Atencio was born in
Walsenburg, Colorado in 1919. He was a Disney artist from 1938 to 1965, when he became an Imagineer to help design the
Disneyland Railroad's Primeval World diorama segment. He then contributed to various Disney attractions. He wrote the scripts for
Adventure Thru Inner Space and
Pirates of the Caribbean. For the latter, he also penned the lyrics of "
Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life for Me)" and provided the voices of various characters, including the talking skull that appears before the waterfall that carries riders into the main body of the attraction and the drunken pirate on the bridge who heckles the auctioneer.[5]
He also wrote the script for the
Haunted Mansion, and the lyrics of its theme song, "
Grim Grinning Ghosts (The Screaming Song)." His voice can also be heard emanating from the coffin in the Mansion's
conservatory scene. In the
Disneyland Mansion, it is Atencio who reads the emergency spiel when the ride comes to a halt.[6]
^National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938–1946 [database on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.
^Passenger list of the Queen Mary, port of New York, 21 August 1945.
Surrell, Jason. (2003). The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies. New York: Disney Editions.
ISBN0-7868-5419-7. Describes X Atencio's contributions to The Haunted Mansion.
Surrell, Jason. (2005). Pirates of the Caribbean: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies. New York: Disney Editions.
ISBN0-7868-5630-0. Describes X Atencio's contributions to Pirates of the Caribbean.