History Franchise / TheHauntedMansion

* TheDanza: Madame Leota is named for Leota Toombs, the Imagineer who provides the character's face. Her daughter has taken on the face role for Haunted Mansion Holiday.

* HeyItsThatVoice: Plenty of Disney voice actors have taken part in the attraction, from Creator/PaulFrees as the Ghost Host, ThurlRavenscroft as the lead singing bust, and Elanor Audley as Madame Leota. ''The Song and Story of the Haunted Mansion'' even stars a young Creator/RonHoward as a teenager who visits the Mansion, with his companion being [[SantaClausIsCominToTown Robie Lester]]. The Ghost Host for Phantom Manor was originally VincentPrice, but changed to Gerard Chevalier, an actor who commonly dubbed him in French shortly after opening; Price still gets to do an EvilLaugh in the ride.

* TheOtherDarrin: The Holiday version and some spinoff material uses Creator/CoreyBurton or [[{{Freakazoid}} Joe Leahy]] for the Ghost Host's voice, along with Susan Blakeslee taking on Leota's voice.

* PropRecycling: Captain Nemo's organ in the ballroom, as detailed above.

* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: As noted above.

* ThrowItIn: The Hitchhiking Ghosts were tossed in at the last second.
** A park visitor caused a piece of the glass separating the Doombuggies from the scene to crack. However, what would have been fairly expensive and awkward repair job [[SerendipityWritesThePlot was allowed to remain]] because the crack just happened to look very much like a spider's web, so a fake spider was added on top of the crack.
** The ghosts dancing in the ballroom in the Anaheim version are projections reflected on clear glass, which resulted in the ladies leading the dance. Although this would be easy to correct, [[RuleOfFunny it was left in as part of the gag]].

* UpdatedRerelease: The ride has been redone several times with effects that don't break down nearly as often.
** The Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland versions of the ride contain additional scenes not present in the Disneyland original. Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris takes the loose bits of story present in the original ride ''many'' steps further to produce a full history for the house, and also for Big Thunder Mountain, meaning the signature Frontierland roller coaster gets tied to the history of another ride, getting DarkerAndEdgier in doing so.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The Haunted Mansion went through several different ideas. Early concepts included a hangout for horror-themed Disney villains, like the Disney/LonesomeGhosts and [[TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad the Headless Horseman]], having a Raven narrate the ride, and a Hatbox Ghost which carried around a severed head as a character.
** It was also supposed to be a walk-through Museum of the Weird.
** The entrance to Walt Disney World's version of the attraction was [[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QekhP1VzhkI/UkIMN3DRbyI/AAAAAAAAFOY/WguqVyYm76M/s1600/MansionElev68.jpg originally going to be much more elaborate]], with guests entering through the front door and using the stretching rooms as elevators (as they do in the Disneyland version). The reason for the change is unknown, but [[http://passport2dreams.blogspot.com/2013/10/raising-or-lowering-dead.html it's been speculated that]] early problems that the Disneyland elevators were facing scared Disney World's design team into quickly redoing the plans.

* WordOfDante: A lot of the so called backstory.
* WriterRevolt: The pet cemetery at the Walt Disney World attraction has a grave dedicated to the torn down ''[[TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad Mr. Toad's Wild Ride]]''.

* RavensAndCrows: A raven is placed throughout the ride, as noted in AbortedArc.

* AscendedFanon: The names of the three Hitchhiking Ghosts (Ezra, Phineas and Gus) originally came from cast members and were so popular in the Mansion's fandom that Disney eventually adopted them as official ones.
** A story circulated that the Bride's ring was embedded in the exterior exit path of Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion. It was actually The remains of a crowd-control stanchion that had been cut down. It was removed during 2007's Re-Haunting. In 2011 an "official" Bride's ring was embedded in the path.

