A Haunted History

We all heard that the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland was a vacant house on the riverside for six long years before Disney opened its doors and that it was planned before the Park was even built. You know exactly what I am talking about. Well, through a connection to the Imagineers, I found out that the Haunted Mansion's history is far more complicated than merely being delayed and magically opening one August day in 1969.


When Walt died in 1966, no one at the Company or at WED were certain about the fate of the Disney name, especially the ambitious projects Walt did worked on in his last year. However, the Haunted Mansion's fate was still undecided until a couple of developments the following year.

Well, 1967 gave WED a better idea of what to do with their Haunted Mansion. First off, the use of the Omnimover in "Adventures Thru Inner Space" had given the designers of the Haunted Mansion their ideal ride system.

According to an article in a New Jersey newspaper dating back to October 1967, Disneyland had installed construction walls around the Mansion.

According to one document, the show building began construction in November 1968. The show building was completed in February 1969, according to one Imagineer. Meanwhile, the interior was still worked on through the Spring and the Summer, even as opening day loomed closer. In fact, some of the opening day effects, such as the Hatbox Ghost, were covered up when the attraction was unveiled to guests, only to be uncovered, and messed around with by designers.

The Mansion's ride system was being tested by July 1969, but the ride system was reportedly installed in April. However, it makes sense that the interior was being installed during the April-July timeframe. It is interesting to think about the crunch time WED has been under with some of its greatest projects. 

I mean they designed, installed, and opened Small World for the Fair within a year. The Pirates of the Caribbean, which had noted production and installation delays, was finished before its third major deadline for opening, which was supposed to be April 1967. Of course, we know it opened to the public a month ahead of schedule.


As per the Hatbox Ghost's removal, it was likely in October 1969 when the Mansion went through its first annual refurbishment. However, there were reports that old Hattie did not make it into September, let alone survive until October. 

The Decade Epcot Ruled

Full disclaimer: I was born fifteen years after Epcot Center opened. I wasn't able to experience the original 1982 line-up in its initial form. In fact, by the time I visited Epcot for the first time, it was not only celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, but its headlining attraction, Spaceship Earth, had undergone two major refurbishments. Heck, that year later saw another remodeling job, but that's a conversation for another time.

I feel while Epcot is not the theme park it was in the 1980's and early 1990's, it is still very popular and still offering a lot of potential that has been neglected and removed over the years.

Recently, I was talking about the greatest theme park ride to be destroyed. Mind you, it's not the greatest theme park ride standing (that honor goes to Pirates with Haunted Mansion following closely behind) or even the greatest theme park ride to have never materialized into its fullest form (that honor goes to the Western River Expedition). Yes, we are talking about Horizons, which graced the east side of Future World from 1983 until it permanently closed in early 1999.

I have had the great fortune of talking with members of what I call the "Epcot Center generation", which consisted mostly of teenagers born between 1967 and 1969 who presumably grew up with Walt Disney World and took advantage of the optimism embodied by Epcot Center.

You got to understand that Epcot Center was all the rage at Disney World during the majority of the 1980's. Sure, you had the bookends of Big Thunder opening in 1980 and the opening of Disney MGM-Studios alongside Typhoon Lagoon and the Pleasure Island complex at the Village, but since at least 1966, there was talk about EPCOT that had morphed from a working prototype of a futuristic city into a theme center where industry and culture would unite.

What the Vacation Kingdom was to the tykes of the 1970's became the ultimate playground to the scores of teenagers and young adults in the 1980's. I mean who doesn't think of 1980's Florida as a mixture of vaporwave aesthetics, glided shopping malls, the setting of Miami Vice, and ultimately a decade of optimism mixed with rampant consumerism, a stricter enforcement of the War on Drugs, and an overall conservative facade of society.

Hope and Change

“I love the nostalgic myself. I hope we never lose some of the things of the past.”

Whenever something at Disneyland is altered, there are people who say that Walt would be rolling in his grave. First off, he was cremated, so it would be difficult. 

