Haunted Mansion - DL vs WDW (know history?)

[PetitePixy]

Must say, I prefer the concept of the HM at DLR better. However the HM in WDW looks similar to the one they used for the movie.

I've always thought the DL HM was about a psycho bride who killed all her husbands. Notice the paintings of her and her husbands where each husbands head disappears. At the end of that scene you see her holding onto a hatchet.

That's exactly what I thought the story was too. And when you pass the bride's ghost in the attic scene, what she is saying hints about her killing off her groom. Creepy...

 

[Disney Dreams]

The Haunted Mansion's original backstory was placed in the early 1800s. The mansion was that of a rich sea merchant. He built the house for his bride, who did not know he was a pirate. According to the story, when she confronted him, he killed her. The bride's ghost haunts the mansion, driving he to-be-husband to commit suicide.

Atop the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland there was (until recently) a ship weathervane. There is no logical reason for there to be a ship atop the HM if the story of the sea merchant does not apply.

Of course, according to the story, the sea captain is that from Pirates of the Caribbean (before it was re-done for the movie storyline).

- Dreams

 

[fairycat]

The Haunted Mansion's original backstory was placed in the early 1800s. The mansion was that of a rich sea merchant. He built the house for his bride, who did not know he was a pirate. According to the story, when she confronted him, he killed her. The bride's ghost haunts the mansion, driving he to-be-husband to commit suicide.

Atop the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland there was (until recently) a ship weathervane. There is no logical reason for there to be a ship atop the HM if the story of the sea merchant does not apply.

Of course, according to the story, the sea captain is that from Pirates of the Caribbean (before it was re-done for the movie storyline).

- Dreams

For a really cool version of this story you can buy the trade paperback of the first series of the Haunted Mansion comic book. The book was released by Slave Labor Comics, with permission from Disney and has stories about many of the characters from the mansion, and each issue added to the Pirate/Captian storyline, that was created later for the HM at DL. It's a fun series.

As other's pointed out the stories did not start with the openning of the Mansion, but instead have been created and grown over time. The Hachet bride is new, she used to be the beating heart bride, who was a victim not a murderer. But stories change in the Mansion.

 

[kc10family]

love this thread, great FYI

 

[Mike_M]

As other's pointed out the stories did not start with the openning of the Mansion, but instead have been created and grown over time. The Hachet bride is new, she used to be the beating heart bride, who was a victim not a murderer. But stories change in the Mansion.

There is also the Hatbox ghost which was an abandoned concept for the attic and I beleive was the idea for the current headless husbands theme up there. Where the beating heart bride used to stand (On the right side of the doom buggies rather than the left where she is now) there was originally going to be a ghost (that looked a lot like one of the hitchiking ghosts) carrying a see through hat box. His head would disapear from his head and re-appear in the hatbox. Rumor was, this was the groom to the beating heart bride who would have stood where the piano is now. The effect never was convincing enough so it was scrapped just days before opening.

 

[Disney Dreams]

For a really cool version of this story you can buy the trade paperback of the first series of the Haunted Mansion comic book. The book was released by Slave Labor Comics, with permission from Disney and has stories about many of the characters from the mansion, and each issue added to the Pirate/Captian storyline, that was created later for the HM at DL. It's a fun series.

As other's pointed out the stories did not start with the openning of the Mansion, but instead have been created and grown over time. The Hachet bride is new, she used to be the beating heart bride, who was a victim not a murderer. But stories change in the Mansion.

While many additional stories have surfaced, the one I post is NOT as you state.

Walt Disney had one of his Imagineers, Ken Anderson, create a story around the concept of the Haunted Mansion while the attraction was still in concept and development. The story of the sea captain and his bride was one of the many that Anderson dreamed up. It was actually previewed on an early episode of The Wonderful World of Disney.

However, Walt passed away before the Haunted Mansion was completed. The HM was changed significantly when it finally opened almost 3 years later.

