 Have you ever had a Day...
a Day that is so unlike any other... that something so wonderful happens
that it is unlike any other Day? A Day that a memory forever
gets etched in your head? You start your Day having the strange feeling that
things will never be quite the same by the time that it comes to an end. Just such a Day
happened to me... some 14 long years ago. This particular Day was in
the hot summer of 1985. I was in Ocean City ,Maryland, on vacation with friends and family, for a nice weeks stay. Myself,
the "Self-proclaimed Amusement Park Expert", (Yeah Right!), enjoys the fine dark
rides and walkthroughs at Trimpers, Jolly Roger and The
Pier. Four walkthroughs, one dark ride and two mirror mazes later, we feel the
need to explore some of the other quaint coastal towns nearby. Bright and early mid-week,
we begin our trek and visit Dewey Beach, Bethany Beach, and
finally end up at Rehoboth Beach last. It was here, on this Day,
that a "Terror Came A Calling"! We were walking the boardwalk and
enjoying the sun, sights and smells of this fine family resort area, passing several
arcades, mini-golf and fast food stands. Suddenly... I see a smiling clown face with a
sign that says "Funland". Hmmm... "never heard of it", I
think to myself. "It must be an arcade or something" I think as I get closer to
the building. I begin to spy several kiddy rides under an concrete
roof, "Wow", I murmur, "What a cute kiddy
land, how nice", I say to myself. But, soon as I go deeper into Funland
I notice a Trabant, Paratrooper, Carousel and
other big rides. Then... I slowly begin to see "IT"... and things
would never be the same. The sinister looking "Haunted Mansion"
sat, deathly silent, while its creepy facade spelt out the true meaning of Evil! Im.....
In my own world now, time so oh very slowly begins to stand still, as if Im in slow
motion or something, as if Im stuck in a bad dream of sorts. There is only one thing
that I can see and sense, the "Mansion" is calling me.
But... "Why is it silent?"... "Why is it motionless?"... "Why is it"... "bret?!"...
"Bret?!"..." BRET?!", "What?",
yell I as I realize that I have been standing in front of the facade for several sweat
drenched minutes. "It doesnt open until tonight!", replies one of my
friends. "Oh, that explains it", I reply, "But we have to come back tonight
to ride it". "Fine" says my friend, "But
for now lets go do something else". I take one final look at the ride... the Buzzard
on the roof seems to mock me... seems to be telling me to just forget all about its most
Haunted Home, and as I turn to leave, I cannot help to feel that the Buzzard is
still watching me.

By now it is late evening and, while the sun begins
to set in the west, a fog rolls in from the ocean. The "Mansion"
as I begin to call it takes on even more of a sinister look, candles are flickering along
the facade while a line has already formed in the waiting area. I purchase a fist full of
tickets, and... almost silently get in to the line. As I watch the now moving suspended
cars begin their ascent into "God only knows what" I take a fast
look up at the Buzzard. He almost seems to look angry now in the fact that I
did not heed his warning. The Ghoul next to him in a broken window almost
looks like he is amused at me. But, alas, no more time to worry about this as Im now
next in line. I climb into the heavy, black and cast iron car and crash through the red
doors of doom and begin the ascent upward, then outside, along the second floor, legs
dangling above the Tea Cup ride. Another set of angry looking red doors
appears in front of me, but the car surprises me by going into the wall instead, through a
"secret passage"! I pass a Graveyard,
complete with a tombstone that reads "You", through the Ice
Caves, where huge bats try to kill me while a Miner tries to blow me up! I pass
into an excellent looking 3-D Skull Room illusion, you know, the kind that
another great dark ride in the state of Pennsylvania has also. I go through several other
fantastic stunts and sets, but the best, most single terrifying part has to be the Living
Room, terror never looked better! A Ghoul plays a creepy tune on a large Pipe
Organ while drapes part with a hidden shock. There is so much going on here including
another "secret" passage, that it takes several rides to notice everything and
to take it all in. I personally feel that the Living Room is the single best
dark ride spot, outside of the Disney rides, trust me, (And the Ghoul too!). I head past more Skeletons, a Frankenstein Monster
and other stunts, and begin the downward run, while a 3-D Head is spinning
around in a box, just at the bottom of the hill. There is yet one more hidden and shocking
surprise though before the exit, but I wont ruin it for you by telling you about it here.
I pass through one final set of doors, and go back out, into the midway, the exit never
being really where you think it is. "I made it", I think to myself, as the Buzzard
looks on, now approvingly, as if I passed some big test, and won its charms. And... on
that Day...began a 15 year love affair with my "Mansion".

