Haunted Mansion Articles
Disney Imagineer Collin Campbell Passes Away, Leaves Legacy
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Disney Imagineer Collin Campbell passed away on Saturday, April 2, 2011. Campbell, an employee of WED Enterprises, the division of the Walt Disney Company directly responsible for creating the iconic Disney theme park attractions, was involved in many aspects of the design of Disneyland, Walt Disney World, and the international Disney theme parks. Campbell's distinctive paintings of the Jungle ...
There Are Ways To Beat The Line At Star Tours
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The revamped Star Tours attraction at Disneyland is subtitled "The Adventures Continue," which is appropriate since right now just getting in is an adventure. Star Tours officially opened last week and has been generating lines that grow like the price of gold or oil. On Monday, the wait in the standby line reached 210 minutes, which makes one wonder what it will be like on Saturday. But ...
Trip To Disneyland A Night To Remember For Graduate
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It's safe to say that the last week has been one of the craziest weeks of high school. I had family fly in from France and Texas, and although May 31 was my official last day of classes, the 2011 seniors had to return to school June 1-2 for graduation rehearsals. The ceremony started at 8 p.m. Friday, and many of my classmates had mixed feelings of excitement and sadness. After walking down the ...
Disney Prepping Adventure Movie Based On Matterhorn Ride
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Disney is developing an adventure movie project inspired by the Matterhorn ride and has set Jason Dean Hall to pen the script. Justin Springer (Tron Legacy, Prom) is producing the project, which has a working title of The Hill. The Matterhorn, also known as the Matterhorn Bobsleds, is part of Disneyland's Fantasyland section. Opened June 1959, the elaborate ride was inspired by Walt Disney's desire ...
Disneyland Memories
Two months ago, I was warned that my article for the July issue would be about my first memories of Disneyland. I knew from the outset how hard this would be. If I had been asked about my first visit to Florida's Magic Kingdom this would be easy. It was November 18th 1988, which was Mickey's 60th birthday. I could write reams about my memories: the parades; my first trip on a monorail; finding ...
8 Secrets About Disneyland
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From how to score a cocktail to where to scatter grandma's ashes, this is your ticket to the real Magic Kingdom. 1. There are dead bodies in the Haunted Mansion The Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland is one of the scariest places in the park, but not for the reasons you'd expect. In his 1994 book "Mouse Tales," former Disney employee David Koenig tells the story of a tourist group that ...
Legendary Disneyland Ghost Is Caught On Film
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For decades, fans of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion have discussed a long-gone resident of the Mansion called, simply, the "Hat Box Ghost," so named because he was a ghostly character posed holding a hat box, into which his head would appear and disappear. Though more a prop than a true fabled "Audio-Animatronic" creation, this character still became legend, probably because it was installed in the ...
Making Kinect Disneyland Adventures
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Disneyland has remained one of the world's most popular attractions ever since it was built on a 160-acre site near Anaheim, California, in 1955. Love it or loathe it, there is no denying that nearly 16 million people eagerly flock every year to gawp open-mouthed at the Technicolor playground inhabited by Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and other famous characters. Frontier Developments, the Cambridge-based ...
3 Disney Attractions Temporarily Closing
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Even at the Magic Kingdom, maintenance is a must. Two Disneyland attractions are closed through August, a third will close at the end of the month and visitors to neighboring Disney California Adventure will have to slip into that park a little differently for a bit to allow a massive improvement effort to continue along. The Matterhorn Bobsleds the popular, iconic roller coast that is one of ...
California vs. Blackpool: General
Earlier in the year, I wrote an article for DLDHistory.com comparing the Alice in Wonderland ride in Disneyland to Alice's Wonderland at Pleasure Beach Blackpool (the most visited theme park in the United Kingdom). As I have recently come back from a week's vacation in Blackpool (and seeing as my main article this month was shorter than usual) I thought I would compare Anaheim's Disneyland Resort as a ...
