Growing up, I was regaled of tales detailing how my friends epically conquered the great Mountains of Walt Disney World—Big Thunder, Splash and Space. My family only visited the Orlando, FL, park once, in 1976, when I was four years old, well before these three attractions had risen from the earth (or the hands of Imagineers). My memories of that experience are limited to the monorail and enough voyages around “it’s a small world” to make my parents loopy. Despite my lifelong love of theme parks, I was unable to return and remained ignorant of the “Disney bubble” for the next 37 years.
Then kids happened. It started out as an attempt to allow them to experience something I had not (and, in some cases, not remembered), and so my wife and I packed up our then 6- and 11-year-old girls and headed to the “most magical place on Earth.” What occurred was unexpected: I was able to see the four parks through their eyes, and it lived up to the magical hype. But two things moved me the most, with the first being the superior level of customer service provided by Disney’s Cast Members. Second, while the more modern, IP-related attractions were otherworldly—I’m looking at you Rise of the Resistance and Avatar Flight of Passage—it was The Haunted Mansion that remained most closely with me. The Doom Buggy ride vehicles, off-kilter cordiality of the Paul Frees-voiced Ghost Host and illumination that reveals spooky secrets all contribute to The Haunted Mansion remaining a beloved attraction well into modern times.
Four Walt Disney Imagineers spoke with LD+A about how illumination brings both the undead and mysticism to life—from Anaheim to Orlando and Paris to Hong Kong
Four Walt Disney Imagineers spoke with LD+A about how illumination brings both the undead and mysticism to life—from Anaheim to Orlando and Paris to Hong Kong—while at the same time seamlessly blending the uneasiness of haunted attractions with the whimsy of Disney. While most haunts are designed to terrify guests with the fury of hellfire, The Haunted Mansion’s Ghostess (also dubbed “Little Leota”) beckons visitors to return with a hauntingly hospitable “Hurry back! Hurry back!”
In a world that is seemingly skewing more toward Art the Clown by the day, it’s encouraging to see that there is still an aura around Disney’s “Happy Haunts.” As Walt Disney used to say, “We’ll take care of the outside. The ghosts can take care of the inside.”
Craig CauserEditor-in-Chiefcraig.causer@sagepub.com
Editor-in-ChiefCraig Causer
Editor IMichele Zimmerman
Creative Manager, Commercial PublishingSamuel Fontanez
Senior Account Specialist IILeslie Prestia
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