Still, when Disneyland opened in 1955, there was no dead-end street, and no haunted house. That was to come much later. A book could be written about the very long and convoluted path Disney's Haunted Mansion took before it was finally released to the admiring masses, and several have. For our purposes, let's just point out that it took almost a decade between when the exterior was constructed and when the attraction was finished.
In that time, several items were released to the public to keep interest in the project alive. Today, we feature one of them. I present to you, The Disney's Haunted House puzzle!
Now, I'm not sure when this item was produced (I got it a few years ago off eBay) but we have a few clues. First, it calls the attraction the Haunted House, not the Haunted Mansion. This means that the official name had not been quite decided yet. However, the puzzle features an actual scene from the ride, in pretty good detail. The party scene is a high point in the ride, and this puzzle gets it pretty right, so we know it wasn't drawn too long before it opened. (Mickey and Goofy aren't actually in the ride, that is a bit of artistic licence)
I would, therefore, put the publishing date of this puzzle around 1968...ish.... The ride opened in 1970. Can I prove it? Nope. It's just a guess. Still, it's a fun bit of Disneyana!
The puzzle is all there and in great shape. It sits on my bookcase and cheers me up, so I think I'll keep it around.
Until next time, keep searching for treasure!
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