Phantom Manor

Phantom Manor
Phantom Manor
Disneyland Park (Paris)
Area	Frontierland
Status	Operating
Opening date	April 12, 1992
General statistics
Attraction type	Omnimover dark ride
Manufacturer	Vekoma
Designer	Walt Disney Imagineering
Theme	Haunted attraction
Music	Grim Grinning Ghosts (Buddy Baker, Xavier Atencio, John Debney)
Length	785 ft (239 m)
Vehicle type	Omnimovers
Riders per vehicle	1 to 3
Duration	6 minutes
Hosted by	Gérard Chevalier as The Phantom (French Version) Vincent Price as The Phantom (English Version)
Audio-Animatronics	92
Must transfer from wheelchair

Phantom Manor is an attraction located in Frontierland at Disneyland Park in Disneyland Paris. It is Disneyland Paris' version of the Haunted Mansion attractions at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland, although a lot of scenes from the Haunted Mansion have been reimagined to coincide with a darker theme. It opened with Euro Disneyland on April 12, 1992.

The attraction combines a walk-through portion with Omnimover vehicles, and features special effects and Audio-Animatronics. This version of the popular Haunted Mansion rides has a different plot line which is similar to that of The Phantom of the Opera. It is also designed to be scarier and darker than the other Haunted Mansion rides. The ride also has a unique soundtrack featured in the American and Japanese versions.

While planning Euro Disneyland, Tony Baxter, executive designer for Walt Disney Imagineering, decided that certain staple Disney attractions would have to be modified for the new park. The Haunted Mansion was among these, and was given a darker tone than the original attraction. Jeff Burke was assigned the role of executive producer for the construction of this park's version of Frontierland and, with help from Imagineer Bob Baranick and show writer Craig Fleming, it was decided that the story related to Phantom Manor would have to be congruent with that of Thunder Mesa, the fictional town portrayed in Frontierland. A similar treatment was given to the Paris version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

A major influence for the story of the ride was Gaston Leroux's novel, The Phantom of the Opera, the secondary plot focusing on the abandoned bride Miss Havisham from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, as well as many European gothic legends, which were altered for a Western setting. The architectural style is Victorian Second Empire, and the Manor bears a strong resemblance to Bates Manor from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. Imagineer Marc Davis disliked the derelict aspect of the building, stating "Walt would never approve of it." Like the other Haunted Mansion rides, only the first scene takes place in the mansion structure itself, the remainder of the ride takes place in a building hidden from park guests.