A ghoulish reimagining

In 2015, Disneyland Paris formally launched "Project Sparkle," a mea culpa initiative meant to revisit and reinvigorate a number of the park's opening day attractions. After all, though Disneyland Paris is celebrated for its ambitious art direction and storytelling, few would accuse the park of being well-maintained or cared for. 

It's not just that the park's last major addition was the Lost Legend: Space Mountain in 1995 – twenty five years ago. It's that Disneyland Paris' standards for refurbishments and upkeep famously fell behind during the resort's massive financial crisis, and have arguably continued since thanks to focus on the underbuilt Studios park next door.

As part of the much-needed refreshing of the park, Phantom Manor closed its gates in January 2018 for an unprecedented year-long refurbishment. Early on, Disney Imagineers reported that the ride would recieve a number of upgrades and enhancements, infusing the 1992 original with modern Imagineering embellishments. Fans expected tools like projection mapping and advanced Audio-Animatronics to be part of the mix.

Some reported that the "refreshed" Phantom Manor would be ready by Halloween 2018. But the Manor remained dark. Christmas passed, too. In fact, the ride's planned 11 month haitus extended to sixteen months. When the Ravenswood estate re-opened on May 3, 2019, some significant changes awaited within...

• Immense improvements in lighting and sound were installed throughout the attraction, raising it to modern show standards.
• New special effects include a moment in the home's entry where the house appears to de-age, its rotten wood and ripped wallpaper returning to its grand, glowing heyday. Projection and lighting effects also gave new life to the portrait gallery, and in a rainstorm beyond the Grand Staircase (where a mourning Melanie now makes her first "in person" appearance).
• Vincent Price's legendary narration made its showstopping debut. The creaking voice of the horror icon – abandoned before the park's opening – was restored alongside Chevalier, making the ride's pre-show bi-lingual as the two voices alternate.

• The Phantom was infused more heavily throughout the attraction. For example, he now looms behind Melanie in the endless hallway, and the final "decaying" figure of him was upgraded and redressed in his tuxedo rather than his "rotting" form. Using an old school stage trick, Melanie's skull-shaped mirror morphed into a new effect where the Phantom looms behind her in the reflection only.
• The Phantom Canyon scene was entirely refreshed with the return of many long-removed Animatronics as well as fresh lighting, sound, paint, and effects.

But then, a few strange alterations seeped in that seemed to inherently change the story fans had come to know and love...

• In the Manor's Stretching Room, a simple swap changed everything. The portraits in this gallery used to show Melanie's oblivious run-ins with near-death experiences and the darkness looming over the house. Now, each of the portraits around the chamber shows a stoic Melanie with a different lover... until she flickers out of each portrait just before each man's untimely end... Whereas the original pre-show put Melanie in the midst of frightening bad luck as a prologue to the death of her betrothed, this new showcase of mysteriously disappearing lovers implies that she's the bad luck – or worse – while simultaneously making the "love story" that powers Phantom Manor far less consequential. If she's had eight prior lovers who've all died (perhaps with her involvement), what's one more?

• In the Portrait Gallery, we get our first overt admission of what fans long suspencted: with each flash of lightning, the portrait of the home's founder, Henry Ravenswood, flashes to reveal the face of the Phantom beneath – an accepted fan theory proven true.

And finally...

• In place of the "Hitch-Hiking Ghosts" effect that ends the Haunted Mansion or the appearance of the Phantom in the mirror originally, the ride's new finale features Melanie herself, white-eyed and frightening, as a sinister, child-like voice asks, "Will you marry me?" and laughs eerily.

Wait... what?

If the pre-show merely suggested that Melanie might have a role in the disappearances at Phantom Manor, the finale seems to cement that Melanie herself has been entirely recast as that most tried-and-true of Disney Haunted Mansion characters: a black widow bride...

It's an odd and seemingly unnecessary "plot twist" that turns the character from a mournful, tragic hero into a vengeful, murderous bride... and only as guests prepared to step off the ride! Otherwise, her appearances in the attraction remain the sorrowful, melancholic, otherworldly figure whose only sounds are operatic, mournful cries along to the score... 

As a result, Phantom Manor seemingly tells two stories now: that of a murderous black widow bride whose many suitors have died tragic deaths, and of a Phantom who killed his daughter's lover on her wedding day. How do the two mesh? And better yet, why didn't Disney use their thirst for reimagining the ride to make the existing story – the one fans loved – more explicit?

We can't say what would've inspired Disney Imagineers to rethink the inherently unique story of Phantom Manor or to use the last ten seconds of the reimagined attraction to fundamentally change the established (and much loved) story of the estate. But as you might imagine, Disneyland Paris fans who long celebrated the deeply operatic and romantic story have expressed deep dissatisfaction with Melanie being so casually recast, seemingly complicating the story of Phantom Manor rather than simplifying it.

You can take a ride through the "reimagined" Phantom Manor below. Keep an eye out not just for the fresh effects, but for those subtle – but substantial – edits to the tone and mood that many Disney Parks fans resent:

Modern Marvel

"If it ain't broken, don't fix it." The idea of Imagineers adapting such a fabled classic as the Haunted Mansion to fit the whims and cultural requirements of a new place must've been unthinkable. And even today, some Imagineering fans naturally dislike Phantom Manor, considering it a derivative of the Disneyland original at worst, and an fruitless (if forced) attempt at tying a plot to the ride's classic scenes at best.

And given some of the peculiar and incoherent 2019 changes that fundamentally confuse the ride's already-embedded story, they might be right...

But to our thinking, Phantom Manor joins the other Modern Marvels in our growing series today because it’s earned it. The unimaginable ride is simply a brilliant reinvention and expansion upon the Haunted Mansion mythos, telling a familiar tale in a new character and context.

Some fans may imagine that the ride etroactively providing context and continuity for the American and Japanese rides. But that's the brilliance of Phantom Manor; it's an "extended universe;" a "spiritual sequel;" an entirely optional way revisit the Haunted Mansion mythos. In that way, it can only add to the appeal of Disney's classic dark ride. 

But now, we want to hear from you. Phantom Manor may be unusual, but it also defies so much of what the Haunted Mansion held dear! What do you think? Would Walt hate the ride’s decrepit and run-down exterior? Is the Haunted Mansion less re-ride-able when it has a more concrete story with a beginning, middle, and end? Did Disney's strange changes to the bride's role in 2019 alter the ride beyond recognition?

How would you feel if it were announced that Phantom Manor would “replace” Disneyland or Magic Kingdom’s Haunted Mansion for good? We can’t wait to read your thoughts in the comments below!