There are two camps in this argument. The first are the ones who quote Michael Eisner's infamous "Disneyland is not a museum" line in response to any suggestion that a change may be too hasty. They also employ Walt's promise that Disneyland will never be complete to justify every change, no matter how detrimental such a change will pose. The opposite camp will suggest that Walt always wanted it a certain way without alteration, but I believe that is also foolhardy to suggest that he was one to retain things wholesale from 1955. The stagecoach country from 1955 was later improved with a mine train experience and detailed scenery. In fact, this area alone was changed about three times in five years with the addition of the mine train, desert, caverns, and mining town, another rehab, and then a dash of humor. Then again, the area would change once again with the closure of the ride in 1977 and the opening of its replacement in 1979. That alone is a great example of how Disney saw change. However, he did admit a longing for the nostalgic and that is why he said that he didn't want certain things to change. Overall, he had the same opinion I have. I personally fall in the middle between those two camps as I can recognize the need for change and yet retaining the past simultaneously. I can see that replacing the Viewliner with the Monorail was a good decision as I can see that changing the character of Main Street or New Orleans Square will only tarnish it. I can respect the decision of replacing the Adventureland patio of the Plaza Pavilion.


Let's acknowledge that some changes are good and enhance the theme park experience. For example, New Orleans Square replaced Magnolia Park and the Chicken Plantation into a total environment where themed experiences predominated on a scale far greater than what could've imagined. This would set a high standard for thematic design, notably seen in Liberty Square (1971), Bear Country (1972), Caribbean Plaza (1973), and the World Showcase (1982).

The replacement of the Viewliner trains with the Monorail is a noted change that has proven beneficial.

A Disney historian from the Disney History Institute said the following with regards to the 2019 Adventureland Sign controversy:

"Change at Disneyland is always an emotionally mixed thing. On the one hand, we've always known that change would be constant at the Park - Walt told us so from the very beginning, and it's always happened, in one way or another, ever since. Some changes have been major, some minor, but they always happen. And yet, every time something about Disneyland changes, we have mixed feelings, those of us who care about the Park and about Walt's legacy. We want to hold onto the past, and we have good reason to want to maintain that connection, but at the same time, we recognize the need to change with the times and bring in fresh, new ideas as well. It's hard. Being a Disneyland enthusiast means constantly dealing with both heartache and hope."

In essence, I couldn't have said it better because Disneyland, like every other theme park in the brand, is a historical place which has that need to adapt to new audiences. In the case of the parks that were developed after Disneyland, the local culture, climate, and history. For example, the Magic Kingdom in Florida was never meant to be an exact duplicate of the original. It was designed to be unique and yet reminiscent of the Disneyland experience.

In fact, I believe that the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World is more of "Walt's Park" than the current Disneyland. While he died five months or so before ground broke on the project, the Magic Kingdom has more of the classic attractions. They still have the WED-Way People-Mover, the Carousel of Progress, the Swiss Family Treehouse, and Tom Sawyer's Island whereas Disneyland replaced their People-Mover with a sub-par thrill ride that ruined the tracks, the Carousel Theatre with a Star Wars exhibit, a Tarzan tie-in, and a Pirate's Lair. Some of the concepts that were developed for Disneyland or similar projects in the 1950's and 1960's were initially exclusive to the Florida Park, such as Space Mountain, the Country Bear Jamboree, and Liberty Square.

Let's talk briefly about each of those for a minute. Walt died in December 1966 and his final concerns were on a handful of projects: Pirates of the Caribbean, New Tomorrowland, Mineral King, and EPCOT. However, the genesis concerning the "classics" I had mentioned are simpler. Space Mountain was meant to be a major "theme center" (think of New Orleans Square meets Tomorrowland), the Country Bear Jamboree was slated to be an after-hours show for Mineral King, and Liberty Square was planned as early as 1957 to be a side street off of Main Street with a show called the Hall of Presidents (think of the current Liberty Square and cut it down to fit within the area between Main Street, the Opera House, and Space Mountain). The only major of the classics personally designed by Walt Disney (or at least said to be) was the original Tom Sawyer's Island at Disneyland, which was brought along to the design stage for Florida (albeit with Dorothea Redmond and Marc Davis drawing up the initial plans). In Florida, their Island opened to the public in April 1973 and it remains intact with the Tom Sawyer motif whereas the original from 1956 was given a Pirates theme to tie it in with the New Orleans Square area. 

Vacation Kingdom 1980's Style

Management used the fact that tourists would spend a day at Busch Gardens in nearby Tampa to justify building their own zoological theme park at Disney World just like they built a working backlot and cinema-focused theme park. When it came to the announcement that the Sea World brand was coming to central Florida in the early 70's, Disney incorporated an aquatic attraction into their "Vacation Kingdom" concept. Despite the "Sea World-style show" was never actually built as a part of the Lake Buena Vista Village shopping and entertainment complex, the idea was incorporated into other attractions for Walt Disney World, including the Living Seas pavilion at Epcot Center, which was known for sporting one of the largest aquariums in the world at that time. Anyway, the major
types of tourist attractions were either planned or actually built at Disney World, such as the major theme park, a movie studio, a zoological preserve, a water park, shopping mall (I mean it's a tourist attraction to a certain kind of traveler), and other venues.

