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Long Range Box Office Forecast: Disney’s HAUNTED MANSION; Tracking Updates for MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, BARBIE, and OPPENHEIMER

disney haunted mansion projections

This week’s report takes a look at box office prospects for Haunted Mansion , Disney’s next IP reimagining slated for release in late July.

The latest tracking updates for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One , Barbie , Oppenheimer , and other upcoming releases are featured in the chart below.

Haunted Mansion

Walt disney pictures, july 28, 2023 (wide), opening weekend range: $22m-$37m, domestic total range: $73m-$131m.

  • Based on the classic theme park attraction at Walt Disney World, Haunted Mansion will have built-in awareness among families that could prove advantageous. Disney’s prior adaptation, The Haunted Mansion with Eddie Murphy, posted $75.9 million in its 2003 domestic run.
  • A strong ensemble cast and comedic approach are drivers in positive early buzz, with trailers generating healthy online sentiment.
  • Pre-sales have only begun and will not truly pop until closer to release, but worth nothing is that’s its first day of activity lagged only 11 percent behind Jungle Cruise ‘s first day of sales in sample markets.
  • Minimal direct competition leading into release could elevate demand among family moviegoers.
  • Disney has struggled to recover its full share of the pre-pandemic theatrical audience, due in large part to the company’s brief-but-impactful focus on streaming launches for family titles during the height of Covid-19.
  • If Barbie manages to take off with women and families beyond its strongly hyped opening weekend, that may put a ceiling on Haunted Mansion ‘s ability to soar. The male-driven Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem will also be a factor when it opens one week later on August 2.
  • Given the dearth of family-friendly titles on the theatrical slate this fall, the argument could be made that this film would be better positioned with a release in September or October when it could benefit from proximity to Halloween.

Long Range Box Office Forecast & 2023’s Upcoming Calendar (as of 6/30/23)

Unless otherwise noted, all figures above represent best and worst case scenarios for how each respective film is currently tracking based on existing market conditions and projected model fluctuation at the time of this report’s publication date. These are statistical snapshots, not final forecasts.

Additional pinpoint opening weekend and domestic total projections for theatrical movies up to 12 months from release are available to clients.

For more information about this article or to report any corrections, please contact  Boxoffice Pro  at  [email protected].

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New Haunted Mansion Grounds Expansion, Retail Shop Coming to Disneyland Resort in 2024

Kelsey Lynch, Public Relations Manager, Disneyland Resort

by Kelsey Lynch , Public Relations Director, Disneyland Resort

The stately grounds of the Haunted Mansion will expand with a spirited metamorphosis at Disneyland Resort next year. In 2024, the additions will build on the story and lore of the Haunted Mansion and include an expanded outdoor queue to immerse guests in enhanced theming, as well as a new retail shop adjacent to the attraction’s exit.

Local legend suggests the manor known today as the Haunted Mansion was first built by a prosperous sea captain. To this day, the mansion’s staff faithfully maintains the happy haunting grounds. The expanded queue will tie into these stories and more, including new gardens inspired by Master Gracey, Madame Leota and the one-eyed cat.

Rendering of updates coming to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland park

Each of the gardens will feature unique elements ranging from a water fountain and gazebo to themed statuary and landscaping. In fact, guests will be able to see a new greenhouse where the groundskeepers for the Haunted Mansion grow their plants. The pet cemetery and horse-drawn funeral hearse will continue to reside on the attraction’s grounds.

Rendering of updates coming to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland park

And speaking of Madame Leota, we felt it was time to continue her presence beyond the walls of the Haunted Mansion with an all-new retail shop. This carriage house of the mansion, belonging to Leota, will be a standalone shop that we are just “dying” to tell you more about in the future.

Rendering of updates coming to Disneyland park

We also will make enhancements to the plaza adjacent to Tiana’s Palace. This area is one that holds a lot of memories and history, and a new, elegant park-like setting will be a place to relax and enjoy the ambiance and live entertainment under the shade of new and historic trees.

Construction on these additions will begin in January 2024. We will take the opportunity to help improve the accessibility of these areas which includes a new elevator exit from the Haunted Mansion for guests with disabilities.

We look forward to sharing more about the final arrangements early next year. For now, consider this dismaying observation: the objects found in Leota’s garden will be inspired by her incantation!

Destinations: Disneyland Resort , Disneyland Park

So I’m guessing- 4 months? Also the fountain and trees of Magnolia Park are lovely, even when the queue has to go through them on peak days. I can’t see why they can’t just stay as is. What’s wrong with simplicity?

