For fridge moments about the 2003 film, see here.
The Ride
Fridge Brilliance:
- Why does the Hatbox Ghost do his head trick at all? Imagine you're a new rider and have never even heard of the ghost. As the ride progresses into the attic, you notice the wedding tableaux, with the bride gaining a string of pearls in each portrait and the groom's heads disappearing from the photographs. Your assumption is correct; that each of the husbands was murdered for their money. There are also some hatboxes in the attic, one for each husband. That's not too odd, you think, since the husbands all had hats, though the hats of each husband are all kept as trophies on a rack. After you pass Constance herself, you get to the Hatbox Ghost, an elderly ghost leaning on a cane and carrying a hatbox. He looks you in the eye before chuckling, and his head disappears from his shoulders, traveling into his hatbox. The ghost turns his hat meaningfully toward the head in the box before it goes back, as if indicating that it's not just a simple trick. By doing this, the Hatbox Ghost has told you exactly what's in those hatboxes in the attic, and it's clearly not the hats. Why would he tell you? It's incriminating evidence that could bring Constance to justice.
- In the Haunted Mansion Holidays overlay, why is Oogie Boogie (who was killed in the movie) here? Oh right… haunted house.
- Maybe, but it's shown in Oogie's Revenge that Lock, Shock, and Barrel can simply find more bugs for him to use and then sew his body back together, allowing him to return.
- Sort of meta-example, the infamous spiderweb in the ballroom that's actually a bullet hole made by a vandal. It's location seems to imply the man was aiming at the dueling portraits.
- While it might seem at first glance that the new ending of Phantom Manor's story implies that Melanie's attempt to propose to guests is her attempt to lure them to their death, this gesture is actually less a case of being lured into a trap and more of a plea for help in the story's context. When Melanie tried to marry her fifth and final suitor, she was making plans to leave Thunder Mesa. That said, by the end of the ride it is clear that she still wants to leave. And she intends to do that through YOU, the guest.
Fridge Horror:
- The claw shadow in the Clock room. The way it seems to swoop over the clock in front of the Doombuggy gives the impression that the Ghost Host wants you for himself.
- In the stretching room, the Ghost Host tells you to find your way out, followed by "There's always my way..." and the room goes dark, lightning lights up the ceiling, revealing a hanging body. As a young child, most assume Hosty meant 'his' way by journeying through the mansion, or taking the secret passage that opens immediately after the lights come back. But think about it for a while... If you still don't get it, the hanging corpse is the Ghost Host's, and he just told you that the only reliable way of leaving this room is by committing suicide like him.
- The basic interpretation is that as a ghost, you'll be able to float through the walls, like the Ghost Host can. But if by "way out" you mean not only way out of the Stretching Room, but way out of the Mansion itself, this adds a whole new layer of Fridge Horror: that would mean the living Ghost Host was stuck in the Mansion, and committed suicide to try to escape. And since he's there to narrate for you, even that didn't work.
- It's his way out... of life
