October 2011 marks the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. The Vacation Kingdom has seen a lot of changes over the past four decades and the editorial staff at Imaginerding wants to celebrate the unique and rich history of the resort with a series of posts.
A very special thanks to Celeste Cronrath for designing the series of logos for our posts. Make sure to follow her on Twitter.
I love the Haunted Mansion.
Actually, that is an understatement. It is an attraction that I have studied, read about and discussed in detail with various Mansion enthusiasts all over the world.
I am obsessed with the haunted Mansion. That’s the first step, right?
If you ever want to delve deeper into the mythos of the Mansion, then make sure to check out HGB2’s amazing site Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion. The author is a serious student of the Mansion and delves fairly deep into the myths, legends and true stories of the Mansion. It is time well spent.
Another amazing resource is Imagineer Jason Surrell’s book The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies. By far, it is the most complete study of the physical nature of the Mansions to date. Jason was responsible for the spectacular and fitting update to the Magic Kingdom Haunted Mansion in 2007.
Check out the details in the photo to the left.
Is it a person? What is the other object?
I thought it was a marvelous detail, but didn’t pay it enough attention until I got home from a trip in 2007 and was looking through my photos
There are so many myths and legends about the Haunted Mansion that are fan-based and, ultimately, prove to be untrue or not meant to be what was assumed. In this case, I knew it was a detail that was put in place by the Imagineers and I wanted to lean more about it.
After doing some searching in 2007, I came across HauntedPortraits.com. On the blueprints page, I ran across an architectural detail for the Liberty Square Haunted Mansion Cresting Detail on the Colonnade.
Dictionary.com offers the following definitions:
- Architecture . a decorative coping, balustrade, etc., usually designed to give an interesting skyline.
- Furniture . ornamentation either carved or sawed in the top rail of a piece or else added to it.
- a system of ornamental ridges or flutes on a piece of plate armor.
Another great example of how far the Imagineers were willing to go to make it perfect.
Have a lot of spare time and want to impress us? Do this and send us the pictures.
Also, check out the Haunted Mansion Wikipedia article.
Related articles
- The Bob-A-Round Boats at Walt Disney World: Celebrating 40 Years of Walt Disney World History (imaginerding.com)
- Book Review: Since the World Began by Jeff Kurtti (imaginerding.com)
- Book Review: Four Decades of Magic, Celebrating the First Forty Years of Disney World (imaginerding.com)
- Celebrating 40 Years of Walt Disney World: CTX Time Rover, A Warning of the Future! (imaginerding.com)
- Theme Park Nerd Celebrates 40 Years of Walt Disney World! (imaginerding.com)
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Loved this, George… Thanks!
The paper model you linked to looks amazing….maybe someday, I’ll magically find enough time to actually build it!