I have been working in this massive Halloween craft project for the past month and a half, and I am nowhere near done and I’m starting to freak out under the pressure a little bit.

What am I doing, you ask? Well, this year I am endeavoring to construct the singing bust effect (also known as the Phantom Five) from Disneyland’s The Haunted Mansion dark-ride. As you may remember from last year and THIS POST, I fashioned the front of my house in tribute to The Haunted Mansion because it is my all-time favorite dark-ride in the history of ever. EVER.

I had a Madame Leota effect going in the front window and it was really dang cool, and this year I decided I just HAD to top it by adding the singing busts. Never been to The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, Disney World, Disney Paris, or Tokyo Disney – don’t know who/what the singing busts are?

Well, they are these guys:

well, that's four out of five, anyway...

And they sing the famous Grim, Grinning, Ghosts song which is the theme song for the ride. Not familiar with that either? It goes like this:

when the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake
spooks come out for a swingin’ wake
happy haunts materialize, and begin to vocalize,
grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize

now don’t close your eyes and don’t try to hide
or a silly spook may sit by your side
shrouded in a daft disguise, they pretend to terrorize,
grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize

as the moon climbs high o’er the dead oak tree
spooks come out for the midnight spree
creepy creeps with eerie eyes, start to shriek and harmonize
grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize!

when you hear the knell of a requiem bell
weird glows gleam where spirits dwell
restless bones etherealize, rise as spooks of every size
(Sad fact… I wrote these lyrics out entirely FROM MEMORY… oh yeah, I got it bad.)

Lots of folks/fans of The Haunted Mansion have created their own singing busts effect for their own Halloween displays and, honestly, mine is no better or worse than anyone else’s. But it is still a really frickin’ neat effect to pull off and you generally get lots of “Oh’s” and “Awe’s” from trick-or-treaters and their parents.

This has been the most ambitious project I have ever undertaken – and while I thought I had given myself enough time to accomplish it all (2 months) — so many things have come up in the meantime that have thrown off my construction schedule that I’m starting to wonder if I’m going to make the Oct 31 deadline.

I guess I’m just going to have to put my foot down and make it happen – but this may be easier said than done.

You can bet, though, if I DO manage to pull this off, I will be posting a follow-up report with lots and lots of pictures!

Happy Halloween!!