The Haunted Mansion did NOT officially open August 9th

[aashee]

Originally Posted by aimster

You're kidding, right?

It's easy to be helpful. Try it out.

[ChessurInWonderland]

Originally Posted by aimster

You're kidding, right?

Well, I know its a lot of money and its like a big party, but i didnt realize it was allready this weekend.

[Young at Heart]

Actually, I'm kind of surprised Disney is using August 9, 1969 as the 'opening date,' considering the more sinister association that date has....the Tate-LaBianca murders by the Manson 'family.'

[JamesDusenberry]

Wow... Disneyland has been living a lie...

[HBG2]

Originally Posted by Young at Heart

Actually, I'm kind of surprised Disney is using August 9, 1969 as the 'opening date,' considering the more sinister association that date has....the Tate-LaBianca murders by the Manson 'family.'

They use it because they think that's what it is. Somehow, the (probable) soft opening on the 9th got confused with the official opening on the 12th, and it wound up recorded as such in a normally trustworthy, authoritative source at Disney somewhere, and everyone accepts that source as holy writ because they have no reason to question it.

It just shows that plain old dumb mistakes happen even at the highest levels and don't always get caught. Once they're in the official records, they're hard to dislodge.

Also, just to be accurate, only the Tate murders took place on August 9th (and just barely; they happened a little past midnight). The LaBianca murders took place a day later on the 10th.

[EaglesFreak1]

Originally Posted by aashee

But, but 9-9-9 is such a great 40th anniversary date. You know what that number is upside-down right?

That probably why it "opened" August 9th, 9-9-9/6-6-6

[ChessurInWonderland]

Its 8-9-09, i made the same mistake

[dougeebear]

Originally Posted by seenoevil

9-9-9? What's that got to do with anything? Isn't August 8?

8/9/09 is the official anniversary date according to Disney.
9/9/09 was picked for the event because "we have 999 happy haunts here, but there's room for a thousand." Absolutely nothing to do with the Biblical mark of the Beast 666.

[Ghostbuster626]

Originally Posted by aashee

But, but 9-9-9 is such a great 40th anniversary date. You know what that number is upside-down right?

Actually its a reference to there being 999 happy haunts here although I suppose the number of the antichrist was the reason WDI picked that number in the first place as a joke.

[HBG2]

Originally, the catch phrase was "1001 eerie illusions," but they personalized it by making it happy haunts instead of eerie illusions, and they went to 999 because the number is one shy of 1000, setting up the gag about you being the one they're looking for to "fill their quota."



If you're absolutely hellbent on finding a 666 somewhere in the HM, Patrick Hurd found a good candidate awhile back. The foyer candelabra has six arms, each of which has six candles, each of which dangles six crystals.

[ToddHackett]

Here is the full page ad that ran in the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, August 9, 1969:



The Disney Annual Report writes that the official opening date was Tuesday, August 12, 1969, but that did not stop Disneyland from opening the attraction to the public on Saturday August 9, 1969 with a full page ad in the L.A. Times (which I still have), AND the Sunday, August 10, 1969 ad from the L.A. Times Sunday Calendar:



Note that George Jones & Tammy Wynette are playing Disneyland "Tonite August 10", and below the ad states "Haunted Mansion....Now Open - To Humans."

So the Haunted Mansion was opened to the public on August 9, 1969.

[HBG2]

Originally Posted by ToddHackett

Here is the full page ad that ran in the Los Angeles Times on Saturday, August 9, 1969:



The Disney Annual Report writes that the official opening date was Tuesday, August 12, 1969, but that did not stop Disneyland from opening the attraction to the public on Saturday August 9, 1969 with a full page ad in the L.A. Times (which I still have), AND the Sunday, August 10, 1969 ad from the L.A. Times Sunday Calendar:



Note that George Jones & Tammy Wynette are playing Disneyland "Tonite August 10", and below the ad states "Haunted Mansion....Now Open - To Humans."

So the Haunted Mansion was opened to the public on August 9, 1969.

Fantastic! First documentary evidence I've ever seen supporting the Aug 9 opening. How strange is truth: the same LA Times that printed these ads would go on to print this article on the 12th:




Mr. Hackett informs me that he was an employee of Marc Davis for over 14 years. He thinks the Aug 12 "official" opening date was what you call a "day and date" release, allowing the press to review the ride in much the same manner as a movie premier.

Thank you, Todd Hackett.

[Tiki]

Seems strange to me that they would open to the public before having the press preview, but it looks like that's what happened...?

[HBG2]

Originally Posted by Tiki

Seems strange to me that they would open to the public before having the press preview, but it looks like that's what happened...?

It's VERY strange. And think how insufferably triumphant yours truly would have been if I had discovered earlier that the Disney Annual Report stated that August 12th was the official opening date.

It's hard to know what to call the thing they did on the 9th. A soft opening for the public? But if you advertise it in the papers, is it still a "soft opening?" The official opening? But the Annual Report (and also the Disneyland Line newsletter) give that title to the 12th. Can you have two official opening days? This is really bizarre. Vocabulary fails us. Public opening vs. Press opening? Actual opening vs. ceremonial opening? It's screwy, that's for sure. If you have to reserve "official opening" for the second one, the first one begs for a title.

[Victoria]

Hmm... interesting. It seems as if the original opening date was August 12th and for whatever reason (immense public interest? no incentive to wait until the 12th?) Disney decided to open it early on the 9th. That's my guess, but obviously it's hard to tell. This sounds like a Disney question, but I think we already know what their answer would be.