Two rides were almost bound together

Image: DisneySince Haunted Mansion was in the pipeline for 15 years prior to its debut, Imagineers were painfully aware of the expectations for it. Once Uncle Walt signed off on Pirates of the Caribbean, some enterprising Imagineers had an idea. They thought about the meta of Disneyland.

The themed lands at the Happiest Place on Earth have never connected, and that’s by design. Walt Disney wanted each experience to feel wholly immersive, famously growing upset when he once saw a Frontierland cowboy walking through Tomorrowland. The Imagineers shared an idea that would avoid such problematic encounters, one that would maintain the illusion of New Orleans Square.

The Ghost Host was the key to this concept

Image: DisneyThe central attractions at this themed land would tie together! The concept wasn’t very difficult to orchestrate. One of the original backstories for Haunted Mansion would involve a dread pirate. This devious fellow earned his vast fortune plundering the innocent. Then, he retired to his mansion with a new bride.

The newlywed husband asked only that his bride never check the attic, the place where he kept his many keepsakes from the pirate life. It was a classic Pandora’s Box situation. She checked, he killed her, she tormented him from the afterlife, and he killed himself. He may (or may not) be the Ghost Host. Disney’s always been a bit cagey about what’s canon in the storyline.

Remnants still remain in New Orleans Square…and beyond!

Image: DisneyLet’s assume for a moment that Imagineers had taken this premise as gospel truth. It would have easily tied back into Pirates of the Caribbean, as one of those characters could be the Ghost Host. Disney had settled on an actual pirate, Jean Lafitte, he of Lafitte’s Landing on the Disneyland attraction. They built a full backstory for the man, complete with a New Orleans Square shop that was once called Lafitte’s Silver Shop.

Disney wasn’t content to stop at Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean, either. Their meta tie-in would stretch all the way to Tom Sawyer Island in Frontierland. You know it as Pirate’s Lair, and it includes Lafitte's Tavern, a place that is not coincidentally visible from New Orleans Square.

All of this was part of a meta theme that Disney ultimately dropped. They couldn’t sell their boss on the grand unification premise. So, the park has several lingering signs of a connection that doesn’t technically exist. Perhaps the most famous remnant of this aborted attempt is the Rivers of America plaque that’s dated 1764. Had New Orleans Square’s two rides connected more thoroughly, it would have been a crypt for Jean Lafitte. The family of one of the Imagineers has collated several of the speculative pictures from the project here. Ah, what might have been.