Promoting the Haunted Mansion Florida Style

Sometimes you just hold onto something for years waiting for the right time. And this is it. 

Here's a great advertisement for the Haunted Mansion in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. When it opened it the park in 1972, the attraction into otherworldly realms was only a few years younger than its original counterpart at Disneyland. I was there in 1969 during the opening week with a friend visiting from Mexico. My family had decided a good thing to show Maria would include a trip to the park. What a great choice (as always), but the lines down into New Orleans Square for the attraction snaked on and on. It was this ways for weeks. Next to the four hour wait I endured at the opening of Indiana Jones Adventure years later, I had never seen anything like it. 

The suits and the Imagineers were assured of the instant popularity of the attraction. They were 100% right in duplicating the insides for a new mansion on the soon to open Florida park- with some slight changes, of course. 

Situated in Liberty Square, the new mansion took its inspiration from the Hudson Valley. The elegant and foreboding exterior was a stark contrast to the southern charm and warmth of its older sister. 

A new ad campaign played up the mystery of some of the park's inhabitants. Just as with the Disneyland's version, the brand new Haunted Mansion was a hit with crowds from opening day, just over 45 years ago.

(Art copyright The Walt Disney Company.)