Walt Disney's Haunted Mansion was one of the final projects that Walt worked on before his death. Combining both old school illusions with new technology, The Haunted Mansion has been a Disney staple for nearly 40 years.

After years of speculations, revisions and plethora of urban legends, the flagship attraction opened at Disneyland in Anaheim, California in 1969. Originally envisioned as a walk through attraction, the attraction took advantage of the new Omni-Mover system that would allow guests to ride through the attraction while speakers embeded in the car, or in this case - a Doom Buggy, would narrate the attraction.

Since its opening at Disneyland, other versions of the attraction have appeared at other Disney Parks, yet all have remained fairly faithful to the original attraction.

Disneyland California

• California's Haunted Mansion sits in Disneyland's New Orleans Square. As such, the mansion has the appearance of a stately, well-kept Southern plantation home. It is the only one out of four that has this theme.
• The weathervane atop the mansion in Disneyland is a ship as opposed to the bat seen at Walt Disney World (and consequently, Tokyo).
• The hearse outside Disneyland's Haunted Mansion is white and a bit more stately appearing than the one outside Walt Disney World.
• Disneyland's guests must procede through a haunted hallway where pictures change to reveal disturbing results. However, in 2007, this hallway was added to the actual ride through at Walt Disney World featuring the same portaits that grace Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.
• Disneyland's piano scene is near the end of the ride, in the attic, unlike Walt Disney World, which features the piano scene near the beginning. Also, instead of playing Grim Grinning Ghosts as WDW's attraction does, the Disneyland version has the piano playing The Wedding March, as the piano is in the attic with the ill-fated bride.
• During the Madam Leota seance scene, a ghostly green face appears on the wall. This was only added within the last three years.
• As of the most recent revamp of the attraction, Madam Leota's crystal ball now floats above the table.
• During Disneyland's 50th Anniversary Celebration, the old bride was removed, making way for a new, more sinister bride. Portraits were added featuring the new bride and her former grooms. As you pass, the heads of each groom disappears. Of course, when you see the ax that the bride is holding as you near the end of the scene, you understand why.

Phantom Manor - Disneyland Paris

• The most notable difference between Disneyland Paris' attraction and the rest is the name of the attraction obviously. doombuggies.com suggest that the reason for the name has more to do with attempting to bridge translations between French and English than anything.
• There's no narration! None! Whatsoever! Originally, an English language narration replaced the original Paul Frees narration heard in the American parks. However, this was pulled and now there's no narration at all.

• Phantom Manor sits inside Disneyland Paris' Frontierland.
• While Disneyland's original house is like that of a Southern Plantation home and Tokyo Disneyland and WDW's attraction more resembles that of a stately mansion in New England, Phantom Manor's facade is that of a forgotten, lonely house straight out of the Old West.
• Unlike the stately appearances of the other three attractions, this residence has obviously fallen into disrepair.
• The musical soundtrack, while being the same tune, is different. It's more eerie and lush. This is the French, after all.
• The portraits in the stretching gallery are not only different, they are more sinister.
• There's a true plot. Unlike the other mansion which have only now become close to developing the storyline of the bride, they still haven't come close to the cohesive storyline presented in Phantom Manor (if it sounds like I'm partial to PM, I'm not, but there are some great changes). Phantom Manor presents the story of the bride from start to finish. She's represented throughout the attraction - not just near the finale.
• Another character is also present throughout the attraction. Instead of a witty ghost host, a Phantom haunts this house. He is much more sinister and seems to be the captor of the bride you see throughout the attraction.
• Madam Leota's scene is completely different. There are no floating instruments. Instead, you are surrounded by windows as a storm ensues.
• Madam Leota's predictions are completely different as well. These predictions speak of a "ravishing bride." They are also bi-lingual.
• The grandfather clock still strikes 13, but there's no claw reaching out for you as you passby.
• The ballroom scene is also different. The birthday cake has been replaced with a wedding cake. A pile of wedding presents lie unopened as the bride stands on the stairs looking up into one of the windows. In the window stands the Phantom, grinning back at her maniacally.
• Unlike the other attractions, when we reach the attic, the bride is still alive, though she has aged. The Phantom is nearby, laughing.
• There's no falling out of a window to proceed to the swinging wake. Instead, you proceed directly to the wake - which is actually underground instead of in a graveyard (think the Catacombs). This scene is entirely different from the scenes at Disney's other haunted attractions. Most of the attendees to the wake are skeletal. There's also other scenes that coincide with the frontier atmosphere. There's a ghostly shootout, an undead saloon scene and the mayor (voiced by the Ghost Host, Paul Frees, original narration) tips his head as he welcomes you to town from his carriage.
• There are no hitchhiking ghosts. Instead, the Phantom himself "grabs" your doombuggy from above as you proceed past the mirrors.