I’ll work there

Please leave the trees and fountain if possible. I love walking around New Orleans Square because it reminds me of Jackson Square in NewOrleans. Some of the areas in the park were inspired by real places, it’s neat to keep it true to that original vision.

Rather than blowing budget on queue lines and shops, it’s time to bring the Country Bears back to Anaheim. Put the new and improved Pooh’s Hunny Hunt in Fantasyland and return the Country Bears back to their original hilltop theater.

It is so sad that you have to do this in January. Why couldn’t you have given us advance notice that you were going to do this. So if you are going to do this in January, then this means we can’t see the attraction the way it was ment to be at all anymore. What with the Nightmare before Christmas overlay being till after the Holidays. So then this must mean when “Nightmare” is over, you intend to closing down HM till after this construction change. I understand the necessity for the ADA accessibly, but why do you have to make all these other changes? Why is it necessary to continue to make all these politically correct changes that changes Walt’s dream like you did with “Pirates” and other attractions. So I guess I will never get to see Walt’s HM ever again.

But the ride won’t close right? We come out for the first time ever in February and we’ll be devastated if we can’t ride it!

RE: “We will take the opportunity to help improve the accessibility of these areas which includes a new elevator exit from the Haunted Mansion for guests with disabilities”. This is wonderful news, HOWEVER there really should be at least 1 wheelchair accessible ride vehicle where a guest may stay in their manual wheelchair to enjoy the Haunted Mansion. The Clamshell ride vehicles of Ariel’s Undersea Adventure at DCA are extremely similar to the Doom Buggies, so PLEASE!!! Everyone cannot transfer and therefore will never be able to experience this beloved attraction 🙁

Well, they say both new and old trees, so it sounds like not all the trees would be leaving (or… leafing… ha; I’m so sorry) so much as the planters and fence work around them to open up the area. I’m hoping they can leave the fountain; I see they’ve moved one to the queue, but the fountain is a lovely place. There’s a fair bit more space between the train station and the walkways around the Rivers of America than these concept sketches suggest.

I will say, though, there’s a couple things I’m truly excited about. One is the return of the live entertainment by the restaurant. I remember even as a kid just sitting near there and listening to those bands play… I loved it. It’s a part of the New Orleans Square atmosphere that’s been missing, at least for me, when I’ve been there.

Next is the extended queue/story. Something we lack in Disneyland that Disney World’s Haunted Mansion and Disneyland Paris’s Phantom Manor (which has twice the ride, actually, and a very different story) have in spades. We actually used to have a bit more detail in the form of the fast pass ticket area, but it was just pretty and its gone. Getting more depth to the ride (and there is a lot out there to pull on; they already mentioned Captain Gore in the blog post. I suggest the channel Offhand Disney if you’d like to learn more) and it’s background is exciting! Especially the cat. I’ve been pointing out the cat to my family every time. In any case, I’m open to it. Hopefully the rude stays open; the queue will probably snake outside in the meantime which is nothing new for them.

I hate to be a whiner but I don’t like the removal of the fountain either. It’s just that I’ve seen Disneyland make some very bad, so-called “improvements” in the last decade. With the exception of Main Street’s lackluster indoor Carnation Cafe, the bungles all seem to be in New Orleans Square.

I get the HM queue changes are to improve ADA compliance, so hopefully these changes in addition are plussed and not halfhearted minuses.

Please don’t remove the trees. Lots of shade also needs to be added all throughout the HM queue. I’m going to mourn the loss of Magnolia Gardens. I’m assuming you are removing the fountain. There are street signs in New Orleans Square. Can we keep a basic feel of Magnolia Gardens and New Orleans? I also worry about the transition from the exit of HM (what I assume will become yet another gift shop, sigh, and the start of Tiana. And how this all goes into the shrinking Critter Country and Pooh. Transitions are important.

I SURE HOPE this is not going to be another McMansionland Playground like Walt Disney World’s noisy, atrocious mess of rejected ideas tossed out by the original Imagineers (who knew what they were doing).

The exterior of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion is a *major* part of the attraction’s story. It’s supposed to be a stately home that has only a somewhat eerie quality. That way, the manor’s tale can unfold and its spirited inhabitants reveal themselves in chapters/stages—INSIDE. Any true storyteller knows that you DON’T put the finale before the prelude. That’s why Walt (a genius) DID NOT want ANY ghosts (such as Madam Leota) outside.