* TightropeWalking: The pretty young lady with the parasol in the stretching room. If only she were performing over a net.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The Haunted Mansion went through several different ideas. Early concepts included a hangout for horror-themed Disney villains, like the LonesomeGhosts and [[TheAdventuresOfIchabodAndMrToad the Headless Horseman]], having a Raven narrate the ride, and a Hatbox Ghost which carried around a severed head as a character.

* HeyItsThatVoice: Plenty of Disney voice actors have taken part in the attraction, from Creator/PaulFrees as the Ghost Host, ThurlRavenscroft as the lead singing bust, and Elanor Audley as Madame Leota. ''The Song and Story of the Haunted Mansion'' even stars a young RonHoward as a teenager who visits the Mansion, with his companion being [[SantaClausIsCominToTown Robie Lester]]. The Ghost Host for Phantom Manor was originally VincentPrice, but changed to Gerard Chevalier, an actor who commonly dubbed him in French shortly after opening; Price still gets to do an EvilLaugh in the ride.

* EarlyBirdCameo: The Haunted Mansion show building just sat around in New Orleans Square for a few years before the attraction opened. The only sign something was brewing was an advertisement on the door asking for ghosts to apply for residency.

* ChristmasEpisode: During the holidays, the Disneyland version of the Mansion gets decorated up in a ''NightmareBeforeChristmas'' meets Haunted Mansion theme. The Tokyo Disneyland version gets a similar treatment.

[[caption-width-right:348: ''Welcome...foolish mortals.'']]

The Haunted Mansion is [[ExpandedUniverse a franchise]] that has grown around the long-running attraction at the various DisneyThemeParks, having spawned two movies (a critically disappointing feature with Eddie Murphy and an upcoming film by Guillermo del Toro), a videogame and a short-lived comic series in addition to appearances in various Disney media. Having spent a long time in DevelopmentHell, having even been first thought of in the earliest plans of Disneyland, with various stories considered and rejected, Walt eventually decided for a minimalistic approach on story and made the house a simple retirement home/boarding house for the spirits. Of course, this hasn't stopped many from speculating and creating their own interpretations about the nature of the house and its inhabitants, sometimes even being played with by Disney themselves through the mansion's assorted incarnations.

* RosesAreRed: The ghost in the study.

* DarkIsNotEvil: A common interpretation of the Happy Haunts. This is more expressed in the spin-off materials. Constance Hatchaway in the 2007 refurbishment of the Florida ride is a notable exception.

* '''Disneyland''', '''Walt Disney World''', and '''Tokyo Disneyland''' have the "classic" version of this ride, though specific scenes and details vary from venue to venue.

* GoddamnBats: The Regular Ghosts

* '''Disneyland''', '''Walt Disney World''', and '''TokyoDisneyland''' have the "classic" version of this ride, though specific scenes and details vary from venue to venue.

** The Ghost Host is nothing more than a harmless {{Troll}} that loves getting a rise out of mortals.
*** But not in the Paris attraction where he's the main villain.

* DownerEnding: Completely subverted and PlayedForLaughs. "''Now I will raise the safety bar...and the ghost will follow you home, ha ha ha ha ha ha''"

* DemonicSpiders: The gargoyles.

Each Magic Kingdom-style Disney park has a version of this ride, but some deviate from the basic concept/format more than others:
* '''Disneyland''', from the TurnOfTheMillennium onward, gives the original version of the ride a special Christmas-season overlay each year: Haunted Mansion Holiday, in which [[WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas Jack Skellington and company]] have decked it out for the Yuletide.

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: Averted.

->''"Hurry baaaaack...hurry baaaaack...be sure to bring your death certificate, if you decide to join us. Make final arrangements now. We've been...dying to have you..."''

* {{Hellevator}}: The Disneyland version is actually this in the stretching portrait room, as is the Paris version. The stretching room also serves the double purpose of providing a scene, and also lowering riders to ground level and an underground passageway (the changing portraits corridor) that guests use to get to the ride, which actually takes place in a show building hidden behind hte park berm.