*The Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida - from my trip in 2022*

“Welcome foolish mortals!”

If you said that in your very best Ghost Host voice, and got a little excited, then we’re probably going to be best friends.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I still think you’re wonderful, and this is about to “change the course of your entire life”. (That’s a quote; I’m not *that* dramatic. Usually.)

This week we’re talking about Walt Disney’s The Haunted Mansion, in celebration of the newest film based on the famous theme park attraction. Released July 28 with an all-star cast that includes Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield, Danny DeVito, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more, this new iteration of my all-time favorite ride has been on my radar for quite some time. Needless to say, I got my butt to that theater as fast as I possibly could.

Before I dive into my review of the film, I wanted to talk just really quickly about the background of the attraction itself, as well as share a little about some of the earlier film adaptations. Just like anything else, in its 53 year history (54 years this week, actually) there have been a lot of ups, and a few downs, so let’s hop in our doom buggy and take a look back in time.

The Attraction

In order to keep this blog at a reasonable length and not nerd out too much over the history of how this ride came to be, I wanted to highly recommend a show called Behind the Attraction on Disney+, which has an episode about the creation of the Haunted Mansion.

Long story short- The idea for a spooky attraction at a Disney park was on the docket from the very beginning, and from early on, Imagineer (what the company calls the folks who create and bring to life their attractions) Ken Anderson envisioned what we think of as a traditional walk-through, dilapidated haunted house. For anyone who knows about Disney as a company, and especially the theme parks, the idea of something not being beautiful and immaculate is fully out of the question. Even though Walt was on board with a haunted attraction, he vetoed the run-down vibes in favor of a more mysterious but still stately building.

There were several iterations of the ride- with arguments over whether it should be fun or scary, if it should have a museum of oddities, how the attraction should work, and whether the ride should even exist since very few people could go through it at one time. While the concept of the Haunted Mansion was part of the initial plans of the park, construction didn’t begin until 1961, and then due to Disney’s involvement with the World’s Fair in New York and unfortunately Walt’s passing in 1966, the ride itself didn’t open until August 9, 1969, at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. This was about 14 years after opening day for the park. In true Disney can-do, optimistic style, compromises were made and we ended up with the ride we know and love today.

*Opening Day of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion on Aug 9 1969- D23.com*

If you’ve never ridden, the queue and pre-show are spooky and at times even a bit scary (you start off by being shuffled into a room with no escape where the lights go out and reveal some spooky sights). But by the end, you’re dancing and singing along to the signature “Grim Grinning Ghosts” song and watching some of the funnier characters bumble through their afterlife. In order to accommodate a large crowd (and I do mean large- over 40,000 people per day can ride), it operates on a continuous loop. Small groups of 1-3 guests access slow-moving “doom buggy” ride vehicles by stepping onto a belt, so they rarely have to stop the ride to let folks on. The buggies rotate as you move through the ride, showing you all the chilling surprises the mansion has to offer.

The Haunted Mansion has been a hit since day one. In fact, it grew so popular that people wanted to come back and visit not only throughout their lives, but even after they were gone. It has become a magnet for folks to try to scatter the ashes of their loved ones, though doing so will get you permanently banned from Disney properties (and potentially in legal trouble, as it’s illegal. And hazardous.). It’s also worth noting that they’ve employed various methods to detect debris and it gets swept/vacuumed up practically immediately, so your deceased loved ones, if they are hoping to enjoy the mansion forever, would get nearly zero actual ride time.

Speaking of visiting the attraction in the afterlife, what good would I be as a spooky blogger if I didn’t talk about creepy things that purportedly happen behind the scenes? Well, I’d be an accurate one, because despite the rumors of spirits lingering due to the scattered ashes, there are very few reports of this particular ride actually being haunted. I will mention, however, that the spell book on Madame Leota’s table supposedly moves on its own.

While I could go on about the history and lore behind the Haunted Mansion for literal hours, I won’t, because I really do want to talk about the movie. Or movies, rather. Over the years, the ride has inspired comic books, cartoons, board games, and more. Naturally, it also was adapted into not one, not two, but three feature films.