So, instead of Disney Parks thinking with their cash registers, how about using their creative minds and building the Museum Of The Weird? Every Haunted Mansion fan wants it (as did Walt). And it doesn’t have to be a static, typical museum. For example, animate the place. Make exhibits change on their own. Let display tables rise and objects move. It can be as unique and unusual as Rolly Crump, the late, great, brilliant Imagineer who’s already laid a good portion of the groundwork.

As for retail, the rare facility’s “egress” can always funnel foolish mortals into the Museum Gift Shop of unique oddities and ghoulishly delightful merch. The whole thing would be far more amusing and successful than yet another typical, Disney Park themed store. And the ghosts can stay where they belong: indoors and out of any spoiler-laden queue.

PLEASE, consider this much more desirable alternative.

Can you give us a little more practical information? Will the ride be closed during all of this? If so, how long do you expect te ride to be closed? I booked my trip last month for may 2024. Flying from the other side of the world to finally experience The Haunted Mansion. This news without any more details has me a little stressed out.

Please do not remove the fountain between the mansion and Tiana’s Palace.

Will the Mansion be closed? I was planning attending Disneyland in March. Ever since we began dating in 2011, going together to Disneyland and visiting the Mansion has always been our dream. Sadly, he developed Kidney Failure and had been in dialysis… until I donated him a kidney and everything improved, and now we want to make our dream come true. But as much as we are happy for the changes coming to the Mansion, we are anxious about the time it will take for them to materialize and the timing of our trip.

Kelly: To be fair, in Ken Anderson’s early plans for what would be The Haunted Mansion in the late ’50’s, there was going to be a gift shop right at the end of the attraction (the first time it was ever considered).

I’m EXCITED! Ignore all the whining and complaining! You can’t please people who think the world revolves around them. Super excited!!

Please don’t remove ANY of the trees!!! 🌲 😢

Hopefully they’ll allow access to the hidden pet sematary again..

How long is the project expected to take? I am currently planning my next trip (first time since 2018) and seeing as Haunted Mansion is in my top 5 rides I really want to make sure it is open during my trip.

Best. News. Ever!!!! Can’t wait!! 👏

Looks great! Very glad that the area is receiving some attention.

Any word on how long Haunted Mansion will be down for? Hopefully it will be open before summer 2024? Also, does the addition of the exit elevator mean no more moving speedramp at the end of the ride, or will that remain?

This is so interesting! Will this renovation affect the DAS entrance or will it remain the same? Thanks so much! Looking forward to all the new changes!

This is amazing! Quick question – will the attraction be closed during construction?

Just another money grab. It is bad enough the merch is the same in every shop- mass produced junk. We visit often but stopped buying any merch over 2 years ago. Ripping out the beautiful fountain in that area to add seating for Tiana’s Palace. How about actually adding another attraction in critter country or by galaxy’s edge instead of a retheme?

Will the HM Ride be closed during this time or will there just be an alternate entrance into the ride during renovations?

I hope someone is considering additional or enhanced restrooms in New Orleans Square.

Please tell me you are not removing the beautiful fountain between the haunted mansion and Tiana’s

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‘Haunted Mansion’ Budget Breakdown: The Disney Film’s Box Office Numbers Are Nothing to Grim-Grin About

Disney's haunted remake could be the company's third box office bomb in a row.

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Budget for haunted mansion by department, the costs of promoting haunted mansion, how much does haunted mansion need to make at the box office to break even, how's haunted mansion doing at the box office so far, how does haunted mansion's box office projections compare to the 2003 film.

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for 'Haunted Mansion' When the Walt Disney Company set the release date for their reimagining of Haunted Mansion , they probably expected it to scare up some solid box office scores. However, it turns out the scariest thing for Mickey Mouse this Summer wasn't a headless ghost host but was actually a life-size plastic doll and a pipe-smoking nuclear physicist. That's because the combined might of Barbie and Oppenheimer continues to dominate the Summer box office, shattering records well into its sophomore weekend. Plus, Haunted Mansion is also going against A24's Talk to Me , which has become the talk of the indie world and has been praised as one of the scariest films of the year.

This blow really could not have come at a worse time for the House of Mouse, as Disney really can't seem to catch a break this Summer. Despite getting off to a solid start with the moderate successes of The Little Mermaid and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 , it's been downhill from there. Pixar's Elemental just barely broke even, and Lucasfilm's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny woefully underperformed . If the underwhelming opening weekend of Haunted Mansion is any indication, it looks like Disney may be hitting a hat trick of three box office bombs in a row. Honestly, Haunted Mansion 's poor opening weekend is a real shame because the film truly is a fun ride (and vastly superior to the overly campy 2003 film). Director and former Disney cast member Justin Simien delivers a faithful adaptation of the popular attraction, packed with poignant themes, interesting practical effects, and engaging performances, especially from its lead star LaKeith Stanfield . Hopefully, the film will find new life on Disney+, but until then, here is a complete budget breakdown of Haunted Mansion . Keep in mind that the full budgetary details for tentpole projects like Haunted Mansion are not typically shared publicly. As a result, much of the following is based on reported data, established net worth, etc.

