The Backstories and Magical Secrets of Walt Disney World
Page 11
THE EXTERNAL QUEUE
As you approach the entrance to the Haunted Mansion, you hear the spooky howl of a wolf in the background. Look up when entering through the wrought-iron front gate and you’ll see that the top of the gate is in the shape of a bat.
To the right guests will see an old black hearse that looks like a vintage wagon. This is a genuine antique, built during the Civil War and used in the 1965 Western The Sons of Katie Elder starring John Wayne. If you look inside, you’ll see dead roses. Although you can’t see a horse, a bridle mysteriously hangs in the open air in front of the hearse, and horseshoe prints are embedded in the surrounding pavement and lead to a nearby carriage house.
An ominous black wreath hangs on the Haunted Mansion’s front door, indicating that a death or a serious illness has recently taken place. The pillars on either side of the door are shaped as coffins, and the flower pots in front of the mansion are in the shape of large cremation urns. Pay close attention to the window above the front door at night. Occasionally, you’ll see a shadowy figure passing by that window. A sign informs you that the attraction is “Open for Visitation.”
THE DREAD FAMILY MYSTERY
Shortly after passing through the gates of the Haunted Mansion, you encounter a series of five dramatic stone busts to the right of the walkway. Unbeknownst to most guests, these busts recount the story of a murder mystery. Each bust includes an epithet that provides a brief summary of how that particular family member died, along with a decorative item that many guests pass by without noticing. The busts, epithets, and decorative items are all clues that you can use to solve the Dread Family mystery.
The stone bust of Uncle Jacob Dread suspiciously peers through his single eyepiece at passing guests, carefully guarding a large stack of money. His epithet reads:
Greed was the poison he had swallowed.
He went first, the others followed.
His killer’s face he surely knew.
Now try to discover who killed who.
Bertie Dread is a smiling old man with a hat, a receding hairline, and a snake wrapped around his neck. His epithet includes a bottle with a skull and crossbones (indicating poison):
Avid hunter and expert shot.
In the end that’s what he got.
Aunt Florence Dread is an old woman with flowing hair and an ominous grin. She is also presumably the wife of the now deceased Uncle Jacob. Her decorative item is an old-fashioned revolver. Her epithet reads:
Never did a dishonorable deed.
yet found face down in canary seed.
A pair of busts depict twins Forsythia and Wellington Dread. A bag of bird seed sits between them. Their inscription includes a dead bird laying belly-up, and reads:
Departed life while in their beds.
With identical bumps on their heads.
Cousin Maude is an elderly woman with a long neck partially covered by a tall dress collar. A plaque includes a picture of a hammer, along with the inscription:
Our sleeping beauty, who never awoke
The night her dreams went up in smoke.
As you have probably figured out, the decorative item included with each bust represents that particular person’s murder weapon of choice, while their epithet indicates the manner in which they were killed. Once it has all been pieced together, it becomes clear that:
Bertie killed Uncle Jacob (using poison).
Aunt Florence killed Bertie (using the revolver).
The twins, Forysthia and Wellington, killed Aunt Florence (by virtue of the canary seed reference).
Cousin Maude killed the twins (using the hammer).
The final piece of the mystery, the identity of the person who killed Cousin Maude, only becomes clear after you examine the back of her head. It is there where you will find three matches holding Maude’s hair in place, and revealing that she accidentally killed herself when the matches caught fire and “her dreams went up in smoke.”
The next portion of the exterior queue features a series of highly themed interactive crypts that provide fun entertainment for guests and include numerous magical secrets.
THE MUSICAL CRYPT
One large crypt is home to a deceased musician and is themed in a variety of ways to music. On one side you’ll find numerous traditional musical instruments, including a horn, drum, and bagpipes. An inscription above those instruments reads: “HE’S GONE FROM THIS WORLD OF TROUBLE AND STRIFE BUT A TOUCH OF YOUR HAND BRINGS HIS MUSIC TO LIFE.” Each instrument, when touched, plays “Grim Grinning Ghosts,” the theme song for the Haunted Mansion.
