Haunted Mansion

Description

The Haunted Mansion is a classic ride at the Magic Kingdom. It takes you on a buggy ride through a mansion haunted by ghosts, ghouls, and other foul things of the night and afterlife.

Entrance

The Haunted Mansion is located in Liberty Square, and is situated next to the Liberty Square Riverboat. There are two lines for entry, one for normal entry and the other for FastPass holders.

Line

When you enter the line at the Haunted Mansion, pay attention to your surroundings. At the main entrance is a horse-drawn hearse, but where the horses should be are simply the reins held up mysteriously by unseen entities. As you get closer to the door, there is a graveyard off to the right hand side, and all of the gravestone markers hold witty phrases for those buried underneath.

Once inside, there are a number of stages you must go through before you get to the ride proper. First is an entry foyer where you gather with about thirty others, and some announcements are made by those attending the ride. After this, you are ushered into another room where there are paintings on the wall. A voice recording is played and the walls begin to grow taller (or do you grow shorter?) and reveal more of the paintings on the wall. At the end, the ceiling of the room disappears and you are greeted with the gruesome sight of a person hanging from a noose from the rafters while lighting flashes and thunder crashes.

After this, you are then ushered into what turns out to be the final line in which you get onto the ride.

Riding the Ride

To get onto the ride, you walk along a moving walkway and climb into your buggy. Each buggy holds two adults, though a third child could probably squeeze in the middle. Two persons are recommended however due to an event that occurs towards the end of the ride.

Once on the ride, you go through a number of rooms and hallways showing all of the classic gruesome things that have to do with haunted houses. Clanking chains, ghosts popping up, and coffins galore. The presentation of ghosts in this ride is second to none, and I know of no other ride out there that comes even close to depicting the spooky supernatural.

Towards the end of the ride, you are turned so that your car is facing a set of mirrors. In the mirrors you see yourself and whomever you happen to be riding with, and in the middle of the buggy is a ghostly apparition. Each of the ghosts in the buggies are different, and you can tell because you can see a number of the buggies to either side and they all have different ghosts.

Exiting the Ride

You get off the ride in the same way that you get on, via a moving walkway. Once off the walkway you go through a hallway and then a door, and you find yourself towards the front of the building very near the entrance. Be sure to check out the pet cemetary off to the left hand side of the walkway as you exit, as it is just as comical as the cemetary you see on your way in.

Opinion

By far one of the best rides at the Magic Kingdom. The technology used to present the imagery in this ride was developed over thirty years ago, and even today nothing else compares.