Editor's Note: This article was updated on August 14.

Disneys Haunted Mansion Poster-1

Haunted Mansion

LaKeith Stanfield as Ben on a cropped Character Poster for Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion boasts an impressive ensemble cast, which likely ate up most of the film's reported $150 million budget. Leading that cast is LaKeith Stanfield , who received an Oscar nomination for his gripping performance in Judas and the Black Messiah . Being the film's lead actor and with a reported net worth of about $4 million, that's likely the minimum Stanfield was paid for his role as tour guide Ben Matthias.

A big supporting player is Morbius ' Jared Leto as The Hat Box Ghost, the film's main villain. It's one of the more perplexing casting choices in the film. Not because Leto is bad in the role, but his voice is so heavily modulated to the point where it feels like anyone could have voiced the character. Regardless, being an Oscar-winning actor, Leto's contribution likely did not come cheap. The rest of Ben's ghost-hunting crew includes Ahsoka 's Rosario Dawson as Gabbie, Loki 's Owen Wilson as Father Kent, Solar Opposites 's Tiffany Haddish as Harriet, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia 's Danny DeVito as Bruce, and The Harder They Fall 's Chase Dillon as Travis. While some of these actors do have a higher net worth than Stanfield, they were likely paid less due to their supporting roles. Still, we'll assume that most of them were paid at least $4 million a piece.

Finally, there are the smaller cameo appearances from recognizable names. The most prominent of these is easily Jamie Lee Curtis , who plays the fortune-telling Madame Leota, shortly following her surprise appearance in Season 2 of The Bear . Other familiar faces who have smaller roles include Jo Koy ( Easter Sunday ), Winona Ryder ( Stranger Things ), and Dan Levy ( Schitt's Creek ). We estimate that the final total for the cast of Haunted Mansion likely lands somewhere between $50-$75 million, about half of the film's budget.

Ghosts in 'Haunted Mansion' 2023

Haunted Mansion 2023 features a welcome blend of both practical and digital effects. With the exception of The Hat Box Ghost, who is primarily comprised of CGI in most cases, the rest of the ghosts are brought to the afterlife through make-up and prosthetics, with a digital hue blue added in post to give them that ghoulish feel. The average budget for blockbusters of this size is typically about $65 million, which would be a fair estimate for Haunted Mansion given the digital and practical effects it utilizes.

Filming Locations

Lakeith Stanfield as Ben Matthias faces Jared Leto as the Hatbox Ghost in 'Haunted Mansion'

Haunted Mansion conducted almost all of its exterior filming in New Orleans, Louisiana, which seems appropriate given that the Haunted Mansion ride is located in the New Orleans-inspired area of Disneyland, California. The interior mansion shots were likely performed on a soundstage in Atlanta, Georgia - a regular filming location for Disney and other major studios. Filming fees for New Orleans, particularly in the city's parks, can go up to as high as $5,000 per day. Atlanta is a common spot for filming due to Georgia's famously generous tax incentives for productions.

RELATED: 'Haunted Mansion' Director Justin Simien Shares His Incredible Real-Life "Ghost Wink"

LaKeith Stanfield, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Owen Wilson promoting 'Haunted Mansion' at Disneyland

Haunted Mansion 's advertising campaign technically began behind closed doors at the 2022 D23 Expo, when Justin Simien took the stage to reveal some exclusive footage and reveal that Jamie Lee Curtis would be in the film. Marketing for the film continued with the debut trailer in March 2023, when the first trailer and posters made their way publicly online. Disney also utilized some viral stunts to market the film, such as having the cast appear on Celebrity Family Feud , as well as having LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, and Jamie Lee Curtis become cast members at the Haunted Mansion ride for a day to surprise Disneyland guests. With the average blockbuster budget being between $65 million and $200 million, we would say Haunted Mansion 's is on the lower end between $65 million and $150 million.

Jared Leto as the Hatbox Ghost in 'Haunted Mansion' 2023

The final reported production budget of Haunted Mansion is about $150 million, with the likely maximum advertising budget being around the same amount. That means in order to break even, Haunted Mansion will need to conjure somewhere around $300 million. In order to be considered a successful scare, Haunted Mansion will likely need to make about $500 million. That's a frightening task for Disney, mainly due to how the film fizzled during its opening weekend .