But then again, what about the Disney-affiliated tourist magazine, Vacationland?

Well, in the 1980's, Michael Eisner wanted the parks to be better than the competitors, especially in the tourism-focused regions of Southern California and Central Florida. This meant replicating the formulas of other attractions in the regions to be part of the Disney World or Disneyland experience.

After all, the last two theme parks built (or at least designed) by Disney before Eisner took over in 1984 were Epcot Center (1982) and Tokyo Disneyland (1983). The former was an application of Disney's dreams of smart urban planning in the context of a major theme park and the latter was an international Magic Kingdom built with the favorites of the American Kingdoms.

Anyway, Eisner had it focus on the Disney experience, not the tourist experience with places like Cypress Gardens, Miami, the Kennedy Space Center, Busch Gardens, Knott's Berry Farm, Hollywood, Sea World, Universal, etc.

Design Phases

In Disney theme park history, we look at not only the genesis of various shows through their developmental phases or the shows that never got the chance to see the light of day (except for vignettes being slyly placed in newer attractions), but we look at the big picture surrounding the development of shows in different eras in the Company's history. We look at how the late 1960's and early 1970's were different than Disneyland's opening decade and what made certain ideas work.

The first phase I allude to is the initial where Disney's theme park expertise was extremely limited at the time and this is was Disneyland in its early years. So this had to be 1954 when construction began to 1959 when the first major expansion debuted with the Matterhorn, the Monorail, and the Submarine Voyage. Those three attractions were constantly moving and handling a high capacity, which was needed for a theme park like Disneyland with 3.6 million people visiting in its first year alone. In 1959, they were developing new concepts for attractions, such as a Hall of Presidents, a Haunted House, and a Pirate Wax Museum.

Fast forward two years to July 1961 when Dick Nunis, Disneyland's Operations Director, had sent out a memo to Joe Fowler regarding a revelation made about walk-thru attractions. According to the memo, he states that guest reaction has shown that walk-thru attractions have a low appeal and were not adequate. This is where the notion that the Pirates could be a ride took hold and helped pave the way for future attractions to be developed as rides.

Meanwhile, Disney was getting into the World Fair business once again after his most recent victory with the United States Pavilion in Brussels during Expo 58 and it was the New York World's Fair set for 1964 that he dedicated his energy towards creating at least three unique pavilions. Of course, it wouldn't be until 1962-1963 when the fourth one was worked on, but that's a different story.

So Disney was developing Audio-Animatronic technology at this time, which was a far-cry from the primitive set-up of the animals on the Jungle Cruise, for a number of projects. He was toying with the idea of tropical Animatronic songbirds for a Tiki restaurant planned for Disneyland and that became the first attraction to use AA on a large scale (I know the Nature's Mine Train had AA technology), but it was the Animatronic Honest Abe that really got Robert Moses on board.

Anyway, the development of a ride system that cycled boats through a flume with a high capacity was underway in Mountain View at the Arrow Development facilities for a new attraction called "Children of the World" (later renamed "It's a Small World").

While this was being done for the Small World ride, the idea translated to Dick Nunis' idea of converting the Pirates of the Caribbean into a ride-thru**. The other innovations in ride systems like the People-Mover prototype found in the Ford Magic Skyway had been in the minds of designers when looking back at how to improve Disneyland.

Now, what about that Tomorrowland from the 1950's? I mean, honestly...


It was enough justification that Walt started development on a New Tomorrowland set to open in 1967.

Meanwhile, that New Orleans-themed development was definitely hit by the knowledge gained in New York. The Pirates was definitely not going to be a walk-thru by this point and perhaps the buccaneers of the Spanish Main didn't need to be wax figures at all, but animated figures that were indistinguishable from real people or animals.

Perhaps, the Haunted Mansion could be a ride instead, but nah, that'll never happen...

Anyway, the mid-1960's were a busy time for WED and Walt. I mean they had to finish four major pavilions for the World's Fair in New York and then finish the projects they left untouched. They were developing an indoor theme park for St. Louis, a prototype city of the future in Florida as well as a theme park resort complex, and a dozen new rides and shows for Disneyland.

