Haunted Mansion Ballroom Scene Question

[muse1983]

A good friend of mine just returned from WDW today. We were over at his house a little while ago and he told me that while they were in WDW they started talking to a woman who ran a Disney site and seemed to be pretty knowledgeable about the parks etc. Well during their conversation she was giving out random fun facts etc but these are 2 of them that got my attention.

1. That Walts head was one of the singing ghosts on haunted mansion. (which I know to be false)

2. This one I have personally never heard of before but I have my doubts mainly due to her earlier claim about Walts head lol. She said that the women in the ballroom scene in the Haunted Mansion were modeled after Disney princesses and you could easily pick out each princess by looking at them.

I was going to see if anyone else has heard of such a claim.

 

[thelookingglass]

The second one is false as well. Actually, each set of dancers have the exact same face. Their hair color and dress color are the only things that differ.

 

[muse1983]

See that's what I was thinking. I think this woman was just spouting off random things that popped into her head :hammer:

 

[lilclerk]

While it's not true, I have heard that theory before. She's not just making it up :lol:

 

[Krack]

The women dancers also lead the men because of the Pepper's Ghost effect (they didn't realize the error until it had already been implemented).

 

[imagineer boy]

I don't know why the Walt's head for the busts is such a popular misconception. I don't think any of the busts look like him at all.

 

[MarkTwain]

I could see a passing resemblance for the broken bust that sings bass, even if it's actually Thurl Ravenscroft.

It's funny, though, given how much actual history and trivia there is behind the Haunted Mansion, that people always find new ways to make stuff up about it...

 

[ChrisFL]

She said that the women in the ballroom scene in the Haunted Mansion were modeled after Disney princesses and you could easily pick out each princess by looking at them.

I have heard of that before a few times, but never paid much attention to whether it's true or not.

 

[Walt Disney1955]

I could see a passing resemblance for the broken bust that sings bass, even if it's actually Thurl Ravenscroft.

Yes, the popular perception is that this is a homage to Walt since the Haunted Mansion opened up in 1969 (?) in Disneyland and right away in 1971 in WDW. I forget the tie Thurl Ravenscroft has to Disney but there have been confirmations that this is supposed to be him.

But I too find him to be at least similar in looks to Walt. I can certainly see it and understand why someone would think so. In fact I wasn't sure if it was Walt or not until I looked it up at snopes.com

 

[PlutosRHM55]

I've known about the first one for a long time. I really don't get where that misconception came up. None of them look like Walt at all, though I can see a slight resemblance, but I'm still pretty sure it isn't him.

The second one, I've never heard of before. I wonder where this one came up. If it were true, that would be so much fun trying to figure out which princess was which. Just saying

 

[MarkTwain]

Yes, the popular perception is that this is a homage to Walt since the Haunted Mansion opened up in 1969 (?) in Disneyland and right away in 1971 in WDW. I forget the tie Thurl Ravenscroft has to Disney but there have been confirmations that this is supposed to be him.

But I too find him to be at least similar in looks to Walt. I can certainly see it and understand why someone would think so. In fact I wasn't sure if it was Walt or not until I looked it up at snopes.com

Oh it's Thurl for sure. In addition to playing such memorable roles as Tony the Tiger and the singer of "You're a Mean One Mr. Grinch," he's also lent his bass tones to a number of classic Disney attractions:

- Buff (the bison) in Country Bear Jamboree
- one of the leading parrots in Enchanted Tiki Room - I wanna say Fritz, the German parrot
- the wisdom-spouting frog at the beginning of Splash Mountain
- listen closely to the chorus of the song at the end of Pirates, and you can clearly hear Ravenscroft's deep voice singing bass

He was Disney's go-to guy for cameos in attractions and films, but the Haunted Mansion may be his most iconic role.

EDIT: found this video of the faces used for the bust projections, decide for yourself if he looks like Walt (I think it's a fair mistake):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xl0y_qe4jA

 

[wolf359]

I can easily see the resemblance between Thurl and Walt, especially when looking at that particular singing bust. Part of it is the mustache, part of it is the similar face shape, and part of it is that very few people know what Thurl Ravenscroft looked like.

 

[AswaySuller]

Isn't the bust that people incorrectly believe to be Walt's actually that of Thurl Ravenscroft (the voice of Tony the Tiger)?

 

[muse1983]

Isn't the bust that people incorrectly believe to be Walt's actually that of Thurl Ravenscroft (the voice of Tony the Tiger)?

Yes