The Disneyland version employs an elevator to create the effect that the room stretches; in Disney World, the ceiling goes up instead. The room goes dark and a lightning flash reveals your Ghost Host hanging overhead.

Whether the "Stretching Room" is an elevator depends on which Disney park you are visiting. At Disneyland in California, the room is a high-fidelity functioning elevator that physically lowers guests approximately 15 feet to a subterranean level. This was an engineering necessity because the ride's "show building" is located outside the park's railroad tracks, requiring guests to go under them. However, at Walt Disney World in Florida, the room is not an elevator. Because the Florida park was built on a higher water table, the ride was constructed at ground level. In the Florida version, the ceiling simply moves upward while the floor stays still, creating a high-fidelity illusion of stretching. Both versions use the same chilling narration by the Ghost Host to distract guests from the mechanical trickery.