Disney Never Wanted You to See the Haunted Mansion Like This

Dive into the behind scenes of the Haunted Mansion with these behind the scenes photos from many years ago! As we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the attraction, appreciating the detail and work that goes into creating the magic seems quite fitting.

The photos below capture the figures throughout the mansion that are used to create the Pepper's Ghost effect.

1. This “Ghost” Struggles to Blow Out a Candle

blowing out cake haunted mansion

2. Crowned King of the deadly dance

haunted mansion ghost disneyland king

3. Crowd of the undead dance floor

disneyland ghosts haunted mansion

4. Who knew that ghosts rode bicycles.

ghost riding bikes

5. In the graveyard these ghosts are constantly having a swinging wake.

final scene graveyard haunted mansion disneyland

6. These Pirates Can Sure Bust out a version of Grim Grinning Ghosts

pirate band haunted mansion disneyland

7. Speaking of busts

haunted mansion singing busts disneyland

8. The little ones just gets to me–in a creepy way

ghosts haunted mansion

9.  Would you want this ghost to follow you home?

hitch hiking ghosts closeup disneyland

1o. Row upon row of hitch hiking ghosts…like the gift bag table at a petrifying party

hitch hiking ghosts rotatingdisneyland haunted mansion hitchhiking ghosts

(These photos come from the Vintage Disneyland group on Facebook.)

The Disneyland Haunted Mansion has a fascinating history that we recount on the Disney Dose podcast. Check out that episode here.

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behind the scenes haunted mansion photos

Have you ever been backstage at Disney?

15 comments add your comment

  1. Thanks for sharing! I can’t get enough of the backstage photos. Interesting to see how some are set up.

  2. I love seeing the behind the scenes rides at Disneyland. How do you get to do this? I wish Disney would offer this.

  3. I LVE Disneyland during October,because my Birthday is in this month on the 18th, I also LVE the Haunted Mansion the first time I visted the Mansion was when I was Five years old. I wish I could do that again because this year I will be 35 years old this would be special.

  4. Disneyland, and the Disney Corporation as a whole, is all about the magic of it all. If you’ve ever had the opportunity to be allowed backstage you know that there are NO cell phones or cameras allowed out at any time. They do NOT want anything “out there” that could dispel the magic they try to create by showing how any of it is done. So why, since I THINK you claim to be huge fans of everything Disney, do you show pictures like this to the world? Most people who see this will see the ride in a completely different way forever after. Sadly…

    • I agree!! Keep the magic secret. Theres enough reality in our everyday life!!

      • To me, science and engineering has always had a very magical quality. So I’m fine with it 😀

    • How it is done is magical. It sparks creativity and imagination. If you don’t want to see how it’s done, don’t look at the page. It’s easy as that.

  5. Judging by the size of the bust, I’d say you mislabeled a queen as a king.

  6. We got a personal private tour of those areas one evening by a park imagineer. We also we walking in Pirates and watched guests from the bridge you travel under entering the battle scene

  7. I am 67 years old, I LOVE Disneyland, the back stage stuff is intriguing and doesn’t ruin the magic for me. HOWEVER! If this ruins the magic for just ONE person, young or old, I would rather it NOT be posted. Magic to some is no longer magic when you know how it’s done

  8. People who don’t want to see backstage photos should not look at stories that clearly contain backstage photos. This story was titled “Ten Behind – The – Scenes Photos” and “Disney Never Wanted You to See the Haunted Mansion Like This.” Those pictures are easy to avoid if you don’t want to see them.

  9. Pirates of the Caribbean occe broke down because of an upcoming storm and the cast memebers had to take us out. I thought we were so high because we were at this defense wall decor, but the floor was right there. We walked through some corridors and then saw an emergency exit door. And then we walk outside and we’re almost 4 floors above the floor level. Such an experience haha