Waiting in Line...At the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland

Here is the Mansion on a crowded summer day...
I love the detail on the New Orleans Square Mansion which is so different from the Liberty Square Mansion in Florida. The scrolled iron work and flowers are almost happy details, it belies what is inside. In these pictures the foliage is more overgrown and the mansion is a bit more foreboding, but in my pictures, taken in June of 2007, the mansion's lawn and grounds are well manicured and beautiful. The bright sunlight also lends a to the happier atmosphere.

The sign announces:

RESERVATIONS ACCEPTED!
Ghost Relations Department
Disneyland
(Please Do Not Apply In Person!)

A little closer...sorry about the glare.

Now here is where the creepy factor starts to settle in...The Pet Cemetery. The Cemetery here is right next to the queue so you don't miss a detail. This sets a tone for the queue that you don't get in Florida where you pass the pet cemetery on your way out of the attraction, where the gag is set up and away from the walkway. While some of the details are the same it is really nice to be able to see the tombstones up close.

I also really like how very weird this really is. Here is this antebellum mansion, where Scarlett O'Hara could come running out at any moment, and what is in the front yard? A pet cemetery. It is so bizarre that in any other attraction it would be totally out of place but here it just adds to the wacko factor and sets a tone that you are in for a treat.

Again, the contrast of overgrown plants among patches of grass that look freshly mowed. I wonder if this is on purpose or if the landscape crew just went through?

Freddie the Bat's grave.
I love the detail with the "We'll Miss You" being placed upside down so that "he" can read it, or his friends.

This statue, along with the one of the pig reminds me of some of Marc Davis' original drawings for the Mansion. There is a humor in them and they act as kind of a wink to the observer that this is all just plain fun.

A cactus! and the planter is sinking into the ground around it. It felt as if some of the landscaping was chosen to be sort of menacing. The vines and some of the plants are bright colors, the way poisonous plants are, and are reminiscent of some of the more dangerous plants, such as Venus flytraps (no there aren't any dangerous plants here).

This area of the queue is just silly wonderful fun. It is actually much less foreboding than say, the queue for Tower of Terror. The Mansion just oozes fun but with an edge. There are many more details here than in Walt Disney World and the attraction is configured somewhat differently. More on that in a later post.