Destination
07-26-2007, 11:31 PM
Hello everyone! I just found this very cool site that has all these cool pictures from behind the scenes of the Haunted Mansion ride that I'd thought I'd like to show you. Mods you may move this thread to the Facts of Disneyland if you want. I just made this thread so it would be easier to post everything. Enjoy! ;)
The Haunted Mansion Behind-The-Scenes Tour!
The Ghostly Library
The dimly-lit library set is actually composed primarily of a mural depicting wall-to-wall bookshelves. The entire scene, from the wood shelving to the actual books, is actually a large painting which appears very realistic under the ride's dim lighting. There are actual three-dimensional busts in the walls, however... though those busts are actually inverted by the same method used in Disneyland's Hallway to Limbo. This effect causes the busts to seem to follow each Doom Buggy that passes. Various shelves in the wall also have real book props attached to black rails, which push the book props in and out of the simulated shelving, making it seem that invisible hands are moving the books around.
http://img231.**************/img231/8528/secretslibraryry4.jpg (http://**************)
Some of the books are scattered around the floor as an apparent result of the supernatural activity, and a few of them seem to walk along the floor, unassisted. In the photo to the right, you can see the track in the floor that carries this animated tome back and forth mechanically.
http://img236.**************/img236/3500/secretslibrarywalkingbojj9.jpg (http://**************)
In this rare view from backstage, it is apparent that this library bust is actually protruding toward the camera, and away from the opposite side, which is the direction the bust is viewed from. White paint coats the translucent surface, ensuring that although light can penetrate the shape, there won't be any apparent translucency when viewed from the front.
http://img211.**************/img211/8398/secretslibrarybustbackszn1.jpg (http://**************)
The Endless Hallway
When you view this effect, you look down a long corridor and see a gold candleabra with flickering candles. What you don't realize is that the wall five feet behind the candleabra is entirely mirrored, reflecting the hallway and making it seem to be endless. The photo you're looking at is taken from right up against the mirror, looking at the back of the candleabra (which is held by thin black wires, and is painted black on the back side (as you can see) to reduce its reflection in the mirror.) The candleabra is lit by a small spotlight (which is lit from the small hatch in the wall against the floor, to the right of the candleabra in the photo above.) There is also a thin black scrim a few feet in front of the candleabra, to further impede clear viewing of the reflection, and to make it appear cloaked in mist.
http://img211.**************/img211/7119/secretsendlesshall2xg9.jpg (http://**************)
In this behind-the-scenes photo, you're looking through the endless hallway from behind the candleabra, toward the track. Note the scrim line just in front of the prop.
The Ghostly Grand Ballroom
http://img265.**************/img265/5571/secretsballroomdiningtaxe0.jpg (http://**************)
After leaving Madame Leota's circle, guests find themselves overlooking a magnificent ballroom. While ghostly couples waltz as they disappear and reappear, a mysterious birthday party is taking place with transparent guests. Ghosts flutter in and out as the reverie continues with an evil organist playing a haunting refrain on a massive pipe organ. With each note, wraiths fly out of the pipes and vanish like wisps of smoke. Dancing in air. Quite possibly the Mansion's grandest showpiece, the Ballroom is also based on the oldest and simplest effect... a theatrical illusion commonly referred to as "Pepper's Ghost," in which animatronics (such as the dancers pictured to the right) appear to vanish. This effect will be explained below. Disney itself is loathe to admit the simplicity of this trick; in a column by Disney's own "Bill Nye The Science Guy," Nye convolutes the "scientific" explanation of this effect in a bizarre attempt to tie it together with holograms, which have nothing to do with "Pepper's Ghost." In an article for children (which appeared in ZD Net's Family PC feature about Disney World's 25th Anniversary), Nye provided the following confused explanation, possibly in an attempt to make the Haunted Mansion's magic seem more mystifying. In Nye's own words: "Haunted Mansion Holograms — Holograms are pictures made with laser light. The ones in the Haunted Mansion are made with light bouncing off of smoky particles. The light hits the smoke and changes direction as it heads toward your eyes in exactly the same pattern as light bouncing off of three-dimensional objects. You see 3-D people in smoke, so they look like they're not quite there, like a ghost." Unfortunately, this explanation has nothing to do with the special effects found in the Haunted Mansion.
