In the last year, Disney has announced multiple changes and upgrades to its rides, many designed to bring the attractions in line with modern cultural sensibilities. As part of a pre-pandemic plan to tidy up effects and give the Mansion a much needed cleaning, Walt Disney Imagineering - the secretive arm of the company responsible for theme park experiences - has also found a way to squeeze in an extra scene, in a nook just before guests board the ride’s “doombuggies.” Both inside and outside the Mansion, Disney creatives aim to gently deepen the mystery of the ride. Discarded eventually - a raven essentially fills a similar role - the cat, which will now be represented as an elegant statue, stands as a reminder that the Haunted Mansion was once envisioned more as a walk between the hair-raising and the humorous.īeyond the cat figurine, there are many other additions for guests to spot, from floating chairs to puzzling dollhouses. Sometimes we’d see the cat as simply an eye in the darkness other times, there would be allusions that this phantom was on the prowl for a spirit to possess. 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. Since we don't check any of what passes for facts around here, mistakes are bound to happen.Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion has been a source of fan mystique for even longer than its nearly 52 years at the park. If any significant true information slips through, we apologize for that. All information on this site is, to the best of our knowledge, false. This site is not endorsed, approved, or secretly funded by the Walt Disney Corporation (or any corporation with a legal department). Got a lie or ridiculous unfounded rumor you'd like to pass along? Write to us. Disney has since put in safety devices to prevent such a tragedy, but this did nothing to help the young man's grandmother, an old woman with a heart condition, who, after witnessing the accident, slipped into a coma. Unfortunately, he didn't notice that there is no floor around the small platform the table is on, so he plummeted thousands of feet to his death. Many years ago, a young man escaped from his Doom Buggy and tried to approach the table with the crystal ball. If you have any doubt, listen for the shaking of a tambourine - you'll hear it, even though the tambourine floating in the room doesn't shake when the sound is heard! The ceremony Leota is holding, on the other hand, is quite authentic. It is, in point of fact, a space-age plastic in which the holographic image of Madam Leota has been embedded. This shawl and the numerous musical instruments floating about in the air, belonged to the woman who did Madame Leota's voice - Eleanor Oddly.ĭespite appearances, the crystal ball is not really crystal at all. The shawl hides a pentagram and other dangerous, arcane symbols carved in the table's top, and obscures the gum stuck beneath. The table on which the head-entombing crystal ball rests is an actual witch's table, donated to Disney by a coven of Salem witches who were also big Disney fans. Madam Leota - whose head is visible within her crystal ball - is holding a séance in the next room. Disneyland - Haunted Mansion: Séance Circle (Disney Lies)ĭisneyland Haunted Mansion: Séance Circle
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