Yuku free message boards

The soft opening for employees must have been announced sometime before the 7th, since they put up a poster in the break room announcing it. You can read more about that poster here and of course here. Like I said, a soft opening lasting until mere hours before a grand opening makes very little sense, so it is safe to conclude that during the first week of August there was NO plan for a grand opening on the 9th. As for the papers, the only place they would get info on the date of a grand opening for a Disneyland attraction is...Disney. No doubt they learned all this at the sneak preview on the 11th.

Makes a lot of sense. It is not likely that any guests were riding on Monday, the 11th however. The park closed at midnight, and the press was invited to Club 33 at 10:30 pm for a presentation by Ed Meck, the DL publicity director, and then this was followed by a midnight sneak preview ride, after the park was pretty much empty. Seems to me this event would have been spoiled if the HM were taking riders before that.

The revamped DB.com "History" section reflects the conflicting evidence (and thank you, Chef, for the hat tip). I am particularly interested that the Chef has included in the "library" section a flyer sent out to CM's not long after HM opening, which is very explicit about the dates:



The question is, was there any kind of ribbon-cutting, official opening on the 12th? Shouldn't there be some photos or something? I would like to suggest that this professional photo may be from the official opening on the 12th:



Why do I think so? Well, the CM's posted like sentries out front are highly unusual, and that suggests a special occasion. But this isn't just a posed, publicity shot either: the CM in the center is manning the ticket turnstile and facing the right direction for doing his job. Now look at the line of people, and notice two unusual things. First, nobody's facing left, like they ALWAYS do in line shots from this angle. People face in the direction that the line moves. This line isn't moving. These folks are waiting for the HM to open. Second, they're ALL adults (with maybe one teen on the far right). Nobody was going to let their kid ride the HM until they knew how scary it was. These folks don't (yet) know.

The occasion that most neatly explains all this data is the official opening (not a soft opening) on the 12th.

P.S. This is one of my favorite photos of the HM. It looks alive and menacing. Nice choice of lens and angle by the photog.

I'm bumping this old thread in honor of the ACTUAL 39th anniversary of the Mansion (as opposed to the "official" anniversary). Remember, 'bugs, no matter how many places you read it, and no matter how official the Disney imprint, historic facts remain historic facts. The official opening of the Haunted Mansion to the public took place on Tuesday, August 12, 1969, and not on Saturday August 9. The confusion has plausibly been explained above as the result of possible rides given to surprised (and no doubt delighted) guests on the 9th, in the aftermath of a successful "soft opening" for CMs on the 7th and 8th, but remember, in the final analysis this remains only a guess, and in any event you would not call that an "official opening." To the data in the original post of this thread, I'll add another piece of evidence. Here's another newspaper clipping, the Long Beach Independent, from Aug 13, 1969:

So, tomorrow you may wish to say happy REAL birthday to our beloved Manse.