Disneyland New Orleans Square History: Pirates, Haunted Mansion and Rivers of America (Ep. 28)

Jim Hill and Len Testa explore the history of Disneyland’s New Orleans Square and the attractions that transformed this corner of the park. They explain how Pirates of the Caribbean evolved from a planned walkthrough into a boat ride after Disney’s work at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, why the Haunted Mansion shifts from eerie suspense to supernatural comedy, and how Walt’s enthusiasm for transportation gave the Rivers of America a second full-size ship. Recorded inside Disneyland, the episode also examines unrealized expansions, Fantasmic’s surprising origins, and the constant operational changes that shaped the land guests experience today.

Original Air Date: December 7, 2012
Original Title: Fellas, Have I Got An Idea For You: Boats and the Story of New Orleans Square

HIGHLIGHTS

• How the area that became New Orleans Square began as a small Frontierland extension anchored by the Chicken Plantation Restaurant.

• Walt Disney’s long-standing interest in pirates and the early Rogues Gallery walkthrough planned for Disneyland.

• How the Jean Lafitte boat ride proposed for an indoor St. Louis theme park anticipated elements of Pirates of the Caribbean.

• Why early Audio-Animatronics technology made a moving boat ride more practical than a room-by-room pirate walkthrough.

• How Disney’s boat system for “it’s a small world” at the 1964 New York World’s Fair influenced the final design of Pirates of the Caribbean.

• Why Pirates required Disney to expand beyond Disneyland’s original berm and construct additional show space outside the park.

• The Haunted Mansion’s beginnings as a guided walkthrough featuring a mysterious creature that followed guests between rooms.

• Why disagreements over whether the Haunted Mansion should be frightening or funny resulted in the attraction’s distinctive tonal split.

• How Claude Coats shaped the mansion’s unsettling first half while Marc Davis influenced the more humorous supernatural scenes that follow Madame Leota.

• Why the Haunted Mansion exterior stood empty for years while Disney struggled to settle on its story, technology, and ride system.

• How New Orleans Square gradually separated from Frontierland as Disneyland created space for new stories, restaurants, shops, and attractions.

• The unrealized World Showcase-style expansion that would have placed international restaurants and entertainment behind New Orleans Square.

• Why Walt insisted that the Rivers of America needed another large vessel even though the Mark Twain, rafts, and smaller boats already crowded the waterway.

• How Admiral Joe Fowler created the dry dock needed to maintain the Mark Twain, inspiring the name Fowler’s Harbor.

• The costly discovery that Disneyland’s original soil was too porous to hold the Rivers of America without a substantial clay lining.

• How a Fantasyland reopening ceremony, nighttime jazz concerts, floating stages, and an inflatable Maleficent dragon helped inspire Fantasmic.

• Why Disneyland rebuilt the New Orleans Square waterfront with multiple viewing levels to improve sightlines and crowd flow for Fantasmic.

• How bridges, promenades, pathways, and other operational changes have continually reshaped New Orleans Square for modern attendance levels.

HOSTS

• Jim Hill - X/Twitter and Instagram: @JimHillMedia - jimhillmedia.com

• Len Testa - Bluesky: @lentesta.bsky.social - Instagram: @len.testa - touringplans.com

FOLLOW

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SUPPORT

Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at https://www.patreon.com/jimhillmedia.

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Edited by: Len Testa

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