The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire

Greetings Ghost Fans,

Walt Disney always liked to use his Wonderful World of Disney shows to help promote the parks. In the Disneyland Tencennial special where Julie Rheim was shown around Imagineering, Walt mentioned that the Imagineers were out searching the globe, inviting ghosts from all over the world to come and stay at the Haunted Mansion and thats exactly what they got.

Two notable figures from the Roman empire, Emporers Caesar and Nero. Well, in concept anyway...

Caesar, first seen in this concept rendering by Marc Davis for the Ballroom, was used for the final version of the scene as Caesar appears there even today opposite the Birthday girl.

However, one ghost, Nero has not been featured yet. Marc always had some sort of recoginition for him. In an early concept predating 1969, Marc created a grimacing statue of the Emporer with his fiddle. Later in the 1980's, Marc revisited the idea of featuring Nero in his concept of the Tokyo Disneyland unload area that was not used.