The new queue for the mansion has been expanded in two directions, into the hill that formerly served as the small cemetery near the attraction’s entrance and toward the Rivers of America. The new area will be home to four crypts, three of which will reportedly be interactive, with the gravestones appearing beyond the new crypt area. The queue is expected to wind between the crypts, though another rumor predicts that the crypts will be a diversion from the queue, similar to the “Next Generation” queue that opened recently at The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

These gravestones on the new hill behind the original hill at the Haunted Mansion's entrance are expected to be replaced by the original (or enhanced versions of the original) Imagineers' tombstones. Note the reels of electrical wiring ready to be installed.Photo by J. Jeff Kober.

One of the crypts reportedly pays homage to the players of the instruments in the seance room, with images of their instruments carved into the side of the crypt, and may also include a tribute to the organist from the ballroom scene. A second is an homage to Phineas Pock, a long-storied name in the Haunted Mansion mythos and the name of the rightmost singing bust in the graveyard scene. A third interactive crypt’s subject is currently unknown. A fourth crypt, across from the three interactive ones, pays homage to the sea captain that was central to the original story of the Mansion.

Meanwhile, inside the Mansion, the hitchhiking ghosts in the final scene have been replaced with projections of the same ghosts on screens, both in the “hitchhiking” scene, and along the final stretch, where they appear in front of riders on a scrim instead of their previous location in the doombuggies themselves via a reflection. It is rumored that this is temporary while work takes place to update the existing animatronic and “Pepper’s Ghost” effects with new interactivity.

As to whether similar updates will come to the Anaheim mansion or even other Haunted mansions in Disney Parks remains unknown. These additions do reflect Disney’s ongoing goal to make attractions and even ques more interactive.

Rich Ross, Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios, remarked “Millions of people from around the world visit The Haunted Mansion each year, but no one has ever had a tour guide like Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo is one of the most gifted and innovative filmmakers working today and he is going to take audiences on a visually-thrilling journey like they’ve never experienced before.”

Now if you’re like me, you may be thinking, “Wait, didn’t they already do a movie based off the Haunted Mansion?” However, unlike the 2003 version of Haunted Mansion, which starred Eddie Murphy, del Toro said the live-action film will not be a comedy, but instead will be “scary and fun at the same time.” Del Toro commented, “if you take the children, they will scream.” If this new film has any of the elements that Pan’s Labyrinth did, that will certainly be true.

“Dark imagery is an integral part of the Walt Disney legacy,” Del Toro said of the live action 3D film. “After all, Disney himself was the father of some really chilling moments and characters – think Chernabog from Fantasia or Maleficent as The Dragon or The Evil Queen in Snow White. I couldn’t be more excited to be a part of my own adaptation of the original theme park attraction Walt envisioned and that remains, for me, the most desirable piece of real estate in the whole world. The scary will be scary. We’re being true to the spirit of the original imagineers.”

The director, who recently announced he would not be directing The Hobbit, described the Haunted Mansion project as “a dream come true.” He will produce and co-write the film, and may direct as well.

I thought it might be a good time to take a look at how the Haunted mansion came to be along with some of the “behind the scenes” magic.

Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion as a ride-thru attraction officially opened in 1969. The “mansion” itself however was built in 1963 and would sit idle for 6 years until the actual attraction could be developed and completed. For years, many stories surrounded the grizzly looking mansion that sat quietly on the banks of the Rivers of America including that they were gathering the 999 ghosts that would eventually inhabit the mansion.

In all reality, Imagineers were really trying to decide what the attraction would actually be. What started out as a “museum of the weird” restaurant idea eventually evolved to a walk-thru haunted house. However, there was the problem of keeping things flowing so the attraction could serve a large capacity of guests. Disney’s involvement in the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair would further delay the completion of the project as well as Walt Disney’s death in December 1966.

After Walt’s death, the project evolved significantly. The Museum of the Weird restaurant idea was abandoned, and the walkthrough idea was replaced by the Omnimover system used in Adventure Thru Inner Space, renamed the Doom Buggy, a promising solution to the problem of capacity. Imagineers had been fighting the low-capacity nature of a walkthrough attraction for years, even going so far as suggesting building two identical attractions to get double the number of guests through.

Following are two videos discovered on YouTube, both broken into two parts that tell the story of the development of this most beloved Disney attraction. The video reveals early concept ideas as well as behind the scenes tricks and shows the Imagineers responsible for bringing the mansion to life hard at work.

The first video explores some of the history and the effects of the Mansion and includes Imagineers Tony Baxter, Marty Sklar, Bruce Gordon, sculptor Blaine Gibson, Wayne Jackson, and many other imagineers who will reveal some of the “behind the scenes” magic.

The second video is was from from Disney’s television show “The Wonderful World of Color” in which the Haunted Mansion made its debut.The first part of it is with a very young Kurt Russel along with many Imagineers while the second part is an actual ride-through with Russell and the Osmonds.

The sisters, Jessica (12) and Stephanie Sutton (10) will be joined by their parents in the mansion on Sunday — the ride’s 40th anniversary.

95.5 KLOS Classic Rock of Southern California held the contest that provided the opportunity for a guest to stay a night in the mansion as part of it’s 40th Birthday celebration. The Sutton sisters got the most votes on the station’s Web site for their talent – Singing “Happy Birthday” with a dog barking in the background.

“They are excited and can’t wait, and they were just jumping up and down,” Roxane Requio, KLOS manager of marketing and promotions, said.

Disneyland will keep the ride open as normal Sunday. After the park closes, the Suttons will be allowed to move into the elevator chamber at the entrance of the ride about midnight where beds will be set up and they stay there until 6 a.m. A live-feed video will be shown on the KLOS Web site.

Now what I am curious about is do they have to simply stay in the elevator chamber all night or do they get to ride the attraction again and again and again? Or how about a walk through with lights on or even a behind the scenes tour? But to simply be kept in the elevator chamber all night – not sure how fun that would be.

Below is a recently created preview of The Haunted Mansion attraction at Walt Disney World in Florida. Enjoy!

More of the same available at Disney Park’s YouTube Channel.

One of the next best things to walking through the Mansion is being able to visualize the ride layout. That is why I was thrilled to find a site that not only has a computer drawing of The Haunted Mansion track layout but layouts for a variety of Disney attractions at several of its theme parks around the world.

One must first understand that The Haunted Mansion ride does not actually take place in the “mansion” building you enter. It is actually located in a ride building located just outside the berm adjacent to the Disneyland Railroad track.

When guests enter the mansion, they then proceed to one of two stretching rooms which are actually elevators that go down to the basement level of the mansion. Once the doors open, guests proceed down a long hallway which actually goes under the railroad track to the ride building itself.

Here is an aerial view of the actual “mansion” you enter with the “ride” building behind it.

Now for the track layout which I feel is a pretty good representation of what is contained in the ride building itself.

Oh and if you are ever tempted to ditch your Doom Buggy to venture around you will most likely find the entire track of carriages come to a standstill as you trigger the various intrusion alerts. The attraction’s sophisticated intrusion alarm system monitors all exit doors and pressure sensitive mats throughout the ride. So don’t do it, unless you want to be exited out of the park.