Luckily, they were given permission to take their New York productions back to California to make their place in the Magic Kingdom. Ultimately, the Ford Magic Skyway couldn't be brought back to California, so the ride system idea and the robotic dinosaurs were the only remnants of the Pavilion at Disneyland.

The Disneyland guidebook printed in 1965 for the Park's tenth-year anniversary was filled with previews of new rides, shows, and experiences. They had the Pirates of the Caribbean, New Orleans Square, Small World, New Tomorrowland, etc. It was all up to plan, but Walt's death in late 1966 definitely changed the course of the Company.

Walt opened both Small World and New Orleans Square during the summer of 1966 (the Pirates were expected to be present on Opening Day, but there must've been traffic because they weren't ready in time) while being able to keep tabs on the ride being built behind those three blocked off doors in New Orleans Square (the marquee in front of the Pirates building was there when the land opened). When Walt died, the Pirates were nearing completion, New Tomorrowland was under construction, and acres of swampland in Florida were awaiting development.

It is difficult to consider the Haunted Mansion a "Walt" attraction because it changed course once again after his death, but it was ultimately designed by the same people who finished the Pirates and worked on past projects, so I consider it to be within that phase of Imagineering.

Of course, the Florida Project's Magic Kingdom was being developed almost immediately after Walt's passing and the shows/rides were going to be a mixture of the old and the new.

One concept brought over from the mid-1960's development of New Tomorrowland to the Florida park was a roller coaster called Space Mountain, which was originally slated to open in 1968.

Other concepts included attractions that were too ambitious or expensive in the past that would make Florida's Magic Kingdom unique, such as the Hall of Presidents and the Liberty Street expansion announced originally in the 1950's.

So we are transitioning from the Imagineering that brought us things like the Enchanted Tiki Room, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Carousel of Progress, and the Haunted Mansion into the era where concepts like Bear Band, Hall of Presidents, Space Mountain, Western River Expedition, America Sings, and Big Thunder Railway dominated. It was not merely a change in storytelling, but a paradigm shift, even if some of those concepts were adjustments to classics.

What was the major link?

It was Tony Baxter who was too young to design the Tiki Room, Small World, the Pirates, and the Haunted Mansion, but old enough to participate in the transition from those attractions into the next phase of Imagineering when he officially joined in 1970.


With the tourist slump of the mid-1970's and the box office failures at the time, WED was at a difficult spot. They had dozens of ambitious concepts at the time. In fact, prior to the oil embargo in late 1973, WED had planned to complete a number of those projects by the end of the 1970's.

Yet one of the more unfair criticisms aimed at Imagineering in the late 1960's and early 1970's was the stagnation in development. After all, Disneyland had two major attraction droughts in their first twenty years. The first one lasted two years between August 1967 when Adventure Thru Inner Space opened and August 1969 when the Haunted Mansion finally opened (what took so long, Mr. Ghost Host?). The second lasted from 1969 until March 1972 when the Country Bear Jamboree opened.

However, I think that piece of criticism forgets that Disney was invested in a second theme park across the country that needed extra resources to even open on-time in 1971. One of the major issues facing the very development of the Magic Kingdom in Florida between 1967 and 1971 was its ballooning budget with hundreds of millions of dollars being spent to build a theme park similar to Disneyland, three resorts, and a monorail system. This made approving projects for Disneyland even more difficult.

Anyway, Florida had its own Nunis moment when the first Thanksgiving at the park saw peak capacity with a closure of the front gates, so Disney resolved it by approving new attractions for design as well as new facilities. Ultimately, Space Mountain (which was considered in some form for the Florida park since around 1967) was one of the attractions approved and the Pirates of the Caribbean (a result of the need for capacity and guest complaints) was green-lit.

What about that Wild West counterpart to the Pirates?

The Western River Expedition was one of those ambitious projects that began in the 1960's and wasn't feasible at the time. One of the delays concerning the WRE was its projected cost, which was about $60 million in 1970, and it was moved to Phase II as in the first five years of operation. It was also challenged by the guest demand for the Pirates as it was designed as a boat ride to replace the Pirates, which were not included in the Florida plans for a number of reasons, and with an actual Pirates ride, the WRE wouldn't be needed as badly.

However, that's just the quick history of it because into 1973 when the Pirates were still under construction, the WRE was slated to debut around April 1977. Obviously, it wasn't an entirely dead concept by that point.