Organ player from 'Haunted Mansion' 2023

Audiences don't seem to be coming out to socialize with Haunted Mansion , as the film had one of the weakest opening weekends of the Summer so far. With a global opening weekend of just $33 million, that's a lower debut take than both Elemental and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny . It's also the lowest opening weekend for a Disney film in 2023. Both of those prior Disney-produced films, while considered financial failures at the box office, did manage to barely break even at the box office with each making around $300 million at the global box office so far. In its third week at the box office, Haunted Mansion managed to scrape together a minor win, raking in more than $76 million globally . However, as you can see from the numbers we've mentioned, the film still has a long way to go if it is to recoup its budget.

With the latest numbers in mind, Haunted Mansion breaking even in the following weeks is certainly possible, but it's still up against stiff competition. The critically acclaimed Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Meg 2: The Trench have both been strong performers at the box office, adding to Haunted Manision 's woes.

The Haunted Mansion 2003

The Haunted Mansion from 2003, starring Eddie Murphy , made almost exactly the same amount of money in its opening weekend as the 2023 film did with $24.3 million. While not a giant success, the original movie did break even with a final box office total of $182 million. While Haunted Mansion breaking even isn't impossible, it needs to make up a lot of ground given it's Disney's lowest opening of the year. Either way, the prospects of Haunted Mansion being the third Disney-produced film in a row to bomb at the box office seems probable.

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Entertainment | 5 questions about when disneyland will reopen haunted mansion, when will haunted mansion return will the holiday mode materialize in the middle of summer will we see the classic ride before 2025 we answer all these questions and more..

disney haunted mansion projections

The upcoming closure of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion for an extended refurbishment to expand the backstory, reconfigure the queue and add a retail shop leaves many questions unanswered for fans of the beloved dark ride eager to reconvene with the 999 happy haunts.

During the closure, Disneyland will enhance the outdoor queue, install a new accessibility elevator for wheelchair users exiting the ride and add a new retail shop at the attraction’s exit.

Walt Disney Imagineering plans to build on the lore of the Haunted Mansion in the new garden queue with an expanded backstory involving Madame Leota, Master Gracey and a prosperous sea captain — who all play key roles in Disney’s latest “Haunted Mansion” live-action movie.

That’s what we know at the moment. Let’s take a closer look at five unanswered questions about the Haunted Mansion extended refurbishment .

Haunted Mansion Holiday during Halloween Time at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, September 3, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

1) When will the Haunted Mansion reopen?

Disneyland isn’t saying just yet. The Anaheim theme park hasn’t even narrowed the reopening date to 2024.

Disneyland will share more Haunted Mansion construction details early next year.

Why hasn’t Disneyland narrowed the reopening date to spring, summer or fall of 2024?

In part because construction has not yet begun. Digging at Disneyland can present a host of problems that might affect the construction schedule. Some of the pipes and conduits underneath the park are as old as Disneyland and others haven’t been unearthed for decades.

Another reason Disneyland hasn’t put a finishing date on Haunted Mansion construction is the uproar it might cause. Which brings us to our next question.

ALSO SEE: We decode the hidden tributes behind all 13 Haunted Mansion tombstones at Disneyland

Haunted Mansion Holiday during Halloween Time at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, September 3, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

2) Will the Haunted Mansion return in holiday mode?

Transforming the Haunted Mansion back and forth between classic and holiday modes takes considerable effort .

Leaving the attraction in holiday mode during construction saves time and money.

Disneyland has pushed the launch of Halloween Time to Aug. 23 in 2024 — the earliest start ever to the holiday season.

ALSO SEE: Everything Disneyland changed in the Haunted Mansion and the backstory behind it all

Bringing the Haunted Mansion back in August would allow Disneyland to leave the ride in holiday mode during construction — but would likely enrage fans who can’t imagine being without their favorite attraction for seven months.

It would be tough to justify leaving The Nightmare Before Christmas holiday overlay in place if the Haunted Mansion emerges from construction in spring or summer.

Disneyland could gin up a Halloween in June or Christmas in July storyline to justify the decision — but fans of the classic ride would likely revolt. Which brings us to our next question.

Haunted Mansion Holiday during Halloween Time at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, September 3, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

3) Will the classic version of Haunted Mansion return before 2025?

You’ll need four hands to count the number of months fans will be without the classic version of Haunted Mansion if Disneyland brings back the ride in holiday mode after construction.

