6. Do the ceilings go up or do the floors go down in the stretching room? (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.
6. Do the ceilings go up or do the floors go down in the stretching room? (Disney's Haunted Mansion)
Okay, first of all, the stretch room was designed out of necessity. When
the Disneyland's Mansion (just the building, not the ride) was built in
1963 it was still planned to be a walk-through attraction. For many
years the building was just an empty skeleton while it waited for the
Imagineers to finish up with their World's Fair business and start
working on it again. They knew they could never fit the entire
attraction inside the mansion you see, so they dug a very deep "basement"
and then a tunnel from the basement under the berm and the railroad.
When the attraction finally resumed construction in 1967 (I think) it had
changed to become a ride-through. The stretch room takes you to the
bottom of the basement, then you walk down the tunnel (as you pass the
changing pictures and the "windows" with the storm outside. You don't
get on the ride itself until you reach the exterior show building which
is hidden behind the berm from guest view. If you really want to see the
show building, try the monorail.
Anyway, the stretch rooms (there are two of them) serve very nicely the
purpose of getting guests down to the tunnel. The DL Mansion opened in
1969 and was a tremendous success.
Now, Walt Disney World was opened in 1971, two years later. And they did
of course want a Mansion in it. However, this time they were able to
start from scratch. They did not need the stretch room and tunnel
because they were able to design it so guests would never have to go
underground. But the stretch room was such a popular effect at
Disneyland they wanted to keep it. This was accomplished by placing the
entrance door in the hill that the Mansion stands on (this doesn't make
any sense, but they did it anyway) The hill, which you're not supposed
to be able to see behind but can anyway, houses a jutting segment of the
Mansion show building. You walk into the hill into what we have to
assume they meant to be the basement of the Mansion. The Mansion does
have a front door but nobody ever uses it. Instead, you walk into the
basement and the foyer's right there, in the basement. Like at
Disneyland the foyer leads into two stretch rooms. In these, however,
you don't go down at all. The ceiling instead extends up into the
Mansion, and when the exit doors open you don't have to go through the
tunnel, the loading area's right there (because you're already in the
show building).
(Regarding Disneyland: From: lwilton@BIX.com)
The scrim ceiling and the corpse above it and the entrire backdrop is indeed
one piece. But it is attached firmly to the top of the mansion.
The walls are of course two pieces. The lower piece attaches to the elevator
floor and extends up to the lintel with the gargoils on it. It *also*
extends upward directly below each picture to the bottom of the picture,
and extends the width of the picture frame. In fact, the bottom (only)
of the picture frames is attached to the lower wall.
The upper wall appears above and around the pictures, and includes the top
of the picture moulding, and the top attachment points for the sides of
the frame. But here is the trick: when the elevator is up, the upper wall
extends both down behind the lower wall for about 4 feet, *AND* up behind
the cornice moulding, and thus behind the sides of the attic space for a
number of feet.
So how does it work? The elevator starts down. This of course lowers the
bottom part of the wall, since it is attached to the floor of the elevator.
As it lowers, the upper wall behind the lower wall becomes exposed. At the
same time, the vertical parts of the picture moulding (which is flexible
rubber-like stuff) unroll around pullys behind the lower picture frame
corners. I think the pictures likewise unroll, but they may be held flat;
I really can't tell easily. If you are wondering how the upper wall can
be going down behind the lower wall, when the bottom of the picture frame
is attached to the lower wall, look closely at the nice *vertical stripe*
wallpaper right at the outside edges of the picture frames in the distance
between the frame and the lower wall. If you look closely, you will see
that the wall below the pictures is about 1/4" in front of the rest of the
wall. The vertical stripes on the wallpaper hide the split in the teo
pieces of wall, as the split is right on the edge of a stripe.
After about 4 feet of unrolling the pictures, the entire picture is exposed.
And all of the upper wall that was hidden below the lower wall is used up.
But you aren't far enough down to get to the lower floor, so the elevator
has to somehow continue downward. This is the point where people claim the
top starts up, but that isn't what is happening. When happens is that the
lower wall part of the upper wall is used up, and hits stops on the back
of the lower wall. This effectively attaches the upper and lower walls
and makes it one piece. Since the lower wall is still going down, the
upper wall has to follow. And it does! It starts exposing the top several
feet that are hidden up beside the attic.
Eventually the elevator is near the bottom of travel (within several inches.)
The upper wall, which when up would have partially blocked the openings out
of the attic, is now down and clearing them. The crossfade effect occurs
showing the skeleton, lit from the side. As the lights black out and the
scream crossfades, the elevator, when it is in adjustment, reaches the
bottom level and the doors open. (Of late it has been mmuch out of
adjustment, and hunts for the level for several seconds, thus the doors
open late after the lights come up and the sound stops.)
So to redo the ascii art, you have something like this:
(These drawings are a cross-section of the edge of the elevator, not
an elevation picture as Jed drew.)
Top position. Attic dark, minimal picture exposed.
/ <- attic attached at top to building structure
/
|
||
Hidden upper || Attic space
wall -> ||
||
|--------------
+ <- picture frame top
Extra picture || <- upper wall
frame rolled || <- Picture
up -> ||
Pulley -> U|+ <- picture frame bottom (attached to lower wall)
||
|-- <- top lintel of lower elevator wall
Hidden upper ||
wall -> ||
| <- elevator wall
Elevator door -> |
|
-------------- <- elevator floor
Note that the upper wall bottom has to stop above the top of the elevator
door when it is open on the upper level. This is why there is only about
four feet of wall behind the elevator, and the upper wall has to extend
with two different movements. Also note the upper wall extends up past
the sides of the attic a ways.
Partial extension, all of bottom of upper wall exposed:
/ <- attic attached at top to building structure
/
|
||
Hidden upper || Attic space
wall -> ||
||
|--------------
+ <- top of picture frame
| <- upper wall
Picture is now |
unrolled -> |
| <- Picture
|
|
|
Pulley -> U|+ <- picture frame bottom (attached to lower wall)
||
-- <- top lintel of lower elevator wall
|
|
| <- elevator wall
|
|
-------------- <- elevator floor
There is now no upper wall hidden behind the lower wall. The latches
on the bottom of the upper wall engage with the latches on the lower
wall. This causes a slight shock to the upper wall as it begins to move
downward with the lower wall, and is the cause of the quiet "boom" like
sound that is heard at this point. If you close your eyes at this point
and believe your ears, you will find that the elevator does not change
speed, even though there is a slight shock as the upper wall latches.
Full extension. Upper wall is now completely exposed.
/ <- attic attached at top to building structure
/
|
Attic windows |
now open -> | Attic space
|
|
|--------------
Upper wall now |
all exposed -> | <- upper wall
|
|
+ <- top of picture frame
|
Picture is now |
unrolled -> |
| <- Picture
|
|
|
Pulley -> U|+ <- picture frame bottom (attached to lower wall)
|
-- <- top lintel of lower elevator wall
|
|
| <- elevator wall
|
|
-------------- <- elevator floor
The upper wall is now completely exposed. The attic windows are now clear,
and the crossfade can be done to the top of the scrim. The elevator should
be at or nearly at the bottom level, so that the doors can open just after
the scream, but before the lights come back up.
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