Tokyo Disneyland

• The most obvious difference between The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland Tokyo is the fact that the narration is in Japanese.
• Despite the fact that the narration is in Japanese, "Grim Grinning Ghosts" and some of the character dialogue remains English.
• When entering the queue, two large griffins peer down at guests as they enter.
• Like the Walt Disney World version, the weather vane atop the mansion features a bat - unlike Disneyland's, which has a nautical theme.
• When guests first enter the Mansion via the Omnimovers, they see a row of portraits. The eyes in the portraits follow the guest as they move through the hall. This same scene was also at Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion until last year when they replaced it with a scene like that of Disneyland's entrance hallway.

• During the "Hallway" sequence, a face slowly extrudes from the wall. You can briefly see this in this video.
• Many of the animatronic figures are a bit more advanced with more movement than at the other parks.
• While the original Haunted Mansion sits in New Orleans Square in Disneyland and in Liberty Square in Walt Disney World, Tokyo's Haunted Mansion sits in Fantasyland.
• While the exterior of the mansions look the same from Tokyo Disneyland to Walt Disney World, there is a difference. One of Tokyo Disneyland's windows has fallen to disrepair, giving just the slightest appearance of neglect.
• Both Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland feature a "decaying" portrait in the entrance gallery. This portrait changes from a young man to a corpse during your wait time just outside of the stretching galleries.
• Some fantastic photography of the Tokyo Haunted Mansion here at Chris' Tokyo Disneyland Fansite.

Walt Disney World

• Like Tokyo Disneyland, Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion is a stately, brick-laden estate.
• Outside the mansion, near the end of the queue, Madam Leota's tombstone intermittenly comes to life, opening her eyes and looking at the guests standing in line.

• When proceeding past the entrance into the foyer, guests encounter a decaying portrait. This portrait is also seen in Tokyo's Haunted Mansion.

• Once inside your Doom Buggy, you proceed into a hallway lined with windows. On one side, a storm brews as the lightning flashes to expose the portraits on the opposite wall for what they really are. This is similar to the hallway that guests walk through at Disneyland in order to meet their doom (buggy).
• As of 2007, the Walt Disney World version received a much needed refurb and update. With it, the giant spiders were removed (thank you!) and a scene remenscent of an Escher painting was installed. This scene involves a multitude of staircases intersecting and going nowhere as well as upside-down staircases. As you pass through, ghostly footsteps can be seen walking up and down the staircases. Some fans have expressed confusion as to reason for this display and how it fits into a haunted attraction. Though there's no validation of this, it's speculation on my part that this might have been inspired by the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California. There, staircases, just like this scene, lead up into the ceiling and nowhere at all. Oh and the house is also reportedly haunted. Go figure!
• Once you enter the hallway of ghostly doors, you encounter a plethora of sinister eyes staring out at you from the surrounding walls.
• Like Disneyland's update, Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion has also received an update to the seance scene featuring Madam Leota. Now the crystal ball levitates above the table. What Walt Disney World didn't receive, however, was the ghostly green face that appears on the wall.
• The bride scene now appears changed - similar in fashion to Disneyland's. The scene features a number of portraits with the bride alongside her groom. As you pass, the head of each groom disappears until you meet the apparition of the bride complete with ax before descending into the graveyard.
• The exit of the ride features a unique vault that features humors names engraved on each stone.

In 2001, Disneyland decided that it was time to inject some new life into its classic Haunted Mansion attraction. Closing the ride in September, the imagineers install an overlay based on Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas." The overlay stays in place until it is removed in January.

The overlay has become so popular that people travel quite a bit of distance to see the overlay and the wait times last anywhere from 30 minutes to two hours to ride the attraction.

The Haunted Holiday overlay tells the story of Jack Skellington's attempt to turn Halloweentown into a holiday spectacle, much like that of another holiday town, Christmastown. Jack Skellington, Oogie Boogie, Sally and other characters all take residence in the mansion for the months of October - December and even the outside of the mansion gets a boost.

The overlay has since been added to Tokyo Disneyland.

• Was there ever a "Knight in Armor" who reached out and scared guests? The answer is yes! Doombuggies.com got an interview with one of the cast members who played the "Knight" for a summer. The stories are both interesting AND funny.
• Is there a ring embedded in the concrete at the Walt Disney World attraction? Well, depends on how you look at it. Yes there is a ring like object embedded just outside the exit. However, is it a wedding ring? It doesn't really look like one, but no denial nor confirmation of the rumor has been made.