5 Disney Imagineering Tricks That Will Have You Saying, "How the Heck Did They Do That?"

It’s no secret that Disney Imagineers are incredible. In the way that we’re constantly amazed by the new attractions created and magic they seem to make come to life.

Did you know Walt Disney Imagineering Headquarters has a Monorail hallway?

We’re super excited about some of the Imagineering projects that are coming to the parks in the coming years, like the reimagined Test Track, new Tropical Americas land in Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Villains Land coming to Magic Kingdom, just to name a few. But since we’re still waiting on those to come to life, we thought we’d take a look at some of the Imagineering feats you can see in the parks today that still make our jaws drop.

Headless Horseman

Now we’ll admit that you can only see this feat in person each year at Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, but you can watch videos of it anytime online — the way the Headless Horseman is able to lead the Boo-To-You Parade ASTOUNDS us every time.

Why? Because the rider LITERALLY appears to have no head. We can’t see a strange lump where a head would be hiding, can’t see any way the rider can even SEE through the costume, and yet, he rides smoothly every time (with a horse that doesn’t get spooked by a headless rider, also very impressive).

HatBox Ghost

After many years, we FINALLY got the HatBox Ghost in Disney World’s Haunted Mansion attraction and not just in Disneyland! The reason for the delay? Well, this trick is so specific that the subtle lightning and positioning difference in the Disney World attraction made it so the illusion didn’t work!

Only recently have Disney Imagineers been able to put the HatBox Ghost inside the Disney World Haunted Mansion successfully, and boy does it sure work well! We still haven’t figured out exactly how it works, and that’s how we’d like to keep it!

Pepper’s Ghost

Speaking of Haunted Mansion, this attraction uses a technique called Pepper’s Ghost to create the incredible translucent ghostly figures in the ballroom scene. If you’ve ridden the Disney World and Disneyland attractions, you’ll notice that it really does appear like these are true ghosts just floating around, dancing and dining, and it’s incredibly impressive.

The best way we can describe the effect (which again, we’re still amazed by ourselves) is by telling you to imagine how a teleprompter works — how the words are mirrored onto a screen to be read without the actual words being directly in front of the person reading them. Basically, the dancing ghosts are off-stage and their images are projected so that they appear be in front of the audience, and it’s astounding every time!

Disappearing Butterfly

Over in EPCOT at Journey into Imagination with Figment, there’s an illusion so quick you might miss it if you’re not paying attention. During the ride, you’ll pass a large butterfly swinging on a beam of sorts in a cage. When you pass it, you’ll notice it disappears and the cage seems to be empty!

This illusion we know has to do with the magic of mirrors, but it still amazes us how prominently the butterfly seems to disappear. We don’t really want to know the details, because it gives us something exciting to notice on the ride!

Stunt Animatronics

Over in Disney California Adventure, you’ll see an incredible stunt show over in Avengers Campus that stars none other than the web slinger himself, Spider-Man! But while there’s a live performer for most of this show, the “person” you see swing across the tops of buildings and somersault into a roll? That’s an animatronic!

When this show first debuted, people argued over whether or not this was a real person because it’s movements were so smooth and human-like. However, it’s fully an animatronic, programmed to complete those exact movements every single time. Each time we get to see it, it never fails to take our breath away!

The Hopper figure developed for It’s Tough to be a Bug! was an Audio-Animatronics marvel. [The Walt Disney Company]

These are just a small snippet of some of the incredible feats Disney Imagineering has completed, and we can’t wait to see what’s in store for the future, so be sure to stay tuned to AllEars!