack Skellington
is capturing the house, and instead of the hanging guy, they use
Jack Skellington
’s happy face, and instead of it being all scary, the guys that pop up from behind the graves wear Santa hats. 
Teen’s Eye View:
  Although
Haunted Mansion
is supposed to be a really scary haunted ride, it’s not that scary.  It’s more fun than it is scary.  It’s a fun ride-through with rooms much like the movie, and even a graveyard with [effects] that will make you jump and laugh.