http://img75.**************/img75/9352/secretsballroomghost1uk1.jpg (http://**************)
http://img75.**************/img75/3199/secretsballroomghost3ux6.jpg (http://**************)
Fact: The Imagineers forgot to take the "mirror image" aspect of the Ballroom effect into account when designing the animatronics. As a result, the ladies lead the men in the dancing! Notice the light pastel colors used to costume the ghosts, which glow in the ultraviolet lighting.
http://img75.**************/img75/922/secretsballroomghost6eu4.jpg (http://**************)
Unraveling the Mystery of
Pepper’s Ghost. So how exactly does this illusion work? The most common effects-related question people have involves the transparent ghosts that seem to waltz, duel and party while vanishing and reappearing at will. This is a simple trick; it actually is based on a common theatrical illusion from around the turn of the century which was named after John Henry Pepper, a professor of chemistry at the London Polytechnic Institute. In 1862 he published a manual entitled Wonders of Optical Science which outlined this effect among others, and "Peppers Ghost" became famous, largely through stage performances of A Christmas Carol, which adopted the illusion immediately. All that is needed for this illusion is a piece of glass and a light source. At its simplest, this effect works because you see what is reflected off of the glass at the same time as you see through the glass to what is behind it. You may have seen this effect in action when you're trying to drive at night and a passenger decides to turn on the overhead light making it hard to see through the reflection in the windshield.
http://img230.**************/img230/2153/secretsballroompeppersbw2.gif (http://**************)
Here's a sample illustration of Pepper's illusion in action, as illustrated in a turn-of-the-century guidebook. Note that the "ghost" in the top panel with the actor is the audience's perception, not an actual actor. The only actual performer in a sheet is the actor below the audience, as pictured.
So while you're traveling past the ballroom, you're actually gazing through a very large plate of glass at the scene below. If you look very carefully, you might see a slight reflection in a sheet of plexiglass that is placed in front of the actual glass to protect it. The glass itself is very hard to see. At Disneyland, if you see the faint spider web by one of the pillars near the ghostly organist, you're looking at a crack in the glass that was made by an errant guest, which was quickly masked with a little ingenuity. The actual animatronics are situated in a "mirror image" set of the ballroom, which is behind and above the ride track, invisible to you except through reflection. Notice that the actual animatronics (examples pictured at right) are positioned against flat black props. This is to prevent the props from reflecting over their counterparts in the mirrored stage.
http://img267.**************/img267/7458/secretsballroomghost2vi4.jpg (http://**************)
Note the empty ballroom set, below, with the ghostly "occupants" in the duplicate set behind the glass.
http://img249.**************/img249/2284/dfgdfgdfgno2.jpg (http://**************)
They are positioned to correspond exactly with the props in the actual set in front of the Doom Buggy track. For example, the organist animatronic actually plays against a black block, designed to relect as little as possible. This way, his reflection combines optically with the physical organ to create an illusion. All of the ghosts interact with blackened replicas of the props they encounter in their "ghostly" form in the real set. As in the other scenes, no detail is overlooked in this awe-inspiring set. Notice that real woodwork meets Trompe L'oeil at the rear of the ballroom. From this rare view looking up the back banister, it is apparent that the molding and woodwork on the rear wall is actually a photo-realistic mural. A vase of feathers and thick cobwebs add to the musty grandeur of the opulent room. To enhance the apparent size of the room, some forced perspective is employed by building the staircase smaller than lifesize.
http://img402.**************/img402/4899/secretsballroombanisterit2.jpg (http://**************)
The Organist. The Mansion's organist plays a crazed version of Buddy Baker's "Grim Grinning Ghosts" theme while howling banshees rise out of the pipes and vanish into the air. As you can see to the right, the banshees are rotated from a central hub. The organist is on risers to match his position to that of the real organ in the mirrored set.
http://img66.**************/img66/6223/secretsballroomorganistuh0.gif (http://**************)
All of the animatroic figures are primarily white or pastel with very light colored clothing. Color is accented in the faces to bring out expressions and wrinkles. The animatronics are colored to glow in black lighting or to reflect as much light as possible, to give them a "ghostly" appearance. Accents are added just to give the objects some depth. The apparent colors are determined partially by the lighting. Many of the ghosts in the graveyard scenes, for example, wear translucent apparel, so that their skeletal bodies can be seen through their clothing.
