A Tribute to Sharon Tate: Fox’s “Valley of the Dolls”

Fifty Years of Happy Haunts: The Haunted Mansion Story, Part Five

It was big news in the world of Disney- the Haunted Mansion was finally opening on August 9, 1969! The attraction was over ten years in the making and its opening was highly anticipated. Would the attraction be successful? The park would soon find out.

While the outside world would wake up to the horrific news that gruesome murders occurred at Sharon Tate’s Bel-Air Mansion, thousands of guests would descend upon DISNEYLAND Park to be among the first to experience the Haunted Mansion. For the first time ever, the park would run out of parking spaces and close its gates due to being at capacity. 86,000 guests would materialize to enjoy the park that day- record attendance!

The line stretched all the way to Frontierland and back with an estimated 8 hour wait. With costs mounting to build a copycat park in the Florida swamps, the huge revenues were much appreciated at the time. Why was this attraction such a blockbuster success even before most guests had ever ridden it? Millions of guests over the previous ten years saw the house and the sign that had been posted by Walt Disney. Of course they were curious. It was the first viral marketing campaign before the term had even existed. 

Fifty Years of Happy Haunts: The Haunted Mansion Story, Part Four

The 1964 New York World’s Fair had a huge impact on Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom. Several attractions would make their way from the World’s Fair out to DISNEYLAND. An unintended consequence was that other attractions were delayed, including the Haunted Mansion. The exterior of the building was completed in 1962 and it would stand vacant until 1968 when construction on the inside of the attraction had begun.

By this time, Walt Disney had passed away and the original plans for a walkthrough attraction had been scrapped in favor of a ride. The indoor themed restaurant had also been cut from the plans. Despite the fact that the exterior had already been built, the park had to disassemble parts of it to get the underlying infrastructure in place. It was a much larger effort than it might have seemed to park guests.

Famed imagineer X. Atencio wrote yet another classic theme park song despite never having written any songs before. Grim Grinning Ghosts is the bouncy song that guests hear inside the graveyard scene.

After real construction began, things went pretty quickly from that point on. The ghosts were finally ready to welcome their guests into their forbidding mansion. But would their guests arrive after being forced to wait nearly ten years to enter the mansion? Stay tuned!

Fifty Years of Happy Haunts: The Haunted Mansion Story, Part Three

In 1961, Walt Disney triumphantly announced that the Haunted Mansion would open in 1962 or 1963. Located just around the river bend, the Haunted Mansion’s basic exterior design had already been finalized in 1961, though what would go inside the mansion was still undecided. Walt Disney assigned the interior design to Imagineer Rolly Crump who came up with an idea for a walkthrough attraction featuring haunted and bizarre artifacts.

The unusual “artifacts” would be presented as though the master of the house had traveled far and wide to build this collection. The artifacts themselves would be built by Imagineering and have unusual features that would surprise and enchant guests. A themed restaurant would also share the building, providing sumptuous meals in an unbeatable atmosphere.

Walt Disney, however, was not completely sold on the idea. Additionally, he had signed on to build several attractions for the 1964 World’s Fair. There just wasn’t enough time to design and build out the attraction, so the project would be put on hold. DISNEYLAND, however, was still planning to open an Indian themed village north of the planned Haunted Mansion site. Walt Disney was loathe to just have a plain path leading over to the Indian village and figured that since he already had a design for the mansion’s exterior he could just build the house’s exterior now and worry about the interior later. The empty building quickly sprang up, daring guests to imagine what might be inside.

To pique the interest of his guests, Walt Disney had a sign erected by the mansion’s front gate. The legendary sign would capture the imagination of millions of DISNEYLAND guests. What was inside that house? In 1962 it was just temporary offices. It would take nearly a decade for guests to finally walk though the front doors.

