The Morose Manor

The haunting beauty of Phantom Manor at golden hour.

I've raved about Disneyland Paris' Phantom Manor many times before. The best "Haunted Mansion" in my opinion, this darker, more macabre iteration is a masterpiece of spookiness and legend-building, with an eerie, dilapidated exterior that goes against everything Walt Disney preached about the outside of the original Haunted Mansion, yet fitting for its setting in Frontierland nonetheless.  Located at the end of Thunder Mesa, perched on a prominent hilltop overlook, it looms over the land.  The architecture is evocative of the Psycho House--another iconic piece of architecture--and the way the approach layers itself is absolutely cinematic.  

That's before guests even enter the haunting abode of Henry Ravenswood and explore the tragic story that is locked away within.  The sad tale of his daughter, Melanie, and her eternal status of being almost-betrothed is told in a chilling re-imagining of classic Haunted Mansion scenes, and with refurbishment of the E-Ticket a couple of years ago, confirms her wicked father as the namesake Phantom that clutches melancholy misfortune through the manor.  

It's everything that a haunted house story wants to have, and it all adds up to my favorite iteration of the proper Disney Haunted Mansions!