Spiders

The Spiders are characters featured in the Haunted Mansion attraction at the Disney Parks.

History[]

Background[]

The spiders, as their names imply, are large arachnids living in a pitch black room where the spiders and their webs are the only things that are visible to guests. In the attraction, they would do very little activity such as moving their legs and uttering clicking sounds.

Development[]

Originally, the spiders were to be shown living with a man who was trapped in a spider web where he would be calling out for help as he was in the mercy of being attacked by spiders. However, the animatronic of the man himself was supposedly removed from the attraction likely due to the man himself in the scene being considered too frightening.

Due to the success of the attraction at Magic Kingdom, the Haunted Mansion attraction was later built at Tokyo Disneyland still featuring the same scene as the one in the Florida versions.

In 2007 as part of the Magic Kingdom iteration of the attraction being refurbished, the pitch black room where the spiders live was removed and replaced by the Endless Staircase scene. However, despite the removal of them in 2007, the spiders can still be seen in the Tokyo Disneyland iteration of the attraction located at Fantasyland.

Appearances[]

The Haunted Mansion[]

In the Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland versions of the attraction located at Liberty Square and Fantasyland respectively, the area where the spiders are lurking at was passed through after passing through the Conservatory area after passing through an occupant trying to get out of his coffin to which as the Doom Buggies arrive pass by, guests enter a pitch black room where the only things that are visible to them are spiders sitting on their webs. In it, the spiders are seen moving their legs while staying on their webs.

Additionally, a singular spider similar to the ones from the Florida and Tokyo versions of the attraction could be seen in the load area in the California version of Haunted Mansion.^[1]

As of 2007, the Haunted Mansion attraction in Florida was refurbished, removing the scene with the spiders entirely and replacing it with the Endless Staircase scene.

Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare[]

In the Tokyo Disneyland iteration of the Haunted Mansion Holiday attraction, the spiders still remain in the pitch black room where they are accompanied by caged bugs which represent the ones that Lock, Shock, and Barrel captured and fed to Oogie Boogie during the musical number "Making Christmas" from The Nightmare Before Christmas, where the spiders in this room are accompanied with Oogie himself.

Jungle Cruise[]

The spiders seen in the Jungle Cruise attractions use the same models as the ones used in the Haunted Mansion attraction where they are seen lurking inside a mysterious temple representing Asia.

Other appearances[]

Film[]

The Haunted Mansion (2003)[]

In addition to containing an ordinary spider that appeared in Michael's house, the film also includes spiders that inhabit a mausoleum after Madame Leota tasked the Evers to find a hidden key to uncover the secrets of Elizabeth's death. These spiders are completely different from the ones in the attraction. While trying to find the key, Michael encounters various tiny spiders, which frighten him, due to his arachnophobia while Jim and Megan find the key, albeit disturbing the undead residents. Michael, however, manages to conquer his fear of arachnophobia while the other Evers managed to escape with the key.

Haunted Mansion (2023)[]

A completely different spider (described as a "tarantula" in the English audio description) appears in the Crump Manor scene where Travis enters the basement full of graves of the victims that the Hatbox Ghost has interacted with. Upon taking the hat that belonged to Crump, the spider appeared and frightened Travis, causing him to escape and take the hat with him The spider does not appear again afterwards.

Video Games[]

The Haunted Mansion (video game)[]

The spiders also appear as enemies in the video game adaptation of the Disney film. The game consists of three variants of spiders. Regular Spiders are the most frequent ones encountered in the game and can attack the player when approached. The second variant, Giant Spiders, occasionally appear in most rooms where they are first encountered in the Game Room area and can shoot webs at the player. The third variant, the King Spider, is encountered in the Ballroom area where a singular one appears throughout the entire game and is the strongest of all the spiders featured in the Haunted Mansion video game.

Disney Crossy Road[]

A singular spider is also an unlockable, playable character in the discontinued video game Disney Crossy Road. When playing as the spider, other spiders occasionally dangle from the ceiling seen at the top screen during gameplay. The spider is the smallest character of all the ones in the Haunted Mansion world where it becomes hard to see when the room itself becomes dark if the player does not light any candles nearby.

Trivia[]

A Hidden Mickey can be seen on the spiders' abdomen.
A completely different giant spider also appears in the Hong Kong Disneyland attraction, Mystic Manor, as one of the portraits depicting Albert about to be eaten by a spider when caught in its web not long before Albert escaped, which serves as an attraction's backstory. This spider is an homage to the concept of the spiders attempting to attack a victim caught in their web in the Florida version of the attraction, albeit with Albert instead.