The Mansion faithful may have to go without the classic version of the ride for 16 months — from Sept. 1, 2023 to early January 2025. Let that sink in for a minute and you quickly understand why Disneyland hasn’t put a return date on the Haunted Mansion.

Any firm date for the end of construction raises a host of unappealing questions. Including this next one.

Haunted Mansion Holiday during Halloween Time at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, September 3, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

4) Does Critter Country become a dead zone?

The Haunted Mansion sits next door to Splash Mountain — which is also under construction .

The transformation into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure is expected to last until late 2024.

That means the two major attractions will be sitting behind construction scrims for the first half of 2024 or longer.

Add in the Mark Twain Riverboat sitting at the Pelican Landing dock during an extended refurbishment and you’ve got a warren of construction walls at the border of New Orleans Square and Critter Country.

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Bringing down one major ride for a brief or extended period has a ripple effect on the nearby attractions and the rest of the park. Bringing down two major draws right next to each other creates a doughnut hole that will likely put pressure on the entire west side of the park.

The rides most likely to suffer the greatest impact: Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones Adventure, Jungle Cruise, Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run. Indy and Rise already have issues with downtime. More pressure isn’t likely to improve things.

Expect long lines at Pirates, Jungle Cruise and maybe even Falcon starting in late January.

Haunted Mansion Holiday during Halloween Time at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Friday, September 3, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

5) Is Disneyland making any storytelling changes to the Haunted Mansion?

Yes and no.

Disneyland officials say the Haunted Mansion backstory that guests know and love will remain the same.

Making any significant changes would likely enrage Mansion diehards who consider the ride’s backstory sacrosanct. But Imagineering is tinkering with the Haunted Mansion story around the edges.

The expanded Haunted Mansion queue featuring a fountain, gazebo, statues, greenhouse and a garden will lean into storylines involving Madame Leota, Master Gracey and a prosperous sea captain.

Leota’s carriage house next door to the mansion will serve as the new exit through the gift shop when the Haunted Mansion returns from its extended refurbishment — whenever that is.

Leota, the Gracey clan and the mariner ghost played key roles in the “Haunted Mansion” live-action film released by Disney this summer and now streaming on Disney+.

Could there be a movie tie-in or a set up for a sequel? Disney incorporated Jack Sparrow into the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Would they dare mess with the Haunted Mansion?

Fans will be watching very closely — and waiting impatiently for the return of the ride.

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The Secret Tech Behind Disney's Haunted Mansion Illusions

“Perhaps Madame Leota can establish contact,” the Ghost Host decides. “She has a remarkable head for materializing...the disembodied!” As the Ghost Host is speaking, the Doom Buggies make their way into a dim parlor and take their place around a large seance circle.

This is Part One of a two-part excerpt from The Unauthorized Story of Walt Disney’s Haunted Mansion , by Jeff Baham, published by Theme Park Press , and reprinted here with permission.

Throughout the room, ghostly musical instruments and other objects float in response to the supplications of Madame Leota, a glowing, chanting head, speaking from within a misty crystal ball planted on the center of a thick, ornate table covered with Tarot cards and symbols of the supernatural. Perched behind her on a large gilded chair is the raven we first met in the conservatory, flapping its wings in response to the eerie occurrences taking place. As Leota chants, the instruments respond one by one with otherworldly charm, and a mysterious, ectoplasmic vapor in the corner of the room winds around like a serpent with a fading tail, occasionally seeming to materialize into an eerily familiar visage before vanishing into a wisp again.

The floating objects are illuminated dimly with black lighting, which causes them to glow and limits the amount of illumination on the black cables supporting them. They are attached to a simple motor-driven lift mechanism that rotates slowly, causing the props to seem to float up and down, slowly and mysteriously. The mysterious “ectoplasm” is an interesting effect which is also motor-driven, and activated by a light on the tip of the mechanism. This contraption is positioned behind a semi-opaque portion of the wall, which is coated with phosphorescent dye. When the small yet intense point of light passes directly behind the wall, it activates the phosphorescence, which glows through the wall and is visible to the patrons in the Doom Buggies. As is the case with all light-activated phosphorescent mate- rials (such as a typical “glow-in-the-dark” toy), the phosphorescence quickly fades, leaving a faint tail trailing the moving point of light.

Leota chants:

Serpents and spiders, tail of a rat...call in the spirits, wherever they’re at! Rap on a table, it’s time to respond...send us a message from somewhere beyond! Goblins and ghoulies from last Hallowe’en... awaken the spirits with your tambourine! Creepies and crawlies, toads in a pond...let there be music, from regions beyond! Wizards and witches, wherever you dwell...give us a hint, by ringing a bell!

