Haunted Mansion Many different music loops are used throughout the Haunted Mansion attractions at
Disneyland,
Walt Disney World, and
Tokyo Disneyland. Speakers disguised within the sets allow the music to fade in and out as guests pass through the different areas. The following variations of "Grim Grinning Ghosts" can be heard in these attractions. • Foyer: As guests enter the dimly-lit foyer, a distant organ can be heard. "Grim Grinning Ghosts," played in the slow cadence of a funeral dirge, rumbles through the mansion. This simple arrangement is intended to set the spooky tone for the attraction. It features melody and bass line on a
Robert Morton theater organ and an almost inaudible
countermelody on
tubular bells. • Load Area: Guests leave the "Stretch Room" and proceed down either a hall of changing portraits (Disneyland), or into the Entrance Hall (Walt Disney World). One of the ride's most unconventional musical selections plays in the background. An
alto flute plays a low rendition of Baker's composition, with tubular bells doubling the melody. There is also a wind-like sound effect that follows the pitches of the song. • Music Room/Grand Staircase: In the Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland versions, guests pass by a decrepit music parlor. A shadowy phantom sits at the piano, playing "Grim Grinning Ghosts" as block chords with heavy
rubato. This rendition isn't heard in the original Disneyland mansion, but it was recorded during the production of the original attraction. Many sources claim that Buddy Baker himself performed this piece. • Séance Circle: Guests pass through the ominous Corridor of Doors (while the foyer organ plays again) and enter Madame Leota's Séance Area. A variety of instruments float through the room, including a harp, a tambourine, and a trumpet. The song's melody hums softly on an organ in the background, while the other instruments fade in and out. • Ballroom: A -long mezzanine overlooks the mansion's ballroom, which is swarming with translucent
ghosts. On the far left, spirits pour from the pipes of an organ prop as "Grim Grinning Ghosts" howls through the ballroom, this time as a
waltz. This piece makes use of unusual chords, including minor/major sevenths and cluster chords. Baker originally approached film organist
Gaylord Carter, who had recorded the other organ tracks for the mansion, to improvise for this ballroom waltz; Carter, however, took too sensible an approach with his improvising for Baker's tastes, so Baker took a transcription of Carter's improvisations to William Sabransky. Sabransky then improvised further from the transcription of Carter's own improvisations, producing the effect Baker wanted. • Graveyard: X Atencio's lyrics are first heard in the graveyard scene. A large number of different music loops play throughout the area. Most of them are ghosts singing the lyrics over a background loop that provides the 1960s style bass line and rhythm section. One of the tracks features a harp, trumpet, oboe, flute, and set of stones, which represents the band of ghosts in the graveyard. All four verses are present, with first two in A minor, the third in B♭ minor, and the fourth in B minor. This presentation of "Grim Grinning Ghosts" is by far the loudest and most noticeable in the ride. In early years, the pop up ghosts in the graveyard would loudly scream at the end of each verse. Although the screams were later removed, the ghosts still pop up in time with the end of each verse. • Exit: Guests exit their Omnimovers and proceed through the exit crypt, which leads back up to the themed land. A final, somber
a capella refrain can be faintly heard with different lyrics, in which the ghosts encourage guests to return and join their social circle as ghosts themselves. One of the voice talents in the attraction is
Thurl Ravenscroft, who was recognizable from other Disney projects, the annual
Chuck Jones/
Dr. Seuss Christmas special
How The Grinch Stole Christmas and as the voice of
Tony the Tiger. He leads the five "singing busts" in the graveyard scene with his characteristic voice. A projected film loop is used to animate the busts, with Ravenscroft and the other vocalists appearing as "themselves." The Ravenscroft bust, which is the second one in from the left, is "broken" and has often been misidentified as being an image of Walt Disney himself. The other four voices of the busts are Jay Meyer, Chuck Schroeder, Verne Rowe, and Bob Ebright. A variation of this song is also used at Disney World's
Magic Kingdom HalloWishes fireworks show and Disneyland's
Halloween Screams fireworks show. It's also used in parades at
Disneyland Paris Resort and
Hong Kong Disneyland during the Halloween season. The seasonal "
Haunted Mansion Holiday" overlay at the original Anaheim attraction and Tokyo attraction mixes the tune with
Danny Elfman's melody lines from
The Nightmare Before Christmas and with
Jolly Old Saint Nicholas and
Jingle Bells in the graveyard. One of the most prominent instances of this is a straight orchestral statement of the "Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize" melody line that plays at the end of the cue for the stretching room.
Phantom Manor On April 12, 1992,
Phantom Manor was opened at
Disneyland Park Paris. Based on the original Disneyland ride but with a new backstory tied into
Frontierland and
Thunder Mesa, Phantom Manor featured a storyline based on the Ravenswood family, one of the founding families of Thunder Mesa. It also had an all-new orchestral soundtrack by composer
John Debney. Debney's Phantom Manor soundtrack pays hommage to the original Buddy Baker soundtrack; however, Debney's soundtrack is meant to be an orchestral "theme and variations" versions with added instruments like the organ, honky-tonk piano, and vibraslap. The Phantom Manor soundtrack was originally recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. Visitors can hear Grim Grinning Ghosts within Debney's soundtrack in several places throughout the ride: • In the scene where the piano is playing by itself • In the dining room / ballroom scene where one of the ghosts is playing it on the pipe organ • In the bedroom scene where Melanie Ravenswood is humming it while sitting at her vanity table • In the catacombs where the singing busts are singing the original Buddy Baker song • Also in the catacombs where a skeleton is playing it on the xylophone • In the Wild West ghost town where it is played on the honky-tonk piano. The singing busts in the catacombs scene in the ride uses the same projected film loop from the original Haunted Mansion ride with only 4 busts instead of the original 5. The busts are singing in the catacombs due to an earthquake that shook Phantom Manor and killed Melanie Ravenwood's parents. Phantom Manor was closed for improvements in 2017 and reopened in 2019. During improvements, restorations were made to the Debney soundtrack by Jake Ellis,
Disney Imagineer. Ellis pulled the reels from the original Abbey Road Debney recordings, cleaning them and pulling tracks closer to make the music sound more intimate. ==In film==