The comics you mentioned did not come out until 2005. They include many playful references to several Disney CMs involved in the creation of the attraction.

 

[AlexMouse]

Another missing effect that I noticed when I was just there was the ghost-shadow-piano-player. He was no where to be seen! You could still here the piano playing on the soundtrack, of course, but there was no ghostly player.

I hope this is just another effect that was temporarily not working, and that they haven't removed it alltogether!

 

[mechurchlady]

Here is my take on the various versions of the Haunted Mansion.

There stand an old house that dates back a century or more. Unloved and abandoned it sits. Every once in a while a pack of kids will come by that old house. They will tell stories about the old house. Each generation will embellish existing stories, make up new stories, and forget the old stories. The murdered bride becomes the jealous wife who beheads her beloved whom she thought cheated on him then the next time she is a black widow collecting the heads of her husbands.

I think I like the mansion as it is the day I ride it and if one day something is not working then the story is missing a few pages but still is a scary ghost story.

 

[Mike_M]

Another missing effect that I noticed when I was just there was the ghost-shadow-piano-player. He was no where to be seen! You could still here the piano playing on the soundtrack, of course, but there was no ghostly player.

I hope this is just another effect that was temporarily not working, and that they haven't removed it alltogether!

I'm pretty sure that effects go down fairly often on all the rides and most of them get repaired. I've seen my share of missing effects. A couple years ago, Pinnochio himself was missing from the opening scene in his ride for our entire trip. The year before that, the barefoot Pirate was missing from POTC. This year also on POTC, I noticed the donkey that is with the Pirate Singers in the burning town scene was missing on our last day (This one was cool because the Donkey normally has it's head sticking out of a barn window and the barn window was shut when he was missing).

 

[Huff]

Another missing effect that I noticed when I was just there was the ghost-shadow-piano-player. He was no where to be seen! You could still here the piano playing on the soundtrack, of course, but there was no ghostly player.

I hope this is just another effect that was temporarily not working, and that they haven't removed it alltogether!

He was there this past weekend.

 

[fairycat]

While many additional stories have surfaced, the one I post is NOT as you state.

Walt Disney had one of his Imagineers, Ken Anderson, create a story around the concept of the Haunted Mansion while the attraction was still in concept and development. The story of the sea captain and his bride was one of the many that Anderson dreamed up. It was actually previewed on an early episode of The Wonderful World of Disney.

However, Walt passed away before the Haunted Mansion was completed. The HM was changed significantly when it finally opened almost 3 years later.

The comics you mentioned did not come out until 2005. They include many playful references to several Disney CMs involved in the creation of the attraction.

Sorry you miss understood me. I know that the comics are much newer then the sea captain story. In fact that story was taken from the Disney tale and worked into the comic (each of the first series included a part of the tale of the sea captian Mr. Gracey). The other stories are created to give characters more depth and some are just about things that could happen at the Mansion.

I knew that the sea captain had a basis in the original build but was never 100% sure what was connected to the Imagineers and what grew over time from CM's stories. Since there were changes I know some characters got stories later on after the Manison was complete.

I also know about the split that accord between what the two original Imagineers invisioned for the HM and how the two were entwined to create what we see now (ok except for the changes that have accord over the years like the bride).

I just mentioned the comics as an interesting way to see one telling of the tale

 

[Disneyland Veteran]

What about rumors that HM is really haunted by a couple different ghost, anybody think there is any truth to this?

 

[AmericanItGirl]

What about rumors that HM is really haunted by a couple different ghost, anybody think there is any truth to this?

I've heard 2 ghost stories. One is that a woman spread the ashes of her young son along the track and supposedly the boy is waiting at the end of the ride for his mom to get off the ride and take him home. The other (unassigned to a specific ghost description) concerns the Hidden Mickey on the table in the ballroom. Whenever it's been placed in a normal place setting, it mysteriously gets set back into the Mickey position after the ride building's been locked up for the night.