http://img236.**************/img236/1619/secretsballroomorganistkr7.jpg (http://**************)
The Grim Grinning Graveyard Jamboree
http://img74.**************/img74/2766/secretsgraveyardband1pj4.jpg (http://**************)
http://img74.**************/img74/5837/secretsgraveyardbandfe6.jpg (http://**************)
The Hitchhiking Ghosts
Finally, near the exit from the graveyard (through a creepy crypt,) guests meet the Haunted Mansion's unofficial mascots... the "Hitchhiking Ghosts." But be wary of slowing near them, as they may try to follow you home...!
http://img413.**************/img413/9350/secretsgraveyardhikersvo5.jpg (http://**************)
http://img413.**************/img413/6594/secretsgraveyardhiker2tb8.jpg (http://**************)
A Ghost Decides to Follow You Home...The exit crypt poses one of the simplest (yet most talked about) special effects in the Haunted Mansion attraction. Behind the three large beautifully-framed mirrors which are set into the stone corridor of the crypt, there is a track with Hitchhiking Ghost animatronics connected to it. Each is synchronized with the Omnimover track, so that when one Doom Buggy passes in front of a mirror, a hitchhiker animatronic passes behind the mirror at the same speed and position. The mirror is two-way glass, so that when the hitchhiker is illuminated from behind, the guest in the Doom Buggy can see the prop through the mirror, as well as seeing themselves reflected in it. An example of how the final effect looks is shown above, while a snapshot of the actual hitchhiker animatronic on the synchronized track is shown below, and an undressed body is shown to the left. The concept is quite similar to the Pepper's Ghost illusion used in the Grand Ballroom scene, though you are seeing the actual animatronic, not a reflection, when you see the hitchhiker in your Doom Buggy.
http://img442.**************/img442/1508/secretsexithitchhikingdfd2.jpg (http://**************)
I Don't Know Those People
http://img442.**************/img442/8854/secretsexithikersbackstcx5.jpg (http://**************)
Credit goes to <another site> for the pics and info! ;)
The Haunted Mansion Behind-The-Scenes Tour!
The Ghostly Library
The dimly-lit library set is actually composed primarily of a mural depicting wall-to-wall bookshelves. The entire scene, from the wood shelving to the actual books, is actually a large painting which appears very realistic under the ride's dim lighting. There are actual three-dimensional busts in the walls, however... though those busts are actually inverted by the same method used in Disneyland's Hallway to Limbo. This effect causes the busts to seem to follow each Doom Buggy that passes. Various shelves in the wall also have real book props attached to black rails, which push the book props in and out of the simulated shelving, making it seem that invisible hands are moving the books around.
http://img231.**************/img231/8528/secretslibraryry4.jpg (http://**************)
Some of the books are scattered around the floor as an apparent result of the supernatural activity, and a few of them seem to walk along the floor, unassisted. In the photo to the right, you can see the track in the floor that carries this animated tome back and forth mechanically.
http://img236.**************/img236/3500/secretslibrarywalkingbojj9.jpg (http://**************)
In this rare view from backstage, it is apparent that this library bust is actually protruding toward the camera, and away from the opposite side, which is the direction the bust is viewed from. White paint coats the translucent surface, ensuring that although light can penetrate the shape, there won't be any apparent translucency when viewed from the front.
http://img211.**************/img211/8398/secretslibrarybustbackszn1.jpg (http://**************)
The Endless Hallway
When you view this effect, you look down a long corridor and see a gold candleabra with flickering candles. What you don't realize is that the wall five feet behind the candleabra is entirely mirrored, reflecting the hallway and making it seem to be endless. The photo you're looking at is taken from right up against the mirror, looking at the back of the candleabra (which is held by thin black wires, and is painted black on the back side (as you can see) to reduce its reflection in the mirror.) The candleabra is lit by a small spotlight (which is lit from the small hatch in the wall against the floor, to the right of the candleabra in the photo above.) There is also a thin black scrim a few feet in front of the candleabra, to further impede clear viewing of the reflection, and to make it appear cloaked in mist.
http://img211.**************/img211/7119/secretsendlesshall2xg9.jpg (http://**************)
In this behind-the-scenes photo, you're looking through the endless hallway from behind the candleabra, toward the track. Note the scrim line just in front of the prop.