The animation of Madame Leota’s face is the first truly magical effect in the Haunted Mansion achievable only through technology. Leota’s chanting visage is a projection of a real human face, filmed while speaking the lines. The “actress” is Leota Toombs, who was working for WED at the time of the Haunted Mansion’s development, using her own costuming and modeling skills on other attractions such as It’s a Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean. [WED, Inc., named after Walt E. Disney’s initials, was an offshoot team assembled to help with the creation of Disneyland—Ed.] Toombs also took a shot at recording the audio for the scene as well, but the Imagineers were looking for something a little darker and more threatening, so they turned to one of their more wicked voice talents, Eleanor Audley. Audley is pure villainess, having previously voiced the evil characters Maleficent (for Sleeping Beauty ) and Lady Tremaine (the stepmother from Cinderella ). Audley gives Madame Leota a dark menace, while Toombs provides a striking, grim visual. With the natural glow that comes along with the projection process, the effect is quite eerie.

In 1969, when Disneyland premiered the Haunted Mansion, the effect was accomplished using regular looped film projection, shining Leota’s face onto a static neutral-colored head inside of a large crystal ball. Wild white hair surrounded the head and filled the rest of the ball, and purple backlighting gave the set an otherworldly glow. The projector would leave a tiny highlight reflected in the glass ball, but that didn’t keep people from being mystified by the effect. The trick was first devised by Yale Gracey when he was working on the Haunted Mansion with Rolly Crump in the early 1960s. Gracey simply dreamed up the idea one day, went to find an old film reel of a talking head (and ended up using some television footage that Hans Conried had done for the studio), and started shining it on various items and props until he found an old bust of Beethoven. When he projected the film onto the bust and turned out the lights, Beethoven sprang to life. Walt loved it, and it became the basis for the Madame Leota effect.

Leota Toombs actually enjoyed a measure of celebrity due to her role in the Haunted Mansion. “Mom said they tied her hair to the chair,” said Imagineer Kim Irvine, Toombs’s daughter, talking about the process Toombs went through to be filmed for the attraction. “She was kind of surprised that out of her whole career at WED, she would be so famous for being Madame Leota. She said that one day she was walking through the park, and a young attraction hostess ran up to her and said ‘You are her—you’re her, aren’t you? My friends tell me you’re Madame Leota!’ Mom was flattered and said, ‘Well yes, that is me,’” Irvine recalled. “Then [the hostess] said, ‘I just have to ask you one question—don’t you get tired of sitting there with your head under that ball?’”

In the 1990s, the system was replaced with a new technology patented by WDI, in which the film (since transferred to a digital format) was projected (via fiber optics, carried into the head through the neck) onto the backside of an opaque static face from inside the middle of the head. A tiny lens was used to project an extremely wide angle, allowing the projection to cover the entire inside of the front of the head. The benefit to this technology was mobility; the head could now be moved about, as the lens remained constantly fixed inside, only needing to be tethered through a fiber optics cable. In fact, this allowed the scene to be altered slightly, in which the table itself could be moved up and down as if it were floating along with the rest of the objects in the room. The small reflection in front of the crystal ball was also eliminated, since the projection was from within.

However, this system had its problems as well. The opaque head that allowed the projection to show through from within necessarily allowed for a dimmer, more muted image than the bright incandes- cent projection from outside. The image was also more distorted when viewed from the sides, a result of the wider angle of projection. When the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay was installed at Disneyland in 2001, Madame Leota returned to her former externally-projected glory, her table again firmly planted in place, with four new lit candles surrounding the ball, their highlights reflected by the crystal to distract viewers from the projector’s reflection.

Still not content with the scene, the Imagineers turned back to Disneyland’s seance circle in 2004 and gave even more life to Madame Leota by causing her crystal ball to levitate and fly around the table. Practical technology to create a mechanical means to synchronize a projection with the “flying” crystal ball didn’t exist until recently, but with the advent of brilliant, high-definition video projection technology, a solution was designed. The entire field of space which contained the path of the floating crystal ball became a virtual “screen” for the high definition projection. A computer had the predefined path which the ball would follow programmed into its memory, and the face of Leota (still the original, menacing Leota Toombs) followed that path, much like a bouncing ball on a computer screensaver. This functioned for a brief time, until newer, crisper technology allowed for Leota’s projection to again come from within the head itself, projected onto the front of the face from behind, which is where the technology stands—at least as of this writing. The rear-projection also allowed the Imagineers to use a full high-resolution image for Madame Leota’s face, as opposed to Disneyland’s projected “bouncing ball” image, which is essentially a very small portion of the full high-resolution projection that covered the full moving path of the crystal ball.

