The Secret Letters of Disneyland Paris Phantom Manor

What you'll see today are rare documents from Phantom Manor... although anyone doing the ride is passing each time at two feet from them! These letters are part of the theming, anyone can see them but nobody can read them because of the moving doom buggy!



Here is the whole story: When we prepared the Disneyland Paris, from Sketch to reality book back in 2000, we needed photos of Phantom Manor scenes. Disneyland paris photo library had thousands of photos, but not of every scene. So, as i am also a professionnal photographer, after the park was closed and with a DLP escort, i spent some nights shooting pictures not only inside Phantom manor, but also in Pirates of Caribbean, It's a small world, Peter Pan's Flight, etc...



And for Phantom manor i had the pleasure to walk around inside the manor, taking pictures of all the needed scenes. At one point i arrived near the "Bride in front of the mirror" scene. Right in front of it, on the other side of the doom buggy track, there is some furniture, and upon it, those letters. Simply by curiosity i shoot a picture of them....and forget all about it, until recently when i found back the slides.



And what is written on them is amazing! It took me sometime to decipher the writing as the photo is not perfectly sharp, but you'll find the text below.



First these letters are written in FRENCH! I must remind you, that, although the park is in France, Phantom Manor is located in Frontierland which is supposed to be the old AMERICAN west, and so the letters should be written in english! Does this mean that we have here the first theming mistake in Frontierland? On a certain point, yes, but this doesn't matter really, what is interesting is why these letters are written in french, and most of all, what is the text talking about?







Here is what is written, first in french, and then in english with a translartion i did for you of two only letters where the whole text is visible. Hope that my translation is not too bad...



First letter, supposedly written by the son of Phantom Manor's owner, Mr Ravenswood:



Mon Père,



Je suis lasse de notre conflit.

Ce constat me mène à me rabaisser sans pudeur devant vous tellement il est difficile, je l’avoue, de vivre sans ( sous ) votre grande richesse.

Père, je vous prie d’accepter mes excuses les plus hypocrites que j’ai jamais pu faire.



Votre cher fils.



English translation:



Dear Father,



I am tired of our conflict.



This report leads me to decrease me immodestly in front of you, as it is so difficult to live under your great wealth.

Father, please accept the most hypocritical apologies i ever did.



Your dear son.



Second letter, supposedly written by Melanie Ravenswood lover - the one who will be - in Phantom Manor's mythology - killed by Mr Ravenswood:



Dear Mélanie,



Il est temps maintenant d’annoncer à votre père votre amour pour moi. Je ne supporte plus de voir votre beauté...(déchiffrage du texte impossible)...qui lorgnent sans cesse sur votre douce et volumineuse poitrine. Il est donc temps de vous offrir à moi.



Je baise...(déchiffrage du texte impossible)



English translation:



Dear mélanie,



It is now time to announce to your father your love for me. I can't stand any more to watch your beauty...(impossible to decipher the text)..who peer endlessly at your sweet and voluminous chest. It is now time to offer you to me.



I kiss...(impossible to decipher the end of the text)



Now, what do we have here? A letter - even a "hot" letter - from Melanie's lover who will be killed soon after this writing ( obviously it was not a good idea to suggest to Melanie to announce her love from him to her father, Mr Ravenswood ! ), and, two a letter written by Mr Ravenswood's son - so, Melanie's brother - with a "perfume" of coming suicide...



There is just one little problem: in Phantom Manor's story line, Mr Ravenswood don't have any "son", and Melanie don't have any brother!! Was it a real mistake or a private joke done by WDI props people?



So, what happened ? Why are these letters written in french and not in english, and have a text who take some "liberty" with the attraction's story line?



Well, i asked a friend imagineer involved in the creation of Frontierland about this. After his thanks for "sharing this interesting and seemingly provocative discovery from (my) archives" (!) he gave me the answer to this riddle...



During the final days of dressing the sets, not only for the Manor but overall Frontierland, the lead team of WDI Glendale prop people were assisted by French set and props dressing associates. This accounts for some of the "love letters" being written en français.



As to the questionable content, "your dear son", etc.., It seems that i figured it out perfectly. Because it was so far from the guests vision, it would only be discovered upon closer scrutiny - like me with my camera. So, it was the perfect kind of private, inside joke that someone working on the project could do. Some WDI designers always include hidden "Mickeys" in their work, but here we have a jokester who takes this practice to a completely different and cleverly humorous level. Hidden in plain sight!



So, next time you will ride Phantom Manor, instead to look at the bride and the mirror, have a look on the other side of the track. Because your doom buggy will be moving, you'll still won't be able to read those letters, but you won't mind, as now you are in the secret of what is written on them...



You'll find many others great documents in my Disneyland Paris book and this is what makes "From Sketch to Reality" such a great book! And, good news, as until August 30 i do a special summer offer on the Disneyland Paris "From Sketch to Reality" book which not only include a 20% discount on the regular price but, also, each one who will place an order will receive a special gift - and it's a great one! Below, you can see a video showing the whole book and to know more about the book and how to order and send your payment please go HERE , or send me an email at: neverlandeditions@gmail.com , or use the Paypal one-click purchase button below, right under the video!

