The Unnecessary Changes To Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion.

While Walt Disney Imagineering insists change is a tradition at the Disney Parks there are some instances where rather than enhancing attractions the "everything must change" mantra can either cause significant damage to beloved attractions or are just completely unnecessary. Here we will take a look at many of the changes made to Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion over the last 15 years.

The Interactive Queue

In the early 2010s Disney literally bet the Parks future on what was called the "NextGeneration" initiative It would involve infrastructure upgrades, Paperless Fastpass and the MagicBand program. also part of the initiative was the interactive queue program devised to make guests waits in lines more bearable by adding interactive elements in the queues. Most of the interactive queue concepts were scrapped when the NextGen initiative turned out to be a financial black hole but a few were actually built with the Haunted Mansion unfortunately being one of the few.

The first and in my opinion least objectionable addition was the busts of the Dread Family, former owners of the Mansion. The idea is to solve the mystery of which family members murdered the others to attain the family fortune. The main objection is that the design of the characters are very cartoony and clash with the otherwise realistic aesthetic of the Haunted Mansion.

The gravestones honoring Show Writer X. Atencio and designer Marc Davis along with the stone honoring Master Illusioneer Yale Gracey were given prominent display in the interactive queue. The problem is that there is no space near the stones for there to realistically bury a human body. Designer Pete Carsillo unconvincingly suggested that the walkways were built over the supposed gravesites. There was a new stone honoring illustrator Collin Campbell that was just unceremoniously placed in a corner with nothing resembling an actual grave near it.

The Composers crypt allows guests to play music by touching the instruments depicted on the brass relief on either side of the crypt. One side is based on Imagineer Rolly Crump's Museum Of The Weird concept for Disneyland and include a depiction of the one eyed black cat. An early concept for the narrator of the attraction. The other side is marked with more realistic instruments designed for the graveyard band in the attraction. The two disparate art styles once again clash with the realistic aesthetic of the Mansion but the biggest offender here is the organ in the center of the crypt.

The organ which guests are encouraged to play not only looks out of place with the realistic aesthetic of the Mansion. It literally shows the banshees coming out of the organ as seen later in the attraction. Why would a real world funerary monument be depicting ghosts? The name Ravenscroft is on the organ. a tribute to Thurl Ravenscroft, Lead singer of Grim Grinning Ghosts in the attractions graveyard scene.

The Crypt of Captain Culpepper Clyne also heavily clashes with the Mansion's realistic aesthetic and is fairly ridiculous with it's water jets and bubble blowers. The character of Culpepper Clyne is designed to be tied into the portrait of the mariner inside the attraction originally part of the Sinister 11 in the original Portrait Corridor and since 2007 hanging in the load area. What makes it even more stupid is said portrait implies that the mariner drowned at sea but the crypt's epitaph says he died on land while taking a bath.

To round out the stupidity of the Interactive Queue is the crypt of the Poet Prudence Pock. She even speaks to guests to encourage them to find a word to help her complete her poem and even makes reference to her post mortem activities.

The problem with the whole interactive queue is it throws the presentation of the ride in the trashcan by establishing far too early that the ghosts are friendly and clashes with the ominous nature of the first act of the attraction never mind the logical absurdities and design clashes.

It also ruined the premise of the pre-existing Madame Leota gravestone who occasionally opens her eyes moves her head slightly and stares at guests. The idea was that guests would enter thinking did that really happen or am I seeing things. The other interactive elements made it just another interactive element.

The Portrait Corridor

When the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion opened in 1971, the first scene upon boarding your doombuggy was a trip down a portrait corridor with 11 portraits (known unofficially as the Sinister 11) lining each side of the hallway with a portrait of a mariner above the track at the end of the hall. The eyes of these portraits would stare at guests as their doombuggies proceeded down the corridor. Now the Disneyland version of the attraction had a different corridor that you travelled on foot through after the Stretching Room which featured portraits that initially changed with the lightning flashes through the windows on the other side of the corridor, but was soon changed to slowly morphing between images. In 2005 at the Disneyland Mansion the changing with lightning trick was restored thanks to new digital technology. two years later at Walt Disney World, Imagineers decided to import the new technology east and re-created the Disneyland corridor in ride through form replacing the Sinister 11.

The actual Sinister 11 portraits were moved to the attractions load area and just before the attic scene but their following eyes were filled in, presumably for safety reasons.

Fortunately the original scene can still be found in Tokyo Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.

The Hatbox Ghost next to the Endless Hallway

What should have been a joyful occasion for Haunted Mansion Fans everywhere turned out to be permanently damaging to the WDW attractions storyline. The Hatbox Ghost the legendary figure removed from Disneyland's Attic scene after a few weeks in 1969 and made a triumphant return on a balcony outside the attic at Disneyland's version in 2015 came to Walt Disney World in a completely inappropriate spot in 2023 and compromised the attractions storyline. The Haunted Mansion's storyline dictates that no ghosts should be fully revealed until Madame Leota summons them in the seance circle. The appearance of the Hatbox Ghost breaks this rule and worse draws attention away from the Endless Hallway and it's mysterious floating candelabra. He was put there because WDW Management would not provide enough funds to build his balcony outside the Attic like in the Disneyland version. Thanks to the morons in WDW management, his appearance destroys the flow of the attraction and detracts from the overall experience.

The Disneylandification of the Corridor of Doors

When the Walt Disney World version of the Haunted Mansion opened in 1971. The Corridor of Doors was lit by chandeliers with red globes over the lights which gave the scene an ominous red glow.

Imagineers decided not to include the framed portraits of ghouls that adorned the corridor in Disneyland and the doors appeared green under the red light. Also added was a gag not present in the Disneyland version with two banshee like hands trying to pry open the final door.

During the 2007 refurbishment, Imagineers decided to remove all the red lights, add the framed ghoul portraits and take the hands off the final door in a misguided attempt for uniformity with the Disneyland version. The Imagineer in charge said that the reason the hands were removed was because of the "Leota rule" that no ghosts should be seen before Madame Leota. While I appreciate the sentiment, I feel this was a step too far. Again Tokyo Disneylands version retains the red lighting as well as a few other enhancements not seen in the stateside parks.

Disneylandification of props

In the 07 refurbishment Production designer Neil Engal was tasked with finding props to bring the Walt Disney World Mansion into uniformity with the Disneyland Mansion including a table in Seance Circle. But the most glaring examples are in the attic scene

The Hitchhiking Ghosts

In 2011 The Hitchhiking Ghosts were given a makeover, while the Audio-Animatronics seen in the classic vignette were given truly wonderful enhancing. WDI saw fit to add props to the scene to tie it in to the new interactive queue with a portrait of cousin Maude placed on the far left next to Phineas. A suitcase with stickers on it from the various places where there are Disney Parks around the world was placed next to Ezra and Gus was given a bindle for some reason.

Sadly The original effective and creepy Hitchhiking Ghost in the mirror effect was replaced with CGI versions that barely look like the figures in the preceding tableau notably Ezra's hands which are supposed to be large but in the animations are small and skeletal. It feels too 21st century for the attraction. while the original effect could have been accomplished in the 19th century.

The changes made to the Walt Disney World Haunted Mansion over the last 15 years have heavily damaged the once great attraction.