Fifty Years of Happy Haunts: The Haunted Mansion Story, Part Two

Originally planned to be part of the “Mickey Mouse Park” project in Burbank, The Haunted House idea was one of the original ideas that made its way south to Anaheim when Walt Disney began planning out DISNEYLAND. The house was originally supposed to be a stereotypically rundown shanty located down a windy path that would branch off from Main Street. That plan was scrapped after budgetary constraints and technology limitations prevented the attraction from being built the way Walt Disney envisioned. 

The attraction was put on the back burner after Walt visited the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, 400 miles north of his Magic Kingdom. The house had been built by Sarah Winchester, who designed the sprawling house as a way to confuse the spirits of the dead people who had been killed by her husband’s rifles. The stately Mansion is immaculately maintained, yet is still considered to be one of the most haunted buildings in the country. Mr. Disney had always hated the idea of building a ramshackle building and the Winchester mansion convinced him that he could build a nice looking yet ominous mansion for DISNEYLAND.

By this time, the potential spot for the Haunted attraction was moved from an area near Main Street to a spot across the riverbend from Frontierland. The new spot had been sparsely landscapes and used as a nice little park where people could take a stroll or sit on one of the many benches and enjoy a snack. Walt Disney had an affinity for the city of New Orleans and had planned for the area to become an area themed after the city. In the early 1960’s, DISNEYLAND announced that it would build a New Orleans themed area complete with a pirate museum and a haunted house. Actual construction, however, would still be a long ways off.

Fifty Years of Happy Haunts: The Haunted Mansion Story, Part One

It arguably became one of Disney’s greatest attractions ever- The Haunted Mansion. The stately building that seemingly rose out of nowhere to take its place just around the riverbend has been mystifying guests for almost 50 years. Its path from dream to actuality was a bumpy one; it almost seemed like it would never come to fruition, but as Walt Disney once said- anything is possible in DISNEYLAND- so this classic attraction would eventually open its forbidding gates.

When Walt Disney began planning out DISNEYLAND, he wanted to make it unique and unlike any other theme park in the world. He didn’t want to completely eliminate all traditional amusement elements, but any that he used in DISNEYLAND would be improved upon and embellished. One such traditional element was the haunted house. Often filled with unsophisticated waxworks and purposely kept dark (both to make things scarier and also to hide their unsophisticated effects) such attractions often offered literally cheap thrills. 

Early plans for Walt Disney’s various theme park ideas usually depicted a “haunted house” attraction. The earliest plans often depicted the house traditionally as a worn down abandoned shack. By the time that Walt Disney began making his final plans for DISNEYLAND, he had decided against building a stereotypical haunted house; he didn’t want anything that ugly in his park. 

As the plans for DISNEYLAND were finalized, it became obvious that a haunted attraction would not be opening with the rest of the park. Walt Disney hadn’t settled on what the park’s haunted house should look like on the inside and, more importantly, felt that the technology needed to build what he envisioned was not yet available. The world would need to wait to see what exactly Mr. Disney had in mind.

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“There was a curious place in Frontierland, The Golden Horseshoe, a saloon with a stage and finely decorated with the golden luster of an Opry House. The place was curious because it was free. All you had to do was stand in line and in a few minutes you were taken inside and treated to a very big show while you sipped Pepsi-Cola.”

-Steve Martin

DISNEYLAND’s famed Golden Horseshoe was at the heart of what the park was meant to be; a showcase for the things that Walt Disney loved and wanted to share with the world. From the very beginning it signaled to DISNEYLAND’s guests that Walt Disney’s Magic Kingdom was a place where they would see surprisingly high quality things in an amazing environment. The Golden Horseshoe featured a cast of Hollywood veterans performing an amazing show for free- you didn’t even have to order any food. The food itself was amazing sandwiches and delicious Pepsi. (until 1985)

Theme Park Thursdays: The ONLY Happiest Place on Earth

While many people refer to any Disney theme park as “The Happiest Place on Earth”, the ONLY Happiest Place on Earth is DISNEYLAND in Anaheim. The other parks each have their own motto as shown above.