While everyone is gushing over “The Mandalorian” and baby Yoda, I’ve been obsessed with Disney+’s “The Imagineering Story”, which is a sprawling six-hour-long docuseries that chronicles the sixty-seven year history of Walt Disney Imagineering, a place best described as equal parts artist studio, design center, think tank and innovation laboratory.
While Academy Award nominated director Leslie Iwerks already took us behind-the-scenes of the creation of the “Haunted Mansion” in the second part, it appears that she’ll be revisiting the infamous dark ride and its 999 happy haunts in a future episode.
In Part 5, “A Carousel of Progress”, Bob Iger returns Imagineering to the foundation of Disney DNA – where quality wins out. Iwerks looks at how he modernizes the formula.
“By strategically investing in creative content, international expansion and new technology, he empowers the Imagineers to plus the existing parks worldwide, especially the recent ones that fell short of expectations. After a decade, the parks never looked better.”
Disney+ is teasing the episode’s inclusion of “Haunted Mansion”, which has received a handful of high-tech upgrades. The above photo of the woman in the make-up is Imagineer Kim Irvine as Madame Leota in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. Interesting trivia as Kim’s mother, also an Imagineer, was the original face of Madame Leota. Over the years, “Haunted Mansion” has received astounding upgrades, especially to the infamous Hitchhiking Ghosts.
In addition, it looks like viewers will be taken to Hong Kong Disneyland with the below photo of Medusa teasing a segment covering Mystic Manor!
You can catch the new episode when it streams Friday, Dec. 6th on Disney+.
ALSO READ: Disneyland’s “Haunted Mansion”: 50 Years of Hitchhikers, Hatbox Ghosts, and an Evil Bride