Tis The Season To Be Spooky
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Separate-ticket 'Mickey's Halloween Party' Offers Trick-or-Treating In Disneyland Park on 10 Special Nights The spirit of Halloween Time will invade Disneyland Resort this fall with Disney villains, Mickey Mouse and his friends in Halloween costumes, along with the seasonal transformations of Haunted Mansion into Haunted Mansion Holiday and Space Mountain into Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy. Halloween ...
Disneyland Halloween Night Parties To Include Stormtroopers
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Stormtroopers, Duffy the Bear and Phineas and Ferb are set to crash Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland. Mickey's Halloween Party is a series of after-hours parties that include an exclusive fireworks show, trick-or-treating, a character costume party and dance parties. Beginning on Friday, Sept. 30, 10 events are scheduled for alternating Mondays and Tuesdays and every Friday throughout ...
Disneyland Brings Chills This Halloween
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Halloween is coming early this year! Today,Disneyland park will put on its costume to give a not-so scary fun time to guests. Everyone from adults to little ghouls will have a fun time seeing the various decorations and experience the tricks and treats that Disney has in store! *Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy: As guests fly through the cosmos there will be a space ghost trying to catch them. Marvel at ...
Disney Collection Mimics Halloween's Haunted Mansion
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Fans of the joining of "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas" and the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland can take home collectibles based on the Halloween themed ride. Brian D. Sandahl is the art director in charge of the annual re-theming of the Haunted Mansion into the Haunted Mansion Holiday - a tribute to the Tim Burton movie that begins during the park's Halloween Time and lasts through ...
Disneyland Resort Offers Plenty Of New Attractions
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The self-proclaimed "happiest place on Earth" is about to become a whole lot happier. When Disneyland Resort's new 12-acre Cars Land opens in time for next summer's tourist blitz, it will represent the latest achievement in the world of "imagineering" a word that was coined to emphasize the imagination of Disney engineers. Presently under construction in the Disney California Adventure park, ...
Reflections On My Trip To Disneyland
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I was a little worried about our trip to Disneyland, which took place last week. Last time I went with my older son, then 4 years old, and misjudged the scariness of Pirates of the Caribbean by a factor of about 10. He didn't want to go on rides after that, pegged me as a complete liar (it was going to happen some time ) and stayed in the fetal position for the rest of the month. Adding to ...
Environmental Group Files Suit Against The Happiest Place On Earth
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Minnie's House, the Haunted Mansion and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride are all attractions families may want to avoid during their next Disneyland adventure, according to an environmental group alleging the California theme park is riddled with attractions that can expose children to potentially dangerous levels of lead. The Mateel Environmental Justice Foundation filed an injunction Tuesday to require the park ...
It's Boo Time At Disneyland
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No matter what time of day you go to Disneyland during Halloween time, there is something seasonal, festive and fun going on. The spirit of Halloween Time visits Disneyland Resort starting in mid-September and stays through October 31. Popular attractions are re-done for the season making a Fall visit to Disneyland a must. Space Mountain takes you on a ride through a Ghost Galaxy and Haunted Mansion ...
Rain, Rain Stay Away At Least 'Til Sunday
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I'm counting on the rain to hold off until at least Sunday so I can get to Disneyland this weekend, the first with the park decked out for the holidays. I want to get in there before the Thanksgiving and then Christmas crowds arrive. If you have never been, no kidding, it's the most amazing time to go. Especially if you're like me and sometimes have a hard time getting into the holiday spirit. ...
X Made His Mark With The Walt Disney Company
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Marty Sklar, the former head of Walt Disney Imagineering, tells a great story about Francis Xavier Atencio the man known to everyone in Disney circles as simply X and how Walt Disney unexpectedly tapped X do write the script for a new ride being developed for Disneyland. "Walt was the greatest casting director that ever lived," Marty said. "How he put people together was pretty amazing. I remember, ...
