The Haunted Mansion is one of Disney’s greatest creations. It’s also an unfixable, thematic mess, which is part of its appeal. Disney has allowed it to remain imperfect for the past half century, a wise exception to the company’s notorious perfectionism.
It’s a mix of ideas, a collection of concepts about how funny or scary to make the best haunted house. It’s changed in small ways over the years and is rewarding to appreciate as a kid or an adult.
As a child, we might take it at face value, letting ourselves be scared or delighted by the “999 happy haunts.” As we get older, and once we’ve been on the ride a time or 20, we can appreciate the Haunted Mansion with a shrewder eye. We can take pleasure in the craft and process of the ride’s creation and operation. It’s like being an adult fan of magic. No adult thinks that Penn & Teller can actually make balls appear out of thin air. Rather, it’s admiration for the magicians’ skills that makes the tricks engaging. Knowing the secret can deepen one’s appreciation for how well the tricks are performed.
The ride is a memorably spectacle. It employs several classic illusions in the service of entertainment. For example, the Pepper’s Ghost effect that creates the transparent ‘ballroom scene’ dates back to the 16th century. The effect shows up in the mansion’s Grand Hall, where glowing, transparent ghost couples dance among real life props. Other ghosts disappear and reappear at a banquet table. Still more ghosts swing from the chandelier or pop out of oil paintings. It’s a scene of uncommon beauty and impressiveness. It’s so impressive, in fact, that during the ride’s testing, the effect tricked experts, who were shocked by the sheer audacity of what they were seeing. “We fooled [the magicians] too,” boasted Haunted Mansion designer Rolly Crump in Jason Surrell’s official guide to the great ride. “They’d just never seen a piece of glass that big.”
