In a nod to Edgar Allan Poe’s story “The Black Cat,” it had just one eyeball, which sat in its socket with all the subtlety of a fire alarm. In Atencio’s concept art, the cat featured elongated, vampire-like fangs and a piercing red eye. This fiendish feline would have followed guests throughout the ride, a creature said to despise living humans and with predatory, possessive instincts. There’s also a not-so sly nod to a demonic, eye-catching cat crafted by another of Disney’s famed animators-turned-theme park architects, Xavier Atencio. Recently materialized in the attraction are a smattering of new illusions and curiosities a few will be particularly familiar to many of the Haunted Mansion’s borderline-obsessive fan community.Īmong the most prominent: the return of a dynamic portrait dreamed up by Disney master animator-designer Marc Davis of a once-beautiful woman aging less than gracefully. When it returns with upgrades and additions April 30 - the day Disneyland is set to fully reopen in Anaheim - it should prove the old adage that a good idea doesn’t die so much as haunt the universe until it becomes a reality. And while it is a spider, its purpose is quite interesting.Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion has been a source of fan mystique for even longer than its nearly 52 years at the park. Near the end of the grand hall, if you’re looking up at the glass, you might see what looks like a very large spider on the glass. While you’re looking at the glass, you might also find the very best secret of the Haunted Mansion. Next time you’re on the ride, look for that glass directly in front of you, rather than down at the floor. Glass above these dancers tilted at a specific angle will create the apparition. The ghosts are on a stage behind and above the ride track with light hitting it. It’s a very simple effect that requires only a sheet of glass and the practical models. The method used for creating the ghostly dancers and diners in the grand hall is called the Peppers Ghost effect. The grand hall is where the show transforms from a serious, spooky mansion, to a more light-hearted one. The face of Madame Leota belongs to Leota Toombs, a production designer for Disney. She also provides the voice for Lady Tremaine in Cinderella and Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty.
Madame Leota is voiced by Eleanor Audley. Your doom buggy goes around the donut…of empty space. Imagine a donut, but the stage is the donut hole and the actual donut is empty space. Interestingly, there is no floor between your doom buggy and the stage upon which Madame Leota’s crystal ball sits. Today the crystal ball floats, but this wasn’t done until 2006. A speaking Leota is then projected on to this face. It’s a physical head in a glass ball, but with limited facial features. The effect of Madame Leota’s face in the crystal ball is not a hologram, but rather a very practical effect. Moving in to the seance room we find Madame Leota. Teeth surround the clock face, there are eyes set above that, and the clocks pendulum is actually a pitchforked tongue. This clock has 13 hours, spins backwards and is basically some kind of demon.
It’s so dark in this area that it’s sometimes easy to miss some of the details here. The breathing door was a signature moment in the film, and it is reproduced here, along with many other door related haunts such as the door knocker knocking itself, and the voices crying out from behind the doors.Īt the end of the corridor is a very gothic grandfather clock. The corridor of doors, a Claude Coates design, was inspired by “ The Haunting“, a Robert Wise film from 1963. It was too effective though, as some guests got so frightened…they fought back. At one point, Disney had cast members putting on the suit of armor and walking around trying to scare guests. And while you’re looking down this hall, you may notice a suit of armor. The endless hallway with the floating candelabra effect is achieved by using mirrors on the left and right walls behind the candelabra, creating an infinite reflection of itself. Secrets and History of the Haunted Mansion Home » Secrets » Secrets and History of the Haunted Mansion »
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