OK so there are many videos on YouTube and stories and web sites about Disneyland and its various "ghosts" a lot of it is HOOEY-the burn ins on the security cameras and the photo shopped or double exposed snaps-I have yet to see anything that couldn't be explained or waved off as phony.
However, having been a cast member-let me tell you there is NOTHING creepier than an empty Disney park at3 am.
When I first started I worked a lot of closing shifts out in Critter Country which is "outside the berm: (the raised earthen wall upon which the train runs-ToonTown is also outside the berm).
Its very dark and moody out there about a mile or so from the other side of the park where cast members exit at Harbor Pointe.
Since I was older and slower than most of the Cast Members I would often tell them to go ahead and not wait for me-I had two choices walk the backstage route which is pitch black at night OR walk across the park which is one of those perks of being on the Disney team-you can lieterally have the park almost to yourself and its a strange and wonderful experience.
I would walk up to the river by Hungry Bear and the view across at night with the Mark Twain docked and often a bit of mist on the water is magical.
Around the end of Splash Mountain-past the Haunted Mansion and New Orleans Square-I would always go through Adventure land and often I would stop and sit for a few minutes-a couple of the Disney Cats knew me and one in particular must have been new because she had kittens and she would bring them out for me to see.
Then across the plaza (known as the HUB) and past guest health through the magic wall backstage past the IN BETWEEN (cast food) and behind Space Mountain-then my secret route which emerged at the security check out and on to the cast parking shuttle bus---sometimes I would run into friends waiting for rides and I would once again sit and visit for awhile or I would drag myself onto a bus which took us off site to Cast parking where another short walk got me to my car,
In all at least a half hour trek-then another 30 minute drive home.
I believe the latest I ever walked the park was 3:30am and that was an auspicious stroll but more about that later.
Depending on the season closing up Pooh Corner and the Photo Booth etc would find maybe half a dozen cast and a few managers or leads in the area.
My first Ghost experience happened in the gift shop portion of the shops-about 6 of us were doing recovery, closing registers etc and one lady said she smelled cigarette smoke-even after hours there are strict rules about where you can smoke and the shop doors were closed and the AC on so unlikely it was coming from outside but one of the Cast who was a anti-smoking fanatic went off looking for the offender and found no one-the smell kept coming and going-I suddenly realized it was inside the store and was moving from one end of the counter to the other-I told everyone to stand still and that they would smell how the phantom cigarette traveled.
Sure enough it would start near the far end of the counter and travel slowly to the other end then across the shop and through the connecting shop into the candy store at the other end where it would vanish and reappear again at the opposite end of the store and repeat it's trip.
I only remember that particular night and don't recall it happening again but several Cast have told me it does and if it doesn't do the counter route it sometimes hangs around outside the door to the Candy shop and that area.
I never noticed any odd events near the mansion where so many people say they have seen and heard things-I actually stood outside the mansion one morning after closing and taklked to the "crying child" who supposedly haunts that area---nothing...
I did see a girl in a white dress dancing on Main street-as a matter of fact I thought it was a parade dancer practicing.
Disney probably doesn't want you to know this but when the parade cast comes in most of the girls remove their costumes and wander around backstage in quite modest white camisoles, bloomers and hose, so a dancer from the parade in somewhat period costume dancing on Main Street after hours would not be beyond possibility and often rehearsals are held after the park is closed.
But not after 2am...the street is pretty much empty-occasionally you will see maintenance or security or gardeners but they turn of special hidden lights for them.
A couple times when I was sitting in Adventureland I would see shapes flit across the path but I always thought they were phantom cats not people.
So back to that one BIG adventure.
We had done a major clean in the Critter Country Shops and all the younger cast had clocked out and gone-my back was killing me-a problem I had for the first several months since I wasn't used to standing and stooping and selling stuff yet (hadn't done that for several years-like 15 or so).
I was sitting at a picnic table we had in the backstage area for breaks and I noticed there were workmen around but mostly in transit to somewhere else.
I had intended to walk the backstage route-I had outfitted my key chain with an LED flashlight which made the shorter route behind the attractions onto Mainstreet and on less dangerous in the dark.
However, I decided since it was a warmish, humid night, I would rather walk across the park by the river and take my time.
I was very tired and my back hurt so I was moving slowly as I went up the slight incline near the front of Splash Mountain.
I had a momentary shudder, a creepy feeling-but as I said Disneyland empty at 3:30 is creepy-its like an abandoned cemetery-and I realized a man was walking toward me-all I could make out was a shape
As he got closer I saw he was wearing a tweedy jacket, a sweater vest, an open necked while dress shirt and had on dark slacks-he was carry an unimpressive smoking pipe and seemed to be looking from side to side at nothing in particular-he even paused for a moment and looked at the splash down hill on the water flume.
I passed him about 5 feet away on the river side of the walkway going toward the Haunted Mansion, he toward Critter and as I passed I said "good night, I hope you get to go home soon..." and kept walking.
He didn't acknowledge me-which I thought was a little rude and after maybe 6 steps I stopped and turned to ask him if he was OK?
No one on the path and U could see quite a distance toward Hungry Bear and the train crossover-there was no where he could have left the path.
Then I realized the face of the Man was WALT DISNEY.
When Mr Disney had last walked in life in this area it was still Indian Village and Splash Mountain was yet to be.
The Mountain opened in 1989 and Walt Disney died in the mid-60s.
Bear country was redeveloped in the early 70s, the predecessor to Critter Country.
I never said much to anyone about this event-I had a friend who was a long time CM and was told that Mr Disney is often seen in this area-mostly in the west side of the park and almost never in the East side.
His original apartment over the fire station would be on the west side of Main Street.
I believe that ghosts or apparitions are merely nodes of the past that are somehow bound to a place and not really the spirit of the person.
It seems likely that some aspect of Walt Disney would be attached to a place he held so close to his heart.
The dancing girl in the white dress is supposedly the daughter of a land owner who lived on the property before Disney developed it in the early 50s and the phantom smoker is a ranch owner working in a spot where his shop had stood in an orchard of orange trees.
I understand there are others-besides the crying boy who was supposedly scattered in ash form by his parent and is now trapped and alone at Disneyland-I said above I tried to contact him and got nothing.
It is true that people attempt to scatter loved ones at the park just as they do at MANY amusement parks across the world-seems logical to release them into an atmosphere they loved-
I really think this is about the living making peace with the passing of family and friends-I am a firm believer that we have lived before and will live again-we just pass through this realm of consciousness on our way to the next one.
The company has never allowed scattering-I almost wish they would designate an area where family or friends could scatter ashes-its good for the soil and much less cold and impersonal than a box in a hole with a stone or randomly being tossed into the ocean with the other floating garbage we have discarded
Instead of eternally riding some E ticket attraction, those who are scattered end up being filtered out by water cleaners or vacuumed up by maintenance.
SO, that is my favorite memory of my time at Disneyland in Anaheim-those late night and early morning strolls, alone for the most part...foggy morning along the river with the sun still thinking about getting out of bed, late dreary midnights with dripping Holiday decorations and shiny rain slick paths.
The magical hours at Disneyland are not all bright and full of Fantasy-to borrow loosely a line from a film-many spirits walk here but those who walk here walk alone...
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.”
―
Shirley Jackson,
The Haunting of Hill House
