11. Why is there a bride in the attic? (Disney's Haunted Mansion)
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This article is from the Disney's Haunted Mansion FAQ, by Don Bertino bertino@netcom.com with numerous contributions by others.
11. Why is there a bride in the attic? (Disney's Haunted Mansion)
The bride was a character from one of the earliest treatments for the
mansion who "made the cut." At one point, the whole ride was going to
revolve around the bride's story. This idea was revamped for EDL's
Phantom Manor.
Regan B. Pederson (xzfr@xmission.com) posted about the Phantom Manor:
The Groom (I'll call them the Groom, the Bride and the Phantom because I
don't know what their real names are supposed to be) owns most of
Frontierland. He falls in love with the Bride, and they are engaged.
Before they are married, though, she wants to return back east to visit
with her family. While she is gone the Groom has a lavish, extravagant,
beautiful house built on a hill at the edge of the Rivers of the Far
West. The site overlooked Frontierland and could be seen from all
around.
The house is no sooner built than it is haunted - by the Phantom.
Unfortunately for the Groom, the Phantom has fallen in love with the
Bride as well. The Groom plans a magnificent wedding party for the night
the bride would return. She promised him she would arrive in her wedding
gown, ready to go. The magical night arrives. The Groom dresses up, the
guests arrive, the cake is made, and the Phantom was there. Just before
the Bride arrived the Phantom hung the groom from the tower of the house.
The Bride arrived at the house and couldn't find her fiancee. After
searching the entire place (but never looking up) she sits at the edge of
the ballroom and cries as she watches what should have been her wedding
party go on. Then, she looks behind her, and outside the Phantom is
there laughing. She realizes what he has done but there is nothing she
can do about it, and the Phantom condemns the Bride to live with him for
the rest of their eternal lives in the house.
Okay, well, that's pretty much the story as I know it.
One of the disadvantages of Phantom Manor is that due to budget
constraints the Imagineers had to work the story into scenes that have
existed at the storyless Haunted Mansion for years. Everything has been
updated and improved and worked into the story as much as possible, but
it's obvious that the Imagineers struggled here. Another problem is that
the story had to be made visually apparent so that you could understand
it no matter which language you speak. There is no narration in the
"doom buggies", the Phantom only speaks to you in the foyer and stretch
room. It's in French anyway, so if you don't understand it you're out of
luck. Incidentally, Vincent Price did the original Phantom narration.
THe floor plan of Phantom Manor is almost identical to the Haunted
Mansion. The intercoms, emergency exits, break area, etc.. The vehicles
were modified so that there instead of the front of the "clamshell"
lowering down, there is just a bar. There must be some minor
modifications, though; because there are only 130 vehicles in Phantom
Manor.
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