October 25, 2024, 1:06 PM ·
We’re less than a week from Halloween. So what better time than now to explore the story behind one Disney’s iconic haunted houses?Disneyland Paris is sharing its official backstory for its Phantom Manor. A first glance, this Frontierland home might appear to be just an old west version of the Haunted Mansion. But Paris’ Phantom Manor is more than that, incorporating show scenes first planned for the Western River Expedition ride that was designed for Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, but never built. (Disney opted to bring a version of Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean east instead.)Western River Expedition’s Thunder Mesa Mountain eventually became Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Disney further incorporated the story of Thunder Mesa into Disneyland Paris’ Frontierland when that park opened in 1992. Phantom Manor tells the story of one of the founding families of Thunder Mesa, the Ravenswoods, …and their eventual demise. Watch the video for the full tale.If you are in the mood for more Haunted Mansion stories, yesterday I reviewed “Ghost Dog,” the debut novel from former Walt Disney Imagineering President Bob Weis: Imagineering the perfect Haunted Mansion tale in ‘Ghost Dog’.For more on Disneyland Paris, please check out our visitors guide, or see the current discounts available on our partner’s Disneyland Paris tickets page.Finally, to keep up to date with more theme park news, please sign up for Theme Park Insider’s weekly newsletter.
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