Haunted Mansion Chess Pieces Legend?

aristocatz

DIS Veteran
Joined
Feb 22, 2009
Someone posted this on Facebook today & I wondered if anyone knew if it was true. They are referring to the WDW Haunted Mansion, not DLR:

Look closely at the top of the mansion... notice anything odd? Like chess pieces? Legend has it that Disney built a scale model of the mansion and had accidentally left some chess pieces on it when someone took the model away and built it 'according to design!
 


I've heard rumors on both sides of the Chess Piece argument. The one I found the most interesting was an older - much older - gentleman cast member in the MK I met that I struck up a conversation with. Besides telling me how sad he was that he just put his wife into a nursing home because he couldn't take care of her any longer, we talked about several stories from his time working for the Mouse. He's worked there a VERY long time, since '71! One of the stories he told me had to do with this very topic.

He said that while the HM was being built, it was widely known that one of the imaginer designers was fond of chess and kept a chess set on his desk. He said that when they were trying to design the decorative caps for the HM turrets, they kept getting stuck with the idea of pointed tips, but ultimately the design was too traditional gothic looking. They wanted something to lessen some of the gothic overtones of the roofing and the designer's chess set became the inspiration because of the various shapes. Some were rounded, some were more cylindrical in shape and it just fit perfectly with the cartoonish gothic style they were going for. He said that as they were designing the HM, the concept continued to evolve into a more detailed story. He said the only shape they didn't intentionally include for the turret caps in the chess set was the knight. First, it didn't fit into the design and it was too obvious. But more importantly, this was a subtle way for the imagineers to poke back at operations and the entertainment department for "axing" (no pun intended) the entertainer position for the actor who used to roam the hallways in the knight armor at the Disneyland haunted mansion. The same designers of the Disneyland HM originally intended the knight there to be a live actor, and it was when the attraction fist opened. He said the departments ended up axing the actor in the knight costume, not because of safety or guest concerns (as the guests generally loved it), but instead due to those respective department's budget concerns. So while the designers were sure to keep the knight inside the HM at WDW when it was designed, they didn't include the knight in the turret designs because it was their way of "making a subtle statement."

The funny thing about this story is that I never actually knew that there was an actor in the knight costume roaming the HM at Disneyland back in the 60's. In fact, I thought this guy was off his rocker at the time. Only after this guy telling me this story did I go do my research - and sure enough, there were entertainment actors who worked the attraction in the knight costume. It's even chronicled in a behind the scenes book on Disneyland complete with pictures of the actors doing their thing! Who knew? (I didn't LOL).
 
That's such a cool legend! @RedsDrew that's so interesting. Thanks for sharing. My favorite part about travelling is having those kinds of random and fun conversations with strangers.
 


The other piece I forgot to mention above in my original post that just hit me like a ton of bricks was that same guy also told me the skeletons playing chess in POTC attraction was a result of this same designer's love for chess, but that POTC wasn't original to Disney World and was opened a couple years after WDW opened, with some of the same design team on the project.
 
What @RedsDrew said is the official story from WDW. We went on the keys to the kingdom tour and this is what they told us both times.
 
The other piece I forgot to mention above in my original post that just hit me like a ton of bricks was that same guy also told me the skeletons playing chess in POTC attraction was a result of this same designer's love for chess, but that POTC wasn't original to Disney World and was opened a couple years after WDW opened, with some of the same design team on the project.
I saw a post a couple of years ago (with photos for proof) that the set designers made the skeletons' game a stalemate--a game they would play forever without winning.

More recently however, someone bumped (or rearranged) the pieces, so it's no longer anything like that.

Can't believe they wouldn't have just glued them in place.
 
I saw a post a couple of years ago (with photos for proof) that the set designers made the skeletons' game a stalemate--a game they would play forever without winning.

More recently however, someone bumped (or rearranged) the pieces, so it's no longer anything like that.

Can't believe they wouldn't have just glued them in place.

I heard the same story, I think it's actually in one of the Imagineering guides to MK. The original setup was a stalemate, and some cleaning lady accidentally hit the pieces, but the imagineers didn't have a copy of the original layout or something, so they had to search the archives or find another way to make it a stalemate..............something like that, I don't remember exactly.
 
The Imagineer and animator is the late legandary genius Marc Davis. He was a chess expert. The layout for the placement of the chess pieces in POTC was later discovered written in a note under the chessboard. The chess piece finials on the HM were an intentional design. Marc Davis is reponsible for most of the clever sight gags used on JC, HM, POTC and many more. His widow, a brilliant Imagineer in her own right, was the costumer on many attractions. Best remembered for The Redhead Wench on POTC. One of the original lady Imagineers and an unsung artist whose work is familiar to most Disney parks fans.
 
I went on the Keys to the Kingdom tour one year and they do talk about this. HM is the only ride that you get to go on during the tour. It is true about the imagineer and his chest set. It was actually a really cool story and was something that I had never noticed before. However, on the tour the tour cm told us the reason the knight was left off the design is because it is always "night" inside the HM. Not sure if that is 100% true or not.
 
I went on the Keys to the Kingdom tour one year and they do talk about this. HM is the only ride that you get to go on during the tour. It is true about the imagineer and his chest set. It was actually a really cool story and was something that I had never noticed before. However, on the tour the tour cm told us the reason the knight was left off the design is because it is always "night" inside the HM. Not sure if that is 100% true or not.
If I had to wager a guess, its probably because a horse shape in the mansion would seem really odd and obvious as to what they were doing. But hey I'll take your explanation as well, its wicked clever lol
 
Someone posted this on Facebook today & I wondered if anyone knew if it was true. They are referring to the WDW Haunted Mansion, not DLR:

Look closely at the top of the mansion... notice anything odd? Like chess pieces? Legend has it that Disney built a scale model of the mansion and had accidentally left some chess pieces on it when someone took the model away and built it 'according to design!
Yes they are chess pieces. Every imagineer puts there signature on an attraction. The imagineer who designed the Haunted Mansion loved chess and his signature was chess pieces on the building. On the Jungle Cruise if you sit on the left side of the boat you can hear a native saying,I love disco. That was the imagineers signature.
 
I’ve never noticed the building’s roof before. But to my defense, I usually have kids in tow
Great tip to share with them
 

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