The beginnings for a dark ride at Rehoboth
goes well back to the 1970s. The park first contacted William Cassidys Pretzel
Ride Company, but decided that they wanted something more different, and this
combined with the fact that Pretzel would be sold shortly, forced them to
look some where else. They also considered purchasing the defunct "Haunted
House" from West View Park in PA. Interesting enough, Mr.
Cassidy talked them out of buying it, claiming that the ride was mechanically so bad that
once the cars crashed Through the wall near the rides exit, sending it and
its patrons for a wild ride down the midway! This Bill Tracy designed and built ride had
great stunts and sets, but had problems in the track and cars, so the park backed away.
They then decided to build a one-of-a-kind ride, patterned after the "Haunted
Mansion" of Disney fame. The Venture
Ride Company of Greer, SC was called in to make the proposed rides cars and
suspended track. The cars were fabricated from the Cobra twisting style of
ride from Venture. Jim Melonic from Fantasies and Dreams,
the newer company started from Bill Tracys Amusement Displays Company
was contracted to do the facade, sets and stunts. We will have much more on Jim
Melonic and his Fantasies and Dreams Company in an
upcoming article. Mr. Melonic was and still is one of the very best dark
ride artists and designers of props and stunts that the world has ever seen! Funland
started to build their dream dark ride in 1976, starting with a new concrete reinforced
building to house and protect it from the Atlantic Ocean storms, and had hoped to finish
it in a matter of weeks. But weeks would turn into almost Two years, as there were several
"bugs" to be worked out of the ride. The original ride mechanism was not built
for dark ride cars, and there was no braking or stopping system in place either. Also, the
ascending and descending sections were built all wrong as the cars could not make the
grade. Al Fasnacht, owner of Funland would go on to heavily
modify the cars, add a braking system and re-do all the up and down sections of the rides
layout. Mr. Melonic would have over 40 different people drawing sketches of
the stunts and sets for weeks on end, each scene would take over two days to do! Melonic
would also bring in some of the legendary Tracy stunts, cast from
old molds, while also doing some of his own classic sets and stunts. Melonics
original stunts included: the Talking 3-D Head, Snake and Clock,
Living Room scenes, Artwork with the Fireball painting, The
hidden entrances and others, while he used Tracy Mineshaft and Truck
gags among others. Almost two years later, the "Haunted Mansion"
finally opened to rave reviews and all the Fasnachts persistence paid
off as they had one heck of a dark ride. It is interesting to note, that... there was also
at least one sister ride of the "Mansion", dubbed the "Swamp
Fox", built with the suspended Venture Cobra cars, and was
possibly a portable ride that made its way down to Pigeon Forge, Tenn. and
was hauled on two flatbed trucks. This ride is lost in history and time, possibly never
making it past the problems that had caused the delay in the Funland ride.
The "Mansions" cars currently run on 24 volts, the stunts
activated by trip switches on the track or on the floor. These switches control all the
stunts movements, most of which operate on air controlled mechanics. The ride has a small
control room, hidden in the center and this is where the digitally recorded sound on sound
cards which can be started or stopped at will. The park maintains all the rides cars,
track and stunts in-house.

One thing is for sure, the "Haunted Mansion"
is not living on past hype, it is still creating a new legendary status, while delivering
the "Scares" and while Mr. Melonic did in fact create a wonderful
terrifying ride, it could have just as easily started to decline over the years, much like
so many rides have in history. Oh no..... the "Mansion" Still
Delivers due to the parks fine ownership and pride in all they do, and.....
the help and personal attention that Mr. Brad Ginder, V.P. of
Operations and Maintenance has given to this beloved ride! Mr. Ginder
maintains the ride like a classic auto, and has built several New Stunts and Sets
over the years, bringing the ride into the next century, all the while keeping the older
stunts and sets in top-notch condition. The only casualty over the years has been the
animated 3-D Head stunt that, after being repaired several times, finally
wore out last summer. But, not to worry, the park has already replaced it with yet another
fine stunt. Some of Mr. Ginders fine works are the Mad
Scientist Room, Frankenstein Monster, Haunted Morgue and Bats. This
is a rare example of a dark ride, that ran terrific 21 years ago, and has not lost a
single step while actually improving each year due to a very caring park staff and
ownership! The park only operates the "Haunted Mansion",
in the evening, after dinner time, to keep the sunlight out of the facade and ride, so you
might want to take this into account if you plan to go and ride it. And..... yes, the Buzzard
still lives upon his steeple, and yes..... . Ride it and see! For this article I wish to
thank the following kind people, all who have helped greatly with this article: AL
FASNACHT, owner of FUNLAND and BRAD GINDER, V.P.
of RIDE MAINTENANCE and OPERATIONS at FUNLAND
and JOEL STYER, who actually took a ride and now believes too!, and
finally..... to the BUZZARD, for granting me interview time! Thank you all!
Exclusive
Feature
A Virtual
Picture Tour of the Haunted Mansion
43 photographs of the ride in order from
beginning to end. |