“Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion.” - one of the best opening lines in an attraction ever!

The Haunted Mansion is a hugely popular attraction that opened first in Disneyland and then opened in four other Disney Parks around the world!

Have you ever felt like you’re traveling through time when you’re at Walt Disney World? WDW abounds with representations of both the past and future, from subtle allusions to elaborate depictions. If you’re like me, you also find yourself flashing back in time with your own Disney memories and imagining future changes and experiences. Here are just a few of my thoughts on time travel in Magic Kingdom.  

As a child I would tell my mother, “I’m an optimistic optimist!” before galavanting off to save an invisible fair maiden on my stick horse. I was a very upbeat kid, as most children are, unbeaten by the unfairness and malice the world sometimes holds as an adult. Walt, while prone to occasionally donning a bad attitude (what his employees called his “bear suit” days), was an eternal optimist.

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of Walt Disney in my life. There are the obvious reasons, of course: without Walt there are no Disney movies or parks, both a huge part of my life. The case could even be made that without Walt, I never would have met my wife, Jessica, as we met performing in Aladdin the Musical on stage!