Disney Rambles: Haunted Mansion Holiday

I was very lucky to have a sort of spontaneous day at Disneyland last week! I was in CA for the Seventeen concert with my mom, and my brother just moved to LA for work, so we decided to drop in to celebrate the year of the mouse! (erm…rat, but mouse sounds better, right?)

I’m always thrilled to get to spend a day at the happiest place on earth, but I was doubly delighted to discover that Haunted Mansion Holiday was still running over at the Haunted Mansion! Up till now, I’d only seen this ride overlay online, and I was SO excited to get to experience it in person!

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The Haunted Mansion is spooky enough during the regular season, but these Nightmare Before Christmas additions gave it a perfectly spooky plus!

Jack Skellington and crew have taken over the Haunted Mansion for the holiday season! I had seen a few “ride overlays” at Disney World and been extremely underwhelmed (sorry, looking at you Pirates of the Carribbean), so I honestly wasn’t expecting much after the outside additions, but I was so happily mistaken.

Disney goes ALL OUT for this overlay. I mean, it’s almost a completely different ride. The script is 100% different, there are many added animatronics and set pieces, and while the general rooms are the same, you hardly notice because of all the Nightmare Before Christmas intrusions. And it is EXCELLENT.

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The ballroom still included the dancing/celebrating/fighting ghosts, but it added a Christmas tree and a delightful Gingerbread House. Ours was a different one than this picture, celebrating 50 years of the Haunted Mansion!
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The graveyard gets a spooky, wintery upgrade!
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Madame Leota now shares a spooky Twelve Days of Christmas!
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A life size Jack Skellington welcomes you to the graveyard in full Santa gear!

All in all, I was completely blown away by this fantastic holiday overlay. Haunted Mansion is one of my “must do” rides at Disney, and to see something so fun and fresh this time was delightful. I’m glad Disney does these fun limited time things to keep surprising guests without doing away with beloved favorites.

Have you ridden Haunted Mansion Holiday? What ride overlay should Disney do next?

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