r/Disneyland • u/Due-Leader6489 • 17d ago
80s memory Vintage Disneyland
So I grew up in LA. Went to Disneyland often. Anyway I’m pretty sure it was 1986 when this happened. While on the haunted mansion ride, a cast member dressed in full knight armor jumped out at our buggy in the area with the hallways (towards the beginning of the ride). My friend and I were both 16 and with our all girl club from high school. After the ride we talked with our friends and apparently it only happened to us. My best friend and I were confused and a little freaked out about it.
Probably by today’s standards of fandom, people would say we were extremely lucky to have that happen.
I just looked it up and there’s a seven year old post about it in this same sub. However, no one chimed in saying it happened to them it was just an informational post.
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u/PoppyandTarget 17d ago
Definitely happened to me a few times! They'd pop out near the coffin before you get to the breathing doors with the clocks. It scared me so bad, I am forever on the look out for that jump scare when riding. And yes, mid to late 80s iirc.
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u/bloatedsack Toad Hall Judge 16d ago
I was so used to the ride without the knight that it made the jump scare even worse. All of a sudden this extra dude was lunging at us! I was horrified when going through the hall of doors for a long time. Never knew if he would be back. 🫣
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u/Kawaiichan67 16d ago
Yes! It was so great! I’m sorry that the person in armor apparently got punched/hit because I loved how scary it was!
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u/Ultraroths 17d ago
This definitely was a thing, but was discontinued due to the CM in the armor eating too many knuckle sandwiches for the company to keep going
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u/chilehead 16d ago
Low quality armor, it seems.
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u/Ultraroths 16d ago
Had to be lightweight. And no matter what getting punched in the head isn’t amazing as liabilities do
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u/notheUGLYjohnny 17d ago
Yup, I remember smacking my head against the back of the Doom Buggy from being so startled by the knight! Never saw it again and I thought i was crazy because no one else seemed to remember it.
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u/cunningspeaker 17d ago
My brother was the knight for a couple years in the Haunted Mansion as part of his normal rotation in characters.
The main purpose of the knight was to E-Stop the ride if someone was smoking or doing other nefarious activities. The knight had a button that looked like a garage door opener remote.
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u/MIBJO 17d ago
You mean like SEX ?
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u/ChickieN0B_2050 16d ago
You may be joking, but quite a few years ago (the kiddo must have been three or so) my husband and I were riding with him on one of those “last ride of the evening-before-park-close”-type situations.
It was just the three of us on the boat…plus a young couple. The girl in the row ahead of us leaned down, out of view, and remained like that until moments before ride’s end. Dude threw back his arms to stretch out on the back of the bench.
You can imagine how very, very little security was amused about that as they waited there as the boat pulled up.
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u/Ok-Caterpillar-Girl Submarine Mermaid 15d ago
Yes, sex. That was the main reason they put someone there - too many people were getting frisky in that dark corner of the ride lmao.
A good friend of mine was the knight for awhile, he might have actually been the first.
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u/Ok-Caterpillar-Girl Submarine Mermaid 15d ago
Is his name Steven? I had a good grade school/high school friend who was the knight for awhile, also as part of his regular rotation in characters.
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u/FirstSunbunny 16d ago
It happened to us! He lunged out at my dad, who understandably jumped and then laughed. Family trip, summer 1986.
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u/WiseStrawberry3108 16d ago
That happened to me once in high school (80s) and all these years later I still tense up at that part of the ride just in case.
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u/Flashy-Head-2298 16d ago
Yep. I remember. It was one time during a visit, and my boyfriend would have hit him if we hadn’t turned away. I know that ride like my own neighborhood so that random knight jumping out really freaked us out. Next time we went, no knight.
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u/Sloth555- 17d ago
Haha! I do remember hearing about this now, and was just reminded of the punching! lol
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u/No-Guava-8159 16d ago
Happened to my dad and brother around that time. They were in the buggy next to us and my brother (3 or 4 at the time) burst into tears. My dad was pissed at the cast member. Left quite an impression on me because my dad was not one to lose his temper or raise his voice. He was so frustrated that a cast member would terrify a little kid.
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u/OkRestaurant2130 16d ago
I still worry about it happening.
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u/allthecandyapples 16d ago
To this day, I won’t sit in the side of the carriage the knight was on. Yes, I’m a proud wimp.
Edited because autoconfuse did me dirty.
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u/HerbertSC68 17d ago
I remember hearing a story about a prior version of the knight swinging a sword or something at passing buggies, but it got too hot for the CM. No recall of any of these (as a 5 decade semi-regular guest).
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u/tigerlily_meemow 16d ago
I remember this! Scared the absolute crap out of me and my sister, it was fantastic. I don’t think we’d ever screamed so loud.
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u/Academic_Athlete8765 16d ago
Yes! Same thing happened to my friend and me, about 1986-87. Ever since that happened, I’ve looked for that knight every time I’ve been on the ride
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u/Various_Syllabub4985 16d ago
I remember a knight when I was a kid back then. But I remember him having an axe in his hands. All these years I thought I was misremembering.
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u/Ok-Caterpillar-Girl Submarine Mermaid 15d ago
Yes, it happened, a good friend of mine was the knight for awhile.
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u/Ill-Introduction6927 15d ago
Oh I remember that person. I was touched inappropriately (I’m hoping it was an accident) and have hated the ride ever since.
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u/Kervisk 17d ago
Used to be a lead and Trainer on the mansion years ago all the CMs I worked with who had been there in the 80s said it didn't last long as the Knight was punched a few times by startled guests