The Werecat Lady is one of the portraits featured in the Changing Portraits room featured in the Disney Parks.
Development History[]
The Haunted Mansion attraction opened at Disneyland in 1969 where it features the portrait of the Cat Lady displayed in the Changing Portraits scene. Originally, the portrait of the Werecat Lady was depicted as a woman who slowly morphs into a black panther. However, over the years, the Changing Portraits hallway in the queue was updated where the lightning flash effect was added into the scene where the woman transforms into that of a white tigress instead of a panther.
In the original Disneyland version, the Werecat Lady portrait is one of the portraits featured in the Changing Portraits scene which is accessed after guests leave the Stretching Room walking past the hall of portraits. In it, the portrait of the Werecat Lady is displayed with the other portraits but when lightning flashes in this scene, the portrait of the woman transforms into that of a lycanthropic cat.
Following the 2007 refurbishment of the attraction at the Florida version of the Haunted Mansion, the Sinister 11 scene was redesigned to replace it with the Changing Portraits scene similar to the one at Disneyland, where the lightning flash effect was added to the scene where a portrait of the Werecat Lady was displayed amongst the other portraits.
When the Phantom Manor attraction opened at Disneyland Paris, the Werecat portrait using the same effect as in the other previous iterations is featured as one of the portraits in the queue, as in the California version of the Haunted Mansion albeit slowly transforming into a black panther. This portrait has been removed from the attraction as of 2019.
The Cat Lady portrait is seen where Jim Evers walks past the Portrait Hallway where he passes through a portrait of a woman on a couch that transforms into that of an orange tiger.
The Cat Lady portrait is briefly seen when Ben Matthias astral projects through the mansion. When the Hatbox Ghost is searching for him, he briefly shines his hatbox across the portrait where she transforms into a white tiger. Her eyes briefly widen in fear over the Hatbox Ghost's presence, before her painting returned to normal after the light passes.
The Werecat Lady portrait (based on her white tiger appearance) is one of the obstacles the player must avoid in the Haunted Mansion mini-game in the Stretching Room chapter.
The Werecat Lady (simply listed as "The Cat Lady" in the game) was also featured in the discontinued mobile game where the player had to collect all the characters part of the Leading Ladies set to unlock her. When playing as the Cat Lady, she occasionally transforms from her "before" stage and "after" stage where she transforms from her human form to her white tiger form and later repeats this ability as the player continues playing as her.
Gallery[]
The current incarnation of the Werecat Lady's before effect
The current incarnation of the Werecat Lady's after effect (as a snarling white tiger)
The original incarnation of the Werecat Lady's before effect
The original incarnation of the Werecat Lady's after effect (as a black panther)