New Orleans Square in the parks is set on Royal, Esplanade, Orleans and Front street.
New Orleans Square has multiple references to historic Louisiana pirate Jean Lafitte (c. 1780 – c. 1823). On the streets of New Orleans Square, there is an anchor with a plaque which reads, "Said to be from a pirate ship commanded by Jean Lafitte in the battle of New Orleans – January 8, 1815 – It is also said that Lafitte’s privateering ships left a wake of blood from the mainland to Barataria Bay – But don’t believe everything you read".[1]
Along the path outside of the Haunted Mansion is a bricked-up crypt labelled, "1764", referencing an unbuilt proposed expansion which would have had Jean Lafitte's crypt in the Haunted Mansion lead to an underground passage to Tom Sawyer Island.[2]
Some ship sails are visible behind the buildings.[3]
The adjacent Critter Country used to have theming to animals in the American southwest such as through Splash Mountain and the Country Bear Jamboree. Splash Mountain was later changed to Tiana's Bayou Adventure, themed to the Princess and the Frog (2008) which is set in New Orleans and elements incorporated into New Orleans Square, potentially making its portion of Critter Country considered an extension of New Orleans Square.
Blue Bayou Restaurant[]
The Blue Bayou may be inspired by and named for the Blue Bayou segment of Make Mine Music (1946), set in a blue bayou of the Louisiana wetlands.
Artwork in the club includes the Haunted Mansion, Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn looking at the Mark Twain Riverboat, and Eli La Bouff's mansion from the Princess and the Frog (2008). The portrait of the La Bouff mansion has a hidden Darth Vader.
The telegraph message heard from the railroad station is, "To all who come to Disneyland, welcome. Here age relives fond memories of the past, and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future", which were Walt Disney's opening-day words about Disneyland.[5]
Eudora's Chic Boutique[]
The slogan, "Blue skies and sunshine...guaranteed" comes from Mama Odie's song Dig a Little Deeper.
Coffee cans of money on the shelves reference how Tiana saved money in the Princess and the Frog. One is labelled, "Restaurant fund".
Tiana and Eudora can be heard talking behind the sewing room door.
There is a frog design on the sewing room door.
Artwork of Tiana is on the wall.
One of the designs seems to reference Prince Naveen's fashion.[6]
The design of the Haunted Mansion is inspired by the Shipley-Lydecker house in Baltimore.
Disneyland's Haunted Mansion does not appear decrepit or foreboding on the outside due to Walt Disney having said, "We will take care of the outside, but let the Ghosts take care of the inside".[7]
The Haunted Mansion was once planned to have a walk-through attraction expansion called the Museum of the Weird, headed by imagineer Rolly Crump. The original sign placed outside of the ride during construction promoted the mansion as having a, "Museum of the Supernatural". While this did not come to fruition, elements of the Museum of the Weird are integrated into the ride.
The Haunted Mansion's weathervane depicts a sailing-ship, while the second-level has a spyglass and a barometer visible. This alludes to an unused script by Ken Anderson where the mansion's backstory would have revolved around a pirate named Captain Gore. Like the Museum of the Weird, elements of this backstory have been incorporated into the mansion over the years.
The tombstones in the family plot tribute imagineers who worked on the Haunted Mansion. These include:
Also present in the family plot are tombstones for Rolo Rumkin and Phineas Pock, names attributed to two of the Singing Busts. Rolo Rumkin may also be a tribute to imagineer Rolly Crump.
Master Gracey is often attributed as having been the master-of-the-house. This was based off of a misinterpretation, where the term Master was supposed to imply the character was too young to be considered a mister, however has since been adopted and made semi-official.
The pun crypts' door is a cast-member entrance to the mansion which was used during COVID-19 for social distancing.
There is a birdhouse on the side of the mansion, representing the birdhouse of the Raven featured in the ride.
There are two pet cemeteries, the original appeared on the far side of the mansion which is difficult to see from the queue. A newer was added closer to the queue.
In front of the Haunted Mansion's entrance is a sundial with the words, "Age along with me, the Best is yet to come", a quote from poem, Rabbi Ben Ezra by victorian poet, Robert Browning (1812-1889).
The attraction has a recurring, "Unlucky Number 13" motif.
The maids are said to name the bats on their heads.
Interior queue/pre-show[]
The foyer is made to resemble a funeral parlour.
The pipe organ music is actually played backwards to sound more unnatural.
The purpose of the Stretching Room is to be a disguised elevator which lowers guests below the tracks for the Disneyland Railroad.