Since the massive building housing the ride would cost a lot to build, Marc Davis suggested a mine train ride and an Indian village to really sell the project. Mind you, that was 1969. This is 1972 when Disney World is facing record crowds and a bevy of new ideas for the parks. After all, that Tony chap was assigned to help Marc with the mine train.

By 1973, it was decided that Thunder Mesa would have two phases of construction. The first would see the opening of the Big Thunder Railway in 1974 and the second would be the Western River Expedition in 1976 or 1977. This would've been beneficial to Thunder Mesa as it provided the audience something to enjoy while construction was underway with the Western River.

Meanwhile, Baxter was working on Space Mountain, a new land for the area north of the Rivers of America, and other ideas.

Ultimately, the Western River was never built and in its place, Splash Mountain sits, which was Tony Baxter's other brainchild.

Let's get back to the 1970's when the old guard of WED began to retire and young Imagineers like Tony were replacing them. Disney wasn't just looking for ways to improve their existing parks. In fact, they were developing their first overseas expansion for Japan as well as the namesake of the Florida Project as an educational theme park.

Is it any wonder that experiences like the Tiki Room, Small World, the Pirates, and the Haunted Mansion belong to a unique period in Imagineering history like how the Hall of Presidents, the Country Bear Jamboree, Space Mountain, and Big Thunder belong to another in WED history?


As a parting gift, or rather an exercise, think about Disneyland's 1967 Tomorrowland versus Walt Disney World's 1975 Tomorrowland or about the differences between a 1960's ride like Pirates or Haunted Mansion with a 1970's ride like Space Mountain or Big Thunder.




GUIDE (There is some overlap in the Phases with regards to design, construction, etc.)

Phase I: 1954-1959 (Initial design phase)
Phase II: 1959-1963 (Beginning of people-eating attractions)
Phase III (New York Walt): 1963-1966 (First phase of major AA-driven attractions)
Phase IV (Walt-WED): 1966-1971 (Second phase of major AA-driven attractions, including the completion of under-design projects at the time of Walt's death)
Phase V (WED): 1971-1973 (Need for more people-eating attractions)
Phase VI: 1973-1980 (Recovering from setbacks, includes emphasis on thrill rides with increased frugality as well as a new focus on future developments)
Phase VII: 1980-1995 (Modernization of the parks as well as international expansion and corporate changes)
Phase VIII: 1995-2020 (Current phase)

TOP IMAGINEERS OF WED'S GOLDEN AGE

As a historian, I was instructed in the art of not believing in the sublime golden age of the past because while there were times where a cultural phenomenon or institution reaches their peak of popularity, the past is a complicated, nuanced subject that must be respected for what it teaches us as a collective. However, such a discussion is a great subject for a different time, so let's get on with this.

Since I'm ranking WED designers in relation to what I admire, this is not an inherently objective list. It's rather a list of my favorites of the Imagineers from the "first generation", as in the generation that not only planned, designed, and built Disneyland, but also participated in the New York World's Fair in the mid-1960's and actualized Walt's last dream in Central Florida. This generation of Imagineering has an overlap with the second generation of designers (as in the kids who grew up with Disneyland and even Disney World) with the design and construction of Epcot Center, Tokyo Disneyland, and the beginning of the Eisner era.


15. Mary Blair

Mary was one of the greatest artists of her time, starting with her career at Disney and Hallmark. She is known for her color schemes. She designed the Grand Canyon Concourse mural at the Contemporary, the three first versions of Small World (NYWF, DL, and WDW), the Tomorrowland murals, and other parts of the parks. She even collaborated with Marc Davis on the never-built Western River Expedition in the late 1960's.

14. Fred Joerger

The rock of the Company, Fred started out as a model-maker alongside Harriet Burns. He designed the rockwork for the Jungle Cruise, Nature's Wonderland, Storybook Land, the Submarine Lagoon, Matterhorn, the whole concrete-and-rock construction of the Pirates at Disneyland, the rockwork of Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom and Polynesian Village, the Canada Pavilion at Epcot Center, and Tokyo Disneyland. He was on-site in 1973 with the construction of the Pirates of the Caribbean at Walt Disney World as well as the rockwork of River Country two-and-a-half years later.

13. Harper Goff

The banjo-playing, adventurous art director of Adventureland in 1954-1955 was known for his contributions to the parks with his work on the Jungle Cruise, early concepts of Main Street USA, and Walt Disney World. However, he worked on Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in the early 1970's.

