Haunted Mansion and the Art of the Practical Pre-show

One of the requirements Walt Disney had for his new theme park was that it be surrounded by a train. It soon became evident that this would only be partially true.

Early on in Disneyland's history, the park was already bursting at the seams, and it became necessary to expand beyond the train tracks, which sit stop a tall berm lined with trees to insulate the park from the outside world and its various "showbuildings."

It's not uncommon for a ride's entrance and queue to begin inside the park, but with most of the ride's action happening outside the berm. The Haunted Mansion is no exception, and developed an ingenious method to transport guests outside the berm without even knowing it.

The first screenshot shows the Haunted Mansion façade, and most guests probably don't think about the fact that the entire ride simply cannot fit inside that Gothic Revival home.

The bulk of the experience takes place in a giant showbuilding outside of the train tracks, as shown in the second screenshot. That's where the 999 happy haunts actually are. But how do you get guests from the relatively tiny Gothic home to the big warehouse? That's when the iconic stretching room pre-show was born.

The stretching room where guests meet the "Ghost Host" isn't just for show. It's a practical conveyance meant to bring guests far enough down so that they can clear the train tracks. No, the ceiling is not raising up like the Haunted Mansion at Disney World. At Disneyland, you are actually going down during the delightfully memorizable sequence, and then cross under the tracks through a hallway. There's still more line to wait in, but the pre-show breaks it up in such a way that the additional wait is hardly an inconvenience.

Many rides take riders from inside the park to outside the tracks, such as It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones Adventure. But few accomplish this as cleverly as Haunted Mansion.