The portrait of the old woman was revealed in 2006 to be the elderly form of the Black Widow Bride, Constance Hatchaway, atop the tomb of her fifth husband George Hightower whom she inherited the Haunted Mansion from.
An unused script would have identified her as, "Abigail Patecleaver" instead.
The tightrope walker was given the canonical name of Sally Slater in 2011.
Unused scripts identified the gentleman atop the keg of dynamite as Alexander Nitrokoff, a name which has been used in some official though canonically dubious materials since.
The four portraits are sometimes interpreted as representing the futility of beauty (Sally), love/marriage (Constance), power (Nitrokoff) and money (Quicksand Men) when faced by the inevitability of death.
The changing portraits were originally supposed to morph slowly instead of in sudden flashes. In concept art, the werecat lady turned into a panther rather than a tiger.
The portrait of the handsome gentleman turning into a skeleton is most often attributed to portraying Master Gracey. It was originally designed by Marc Davis to represent literary character Dorian Gray from Oscar Wilde's classic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), and was added as a slowly morphing portrait to the foyer of Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion resulting in it being conflated with the Master Gracey character. It was later added to Disneyland, replacing the portrait of April December.
Concept-art identified the ghost-ship as the Flying Dutchman from nautical folklore, and the skeletal knight as, "The Black Prince", possibly alluding to the historic Edward the Black Prince (1330-1376). Needless to say, the gorgon portrait depicts Medusa from Greek mythology.
The female staring bust was identified as, "Aunt Lucretia" in concept art.
The portrait of the April December woman originally appeared in the main portrait corridor, before being replaced by the aging-man/Master Gracey portrait. A slowly morphing version was added to the other side in 2021.
The April December portrait blinks.
Also in 2021, the sculpture of a cat which occasionally has a red glowing eye was added to the load area. This referenced a One Eyed Black Cat who was a major antagonist in an unused script for the Haunted Mansion, while based on the one eyed black cat, "Pluto" from Edgar Allan Poe's gothic horror story, The Black Cat (1843).
Ride[]
Endless Hallway-Corridor of Doors[]
The suit of armour resembles armour made by Archbishop of Mainz, Albrecht von Brandenburg in 1526.
The X on the knight's shield tributes imagineer Xavier "X" Atencio.
The armchair's face is often described as resembling the face of Donald Duck. The chair itself is similar to an armchair with a face planned for the Museum of the Weird.
The cage containing a vampire bat was a gag created by Marc Davis, unused for much of the mansion's history before getting added in 2023.
The corpse in the coffin is voiced by Xavier Atencio who wrote the ride.
The raven is inspired by the eponymous creature from Edgar Allan Poe's classic gothic poem The Raven. It was originally supposed to speak and quote this poem.
There are photographs of different corpse-like faces including those of the Pop-Up ghosts and the ride's Hatbox Ghost.
In the Corridor of Doors, there is a portrait of the Ghost Host as he appeared in his corruptible, mortal state. He is identified as such due to being dressed as the hanging skeleton, and having a noose around his neck. This version of the Ghost host is often called, "The Hatchet Man".
Séance Room[]
Madame Leota's name is a tribute to imagineer Leota Toombs who provided her face. Leota's voice comes from Eleanor Audley, the same voice-actress as Lady Tremaine and Maleficent.
A trumpet in the room has, "X" on it, tributing imagineer X. Atencio.
Madame Leota's spell book contains the spell, "Kree Kruh Vergo Gaba Kalto Kree", a spell from the 1968 Disney comedy Blackbeard's Ghost where it was a spell of Blackbeard's tenth wife Aldetha Teach, used to summon Blackbeard's ghost from limbo.
The Grim Reaper in Leota's spell book has the Leering Head design used for the Hatbox Ghost and Hitchhiking Ghost, Ezra.
Ballroom[]
The scene uses an illusion known as, "Pepper's Ghost".
The pipe organ is a repurposed prop from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) where it was Captain Nemo's pipe organ on the Nautilus.
The bust over the fireplace is of the, "Aunt Lucretia" bust also found in the Portrait Corridor.
The wraiths resemble spirits from Night on Bald Mountain in Fantasia (1940).
One of the ghosts coming from the hearse is a sea captain, alluding to the unused Captain Gore storyline.
At the head of the table is a bald roman emperor, alluding to the expression, "Great Caesar's Ghost!".
