Is it the greatest thrill in the park? No. Does it regularly cash in on the franchise characters the kids are looking to see? It does not, except for around Christmas, when it gets a little lamer with the addition of Jack Skellington and friends. But the Haunted Mansion embodies that which makes it so difficult, despite everything, to hate Disneyland: the power to immerse. The experience starts with the gravestone puns you read while in line, it continues with the stretching elevator (a sequence we've yet to see anyone become jaded about), and it climaxes with the mix of hokey and hilarious and slightly—slightly—unsettling illusions the actual ride provides. There are plenty of tricks involved, but the trickery isn't the magic; the sense of escape is.