The Ghostly Grand Ballroom
http://img265.**************/img265/5571/secretsballroomdiningtaxe0.jpg (http://**************)
After leaving Madame Leota's circle, guests find themselves overlooking a magnificent ballroom. While ghostly couples waltz as they disappear and reappear, a mysterious birthday party is taking place with transparent guests. Ghosts flutter in and out as the reverie continues with an evil organist playing a haunting refrain on a massive pipe organ. With each note, wraiths fly out of the pipes and vanish like wisps of smoke. Dancing in air. Quite possibly the Mansion's grandest showpiece, the Ballroom is also based on the oldest and simplest effect... a theatrical illusion commonly referred to as "Pepper's Ghost," in which animatronics (such as the dancers pictured to the right) appear to vanish. This effect will be explained below. Disney itself is loathe to admit the simplicity of this trick; in a column by Disney's own "Bill Nye The Science Guy," Nye convolutes the "scientific" explanation of this effect in a bizarre attempt to tie it together with holograms, which have nothing to do with "Pepper's Ghost." In an article for children (which appeared in ZD Net's Family PC feature about Disney World's 25th Anniversary), Nye provided the following confused explanation, possibly in an attempt to make the Haunted Mansion's magic seem more mystifying. In Nye's own words: "Haunted Mansion Holograms — Holograms are pictures made with laser light. The ones in the Haunted Mansion are made with light bouncing off of smoky particles. The light hits the smoke and changes direction as it heads toward your eyes in exactly the same pattern as light bouncing off of three-dimensional objects. You see 3-D people in smoke, so they look like they're not quite there, like a ghost." Unfortunately, this explanation has nothing to do with the special effects found in the Haunted Mansion.
http://img75.**************/img75/9352/secretsballroomghost1uk1.jpg (http://**************)
http://img75.**************/img75/3199/secretsballroomghost3ux6.jpg (http://**************)
Fact: The Imagineers forgot to take the "mirror image" aspect of the Ballroom effect into account when designing the animatronics. As a result, the ladies lead the men in the dancing! Notice the light pastel colors used to costume the ghosts, which glow in the ultraviolet lighting.
http://img75.**************/img75/922/secretsballroomghost6eu4.jpg (http://**************)
Unraveling the Mystery of
Pepper’s Ghost. So how exactly does this illusion work? The most common effects-related question people have involves the transparent ghosts that seem to waltz, duel and party while vanishing and reappearing at will. This is a simple trick; it actually is based on a common theatrical illusion from around the turn of the century which was named after John Henry Pepper, a professor of chemistry at the London Polytechnic Institute. In 1862 he published a manual entitled Wonders of Optical Science which outlined this effect among others, and "Peppers Ghost" became famous, largely through stage performances of A Christmas Carol, which adopted the illusion immediately. All that is needed for this illusion is a piece of glass and a light source. At its simplest, this effect works because you see what is reflected off of the glass at the same time as you see through the glass to what is behind it. You may have seen this effect in action when you're trying to drive at night and a passenger decides to turn on the overhead light making it hard to see through the reflection in the windshield.
http://img230.**************/img230/2153/secretsballroompeppersbw2.gif (http://**************)
Here's a sample illustration of Pepper's illusion in action, as illustrated in a turn-of-the-century guidebook. Note that the "ghost" in the top panel with the actor is the audience's perception, not an actual actor. The only actual performer in a sheet is the actor below the audience, as pictured.
