Inside the Berm
Attraction dossier 001 · New Orleans Square

The Haunted Mansion

OpenedAug 9, 1969
Ride systemOmnimover
Exterior built1963
Holiday overlaySince 2001

Loading the 3D model…

N
50 m
1969
Opening day
19551963196719691989200120152024
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors · LiDAR: USGS
—show building footprint, outside the bermMeasured from map data
—footprint of the house guests actually seeMeasured from map data
—walk from the stretching rooms to the load area, passing under the railroadMeasured along the fan map
46 yrsthe Hatbox Ghost was gone, from August 1969 to May 9, 2015Verified
The Illusion Lab

How the magic is done

Every trick in the order you meet it on the ride. Each one has a working model you can take apart yourself, and every explanation is labeled by how sure we are.

Free-licence photos

The real thing

Shared by their photographers under public-domain or Creative Commons licences on Wikimedia Commons, and used as reference for the 3D model.

The mansion's two-storey cast-iron galleries and white portico columns
Galleries and portico. Alfred A. Si, 2010 · Public domain, resized
Three-quarter view of the mansion with chimneys and belvedere
Belvedere, chimneys and iron lace. SolarSurfer · Public domain, resized
The portico and pediment seen from the queue
The portico from the queue. Theme Park Tourist, 2016 · CC BY 2.0, resized and cropped
The mansion lit at night beside its front lawn
After dark. Bair10, 2014 · CC BY-SA 4.0, resized
The mansion seen through the iron fence and magnolia branches
Through the fence, 2022. Benoît Prieur · CC0, resized

Watch a ride-through

Fans have filmed the whole ride. We link to them instead of copying them, because the show inside belongs to Disney.

Ride-throughs on YouTubeLights-on videosDoomBuggies.com

How accurate is this?

Every piece of the model is marked by where it came from, so you always know what's surveyed and what's our best interpretation.

Surveyed

  • Building outlines, including the mansion and its show building as one footprint split by the railroad
  • Building, roof and berm heights, plus the position and height of every tree, from the USGS 2011 LiDAR scan of Orange County
  • The railroad’s path through New Orleans Square and Critter Country
  • Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer Island and Fowler’s Harbor
  • The Pirates of the Caribbean boat route

Estimated

  • Floor heights inside the show building
  • Mansion details (columns, iron galleries, belvedere), modelled from the free-licence photos below
  • Buildings added after 2011, such as the Somewhere Beyond shop, which the scan predates
  • Older years show neighboring buildings at their current footprints

Fan-surveyed & interpreted

  • Ride track, room positions, both stretching rooms and the portrait hall, traced from DoomBuggies.com’s Disneyland track map and aligned to the real footprint
  • Room furnishings and lighting, which are generic stand-ins that show what each room is for, not copies of the show

Sources: Wikipedia: The Haunted Mansion · Wikipedia: Hatbox Ghost · Wikipedia: Pepper's ghost · Wikipedia: Eleanor Audley · Wikipedia: Thurl Ravenscroft · Wikipedia: Leota Toombs · Wikipedia: Omnimover · Wikipedia: Haunted Mansion Holiday · Wikipedia: New Orleans Square · Wikipedia: Pirates of the Caribbean (attraction) · Wikipedia: Splash Mountain · Wikipedia: Tiana's Bayou Adventure · D23: 13 fun facts about the Haunted Mansion · Preservation Maryland: the house that inspired the Mansion · Haunted Mansion Wiki (fan wiki): Hitchhiking Ghosts · Theme Park Insider: Haunted Mansion (Disneyland) · WDWNT: Somewhere Beyond opens · WDWNT: Tiana's Bayou Adventure opening date · OpenStreetMap (building outlines, railroad) · USGS 3DEP LiDAR, CA_OrangeCo_2011 · DoomBuggies.com track map (fan survey)