TNSSSnSF: Grim, Grinning Ghosts

Okay, so this isn't actually about Grim, Grinning Ghosts (for the most part), I actually just wanted a space to write about the Haunted Mansion without messing up the theme of this month's posts. It fits the Halloween feel and it's my favorite ride in all Disney World. Also it's my blog and shut up.

History

Inspired by another Disney Legend Harper Geoff's drawing of a lonely dark manor sitting atop a hill, Imagineer Ken Anderson designed a whole background for the house, giving it a number of ghost stories. When Walt Disney wanted a replica of New Orleans built between Frontierland and Adventureland that featured a haunted house, Anderson studied the old Antebellum mansions of Louisiana and designed a revamped version of Geoff's original sketch. Walt, not thrilled with the design or the way the walkthrough ride was going, put the project on hold for a while.

Soon after Disney's death, Imagineers began reworking the "Museum of the Weird" from a walkthrough ride to one utilizing the brand new Omnimover system. Finally, the Haunted Mansion opened in Disneyland on August 9, 1969.

The Ride

Entering through a pair of ornate gates, you walk past the front yard cemetery (complete with death black hearse, almost as if it was waiting for someone). Your guide leads you to a mysterious Octagonal Room and suggest you stand "dead center." Soon, the door to the room closes, transforming into a wall, and a disembodied voice fills the room. Your "ghost host" (as he calls himself) welcomes you to the Haunted Mansion and, not even a god damn minute after, begins taunting you by having the room stretch. The portraits stretch, as well. What was once an innocent painting of a young woman with a parasol soon reveals she is braving walking over an unraveling tightrope, trying to avoid the jaws of a hungry crocodile below.

The host finally points out that the room you are in no longer has any doors or windows, leaving you with a challenge: to find a way out. The lights begin to flicker as he gives an evil laugh, then suggests there's always "his way." The lights go out as lightning flashes in the chamber, a scream and a crash are heard, and, looking above, you see how our host got out as his body hangs from a noose high above. He apologizes for "scaring us too early" and tells us to look alive as the doors open again.

After boarding our dark "Doom Buggies" that will move us through the manor, we come across a seemingly never ending hallway with a candelabra floating in the middle of it, to the side is a clock with 13 numbers on it, spinning wildly. Entering the Conservatory, we see a long-forgetten funeral taking place, and the corpse trying to pry his own coffin open (it's apparently been nailed down, like this has happened before).

Passing a series of ominous doors (pulsing, moans being heard behind them), we come to the Séance Room, where Madame Leota (with her head in a crystal ball) performs every day, summoning ghosts and demons of all sorts for a fee (although in this case, it's on the house). Moving on to the ballroom, the floor comes alive as the first ghosts that we see dance and be merry. An organ is playing, a birthday cake is having it's candles blown out. We can't stay for too long, though. We have a...prior engagment.

Climbing a staircase surrounded by a number of winding stairs going every which way, we see a bunch of eyes glowing in the dark, staring at us. The eyes fade away, revealed to be wallpaper. In the attic, amongst a number of gifts and mementos, a ghostly version of "Here Comes The Bride" plays as a series of wedding photos change and each groom mysteriously loses his head. Coming upon the ghostly bride of the portraits, still chanting bits and pieces of wedding vows, she raises her arms and a hatchet appears in her hands.

Whoops! Our Doom Buggy seems to have fallen out of the attic window. Boy, this seems like a long fall, doesn't it? When we finally reach the bottom, we see the groundskeeper and his pet dog, the only two living members of the Mansion. They seem to be looking at us in a terrified manner, as if he just saw...a ghost. Yeah, the fall actually killed us. On the bright side, we're with our own right now in the graveyard and they seem delighted to see us. It's a garden party and they're even singing (the song being "Grim, Grinning Ghosts").

When the party is over, our Buggies round a corner and our ghost host finally finds us, having forgotten to remind us to beware of hitchhiking ghosts...right as ghosts appear in a mirror next to us (or on top of us depending where you're seated). A changed version of "Grim, Grinning Ghosts" plays as a tiny apparition wishes us to "hurry back" and to bring our "death certificates" if we wish to join them.

OH HEY WHAT'S THIS ITS THE ENTIRE HAUNTED MANSION RIDE WOW It's from Disneyland so it doesn't completely follow my walkthrough (there are differences between the two parks) BUT STILL WOW GUYS WOW