On the opposite side side of the crypt you’ll find musical instruments of a more ominous nature, including a horn with tentacles. These instruments also play “Grim Grinning Ghosts” when touched. The inscription above those instruments reads, “A COMPOSER OF NOTE AND RENOWN HERE REPOSES. HIS MELODIES FADE AS HE NOW DECOMPOSES.”
One end of the crypt features an ominous organ labeled a “Ravenscroft” in reference to famed voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft, whose voice is also featured as one of the singing busts seen later in the attraction. Ravenscroft also voiced Tony the Tiger in numerous commercials for Frosted Flakes cereal. He also sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” in the Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas television special. In addition, Ravenscroft voices the German macaw Fritz in Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room in Adventureland and Buff, the funny buffalo head in the Country Bear Jamboree in Frontierland.
The organ’s pipes include demon faces that ominously gaze at passing guests and blow wind and water at guests who play the instrument. A large stone raven is perched high atop the pipes.
SEPULCHER OF THE SEA CAPTAIN
The sea captain’s crypt is a tribute to one of the early backstory concepts for the Haunted Mansion developed by Imagineer Ken Anderson. It is also influenced by one of the portraits seen later in the interior portion of the attraction’s queue.
The tomb features a large bathtub with the captain’s hand and leg hanging over the side. An inscription on the tub reads:
Here floats
Captain Culpepper Clyne
allergic to dirt so he’s pickled in brine
HE BRAVED THE SEA AND ALL HER WRATH
BUT DROWNED ON LAND WHILE TAKING A BATH
If you look closely, you will see Captain Clyne’s leg is wrapped with a rope. His hat sits on the edge of the tub while bubbles flow over the edge. The crypt is covered with barnacles that will sometimes spray water at unsuspecting guests. Ominous green fish are latched to the corners of the crypt, and its backside features two cloudy portholes.
If you listen closely, you will hear Captain Clyne sneeze. He also sometimes sings the song “Drunken Sailor” (“What shall we do with a drunken sailor, early in the morning?”).
TOMB OF THE POSTHUMOUS POETESS
The third and final interactive crypt is for a deceased poetess and includes more magical secrets and yet another mystery for inquisitive guests to solve.
This large stone crypt features two sides of stone books on shelves. Various books pop out from the crypt at random times. When you push them back in, another one pops out. The books are arranged in rows of unlucky number 13.
Most guests don’t realize that this crypt includes a cryptogram (a hidden message, and a funny play on words in this case). The spines of various books on the crypt include twenty distinct symbols, each of which coincides with a letter of the alphabet. These symbols, and their corresponding alphabetic letter, are as follows:
“13” = A, Sword = I, Bust = R
Broken Heart = C, Bird = K, Snake = S
Powder Keg = D, Key = L, Shovel = T
Candelabra = E, Pair of Bats = M, Wine Bottle = U
Axe = F, Tombstone = N, Horn = W
Pair of Pistols = G, Coffin = O, Candlestick = Y
Figure with Club = H, Wine Glass = P
The decoded message reads:
Welcome home you foolish mortal,
this mansion is your mystic
portal,
where eerie sights and spooky sounds,
fill these happy haunting grounds.
The epithet on the back of the crypt reads:
HERE LIES POETESS
PRUDENCE POCK
SHE DIED, TIS SAID
FROM WRITER’S BLOCK
According to Disney Imagineers, Prudence Pock is a relative of one of the Haunted Mansion’s most famous characters, Phineas Pock (one of the three hitchhiking ghosts seen at the end of the attraction).
One of the funnier elements of the queue comes when the poetess asks unsuspecting guests to complete her sentences with words that rhyme. Prudence did die from writer’s block. after all.
