How the Haunted Mansion Remains a Timeless Gateway to Horror

Of course officially, there’s been Eddie Murphy’s Haunted Mansion movie, as well as various comic book and literary adaptations, “We want to make sure that it always maintains that same wonderful personality that it has,” Irvine shared. “WDI actually has the Haunted Mansion bible that we put together, that kind of outlines who everybody is in the mansion: what their names are, what their backgrounds are, and the do’s and don’ts of what to do with them, [for] everyone that has ever done anything with Haunted Mansion as far as the films they’ve made or stories that have been written or different types of products that are made from it.”

Curious about the bible, we inquired about all the concepts that didn’t make the cut on the ride—are those included in it as well? Or does it just include everything that’s in the mansion? “I think it’s pretty much everything that is in that mansion, you know?” Irvine responded thoughtfully. “We kind of keep the things that weren’t ever fully developed to ourselves as possibilities for the future.” As a fan, that sounds very exciting!

While she couldn’t share much about Disney’s upcoming new Haunted Mansion film starring Rosario Dawson and directed by Justin Simien, Irvine did reveal she has worked on it in some capacity. “We make sure that they really understand the background before they move ahead with any of these projects. I visited the site where they built the mansion and the sets. It was absolutely mind-blowing the care that they took in recreating some of these spaces because they actually finished off rooms that we only did small parts of. In order to film a whole movie, they had to make them larger and finish them off to see what it would look like if each room was actually filled with furniture and completely 3D surrounding you.”

Excited for the attraction’s lasting presence in other mediums outside the parks, I brought up last year’s Muppets Haunted Mansion special, and working with the Henson team. “They are just awesome and were coming at it from such a different and humorous angle that I’m sure Marc Davis would enjoy, he’s the one that wanted the humor in it,” Irvine said of the experience—and her cameo with Madame Pigota. “Working with them was just a real treat. It was a surprise to really to get a chance to do this and interact with Piggy and the rest of the Muppets team because they are such talented and kooky people. The director was so much fun. And, you know, I think for sure he was the one that sets the mood for the whole thing. So we just had a blast doing it.” The director in question by the way is Kirk Thatcher, who made an appearance in this year’s Disney+ Halloween special Werewolf by Night (directed by Michael Giacchino) as one of the scene-stealing monster hunters.

Timeless Legacy

Now don’t close your eyes
And don’t try to hide
Or a silly spook may sit by your side
Shrouded in a daft disguise
They pretend to terrorize
Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize

-Haunted Mansion

You’re never too old to grow out of the magic of the Haunted Mansion, I told Irvine, because it just takes you back to the childlike wonder of experiencing and enjoying scary things. X Atencio’s script and lyrics really lull you into the joyride with the happy haunts. She agreed that it’s tantamount to its lasting legacy. “It’s kind of the perfect recipe for a successful attraction between the visuals and the lighting and the effects in the script. Basically, as [Disney artist] John Hench calls it, ‘it’s like a big cocktail party that you’re just passing through.’ You get to see all these things going on in this house and the sense of humor with a little bit of fright. We have used that same type of thinking on a lot of our attractions.” she said. I mention that it reminded me of Coco, the Pixar film which is a proposed candidate for a future Walt Disney World attraction, as they share a thematic element of not fearing death—and that everyone could open up to the possibility that the afterlife celebrates memories with the living.

The Haunted Mansion, of course, has its own spin-off rides around the world as well. “Florida has our [sensibility] but Paris’ is different because Tony [Baxter, Disney Imagineer] felt the Parisians liked more western movies and their appetite for scare was a little bit more. It’s still a wonderful attraction that tells much more of the story of the jilted bride. The mansions in Tokyo and Hong Kong, they’ve done different things with them, but they also follow pretty much the same philosophy.”

During the fall months, the Haunted Mansion transforms into a crossover that’s heavily entwined Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas. It decks the Mansion’s halls a little early for Christmas, I point out, but concede that the classic Haunted Mansion does get love in letting its ghosts loose in parades and interactive encounters. Irvine replied that it’s great to see them feature in other Halloween offerings. “It’s really fun that they have the grave diggers dragging their shovels in the parade and it’s a different element. The Hitchhiking Ghosts get out and do a performance somewhere. And we’ve seen many versions of Madame Leota through the years. Of course she makes the rounds as well, but they’re kind of like the ambassadors of the mansion.”

Going back to the Nightmare overlay, I ask about her connection to the ride and how exactly it came to pass for her to reprise her mother’s original role. “Steve Davison, who was the art director for the Nightmare overlay, he came to my office and he said, ‘Kim, you know, you know what we’re doing in there and we’re going to have to change your mom’s incantation because I want it to be more about Jack and the Nightmare story.’ And I said, ‘Oh, that’s okay, [my mom would] be all right with it, if its just temporary thing.’ And he says, ‘Well, the thing is, we need another actress to do it. Would you do it?’ And being kind of shy, I thought, ‘That sounds so intimidating’ but I didn’t want anyone else to do it either. She’d passed away by this time, so I couldn’t share it with her and I wish I could have. But all the things that she went through, the technology didn’t change at all. We went through all the same things, learning incantations holding my head perfectly straight and having to do all the expressions.”

A wonderful shared legacy, I told her, and she added, “They thought they would have to change out the head from regular show to the Nightmare show. But they don’t because our faces are so much the same. We actually project [my mom] on my head. So we play a dual role the rest of the year, which is pretty cool.”

Agreeing, I let her know that it’s just another thing we love about honoring the ride’s legacy through her work and presence as Disneyland’s creative director. A role she found herself in by fate, just like her mom. “I knew I was going to do something with art. After I graduated from high school [I was] planning on going to [art school]. And [mom] said, ‘You know, we’re trying to to get Walt Disney World open. We have six months and we have so much work to do. And you are such a good painter. Would you come to work?’ So I said, okay, I’ll work for the summer and here I am, still there,” Irvine laughed. “What better teachers could I have? Mary Blair and Mark Davis, John Hench, Herb Ryman —all of the people that I mentored with every day at work. So it really turned out to be the best education I ever could have gotten.”

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