This past weekend, theme park fans around the globe
collectively lost their minds as images of the Hatbox Ghost began to pop up
online.
The modern era Hatbox Ghost made his debut in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion
this past Saturday. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
"And what's the big deal with the Hatbox Ghost?,"
you ask. Well, you have to understand this gruesome ghoul was originally
supposed to have been one of the 999 happy haunts that Disneyland Guests would
encounter whenever they visited the Haunted
Mansion. But within a week of the
official grand opening of this New Orleans Square E-Ticket, the Hatbox Ghost
had been pulled out of the Mansion.
"That was most likely Yale Gracey's doing," Kim
Irvine — Walt Disney Imagineering Art Director for Disneyland
Park — explained during a recent
phone interview. "Yale was the guy who came up with most of the Mansion's
illusions. And while all of the other effects that the Imagineers had installed
in this then-brand-new Disneyland attraction were
performing flawlessly, the Hatbox Ghost scene just wasn't working as well as
Yale had hoped it would."
"I don't know if this was because of where this figure had originally been
positioned within that attraction's attic sequence or whether it was the angle
that Guests saw the Hatbox Ghost from, but the
head-disappearing-off-of-his-shoulders-and-then-re-appearing-inside-of-that-hatbox
gag just wasn't landing the way that Yale had hoped it would," Irvine
continued. "And being the perfectionist that he was, I'd imagine that Yale
had the Hatbox Ghost pulled so that Disneyland visitors
would then be able to talk about all of the effects inside of the Mansion that
worked, rather than the one that didn't."
Yale Gracey poses with the original Hatbox Ghost for
a pre-opening publicity shot for Disneyland's
Haunted Mansion. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
But what Gracey hadn't counted on was that — because the Hatbox Ghost had been
so prominently featured in the pre-opening publicity for Disneyland's Haunted
Mansion (FYI: That's Yale himself posing with the not-quite-finished figure in
the photo above) not to mention that the Hatbox Ghost wound up being mentioned
on "The Story and Song of The Haunted Mansion" LP (i.e., that
souvenir Disneyland Storyteller album which was sold at the theme park for
years after this New Orleans Square attraction first opened to the public) — over
time, this character's legend just grew and grew.
The cover of "The Story and Song from the Haunted Mansion" LP as well as the image of
the Hatbox Ghost found inside of this Disneyland Storyteller album. Copyright
Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
"I've given a lot of talks about Disneyland's
Haunted Mansion
over the years. And whenever we'd get to the question & answer portion of
those sessions, I'd always get people asking about the Hatbox Ghost. They
wanted to know why this character had been pulled out of the Mansion. More
importantly, whether he'd ever be coming back," Kim said. "And given
that interest in this Haunted Mansion
character just grew & grew over the years … Well, given that Imagineering
always likes to give our Guests something new to see the very next time they
ride their favorite attraction, we began seriously talking about whether there
was a way that we could actually put the Hatbox Ghost back into Disneyland's
Haunted Mansion."
This tradition of plussing an attraction or adding new magic
to a pre-existing ride or show actually dates back to Walt's time. As the story
goes, the Company's founder was lingering outside of the entrance to Disneyland's
Jungle Cruise sometime in 1956 (which was just a year after The Happiest Place
on Earth had first opened to the public). And Disney was eavesdropping on what
the Guests had to say about what was then the signature attraction at his theme
park. A mom & son approached the entrance to this Adventureland ride. The
son was heard to say "Can we go on that one, please?" And the
mother's reply was "No. We went on that ride the last time we were at the
Park."
Well, Walt heard that remark. And by the Summer of 1957, Disneyland's
Jungle Cruise has a slew of brand-new scenes. People who purchased tickets for
this Adventureland attraction were now treated to a trip through a
flower-filled rainforest. Not to mention being menaced by a pair of mechanical
gorillas. The Jungle Cruise even wound up with an all-new climax, as its
riverboats first floated past through this village that featured a war party
and some dancing natives and then concluded with a comical encounter with Trader
Sam, the famous head salesman for the Amazon.
You've got to give Trader Sam some points for consistency. Nearly 60 years after
his Jungle Cruise debut, Sam's still offering Disneyland Guests the same
amazing deal: Two of his heads for one of theirs. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
These additions to the Jungle Cruise then gave Disneyland
visitors a legitimate reason to revisit this Adventureland attraction. Which is
why Walt then made plussing the rides, shows and attractions at his theme park
a regular practice.
"I remember when John Hench (EDITOR'S NOTE: Hench was
one of the original Imagineers. In fact, one of the very first park-related
assignments that Walt gave John was to come up with some futuristic attractions
for Disneyland's original version of Tomorrowland) used
to come down to the Park. He'd make a point of driving down from Glendale
to Anaheim at least once a month.