The end of the Poetess Crypt includes a spectrecom (a microphone), with two signs to the left and right of a window that each read:
SPECTRECOM
SPEAK WITH THE NEARLY DEPARTED
PATENTED
R.H. GOFF
R.H. Goff is a tribute to Disney Imagineer Ralph Harper Goff. Goff famously served as art director for the 1954 Disney live-action film 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea starring Kirk Douglas and James Mason. He later contributed many early sketches for what would become Disneyland, and in particular Main Street, U.S.A.
As Pock recites her poems, they are displayed in a book behind a window between the spectrecom signs.
A Haunted Mansion Hall of Fame
A stone wall to the left of the queue walkway includes four crypts, each of which pays homage to individuals who made substantial contributions to the Haunted Mansion.
“FAREWELL FOREVER MISTER FREES, YOUR VOICE WILL CARRY ON THE BREEZE.”
Paul Frees was an American voice actor whose career spanned more than forty years. He worked for numerous companies, including Walt Disney Studios, Jay Ward Productions, and Rankin/Bass. Among his many credits, Frees voiced the Ghost Host narrator for the Haunted Mansion. Frees also voiced numerous characters in Pirates of the Caribbean, including the famous Auctioneer and “Old Bill.” He also recorded the echoing “Dead Men Tell No Tales” used in that attraction. Despite his noteworthy accomplishments for Disney, Frees is perhaps best known for voicing the villain Boris Badenov in Jay Ward Productions’ The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
“WHILE BROTHER ROLAND HERE REPOSES, HIS SOUL’S ABOVE, ONE SUPPOSES.”
Roland “Rolly” Crump joined the Disney company in the early 1950s and worked on classic animated films like Peter Pan (1953), Lady and the Tramp (1955), and Sleeping Beauty (1959). Crump later transitioned to Walt Disney Imagineering (formerly WED Enterprises) and made key contributions to Disney’s work at the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair. He also famously worked alongside Imagineer Yale Gracey to develop many of the initial special effects ideas for the Haunted Mansion.
“DRINK A TOAST TO OUR FRIEND KEN, FILL YOUR GLASS AND DON’T SAY ‘WHEN.’”
This crypt pays homage to Disney Imagineer Ken Anderson who developed many initial ideas for Walt Disney’s “haunted house” project in the 1950s, including the Captain Gore and Bloodmere Manor backstories.
“A TRAIN MADE A STAIN OF ABSENT-MINDED UNCLE BLAINE, REST IN PIECES.”
Blaine Gibson was Disney’s expert sculptor who worked on the Partners and Sharing the Magic statues on Main Street, U.S.A., the busts of the audio-animatronics in the Hall of Presidents, as well as the audio-animatronics in the Haunted Mansion.
An otherwise non-descript gate near these crypts pays homage to one of the Haunted Mansion’s most famous characters: the caretaker from the graveyard scene of the attraction. If you look closely, you will see that the gate includes a doggy door, and that the footprints of the caretaker and his dog are embedded in the pavement.
Imagineer Tombstones
The tombstones located in the interactive portion of the queue and immediately to the left before you enter the mansion are some of the most iconic props in all of Walt Disney World. These tombstones, much like the windows on Main Street, U.S.A. discussed in chapter 1, pay tribute to some of Disney’s most influential Imagineers—in this case, for their contributions to the Haunted Mansion. The Imagineers honored, as well as the inscriptions on their tombstones and their backstories, are as follows:
Marc Davis
inscription
“In memory of our patriarch. Dear departed Grandpa Marc.”
backstory
Marc Davis is rightfully considered Imagineering royalty. His credits as both an animator in Disney feature films and as a designer and contributor to attractions and experiences in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World spanned more than four decades. Davis began work for Disney in 1935 and became one of Walt’s “Nine Old Men.” He designed and brought to life some of Disney’s most beloved characters, including Snow White from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Cinderella and Prince Charming from Cinderella (1950),Alice from Alice in Wonderland (1951), Tinker Bell from Peter Pan (1953), and Aurora and Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (1959). In the 1960s, Davis’ duties transitioned from an animator on Disney feature films to a designer and artist for Disney’s new Anaheim theme park, Disneyland. His most enduring contributions to the Disney theme parks are his work on Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. In each of these attractions, Davis inserted his signature brand of gags, jokes, and comical characters. In the words of Walt Disney himself, Marc Davis was a true “Renaissance man.”