12. Bob Gurr

Gurr was the mind behind Disney's many ride vehicles, ranging from the boats used for Small World and Pirates to the cars of AUTOPIA as well as the Monorails, Main Street Vehicles, and the Omnimover. He is still a valuable member of the Disney community as his vehicles are still used on a daily basis after all these years.

11. Herb Ryman

Ryman was a vital asset to the Company from his initial work on Disneyland concepts, the Jungle Cruise, New Orleans Square, Pirates of the Caribbean, the four pavilions for the 1964 World's Fair as well as the initial planning of the Magic Kingdom with Cinderella Castle, Liberty Square, and the Hall of Presidents. He retired in 1971, but he returned to work on Epcot Center and Tokyo Disneyland's Meet the World.

10. Rolly Crump

A lot has been written about Rolly and his bohemian existence at the parks. He did work on a retooling of Fantasyland's dark rides in 1959, Adventureland's remodeling job in 1962, the New York World's Fair with It's a Small World, the Haunted Mansion (this includes his idea for a Museum of the Weird), even the Pirates, New Tomorrowland, and the initial planning of Walt Disney World. He moved on from Disney in 1971 and returned in 1976. The Beary Tales dark ride at Knott's Berry Farm was designed by Crump.

9. Yale Gracey

The master illusioneer of Disney was Master Gracey whose work on the parks spanned from fixing the Fantasyland dark rides in 1959 to working on Tokyo Disneyland in 1979. He did the effects in most of the rides, including the Pirates of the Caribbean, Adventure Thru Inner Space, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, etc.

8. Dick Irvine

Despite disagreeing with some of the decisions he made as the leader of WED, I have nothing but respect for what Richard Irvine did accomplish for the parks as well as the sacrifices he made for Disney. His health declined as the designers of Walt Disney World were finishing up the Magic Kingdom in 1971 to the point that he had to return to California months before the park was due to open. However, he was able to continue with WED until 1973 when he retired. Notably, he took some time in 1974 to consult with Disney management. His importance was not only being one of the first advocates of the Pirates being designed as a boat ride in the early 1960's, but he was responsible for design at Disneyland and Walt Disney World from 1967 until his retirement. He was also one of the design chiefs in charge of directing the team of art directors during Disneyland's construction.

7. X. Atencio

A list of Imagineers would be incomplete without mentioning X's contributions to the Disney theme parks. He worked intermittently with WED in the early 1960's until he was hired full-time by Walt to contribute to the Primeval World diorama in 1965. At the time, he was also tasked with scripting the Pirates of the Caribbean, Adventure Thru Inner Space, and the Haunted Mansion followed by working on the Country Bear Jamboree, If You Had Wings, and Space Mountain as a songwriter. With regards to the Pirates and the Mansion, he notably wrote the themes to both attractions and even contributed to the Florida and Tokyo versions of both attractions. He did a lot of work on Epcot Center and later Tokyo Disney before retiring in 1984. Of course, this never kept him from contributing to Disney.

6. Bill Martin

You might wonder who designed the layout for classic attractions like the Submarine Voyage, the three original Fantasyland dark rides, the Pirates, and the Haunted Mansion. Well, it was art director Bill Martin who dictated the feel of the original 1955 Fantasyland, the natural infrastructure of Nature's Wonderland, the kinetic layout of the 1959 expansion, and the track layouts of countless dark rides. He was the art director of Fantasyland from 1954-1955 and was tasked with making the most out of the space. He designed the Carnation Plaza Gardens and he also worked on the various walkways at Disneyland and later Disney World. He did contribute to the Italy and Mexico pavilions at Epcot, the master planning of Tokyo Disneyland, and a number of areas within Disney World's Magic Kingdom, including Caribbean Plaza (and the Pirates ride), Liberty Square (he did the walkways and track for the Haunted Mansion alongside Claude Coats), and Fantasyland (he repeated his 1955 and 1959 successes in Florida).

5. Collin Campbell

Tasked with handling all these projects from California to New York, back to the West Coast, and then returning to the East, Collin Campbell was a busy guy at WED. He worked in Claude Coats' shadow when it came to the Pirates and Haunted Mansion, but his brilliance took over in 1972 when tasked with rendering the environments needed for Marc Davis' redo of the Pirates for the Florida Park. In addition to being that project's in-field art director, he was also given the chance to illustrate the wonders of Ben Gunn's Cave for a never-realized make-over of Treasure Island as well as other water-based projects at the Disney World resort. He also dressed up Main Street as a 1920's American city center when it came to designing Disneyland Paris as well as decorating the MGM Studios Park. I mean he went from painting the backdrop of the Carousel of Progress' finale in 1966 to supervising the construction of the Pirates in 1973 to designing whole lands in 1988. For what it's worth, he did illustrate Tom Sawyer Island for the WDW publications. Not to mention, he also gave Florida's Main Street a wonderful polish.