The ghost in the red scarf hanging from the candelabra is named, "Pickwick" in the blueprints for the ride and is amongst the few characters given a proper name in the blueprints. His name may be an allusion to Charles Dickens' literary character Samuel Pickwick from his first novel The Pickwick Papers (1836), himself believed to have been inspired by historic businessman Eleazer Pickwick (c. 1749–1837). His name is also believed to be a joke about the Pickwick Center of Glendale, California which the Imagineers may have had to pass by during development of the Haunted Mansion.
The old lady shares a figure with the grandma from Carousel of Progress.
The woman ballroom dancers actually lead, due to being reflections of figures where the males lead. This was embraced as connecting to how the Haunted Mansion's inhabitants act outside of typical conventions.
The organist was given the name, "Ravenscroft" by Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion in tribute to singer Thurl Ravenscroft who has a role in the ride. However, other materials give him the name Herr Victor Geist.
Attic[]
There is a beating-heart heard throughout the attic. This was remnant of how originally, the bride had a beating heart which was planned to be included in Constance's design but wound up unused. The attic scene overall received an overhaul in 2006 which developed the bride's character and backstory while merging her with the old widow in the stretching room.
In every wedding-photo, Constance gains a new string of pearls.
Constance's second husband, Frank Banks, shares his name and familial occupation with the Banks family from Mary Poppins, leading to the theory that he was a member of said family.
Some wedding decorations have beheaded grooms.
Constance's wedding-rings appear linked together in a chain.
There is a miniature, doll's house version of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion in the collection.[9]
There are props and outfits from the removed Fort Wilderness of Tom Sawyer Island amongst the props in the attic.
Reginald Caine sits in a prop chair repurposed from the 2003 Haunted Mansion film adaptation and which physically appears in the fortress treasure room scene of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Constance's fifth and final groom, George Hightower, whom she inherited the mansion from, is portrayed by Imagineer Rick Rothschild.
Constance's voice-actress is Kat Cressida while her face is provided by Julia Lee.
The Hatbox Ghost has a long history with the Haunted Mansion. He originally appeared in the ride but was quietly removed due to the effect not working, though still appeared in merchandise and promotional materials resulting in him becoming a sort of Disneyland urban-myth. He was reintegrated with a functional figure in 2015.
Behind the Hatbox Ghost there are red eyed bats resembling bats from Marc Davis concept-art.
During construction of the Hatbox GHost's area, a bat stanchion like those in the interior queue appeared in a window behind his spot.
Graveyard/Exit Crypt[]
The imagery of the flying ghosts is taken from the Night on Bald Mountain sequence of Fantasia (1940).
Grim Grinning Ghosts' title is taken from William Shakespeare's poem Venus and Adonis.
The Magic Kingdom's Haunted Mansion gave the caretaker the name, Silas Crump.
There is sometimes fake dog poop located near the Caretaker's dog.
The minstrel players are known as the Phantom Five.
The Phantom Five appear similar to Marc Davis concept art of the Phantom Drummer of Tedworth, a ghost from folklore.
The Hellhound is seen howling in sync with the wolf howling heard throughout the attraction.
The singing busts are (from left to right) Rolo Rumkin, Uncle Theodore, Cousin Algernon, Ned Nub and Phineas P. Pock.
Uncle Thedore's head is cracked due to an issue in the footage of actor Thurl Ravenscroft.
The Magic Kingdom gave the mariner the name Captain Culpepper Clyne.
The Mummy is most often identified with the name of Prince Amenmose.
One shrouded ghost has a face shaped like a hidden Mickey.
The two opera singers are a play on the Phantom of the Opera, while the beheaded knight nearby is a play on the expression, "A (k)night at the opera".
The names of the Hitchhiking Ghosts are Phineas, Ezra and Gus.
The skeleton arms holding torches are an homage to Jean Cocteau's 1946 film La Belle et la Bête (French: Beauty and the Beast).
The Ghostess is also known as Little Leota due to being both played and voiced by Leota Toombs.
Before the Nightmare Before Christmas was settled on, Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol was considered as the subject for the Haunted Mansion's holiday overlay.
The tombstone of Sparky from Frankenweenie is added to the Pet Cemetery.
The monster offering sleigh rides is, "The One Hiding Under Your Bed" from the Nightmare Before Christmas.
Madame Leota's face is performed by Kim Irvine, the daughter of Leota Toombs.
One of Sally's passion potions in Haunted Mansion Holiday is numbered "9", alluding to the 1959 song Love Potion No. 9.
The design of the gingerbread house changes every year.
In 2024, clown faces on presents in the attic resembled Krusty the Clown from The Simpsons, and Jangles the clown from Inside Out.
