Phantom Manor
 | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. |
Phantom Manor is a unique interpretation of the traditional ride model conceived for The Haunted Mansion. An attraction at Disneyland Paris, opened in 1992 with the park, it follows a completely different storyline than the Haunted Mansions at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland.
History
In the planning days of Euro Disneyland (now called Disneyland Park), Tony Baxter, executive designer for Walt Disney Imagineering, decided that certain staple Disney attractions would have to be altered for the new park. The Haunted Mansion was among these attractions. Jeff Burke was assigned the role of executive producer for the construction of the park's version of Frontierland and with help from Imagineer Bob Baranick and show writer Craig Thierault, it was decided that the story related to Phantom Manor would have to be congruent with that of Frontierland's fictional town of Thunder Mesa.
A major influence for the story of the ride was Andrew Lloyd Webber's famous musical Phantom of the Opera, but the story was altered to be set in Western times. Like the other Haunted Mansion rides, only the first scene takes place in the house itself —- the rest takes place in a warehouse hidden from view.
Story
Phantom Manor follows a storyline devised by Walt Disney Imagineering:
After the original Thunder Mesa town was abandoned, the new Thunder Mesa was built, along with a manor, owned by Henry Ravenswood, an industrial baron who owned the Big Thunder Mountain gold mines. He had a daughter named Melanie, who had a beautiful singing voice. The day came when Melanie had to choose a groom, and chose an engineer, planning to leave town. Henry wouldn't have it, determined to stop the wedding even from beyond the grave that an earthquake put him into. Thus the Phantom came onto the scene and captured Melanie's groom and hung him in the rafters of the house.
Melanie then waited for her dead groom, never taking off her bridal gown in case he appeared. She aged, then perished in the wine cellar. Meanwhile, 999 other ghosts and ghouls moved to the manor, and Ravenswood was now called Phantom Manor!
There is a great amount of speculation that the Phantom is Mr. Ravenswood, and that he killed her groom and became the Phantom to ensure that Melanie would stay in Thunder Mesa for eternity. Others say that Mr. Ravenswood is just another mortal victim and that the Phantom was another entity entirely, who wanted the lovely Melanie for himself but had been rejected due to an extreme facial deformity. If you subscribe to this theory, the heartbreak drove him mad.
Walk-through
The Haunted Mansions in other Disney parks were designed to look clean and aesthetically pleasing. Phantom Manor however was designed to look clearly derelict. The manor's ground are untended, overgrown with weeds and scattered with dead vegetation. Upon entering the grounds, guests see a bat guardbox and a plaque on the wall which reads "Phantom Manor - Non Omnis Moriar" (Latin: "I will not die completely"). A derelict gazebo stands on the lawn with an out-of-tune music box playing within.
Guests walk along the porch and wait outside the house. The doors open by themselves and a servant appears and invites them into the foyer. The foyer is a small room with a central chandelier (with several Hidden Mickeys in its pattern). There are also two mirrors. Then a cold, mysterious voice - that of the Ghost Host - echoes across the room, politely welcoming us. (The Ghost Host was originally voiced by American actor Vincent Price, but French visitors objected to the English narration, so a French actor, Gérard Chevalier, was substituted. However, one small piece of Price's recording remains in use: the Phantom's evil laughter.) The face of the bride appears in the highest mirror as the voice continues.
We then file into an octagonal room with four portraits of a young woman. In one, she picks flowers; in the second, she holds a parasol; in the third, she steps through a stream; and in the final portrait, she is having a picnic with her fiancé. The Ghost Host explains that the tour has begun, and wonders if we have noticed that the walls are stretching. The room actually appears to stretch, and the portraits grow taller---revealing some haunting situations the young girl is in. The Ghost Host points out another disturbing fact about the room: It has no exits. He asks us how we plan to get out. Just then the room is plunged into darkness, and a scream comes from above us. We look up to see a cloaked corpse up in the attic, swinging from a hangman's noose. Another figure is pulling the hanged man's rope, this murderer being the Phantom.