4. Dorothea Redmond

Dorothea Redmond is a breath of fresh air when it comes to those cozy, inviting interiors with their evocative atmospheres or their exterior counterparts, ranging from her wonderful interpretations of the Blue Bayou, the shops of New Orleans Square, the rustic facades of Bear Country, the public spaces of Walt Disney World (including Fantasyland, Main Street USA, and Adventureland), and the earliest version of Disney World's Tom Sawyer Island to the King Stefan's Banquet Hall, Adventureland Veranda, the Crystal Palace, the Columbia Harbor House, Club 33, and other parts of the Disney park experience.

3. John Hench

The residential philosopher of Disney art director was the mastermind behind Disney's grand futurism. From Tomorrowland of 1955 to the Hong Kong Disneyland park, Hench worked on it all in some shape. He did concepts for Ford's Magic Skyway, Carousel of Progress, New Tomorrowland, Space Mountain, Walt Disney World, etc.

2. Claude Coats

Tied with the number one choice, Claude was a remarkable designer who had an eye for perspective and how to evoke certain feelings with the use of set design and art direction. His early work for WED was helping with the scenery of the dark rides of Fantasyland, the "earth" seen in the Space Station X-1 exhibit in Tomorrowland, and other concepts for the park.

He tackled the design challenges of illuminating the Rainbow Caverns as well as contributed to the design of the fourth Fantasyland dark ride, "Alice in Wonderland" (1958).

One of his greatest achievements in the park was the massive Grand Canyon Diorama he was commissioned to design for the Disneyland-Santa Fe Railroad, which also debuted in 1958. This was only a year after he had worked on the walk-thru dioramas for Sleepy Beauty's Castle. By 1959, he was involved in the expansion of Tomorrowland with the Submarine Lagoon taking shape. Then he worked primarily on the pavilions planned for the New York World's Fair, which includes the cross-country move to Disneyland and the Primeval World section of the Grand Canyon Diorama.

Meanwhile, he worked on the atmosphere of both the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. For the New Tomorrowland project, he was one of the top designers of the Adventures Thru Inner Space ride, a task that would prove beneficial in the upcoming months. He notably worked onsite as a project designer for both the Pirates in 1966 and the Mansion in 1969, all while consulting with other artists, writers, and engineers on the Walt Disney World project, which included a number of attractions he was working on.

When it came to the Florida Project, Claude didn't just work on the Mansion, but the whole of Fantasyland and a Tomorrowland dark ride named "If You Had Wings" (1972). One of the few projects and concepts he did with Marc Davis for the Florida Park was "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", a Small World-style boat ride called "the Enchanted Snow Palace", and a boat ride outside of Florida's Tomorrowland called "the Lost World" that would've recycled the old dinosaurs from the Primeval World diorama.

In addition to his contributions to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, he worked on several World Showcase pavilions for Epcot Center as well as a number of Future World attractions ("Universe of Energy", "World of Motion", and "Horizons") before consulting on Tokyo Disneyland and later Disneyland Paris.


1. Marc Davis

Marc's impact upon the parks is still evident and had enhanced Disneyland. It's difficult to choose between Claude and Marc, but when it comes to the sheer ideas Marc had when it came to replicating a Disneyland-style theme park in Florida and the evolution of his art over the course of his 18-plus years of working with enhancing the parks, he is seemingly unrivaled.

What I mean by evolution is simple: he was approached by Walt to add humor to a number of Disneyland attractions and even work on newer concepts. He added humor to the stark wilderness of Frontierland when he added humorous vignettes of animals for Nature's Wonderland as well as turn the Jungle Cruise into the funny voyage it is today (let's just say he got his point across in 1964 when the Lost Safari was located on the banks of that exotic river). He worked on the preliminary ideas of what the Pirates of the Caribbean would be and he had a hand in designing the Enchanted Tiki Room. He also worked on the New York World's Fair with his work being evident in the Ford Pavilion with the Audio-Animatronic cavemen, the singing children of "It's a Small World", and the family in General Electric's "Progressland". 1964 saw Marc being assigned to the Haunted Mansion, which had been in a creative standstill, as well as continuing work on the Pirates and enhancing the Jungle Cruise once again.