The name, "Tim" appears on the naughty list, tributing director Tim Burton who created the poem which the Nightmare Before Christmas was based on. It however perpetuates the myth that Tim Burton wrote and directed the film, while he actually did neither and it was directed by Henry Selick while written by Caroline Thompson.
Another name on the list given a naughty mark is Vincent, referencing Tim Burton's stop motion Disney animated short-film Vincent (1982), itself named for actor Vincent Price who is an actor in Phantom Manor.
In the attic, the rail-car with two gingerbread men is called the "R.M. Gingerbread". This may be an allusion to the character R.M. Renfield from Dracula.
Mlle. Antoinette's Parfumerie[]
This location is named after Marie Antoinette, the queen of France who was executed in the French Revolution for her lavish spending and conservative political values during the French Revolution.
This shop was originally designed by Walt Disney's wife, Lillian Marie Disney.[10]
The classic Disneyland poster for Pirates of the Caribbean depicts a pirate captain nearby a chest labelled, "W.K." with a Jolly Roger design and circle over the W. This design is lifted from artwork of a fictionalized depiction of historic alleged pirate William Kidd (c. 1645-1701) created by Howard Pyle in 1921. He is the most cited origin of the "Buried Pirate Treasure" myth and is affiliated with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.
Queue[]
The upper levels of the building have the initials of Walt and Roy Disney within the designs of their fences.
Near the entrance is a fountain with a plaque tributing those who worked on the attraction.
The sign outside of the entrance has unused Marc Davis concept-art.
The map on the sandbar identifies the Caribbean island in the attraction as, "Isla Tesoro" (Spanish: Island of Treasure/Treasure Island), possibly a reference to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. The town is identified as, "Puerto Dorado" (Spanish: Golden Port).
The map has the warnings, "Here there be monsters" and, "Beware the Kraken".
The parrot on the sandbar appears to be Cotton's Parrot from the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
Along with murals of Captain Barbossa and Captain Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean films, there are murals depicting historic pirates of the Caribbean. The artwork is based off of concept-art made by animator Marc Davis from when Pirates of the Caribbean was supposed to be a walk-through, wax-museum type attraction featuring historic pirates. Amongst the pirates are Sir Henry Mainwaring, Ned Low, Sir Francis Verney, Captain Charles Gibbs, Anne Bonny and Mary Read.
Mlle. Greenwell is a character named and in the likeness of Jenifer Greenwell of St. Petersburg, Florida who won the, "Become a Disney Pirate" sweepstakes conducted for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006).[12]
Anne Bonny and Mary Read being arm-and-arm references how the two were historically sapphic lovers to each other.
Laffite's Landing is named after aforementioned historic pirate Jean Lafitte, albeit with a misspelled name.
The names of the boats have easter-egg names:
Ride[]
Blue Bayou[]
The Blue Bayou may be inspired by and named for the Blue Bayou segment of Make Mine Music (1946), set in a blue bayou of the Louisiana wetlands.
Beacon Joe appears in the Magic Kingdom's Rivers of America, Disneyland Paris' Rivers of the Far West, and along Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Tokyo Disneyland.
Banjo music coming from one of the homes along the bayou plays minstrel song, "Oh! Susanna" and Captain Jack Sparrow's leitmotif from the Pirates of the Caribbean films.
The name of the talking-skull is Captain X. He was given this name by Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for the Sunken Treasure as a tribute to imagineer X. Atencio, the Imagineer who voiced the skull and wrote the script for Pirates of the Caribbean.
Some of Captain Jack Sparrow's accessories decorate Captain X's bandana. This includes Jack's Piece of Eight, an item which determined him as Pirate Lord of the Caribbean for the Brethren Court.
Dead Man's Cove[]
The purpose of the waterfall drops is to go underneath of the Disneyland Railroad.
The Dead Man's Cove sequence is set before the events of the pirates sacking Puerto Dorado, showing their cursed fates as a result of their crimes.
Many of the skeletons in Dead Man's Cove were originally made from authentic human skeletons, before steadily being removed by props.
A removed effect had mermaids from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) appear in the water singing, "Jolly Sailor Bold" while a mermaid skeleton and glass coffin from the film appeared on the beach nearby. Along with possible influence from the critical failure of said film, the attraction was removed due to the effects not working reliably.
The skeletons engaged in a chess-game was intended by concept-artist Marc Davis to have the two in an eternal stalemate.