The stretching room suddenly lights up and a door opens, revealing a hallway lined with portraits.
As the we file down this hallway, we see that one portrait is that of a knight and his horse on a cliff. There is another of a young woman in a temple; a third of a ship sailing across the sea; and a fourth of a woman reclining on a sofa. As we watch, the portraits magically morph into spooky versions: The knight become a ghost; the woman in the temple became the horrible Medusa; the ship becomes a ghost ship sailing through a storm; and the reclining woman becomes a were-panther. At the end of the corridor is a large portrait of the manor's dead owner, Melanie Ravenswood, wearing a bridal gown.
We then turn a corner and enter a large room with a grand staircase leading to the floor above. Old furniture lines the walls. Sitting on a shelf is a bust of a stern-looking woman whose eyes seems to follow us.
An unbroken train of black carriages, known as Doom Buggies, travels through the room. We board the Doom Buggies, each buggy accommodating two of us, and the carriages slip us away into darkness. As we rise, we can see the outlines of a staircase. Suddenly we find themselves moving past the ghost of young Melanie, who bows to us as we pass.
A suit of armor then appears---but apparently its owner has not quite left, as it is still moving. Beside the armor is infamous Endless Hallway. Peering into its depths, we see Melanie appearing and disappearing, as if she is fleeing from something. On the left side of the corridor a stately piano appears. At first glance it seems to be playing by itself---but then we notice the shadow of a phantom pianist falls across the carpet. A large, red-eyed raven has perched next to the piano, and it squawks angrily at us. Our Doom Buggies then pass through a corridor lined with doors. Someone---or something---is trying to get through them. As we pass each door, we hear pounding, knocking, or shouting behind it. When we reach the last door, we see that two skeletal hands have wrenched the top of it open. We pass a small hall containing a demonic grandfather clock. A large "13" is on its face, and its hands madly spin backward.
We then enter a round room where a crystal ball sits on a central table. In it, wrapped in a mist, is the disembodied head of Madame Leota. As we watch, she summons ghosts and dark creatures to a mysterious ball.
We leave the seancé room and move along a balcony, looking down into a grand ballroom, where a ghostly wedding party takes place. Melanie stands on a staircase, singing a beautiful melody. The Phantom stands in an open window, laughing menacingly. Ghostly guests sit around the dining table, where a moldy wedding cake sits. We see a pile of unopened wedding presents in the background. A drunken ghost swings precariously from the chandelier, his cane wrapped around one of its branches. Elegantly-dressed pairs of ghostly dancers twirl around the ballroom. A spirit organist sits at a massive organ, playing a haunting waltz on it as wraiths fly out of its pipes.
From this festive scene, we pass to a sad scene: The Bride's Boudoir. Melanie, now an elderly lady, sits in front of a mirror filled with the shape of an enormous skull. She looks forlorn, as if she has abandoned all hope of being reunited with her groom.
The Doom Buggies fly out of the upstairs window and swoop down into a vast graveyard. There we come face to face with The Phantom, a living skeleton standing before a freshly-dug grave. What is its purpose? Beside him growls a terrifying undead dog. Our Doom Buggies then enter the freshly-dug earth and travel underground, into some catacombs, where we see many coffins being opened by their skeletal residents. Four white marble busts then come into view, bearing the expressive faces of four phantoms singing Grim Grinning Ghosts.
We then enter a ghost town straight out of the Wild West. An eerie-looking man stands before a ramshackle train station, offering to sell us tickets. Next we see a ruined town hall where the town's mayor stands, welcomes us, and invites us to be the manor's 1000th ghost. As he tips his hat, his head comes with it. We're then caught in a gun battle between a bandit, fleeing a bank on a mule, and a cowardly sheriff with Big Thunder Mountain in the background. We see a drugstore where a green-faced pharmacist drinks deadly-looking potions. We then see a saloon whose front wall has caved in. Inside it there are a dancing showgirl, a bartender, and a man playing a honky-tonk piano. Four invisble gamblers play poker nearby.