And John and I would then walk through Disneyland
together as he pointed out things that could use some updating or TLC," Irvine
recalled. "And during these walks, John kept saying 'You need to keep this
place fresh. You need to keep these rides and shows relevant.' That was
something that he had learned directly from Walt. And John was determined that
this tradition would continue. Which is why he kept passing along all of this
information to me."
Mind you, they don't make changes at the Disney theme parks
just for change's sake. Given that the Company was founded by a storyteller,
whenever the Imagineers are looking to add new magic to a pre-existing ride,
show or attraction, they first try and ensure that whatever changes they're
making then honor the original intent of that particular ride, show or
attraction's story.
"That's why we were confident that — when we returned
the Hatbox Ghost to Disneyland's Haunted
Mansion — we were making a smart
choice," Kim explained. "After all, here was a character that the
fans had been asking about for years. More to the point, we now had access to
technology that Yale Gracey didn't have back in the late 1960s. Which meant
that the Imagineers could finally make the Hatbox Ghost effect work the way it
was supposed to. So — by now putting this character back inside the Mansion —
we weren't just randomly shoehorning something in there. We were actually
honoring the original intent of Yale and all of the Imagineers who created the Haunted
Mansion."
Yep, even back in Walt's day, there were tech issues, time
constraints or budgetary shortfalls that prevented rides, shows or attractions
that the Imagineers had designed for Disneyland from
turning out the way Walt had originally hoped they would. Take — for example
— the Abominable Snowman that lurks inside of this theme park's Matterhorn
Bobsleds.
According to Jason Surrell's "The Disney Mountains:
Imagineering at its Peak" (Disney Editions, September 2007), Walt had
always wanted an Abominable Snowman to part of the thrills that Guests
encountered as they zoomed through Disneyland's 1/100th scale version of the
Matterhorn:
Concept art for the version of the Abominable
Snowman that was supposed to be installed
in Disneyland's Matterhorn when the
Bobsleds first opened at that theme
park back in 1959. Copyright
Disney Enterprises, Inc.
All rights reserved
"In fact, (Disney Legend) Harriet Burns had gone a long
way towards a full-sized, fiberglass-and-fur-cloth mock-up of the Abominable
Snowman. The original intent was for the mythical monster to haunt the Matterhorn
on opening day, but there just wasn't enough time to accomplish everything Walt
wanted to do by then. Walt pulled the plug when he realized the attraction was
a big hit without an interior show."
It would be another 19 years before the Abominable Snowman
finally took up residence inside of the Matterhorn.
WDI's master sculptor Blaine Gibson was the one who came up with this
creature's distinctive fang-bearing / red-eyed look while it was Dennis Mecham,
an Imagineer who worked in WED's special services department, who provided the
Abominable Snowman's distinctive roar.
That version of the Abominable Snowman has been in place
since June of 1978. And while he's been roaring at and thrilling Disneyland
visitors for nearly 37 years now, as the Happiest Place on Earth neared its
60th anniversary, Kim and her fellow Imagineers wondered: Might it now be time
to add some next generation thrills to Disneyland's original thrill ride?
The 1978 version of the Abominable Snowman menaces Disneyland visitors at the
point where the two Matterhorn Bobsled tracks meet inside the mountain.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
"There have been so many advances made with digital
projection and sound technology over the past decade. So we were thinking that
— rather than have the Abominable Snowman remain as this sort of static,
stationary figure at the very heart of the Matterhorn —
wouldn't it be cool if, while you were riding through the mountain, you now got
the sense that the Abominable Snowman was running along right next to your
bobsled. That you could now catch glimpses of him moving through the Matterhorn
just ahead of you," Irvine
enthused.
And it's this new improved, newly ferocious version of the Abominable
Snowman that will be making his debut at Disneyland
Park on May 22nd as the Matterhorn
Bobsleds officially come back online after a five month-long rehab.
"Again, I want to stress here that the story that the Matterhorn
tells is pretty much the same. The big change is, of course, with the
Abominable Snowman. He's a little bit more ferocious, a little bit more
exciting," Kim said. "And if you're really paying attention as you
ride along in your bobsled, you may notice that — at various points along the
way — that there are these caves where the Abominable Snowman seems to be
hoarding things that he found out in the Park. That — if you look closely —
you may be able to see items that pay tribute to rides, shows and attractions
from Disneyland's past."
The new more menacing, far more ferocious version of the Abominable Snowman
makes his debut in Disneyland Park's Matterhorn Bobsleds attraction on May
22nd. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
The newly reimagined Hatbox Ghost and Abominable Snowman
will be just two of the pieces of new magic that Guests will discover when they
return to the Happiest Place
on Earth for the Disneyland Resort's Diamond Celebration. Which officially
kicks off next Friday, May 22nd with a 24 hour-long party.
This article originally appeared on the Huffington Post's Entertainment page on May 15, 2015