Claude Coats
inscription
“At Peaceful Rest Lies Brother Claude, Planted Here Beneath This Sod.”
backstory
While hundreds of Imagineers have made significant contributions to the Disney company, few can rival those of Claude Coats, known affectionately as the “Gentle Giant.” For more than fifty years, Coats made magnificent contributions to Disney through his masterful use of color and light in numerous classic Disney animated films, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Pinocchio (1940), Fantasia (1940), Dumbo (1941), Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Peter Pan (1953). His work as an art director and show designer for the Disney parks included contributions to numerous classic Disneyland and Walt Disney World attractions, beginning with Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. In the decades that followed, Coats would work on other classic attractions, such as the 1964-1965 New York’s World Fair pavilions, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Haunted Mansion. Standing six foot six inches tall, Coats was impossible to miss and in most cases physically towered over everyone he worked with.
Yale Gracey
inscription
“Master Gracey Laid to Rest. No Mourning Please, At His Request. Farewell.”
backstory
Yale Gracey was known in Disney Imagineering as an effects genius. His career with the Disney company spanned thirty-six years. Gracey is best known for his work on many special effects for the Haunted Mansion, most notably the use of the “Pepper’s Ghost” technique that brought ghosts to life in the Grand Hall scene.
Francis Xavier Atencio
inscription
“RequeisCat Francis Xavier. No time off for good behavior.”
backstory
X. Atencio made substantial musical contributions to many Disney attractions. Among his accomplishments, he wrote the lyrics to the theme songs for the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Country Bear Jamboree.
Leota Toombs
inscription
“Dear Sweet Leota, Beloved By All. In Regions Beyond Now, But Having A Ball.”
backstory
Leota Toombs began her career with the Disney company in 1940. She made contributions to “it’s a small world,” Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and Ford’s Magic Skyway in the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, and later Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland. Toombs’ face was used as that of Madame Leota in the mansion’s séance scene. Her tombstone is completely unique in that it is the only one to include a face embossed on the front. It was added as part of a refurbishment in 2001. Be sure to watch this face closely, as it will
eerily move up and down, and its eyes will move from side to side and even blink.
Fred Joerger
inscription
“Here lies good old Fred. A great big rock fell on his head. R.I.P.”
backstory
Fred Joerger was known for his expertise with rock work for attractions and other areas in Walt Disney World. His best-known work was on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Haunted Mansion. Joerger’s expertise makes his tombstone inscription both funny and appropriate.
Dave Burkhart
inscription
“Dear Departed Brother Dave. He Chased a Bear into a Cave.”
backstory
Dave Burkhart’s contributions to the Haunted Mansion include work on numerous models for the attraction.
Harriet Burns
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“First Lady of the Opera, Our Haunting Harriet. Searched For A Tune But Never Could Carry It.”
backstory
Harriet Burns built models and designed sets for the Haunted Mansion. She was most famous for being Disney’s very first female Imagineer. Her tombstone, a tall obelisk, is different from most of the others.
Dorothea Redmond
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“Our Dearest Dorothea.”
backstory
Dorothea Redmond is most famous in Disney circles for her work on the five mosaics in the Cinderella Castle passageway. Redmond also worked on concept art for the Haunted Mansion. Her tombstone is also in the shape of an obelisk.
Wathel Rogers
inscription
“Here Rests Wathel R. Bender. He Rode To Glory On A Fender. Peaceful Rest.”
backstory
Wathel Rogers was known as the father of audio-animatronics. His credits include work on Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room, Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Jungle Cruise.
Chuck Myall
inscription
“In Memoriam Uncle Myall. Here You’ll Lie For Quite A While.”