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Credit: Disney (Background)A truly demonic figure has arrived in Walt Disney World.
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Despite Walt Disney World’s wide collection of rides and experiences, there may not be a more infamous or beloved attraction than the Haunted Mansion. This iconic dark ride takes guests on a tour of a spooky, spirit-filled mansion, with guests encountering all kinds of ghoulish delights along the way. Guests will traverse the frightening environments in their “doom buggies,” going backward, forward, and sideways. Disney’s Haunted Mansion is legendary for a lot of reasons, mostly due to the level of detail and immersion created within the actual ride.
Haunted Mansion utilizes dozens of techniques and Walt Disney Imagineering secrets to truly transport guests into a ghost-filled haunted mansion, and to this day, we’re still scratching our heads about how some of the effects are achieved.
Haunted Mansion can be found in Liberty Square at the Magic Kingdom, located right in between Adventureland and Frontierland. Despite being decades old, Haunted Manson still racks up an impressive wait time, making it one of the most popular attractions in all of Walt Disney World.
Soon, it will only get more popular, with Disney tinkering and adding a ghoulish new figure to the ride.
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Earlier this year, it was announced that Disney planned to add the infamous Hatbox Ghost to Magic Kingdom’s version of Haunted Mansion. This animatronic had already been part of Disneylad’s version for years, but Magic Kingdom guests never got to see it. This project has taken quite some time, however, with work still continuing on the spooky addition.
However, another figure has been secretly added, one that may shock and startle you.
Due to the popularity of this attraction, guests will find multiple versions of the Haunted Mansion all across the world. The original version can be found in Disneyland Park at Disneyland in California, with Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, also featuring its own version. Guests will also be able to find a version of the Haunted Mansion at Tokyo Disneyland and Disneyland Paris.
However, guests at the Magic Kingdom will already be able to see a truly frightening character.
As reported by Wdwmagic, a new character can now be seen when riding Walt Disney World’s version of Haunted Mansion. In the early, early days of Disneylad’s development, the original idea for the Haunted Mansion looked quite different. Instead of an attraction that guests ride, the Haunted Mansion started out as a “Museum of the Weird” exhibit, allowing guests to freely walk through the experience.
Legendary Walt Disney Imagineer Rolly Crump designed many aspects and elements of Haunted Mansion and the original “Museum of the Weird” concept, with one figure being deemed too scary to add to the original Haunted Mansion. That character is the Candle Man (pictured above), who has just made his way into Walt Disney World.
The demon-like figure is made of dripping wax and can be found in the attic scene portion of the ride. Photos from Wdwmagic show the figure, and while small, he certainly is spooky.
Rolly Crump died earlier this year and was an absolutely iconic part of The Walt Disney Company, especially within the theme parks division. It’s likely that the Candle Man was installed in both Walt Disney World’s and Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion as a tribute to the legendary Imagineer.
As we said, work still continues on adding the Hatbox Ghost to Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion. Stay tuned here at Inside the Magic for updates.