We spot the Phantom again---this time "in the flesh," and laughing crazily, luring us into an open grave. As we see the silhouette of the Manor ahead, we enter a dark passage and see Melanie's corpse pointing to the way out. We enter a subterranean chamber lined with large, gilt-framed mirrors---in which we can see that The Phantom has decided to hitch a ride with us! We then travel through a wine cellar where servants await. They help us out of our Doom Buggies, and we walk toward the exit---but there is one more ghost to bid us farewell. As we travel up toward ground-level, a woman no bigger than a doll stands to the side of the passageway behind bars. She tells us to hurry back, and to be sure to bring our death certificates. We then exit into Boot Hill, the Manor's private cemetery.
The Characters
As in the other Disney Haunted Mansion rides, we don't actually see "999 ghosts" as each Ghost Host claims. However, there are many memorable characters---here are some of them:
Melanie Ravenswood is the sad, ghostly bride seen throughout the Manor. She is the daughter of Henry Ravenswood. On the day of her wedding, her groom mysteriously disappeared. From that day, Melanie continues to wear her wedding dress and hold her bouquet as she eternally searches the halls of Phantom Manor for her groom.
The Phantom is the Manor's Villain, the mysterious evil spirit who murdered Melanie's groom and imprisoned Melanie in the Manor. We see The Phantom's shadowy form several times during the ride, but only in the climactic graveyard scene do we get to see him properly. He appears again in Phantom Canyon as a laughing corpse inviting us to take up residence in The Manor. Nobody knows who The Phantom is, but most people believe that he is Henry Ravenswood, Melanie's father, or a disfigured social outcast who coveted Melanie for himself. However, details in the storyline may very well point to the former.
Madame Leota, a very well-known character from all the Haunted Mansion rides, is a disembodied head, trapped within a misty crystal ball. With tarot cards spread before her in her séance room, she chants ancient incantations, summoning the spirits to the ghostly wedding reception that follows.
The Singing Busts---Uncle Theodore, Rollo Runkin, Phineas Puck and Ned Nub---do a lively barbershop-harmony version of the Manor's themesong, "Grim Grinning Ghosts." They are seen at the exit of the Skeleton Catacombs.
The Raven haunts the ride, squawking angrily and glaring at guests with his red eyes. He appears in the séance room, the music room, the ballroom, the graveyard, and in Phantom Canyon.
Ezra stands before Phantom Canyon's decrepit train station, trying to sell guests tickets for a train that will never come. Ezra received his name from the cast members who host the Manor, as he resembles one of the Hitchhiking Ghosts in the Haunted Mansion.
The Mayor of Phantom Canyon invites us to the Manor, holding a skull-shaped key to the city. He tips his hat to guests, and his head tips off with it! His voice is that of Paul Frees by way of archive audio from the original Mansion attraction and his face is based on the original Journey Into Imagination's Dreamfinder character that used to be in place at Epcot
The Ballroom Scene contains many memorable characters: Melanie stands on a stairway, welcoming the ghoulish guests as they flock out of a hearse parked by the open door. The Phantom laughs from a dark window. The dining table is surrounded by celebrating ghosts. A drunken ghost swings precariously from the chandelier. Beside the dining table, four ghost couples twirl and waltz forever. By a far wall of the ballroom, a cloaked figure plays a haunting waltz on a massive pipe organ, while millions of wraiths fly from it and vanish. The organist sometimes looks up to the Doombuggies as they pass.
Trivia
- The dancing skeletons featured in the attraction were loosely based on the 1929 Disney animated short The Skeleton Dance.
- The character of Melanie Ravenswood was based on Miss Havisham, the aged bride awaiting her groom in Charles Dickens' Great Expectations.
- Much of the attraction's storyline was inspired by the Western River Expedition, a cancelled attraction that was to have been built at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom in the mid-1970s.
- The video game Kingdom Hearts has a hidden boss that is said to be based on the Phantom in the attraction .