Disney's 'The Haunted Mansion' is Full of Easter Eggs and References to the Ride

The Haunted Mansion is about a single mother named Gabbie (Rosario Dawson), who decides to enlist the help of a tour guide (LaKeith Stanfield), a psychic (Tiffany Haddish), a priest (Owen Wilson), and a professor/college historian (Danny Devito) to help exorcise her newly-purchased mansion after discovering it's inhabited by ghosts. What follows is a wild adventure full of twists and turns, and within that adventure are some neat references.

You probably already know this, but The Haunted Mansion is actually a dark ride attraction that can currently be found at Disneyland, Magic Kingdom, and Tokyo Disneyland. The ride first opened on August 9th, 1969, which means that both the 2003 and 2023 Haunted Mansion films are technically adaptations as they are based on the attraction. Let's break down some of the easter eggs one by one.

Jared Leto's Hatbox Ghost plays a major role in this film, and if you've ever personally experienced The Haunted Mansion ride at Disney, you'll know the same is true of the attraction, which has gone through several iterations. Hatbox Ghost was a part of the original 1969 installation, but was removed shortly after the ride's debut due to technical issues. In 2015, after decades of not being a part of the attraction, Hatbox Ghost was brought back into the fold, where it has remained since. And it's very creepy.

It would have been remiss for the film to take place in anything other than "The Haunted Mansion." The version/replica used in the film is modeled to look identical to the attraction at Disneyland, which is the way it should be.

Jamie Lee Curtis' Madame Leota is also a central part of this film, as she plays the psychic medium that resides in The Haunted Mansion. Madame Leota is a disembodied head inside a crystal ball with the ability to summon ghosts. In The Haunted Mansion attraction, Madame Leota is one of the 999 happy haunts that you encounter on the ride. The only question is which version is creepier. The ride or the movie?

For those wondering...yes The Stretching Room is referenced in the film as well because it's borderline impossible to make a movie about The Haunted Mansion without including it. The Stretching Room at the Disney attractions puts the "haunted" in Haunted Mansion as you start off surrounded by a series of disturbing portraits and are basically told there's no way out. The room essentially gives you the illusion of "stretching" that makes it seem like you are going up and down.

The Stretching Room operates differently depending on which Disney theme park you're at, but at Disneyland, the "movement" is actually you on a cleverly built elevator that's taking you down. Pretty cool to see this in the film.

Did you pick up on The Séance Room? It's in The Haunted Mansion as well. In the attraction, the doom buggies travel in a circular motion to face the center of the room. This is exactly where you are greeted by Madame Leota who begins her spiel of chants to bring out those spirits we mentioned earlier. You'll also see a lot of supernatural objects and lights appearing out of nowhere to add to the creep factor.