Ghosts of Disneyland
Disneyland, the Happiest Place on earth…..Walt Disney's dream and vision opened to the world on July 17th, 1955. Built in just twelve months in the middle the then small city of Anaheim in Southern California, has grown to be the worldwide icon that it is today.
The famed Haunted Mansion's 999 grin grinning ghosts are not the only ones to inhabit this famed theme park. There are others that inhabit various areas of Disneyland, the three on property hotels, and around the Golden Dreams area of the newer, smaller theme park built in the original parking lot for Disneyland - Disney's California Adventure, which opened in February, 2001.
The most famous of ghosts is that of Walt Disney himself. He has been seen walking down Main Street, standing around Sleeping Beauty's castle, and other areas throughout Disneyland. In the beginning of Main Street, in the second story of the Firehouse, is Walt's apartment and has been left as it was when he last used it. He has been seen and heard throughout the apartment as well.
Some of the legendary ghosts of Disneyland are:
Three deceased cast members that worked it’s a Small World have haunted it for years. Lights are seen turning on and/or off by themselves and the animatronic dolls representing all the different countries are seen to move after hours when the electricity to them has been turned off.
Approximately 1983, a woman, Dolly, was visiting the park with her family. They were on the Matterhorn, one of the major landmark attractions of Disneyland. It is a scaled model of the actual Matterhorn Mountain and stands over 14 stories tall. The ride utilizes bobsleds on a track that race down and through the mountain. At one point, she unfastened her seatbelt and stood up to turn around to check on her children right when the toboggan was on a steep decline. She was thrown out of the toboggan head over heels and landed on the track. Unfortunately, another toboggan was so close behind, it ran Dolly over. This area where Dolly died has been called Dolly's dip. There have been cold spots and sightings of Dolly in and around that area, even when the Matterhorn has been closed and no electricity for refurbishment.
Over the years, and even within this past year, Disneyland's various attractions have been popular with guests attempting to scatter ashes to honor their deceased loved ones. The Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion are the two most popular attractions for the attempt to scatter. People do not realize it is a state law that this cannot happen, but they continue to try anyway.
One family snuck in the ashes of their son and scattered them throughout the Haunted Mansion. They were stopped and even though the ashes were cleaned up, the little boy still haunts the Mansion. It was his favorite ride, and has been seen for years sitting by the exit crying and looking very unhappy. Cold spots and noises have been common in the Mansion.
Another family was able to scatter some of their deceased son's ashes in his favorite attraction; The Pirates of the Caribbean even after her request to do so was denied due to state law. A lone little boy has been scene sitting by himself in the boats by cast members monitoring the video cameras, but he always vanishes when the boats arrive back at the load/unload dock.
The old People Movers, which moved on an elevated track throughout Tomorrowland, have seen more than a few deaths from people jumping out of the cars and perishing. One incident was during one of the annual grad nights held each May and June started back in the 1960s by Walt himself. This young man jumped out of the car while it was moving on the tracks and he reached out to grab his girlfriend's long blonde hair trying to pull him up, but to no avail, he was dragged underneath and killed. Since that incident, and up until the time the People Movers were decommissioned, there were reports of girls with longer blonde hair feeling an invisible presence tugging on their hair by the ghost of that young man.
In the 1960s there was a couple of young teenagers that hid on Tom Sawyer's Island until after the Park was closed and attempted to swim across the Rivers of America from the island to the mainland. One of them, a boy of 13, drowned while swimming across, while his companion survived. Since then, there have been incidents of apparitions appearing throughout the island and along the riverbank.
In 1972, the old Carousel of Progress building was then known as America Sings with the different rotating scenes representing America for its 200th birthday. There is an inner circle of stages that actually rotated around the theater style seating. The seated guests did not move, but the stages did. One female cast member was moving from the static side to one of the rotating stages and was crushed to her death. Since then, cast members heard her voice stating "be careful" and felt her presence. The building now does not rotate and changed into what is now called Innovations, but she is still there looking after fellow cast members.
The Disneyland Hotel has three different towers set in a U formation. The rear tower is the newest, built in the 1970s and until recently, as been called the Bonita Tower. For years, people, both guests and cast members, have heard footsteps in the hallways and stairwell all hours of the night; as well as cold spots and having the feeling of someone literally walking right through them in the hallway.
Space Mountain is haunted by a male guest who died while riding it back in the 1970s. He is known as "Mr. One-Way and has been described as a larger man with reddish hair. Guests have said they see him get onto a car but vanishes right before the car comes back to the unload area.
Various shops have upstairs storerooms both on Main Street and New Orleans. These have had cold spots, eerie feelings while working inside, lights turning on and off; and in one stock room, there is an old photo from the 19th century of a young woman that has been up on a shelf for years. It has been documented over the years several times of cast members seeing the woman in the photo frowning (photo shows her having a straight face) as well as an eerie wind inside the stock room.
The past few years, there have been sightings of a young girl in old style clothing, possibly from 19th to early 20th century around the hotel property and inside Disney's California Adventure near the Golden Dreams attraction. She just appears late at night, will point to the cast member seeing her, speak that person's name, and sometimes she will attempt to walk towards the person, or will just slowly vanish in front of the person seeing her. She has quite an area that she has been seen, and all that have seen her have given the same description.
As you can see, Disneyland has more than just made believe ghosts that reside within. It has such an impact on people that they wish to remain there forever.
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