Eye an Eerie Exhibit for the Haunted Mansion's 50th

Artifacts from the famous spook house are now on view at the Disney Gallery.

What to Know

  • Disney Gallery inside Disneyland park
  • Anaheim
  • With paid admission

"When hinges creak in doorless chambers" are six of the best-known words of dialogue around, at least if you're a fan of phantom-filled fun-houses, the kind of attractions that have become legendary, and legendarily fun, over the decades.

For that's the opening of the Ghost Host's dialogue at the Haunted Mansion, inside Disneyland park in Anaheim. It's a spirited spiel that Mansion mavens know by heart, with some people speaking along as they step inside the ride.

Of course, other riders do prefer absolute silence, in order to hear the Ghost Host in his full and ghoulish glory.

But when did those hinges actually begin to creak, anyway? Here's the un-quibble-able answer, one that's as firm as a phantom is see-through: Aug. 9, 1969.

That's the date when the Haunted Mansion debuted in New Orleans Square, and modern-day fans are ready to scare-lebrate, er, celebrate, the ride's 50th anniversary via variety of parties.

Here's one way, though, to find some apparition-rich information about the place: The Disney Gallery, inside Disneyland park.

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That's where "Happy Haunts Materialize" is now on view.

It's an exhibit that features maquettes and sculptures of some of the attraction's best-known figures, like the cemetery caretaker, and several pieces of artwork by the Imagineers who created the Haunted Mansion, like Marc Davis and X Atencio.

If you have a soft spot for the Haunted Mansion's Portrait Hallway, you'll see pieces that were originally intended to hang there.

In fact, several of the items in the exhibition reveal that the road to the Haunted Mansion took a few twists and turns, thematically and stylistically,. It's an in-depth, behind-the-scenes look sure to give fans a deeper understand that their beloved ghosts didn't simply materialize overnight but rather took years to summon.

"Happy Haunts Materialize" is included with your Disneyland park admission.

No end date is currently posted for the show, but know, like a Hitchhiking Ghost, that this great exhibit is sure to catch a Doom Buggy out of town sooner than later.

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