By the way, Walt didn't just assign Marc to not Disneyland-related projects or the World's Fair, but a proposed indoor-theme park in St. Louis and the Mineral King resort (both of which weren't realized) as well as the Florida Project. Along with Claude Coats and Dick Irvine, he had to contribute his skill to the attractions of that theme park as well.

He designed the Country Bear Jamboree as well as the Floridian versions of the Jungle Cruise, Tiki Room, and the Rivers of America. As mentioned before, he worked with Claude Coats on the 20K ride, but he was also working with Ray Bradbury on a possible Carousel of Progress-style replacement for the Magic Kingdom. His other early work for the Florida Park included Tom Sawyer's Island and a Wild West equivalent of the Pirates called the Western River Expedition, which is said to be one of the greatest unrealized theme park attractions of all time. In fact, he worked on a version of that ride for Disneyland in the early 1970's. However, he was tasked with designing the Pirates of the Caribbean for Walt Disney World in 1971/1972 and the final product in 1973 was one of his last successful attractions, but on the other side of the country, the Carousel of Progress was moving out for "America Sings". He drew up so many concepts that I can't begin to explain it all and frankly, we likely don't know the half of it!

A lot of the information regarding Marc's career at WED can be uncovered in Chris Merritt's newest book, which is set to be released publicly in September 2019.

Disneyland of Yesteryear: August 1969

Here at this site, we talk about history and the wonders of yesteryear, especially with regards to some of our most precious themed environments.

Let's go back in time to August 1969.

Disneyland was a happening place in the late 1960's as it saw not only the arrival of the successful shows from the New York World's Fair, but it also saw the debut of a whole new land called New Orleans Square (the first land to be added to the theme park since it opened in 1955), the remodeling of a hopelessly-outdated Tomorrowland, and classic attractions, such as the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.

The Summer of 1969 not only marked the moon landing, but a new take on dark ride, particularly of a spook-house variety, when the long-awaited Haunted Mansion finally opened its doors to the public.

The summertime at Disneyland not only meant the time of year when families would take vacations to Southern California, but it also marked the romantic and exciting era of nighttime entertainment and freedom.

However, our focus is on Disneyland as it looked for my grandparents in August 1969, less than two weeks after the Haunted Mansion had opened. My grandparents got married and had my mom the year prior, so they took an appropriately-timed break that following summer for such a honeymoon. For their honeymoon, they chose the one place where adults could leave their responsibilities at the door and be children again --- Disneyland.

When they took their visit in late August 1969, Disneyland had opened their 53rd major attraction, the Haunted Mansion, which needless to say was their most recent addition.

What they've confirmed about their visit is that they went on both the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, ate at the Blue Bayou, saw the Carousel of Progress and Tiki Room, rode Adventure Thru Inner Space and the People Mover, and at the end of their busy day at Disneyland, they unceremoniously walked back to their motel just a few blocks or so away. Ah, good, old Disneyland.

Even if they went on other rides or saw other shows (my grandpa was always/still is a Lincoln fan), they had fun. I personally imagine that they must've done more than what they could concretely recall. The next time they all went to Disneyland was three years later in 1972 and with company, including my mom, my grandma's sister, and my grandpa's parents, but that's a story for a different time.

However, let's focus on the original Magic Kingdom as it was in August 1969. As I said, the Haunted Mansion was the newest ride and it was very popular at first (then it wasn't seen as living up to the high standard of its neighbor for a couple of months). Nearby of course, the Pirates of the Caribbean was still the Park's most popular and groundbreaking attraction after two-and-a-half years of solid operation. The Jungle Cruise was recently refreshed that Spring with a new paint job and some other cosmetic/operational improvements. The New Tomorrowland was in its third summer of operation and was still new and futuristic with corporate-sponsored attractions, such as Adventure Thru Inner Space, Flight to the Moon, the Carousel of Progress, America the Beautiful, and the People Mover, which glided through all those exhibits. Not to mention, the kids could be entertained by rock bands and other acts at the Tomorrowland Terrace. It was that summer that the moon landing was broadcast on the Tomorrowland Stage where Space Mountain would someday stand. In fact, Space Mountain was still a promised attraction for that spot in Tomorrowland at that time, even as it was being simultaneously planned for Walt Disney World's Tomorrowland.

The most popular attractions of that summer were the Pirates, Small World, Matterhorn, Tiki Room, and late to the show, the Haunted Mansion, which drew a record in park attendance that would be unsurpassed for almost two decades.