Above the bar, there is a portrait of Redd the pirate called, "Of things to come". This portrait appeared in the attraction before she was changed to be a pirate in the ride, as a sort of epilogue to the character.
The identity of the skeleton captain remains a mystery due to his separation from the Wench's Captain Barbossa.
While difficult to see, a skeleton parrot appears alongside the captain in his bed.
The skull on the headboard of the bed is an authentic human skull.
In the treasure room, there is a hidden LEGO figure of Captain Jack Sparrow.
In the treasure room, is the Treasure of Cortés from the film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). The lore implication between this appearance and the film's continuity is unclear.
The robber was added in the 2017/2018 refurbishment of Pirates of the Caribbean. This removed a dramatic misty waterfall which had Davy Jones' face materialize on it to warn guests before they passed under into the golden age of piracy, and replacing it with 1960s campy ghost-voices and this guy off to the side. The intended effect is to use a mirror in the centre of a figure with two different halves to its body (similarly to a butterfly into Journey Into Imagination with Figment), however the angle and otherwise perspective of the figure causes the effect to be considerably flawed and lacklustre
Various scenes originally featured misogynistic romanticization of sexual-violence against women which have since been altered.
The character of Redd is reminiscent of historic pirate, Anne Bonny. The Auctioneer resembles Marc Davis' concept-art of historic pirate Bartholomew Roberts while the Pooped Pirate resembles artwork of Henry "Long Ben" Every.
The sign which the Auctioneer's henchman fires at is a sign for the East India Trading Company, a historic company which were recurring antagonists in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
The character Old Bill was originally made for the Magic Kingdom's Pirates of the Caribbean then added to Disneyland's ride.
The chair which Jack sits on in the treasure-room is a repurposed prop from the Haunted Mansion movie, where it belonged to Master Gracey. In the Haunted Mansion attraction, it is seen in a photograph being sat-in by Constance Hatchaway's fourth husband, Reginald Caine.
In a removed scene, pirates robbing the fortress could be seen with loot including a portrait of Blackbeard from the film Blackbeard's Ghost (1968)
Port Royal Curios and Curiosities[]
This shop takes its name from the real life Port Royal, Jamaica which is associated with pirate history and which prominently appears in the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films.
On the shelf over the counter there are Jack Skellington jack o'lanterns, portraits of Medusa and April December from the Haunted Mansion, and the Evil Queen's potion ingredients from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937).
The restaurant's exterior resembles a steamboat. The restaurant also has frog and lily-pad motifs. One frog sculpture on the wall has a crown, referencing the story of the Frog Prince.
The crests on the doors have a crown design, a lily design, a trumpet representing Louis, and a spoon representing Tiana.
Hats belonging to Naveen, Tiana, Charlotte and Eudora are hung on the wall.[13][14]
There is a framed photograph on the wall of the historic King Oliver and His Creole Jazz Band.
There are instruments identified as belonging to the Firefly Five Plus Lou.[15] This was the band, named in tribute to Ray and which was joined by Louis at the end of the Princess and the Frog. The band's name is a reference to the real world Firehouse Five Plus Two, which various Disney animators were members of.
The mural of the bayou has two stars next to each other, referencing Ray and Evangeline.
Tiana's father's gumbo spoon appears amongst the props.[16]
There are various letters to Tiana framed on the walls. One is from a woman claiming to have been her childhood home's next-door neighbour, Lorraine, presumably implying her to have been one of the characters in the neighbourhood seen at the beginning of the Princess and the Frog.[17]
Former attractions/services[]
In 2006, there was a Pirates of the Caribbean stage-show where part of the decor was the, "June" version of the Haunted Mansion's April to December portrait,
The name was mock-French used as word-play to reference Louisiana city Baton Rouge. The actual French word for bat is, "Chauve-Souris" and it would be the feminine, "La" rather than the masculine, "Le".
The witch of le Bat en Rouge
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' Evil Queen's hag-form used to appear, trapped in a cage within this shop. She tried to barter her way out, offering to teach them how to fly or turn water into gasoline.[18]
The shelves of this store contained Medusa's portraits from the Haunted Mansion, pumpkins resembling Jack Skellington, and Lock's devil mask from the Nightmare Before Christmas.[19]
Jewel of Orleans[]
This shop had a prop rat in Mickey Mouse ears called, "Ricky Rat".[20]. Also in this shop was a toy Godzilla with a toy Tinker Bell in its mouth[21] Together the two were referred to as, "Marty" and, "Graw".[22]
Laffite's Silver Shop[]
This shop was named after historic pirate Jean Lafitte.
