We all dream about it: walking through the Haunted Mansion with the lights-on. Some cast members get to do it as a special offering every few months, and no doubt you always hear from them about how amazing their lights-on tour of the Mansion was. Well, the general public does have an opportunity to see this classic attraction as never before, but you can’t plan for it, you just have to get extraordinarily lucky. If the ride breaks down and requires a guest evacuation (known in the industry as an EVAC), the lights will come on and guests are escorted out of the ride. The other night, we were lucky enough to live out this scenario.
When we reached the Seance Room scene featuring Madame Leota, our Doombuggy vehicle came to a stop. We sat there for about 10-15 minutes before the lights eventually came on. This was exciting enough, but then getting let out of the Doombuggy and walking through the entire first portion of the ride, well, it was an experience I’ll never forget.
I did capture what I could of the experience in video, and we are happy to share that with you today:
While we didn’t get to walkthrough the famous graveyard scene, we did get to t=do this during Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland a few years back, and we do have video of that to share with you, in case you have never seen it:
SO, what do you think? Pretty cool, huh?
Oh my gosh! Dream come true! I couldn’t take the tour offered to Cast Members when I worked there and was always curious! It’s my favorite attraction. Thanks so much for sharing! And for touching the wallpaper ;)
Very interesting to see the special effects and the things we don’t see everyday.
NIce to see people staying seated.:)
I hope they evacuate faster when there is a fire.
Yea, if there was a true emergency, the LAST place in the world you want to be is Disney. You’d be a dead family. You’d be told to stay seated until managers came based on protocol even if a fire, or active shooter. And the sheep would listen to their death thinking that it was done for ‘their safety’. That said, neat video! They do not make rides like that anymore. That ride was there just for the fun of it. I cannot think of last ride with such detail, or mainly built to generate income. (Not to say they later didn’t start to sell merchandise and make a movie after the ride). Disney has gone down hill now a days.
Here’s what I noticed…more interest by cast members in slow process and “No pictures”. I’d sue the living hell out of their negligence from even a stubbed toe in this debacle, and I’m not the type to sue.
If you wanna take pictures during an emergency, guess who’s the idiot!
There are around 160 buggies in the ride, and usually they are all filled. That’s a lot of guests to get off the ride, so they tend to take it slow to keep things safe, and to prevent you from stubbing your precious toe. Give them a break, they didn’t break the ride, and they have to put up with a lot of screaming and yelling I’d imagine. How would you handle the situation if you were in their shoes? Probably not as well as them, I’d wager.
I enjoyed learning that under the illusions it is actually a fairly clean space.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYdnCDidXgo
Thanks for sharing and getting a glimpse of the work room under the seance room.