So while you're traveling past the ballroom, you're actually gazing through a very large plate of glass at the scene below. If you look very carefully, you might see a slight reflection in a sheet of plexiglass that is placed in front of the actual glass to protect it. The glass itself is very hard to see. At Disneyland, if you see the faint spider web by one of the pillars near the ghostly organist, you're looking at a crack in the glass that was made by an errant guest, which was quickly masked with a little ingenuity. The actual animatronics are situated in a "mirror image" set of the ballroom, which is behind and above the ride track, invisible to you except through reflection. Notice that the actual animatronics (examples pictured at right) are positioned against flat black props. This is to prevent the props from reflecting over their counterparts in the mirrored stage.
http://img267.**************/img267/7458/secretsballroomghost2vi4.jpg (http://**************)
Note the empty ballroom set, below, with the ghostly "occupants" in the duplicate set behind the glass.
http://img249.**************/img249/2284/dfgdfgdfgno2.jpg (http://**************)
They are positioned to correspond exactly with the props in the actual set in front of the Doom Buggy track. For example, the organist animatronic actually plays against a black block, designed to relect as little as possible. This way, his reflection combines optically with the physical organ to create an illusion. All of the ghosts interact with blackened replicas of the props they encounter in their "ghostly" form in the real set. As in the other scenes, no detail is overlooked in this awe-inspiring set. Notice that real woodwork meets Trompe L'oeil at the rear of the ballroom. From this rare view looking up the back banister, it is apparent that the molding and woodwork on the rear wall is actually a photo-realistic mural. A vase of feathers and thick cobwebs add to the musty grandeur of the opulent room. To enhance the apparent size of the room, some forced perspective is employed by building the staircase smaller than lifesize.
http://img402.**************/img402/4899/secretsballroombanisterit2.jpg (http://**************)
The Organist. The Mansion's organist plays a crazed version of Buddy Baker's "Grim Grinning Ghosts" theme while howling banshees rise out of the pipes and vanish into the air. As you can see to the right, the banshees are rotated from a central hub. The organist is on risers to match his position to that of the real organ in the mirrored set.
http://img66.**************/img66/6223/secretsballroomorganistuh0.gif (http://**************)
All of the animatroic figures are primarily white or pastel with very light colored clothing. Color is accented in the faces to bring out expressions and wrinkles. The animatronics are colored to glow in black lighting or to reflect as much light as possible, to give them a "ghostly" appearance. Accents are added just to give the objects some depth. The apparent colors are determined partially by the lighting. Many of the ghosts in the graveyard scenes, for example, wear translucent apparel, so that their skeletal bodies can be seen through their clothing.
http://img236.**************/img236/1619/secretsballroomorganistkr7.jpg (http://**************)
The Grim Grinning Graveyard Jamboree
http://img74.**************/img74/2766/secretsgraveyardband1pj4.jpg (http://**************)
http://img74.**************/img74/5837/secretsgraveyardbandfe6.jpg (http://**************)
The Hitchhiking Ghosts
Finally, near the exit from the graveyard (through a creepy crypt,) guests meet the Haunted Mansion's unofficial mascots... the "Hitchhiking Ghosts." But be wary of slowing near them, as they may try to follow you home...!
http://img413.**************/img413/9350/secretsgraveyardhikersvo5.jpg (http://**************)
http://img413.**************/img413/6594/secretsgraveyardhiker2tb8.jpg (http://**************)
A Ghost Decides to Follow You Home...The exit crypt poses one of the simplest (yet most talked about) special effects in the Haunted Mansion attraction. Behind the three large beautifully-framed mirrors which are set into the stone corridor of the crypt, there is a track with Hitchhiking Ghost animatronics connected to it. Each is synchronized with the Omnimover track, so that when one Doom Buggy passes in front of a mirror, a hitchhiker animatronic passes behind the mirror at the same speed and position. The mirror is two-way glass, so that when the hitchhiker is illuminated from behind, the guest in the Doom Buggy can see the prop through the mirror, as well as seeing themselves reflected in it. An example of how the final effect looks is shown above, while a snapshot of the actual hitchhiker animatronic on the synchronized track is shown below, and an undressed body is shown to the left. The concept is quite similar to the Pepper's Ghost illusion used in the Grand Ballroom scene, though you are seeing the actual animatronic, not a reflection, when you see the hitchhiker in your Doom Buggy.
http://img442.**************/img442/1508/secretsexithitchhikingdfd2.jpg (http://**************)
I Don't Know Those People
http://img442.**************/img442/8854/secretsexithikersbackstcx5.jpg (http://**************)
Credit goes to <another site> for the pics and info! ;)