The Movies

The first film to be released was The Haunted Mansion, which hit theaters in 2003. It featured Eddie Murphy, who I’d argue was at the peak of his career, though I’m not sure I’d say this was one of his finer roles. The next movie made about the ride was Muppets Haunted Mansion, which came out in 2021. And finally, the newest Haunted Mansion was released last week.

The Eddie Murphy version was pretty widely maligned, for many reasons. Primarily, that the humor didn’t really land, even with such a brilliant comedian taking the lead. There were a lot of plot points that didn’t seem to really come together, and it also seemed to be taking a few too many steps away from the lore of the story that we all know and love from the ride.

That being said, I did rewatch it in preparation for this, and I kind of feel it got a bad shake. It’s not perfect, but it’s not exactly supposed to be an Oscar nominee. It reminded me of a spooky, family-friendly version of, say, National Treasure for example. I think the points it hit its stride were where they let the action and adventure of trying to escape a haunted house take the reins (sometimes literally) and when it blends the spooky and the silly, just like the ride does.

If we’re talking about blending spooky and silly, then I’ve got to take just a moment to mention the Muppets Haunted Mansion. Listen, I am not a Muppets person. I don’t fully dislike them or anything, I just don’t really “get it”. Ya know? But I LOVE Haunted Mansion so when it came out I wasted no time watching it anyway. Truthfully, I loved it.

Even though the Muppets were their usual cute and chaotic selves, I felt like the movie actually kind of hit all the points I was looking for in an homage to my fav attraction. They “cast” it correctly, with the right Muppets in the right roles, instead of just forcing Kermit and Miss Piggy on us the whole movie when it wouldn’t have made sense. There were a lot of funny jokes for adults and nods to all the nostalgic parts of the ride. Believe it or not, there’s even a pretty great jump scare early on in the film, which got me good enough that I decided to take back my recommendation that my six-year-old nephew should watch it.

As much as I love a good jump scare and as much as I love everything HM… I wasn’t expecting a lot from the new movie, I won’t lie to ya. I’m not sure if it was because of the seemingly randomly chosen cast or because I was still a little disappointed by the Eddie Murphy version, but I went into it the way I do with most paranormal-related things- with a big, healthy dose of skepticism.

Well, I was very pleasantly surprised. It takes a lot for a movie to hold my attention the entire time, and even though this was a bit slower in the first half, I never got up to meander off for snacks or a potty break (which I do a lot- blame my ADHD). That’s even more remarkable considering this is a solid 30 minutes longer than most family films, clocking in at about 125 minutes of run time.

While I think they could cut about 30 minutes of exposition to pick the pace up, I actually kind of liked it being slower in the beginning. It reminded me a lot of the ride itself, where the first half you’re getting the spooky history and exploring the mansion and the second half you’re seeing the more raucous ghosts as you’re escaping.

The new movie has everything I love from the ride, and I really enjoyed the cast and most of the story, aside from a few points that didn’t quite come together. When it came to jump scares and spooky moments, there really weren’t a lot. Again, I think that stays true to the ride itself. I think it’d be a great “gateway to scary movies” experience for older kids and tweens. Probably the most “adult” thing overall is the theme of grief and loss, which is kind of the thread that ties it together. But it’s done really well.

Throughout the whole film you could tell they saw this as a tribute to a beloved attraction more so than just another movie. They paid attention and gave care to giving fans of the ride everything they were looking for. I don’t think it’s a movie just for folks who are already fans though. The new movie has enough for people who are new to the spooky world of the Haunted Mansion and lifetime fans alike. I highly recommend checking it out while it’s still in theaters!

On that note, Disney+ currently has all of the movie versions available, along with the aforementioned Beyond the Attraction, which is where I got a lot of my information from for this post as well. I feel like it’d be a great way to spend a rainy Saturday with the family (or your dog, in my case) to curl up and watch all of them as we creep towards Halloween.

No matter how you choose to see it, I’d love to hear from you! Are you a fan of the ride? What are your thoughts on the movie(s)? What are some of your favorite Haunted Mansion facts? Comment below if you’d like, but we also have a thread on the Discord specifically for talking with your fellow Spooky Sisterhood members about our blog posts, so don’t forget to head over there and chat about it as well!

Welcome Foolish Mortals!

Reiki Master….and Exorcist?

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