Pictures: copyright Disney and more

You will never believe the real origin of Phantom Canyon's inhabitants !

All of you, Disneyland Paris fans, who ride Phantom Manor again and again might think - thanks to excellent "Phantom Manor" websites - that you know all about this DLP beloved attraction. But, today, you will learn amazing secrets you've never heard before.

In Phantom Manor "Phantom Canyon" is the last scene of the ride, after the doom buggy went through the graveyard and skeletons section. In a way, it's the grand finale of the ride. It's a totally different finale than the one you generally experience in the others Haunted Mansions. In Phantom Manor WDI Imagineers designed a surreal ghost town, and this ghost town have some rather unique Audio-Animatronics inhabitants. It is their story that I will tell you now.

In the early 1990's, while WDI Imagineers were building Phantom Manor's structure the Audio-Animatronics figures were made in WDI workshop, at Walt Disney World. At that time, Jeff Burke, DLP Frontierland's show producer, had to choose the "faces and bodies" of Phantom Canyon's future inhabitants. For the skeletons that guests meet in the previous scene, WDI purchased plastic skeletons from a company that normally supplies these "bony creations" to medical schools and colleges. For the "underworld" of Phantom Manor the skeletons were purchased in bulk and in different dimensions - larger for the men "crypt characters", smaller for the women.



And the largest skeleton acquired, used for the infamous Phantom character, was 6' 3" tall.



But for the "human" characters of Phantom Canyon it was a totally different challenge.
It's not well known but sometime - to avoid the expense of sculpting new heads and bodies for new kind of Audio-Animatronics characters - Imagineers can do a selection from masks and molds designed for AA characters of previous attractions. Then, with the magic of WDI designers and new costumes a whole new cast appear. For instance,some of the ghosts of Disneyland's Haunted Mansion previously showed up in Pirates of the Caribbean. Not only it's easier and less expensive, but the budget savings can be used to enhance lighting, special effects and other production values of the attraction.

Now, let's get back to Jeff Burke, WDW workshop, and the folks of Phantom Canyon. If you did the ride at DLP, you probably remember the bank robber and his donkey. Well, his face and body are from a mask and mold previously used for a character of EPCOT's World of Motion... as well as the donkey!



And the face and body of the scared sheriff hiding behind the lampost, is also featured as a skinny pirate in the auction scene of WDW Pirates of the Caribbean.



Mind you, Jeff's first choice was to used the terrified groundskeeper standing at the cemetary gates in Haunted Mansion's final scene. By the way, from that same scene, a howling dog among the tombstones has been turned into a snarling "hound from hell" lunging toward your doom buggy when you exit the Bride's bedroom.

Edited : Richard, a faithful D&M reader sent to me the pictures below of the DL Haunted Mansion organist. As i mention in my text that the scared sheriff's head was used previously for a Pirates of Caribbean character, Richard thought that it might be instead the head used for the organist in the Haunted Mansion, and looking at these pictures i must admit that the scared sheriff and the organist faces looks very similar.

The best was to ask my good friend Jeff Burke who was DLP's Frontierland show-producer and Jeff answered to me that "the AA head used for the organist and the scared sheriff in Phantom Manor is indeed from the same sculpture with some distinctive makeup variations. However, he was not sculpted originally with Phantom Manor in mind but rather was fashioned as one of the extra figures for "Pirates of the Caribbean"."

In two words, the same sculpted head was sculpted first for a Disneyland POTC character first, then used for the HM organist at Disneyland and then for the scared sheriff at DLP's Phantom Manor! Amazing, isn't it?





Other Phantom Canyon inhabitants includes the piano player...



...the bartender, the saloon girl...



...and the druggist. All of them began their AA "career" in various scenes of the now extinct World of Motion attraction.



But the biggest surprise probably comes from the Mayor character who welcomes us to Phantom Canyon. He's the one who greets you not only by removing his hat, but his head as well! You're not going to believe who he is really or should i say who "he" was in a previous "life": Believe it or not, but the mayor of Phantom Canyon is DREAMFINDER, the main character from the beloved Journey into Imagination attraction!



Quite frankly, I've ride Phantom Manor dozens of time and never noticed it before but indeed Phantom Canyon's mayor is/was the Dreamfinder character of EPCOT's Journey into Imagination! And the voice of this macabre mayor wishing you a "Welcome, foolish mortals..." is none less than the talented Paul Frees, who is the voice of the "Ghost Host" in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion.

So, next time you will ride through Phantom Manor and when your doom buggy will go down to enter Phantom Canyon, don't forget to say a warm "Hello!" to the "Dreamfinder" mayor and all the other characters who are versatile enough to scare you at DLP after they entertained guests in a previous "life" at others Disney theme parks.

Note: Progress City USA has posted today an interesting article about Dreamfinder and you can read it HERE !

Don't forget to pre-order a collector's copy of the Disneyland Paris book, on its way for reprinting. Anyone pre-ordering the book has a 20% discount on what will be the final price when the book will be released, so it's better to place your order now. The book is absolutely gorgeous, Just go HERE to learn more about the book and how to place your order. And if you have never seen the book here is a brand new video that we did, and which will show you EACH page of the book!





Pictures: copyright Alain Littaye or Disney