Disneyland At Christmas It's Not Just For Kids
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If there's a better place to immerse yourself in the Holidays than Disneyland I don't know where it could be. And that's especially true if you can stay at one of Disney's resort hotels. Once again this year, California residents can take an easy drive to Anaheim and enter a world of lights, color, music, rides and even Christmas "snow." Familiar attractions like the Haunted Mansion and It's a ...
Christmas At Disneyland Is Busy But Still Magical
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Disneyland at Christmas Time is even more magical It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas and if the kids stayed off the naughty list they might just get lucky enough to be screaming "I'm going to Disneyland!" As the parents, brace yourself for a busy trip. I was there last week and it's already in full holiday mode. Here are a few hints to make the trip an enjoyable memory. The parks are ...
Walking In A Winter Wonderland
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Having grown up in Southern California, I can't remember a time when I wasn't aware of Disneyland. I've loved the amusement park and all things Disney since I was itty bitty. I can remember being carried out to the car while it was still dark out when I was a little girl only to wake up again at Disneyland in awe. Now as an adult, I still find the "Happiest Place on Earth" just that. There's no ...
Walt Disney King Of Fantasy
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Walt Disney and friends. Walt Disney, whose Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck brought laughter to the world and whose Disneyland is a playground for the world's people, calls his home at Smoke Tree Ranch, "my laughing place." Whimsical, as always, he refers to the Uncle Remus story where Brer Rabbit oh-so-casually mentions his "laughing place" and makes it sound so intriguing that Brer Fox insists on ...
7 Attractions Temporarily Close At Disney
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Visitors to Disneyland resorts may want to check ahead to see if their favorite rides are operating as the park begins its annual maintenance. Starting Monday, seven attractions will close for refurbishment as well as some shows and restaurants. The 52-year-old Matterhorn Bobsled ride will be closed until summer while crews update the ride and add new vehicles featuring three seats. Crews ...
Five Unique Artifacts From Disneyland's Opening That Remain At The Park
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A lot has changed at Disneyland since the park first opened in 1955. Over the nearly six decades that have passed since its debut, many things at the Happiest Place on Earth have either been lost over time or met with a wrecking ball during one of the park's many expansions and refurbishments. We list five original Disneyland artifacts that existed in the park back when Walt walked Main Street, ...
7 Tips For Tackling Disneyland In A Day
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I've been to Disneyland hundreds of times over the last two decades and have been writing the Funland theme park blog for about four years now. As a result, people are always asking me how to do everything at Disneyland in a single day. The short answer is you probably can't. It can be a struggle for even hard-core fans with military assault-like strategies. The longer answer is there's lots of ways ...
Grown-Up Gals Have Fun Like Kids But Without Kids At Disneyland
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Disneyland is not just for sugar-soaked kids. Consider, all you grown-up women out there, going for a gals' day out. That's exactly what my childhood friend Joanna and I, both of us in our 30s, recently did instead of heading to the beach or shopping. Did we channel our inner princesses? Nope. Did we regress to a state of childlike delight and strategically map out rides to conquer? Oh yes. That ...
Party With Mickey While Saving On Disneyland Admission
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It may be July still, but Disneyland is already planning its holidays and this week posted its invitation for all to Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland. And the best part about this "party" is the admission price$54 to $69 per person, depending on which night you attend the event. Tickets are for Disneyland only, but offer a savings of up to $35 per person. The event happens from either 6 ...
Disney Adventure Without The Kids
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When I told a New York friend I was heading to Disneyland to explore its appeal for adults, his immediate retort was that it would be a very brief visit. And when our group, not a person under 35, walked through the gates of Disneyland on a warm Saturday and contemplated the crush of elbow-high humanity before us, I wondered if perhaps he was right. Yet seven hours and eight attractions into my first ...
2 Disney Rides Temporarily Close This Month
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Two Disneyland rides will temporarily close for part of this month as crews undertake projects. Disney traditionally schedules few rehabilitation projects during the busy summer season, when crowds are heavy. Meanwhile, the Jungle Cruise is scheduled to reopen Thursday after a weeklong closure. Crews are shrinking the gap between the dock and the boats to make it easier for visitors to get on ...