The set was also redressed as part of the 2004 update, and now there are many new candles on the table (with more new technol- ogy—amazingly realistic flickering electric flames), and a new spell book that sets next to the seance table, inevitably turned to page 1313, which “spells” out Leota’s incantation designed to “bring to your eyes and ears one who is bound in limbo.”

Leaving the seance circle, the Doom Buggies move through a dark hallway toward a large balcony overlooking a grand hall. Crazy, dis- cordant pipe organ music fills the hallway as the Doom Buggies turn to peer over the balcony rail. Referring to the seance the patrons just left behind, the Ghost Host resumes his narration:

The happy haunts have received your sympathetic vibrations, and are beginning to materialize. They’re assembling for a swinging wake, and they’ll be expecting me. I’ll see you all a little later...

Check back tomorrow for Part Two of our excerpt series from The Unauthorized Story of Walt Disney’s Haunted Mansion , by Jeff Baham.

Jeff Baham runs the popular site doombuggies.com , the leading resource about the Haunted Mansion. He has sat on the Disneyland Creative Advisory Council, and contributed to Disneyland Records’ release of the Haunted Mansion’s 40th Anniversary CD and Box Set.

Disney's Haunted Mansion - Everything You Need To Know

Haunted Mansion cast together

The House of Mouse loves making movies based on popular rides at Disney World and Disneyland. Sometimes, these adaptations are huge hits, a la "Pirates of the Caribbean," and sometimes they're major disappointments, like "Tomorrowland." Sometimes they're an absolute blast, a la "Jungle Cruise," and sometimes they're absolutely baffling, such as "The Country Bears."

And then there's "Haunted Mansion," based on the beloved Disneyland dark ride. While the film grossed $182 million worldwide, its budget was a reasonably high $90 million, and the film was panned by critics and audiences alike. However, there's something especially cinematic about that particular attraction, so it makes sense that Disney would want to give the ride another go-round.

Just like a ghost rising from the grave, "Haunted Mansion" has returned to terrify audiences. The upcoming film looks like it could be quite fun, and if you want to know more about the A-list cast, who's directing, and what this spooky tale has in store, read on for what we know so far about the new "Haunted Mansion" movie.

When will Haunted Mansion be released?

Disney's "Haunted Mansion" is set to scare audiences on July 28, 2023. However, that wasn't always the case. That release date has been a bit of a cursed one for Disney. Originally, it was supposed to be the premiere for "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania." However, "The Marvels" — which was originally set to be released in February — needed more time to complete, so the two superhero movies swapped places.

Then, "The Marvels" was pushed back from its July release date to November, reportedly because it needed more post-production work. With that July 28 slot empty, the House of Mouse decided to bump up "Haunted Mansion" from its original release date of August 11. While we personally think a fall release date would've been a bit more appropriate, given it's spooky season, Disney evidently thinks "Haunted Mansion" has blockbuster potential.

For their sake, we hope they're right. "Haunted Mansion" will be competing against some stiff competition. Both "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" will be in their second week of release when "Haunted Mansion" comes out, and "Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One" hits theaters that month as well. We'll see if "Haunted Mansion" can spook the competition.

What is the plot of Haunted Mansion?

"Haunted Mansion" kicks off with Gabbie, a single mother who's just purchased a creepy-looking house in New Orleans. Excited about what the future holds, she moves into the mansion with her 9-year-old son, who's not quite as excited about being in the uber-spooky house. Turns out, the kid is right — the place is crawling with ghosts, and these aren't exactly your friendly Casper types. Realizing they're in way over their heads, Gabbie recruits a group of unlikely heroes — a priest, a psychic, a historian, and paranormal expert — to get rid of the evil spirits occupying the manor. Of course, that's going to be easier said than done, resulting in both horror and hilarity.

Who is starring in Haunted Mansion?

Just like the titular haunted mansion is full of specters, the "Haunted Mansion" movie is full of stars. Rosario Dawson plays Gabbie, the single mom who must protect her son and exorcise her new New Orleans home. Dawson is no stranger to the Disney family, as she's also playing Ahsoka Tano in Disney+'s "Ahsoka" series. She's also starred in projects like "Daredevil," "The 25th Hour," and "Sin City."

Her young son, who seems to know from early on that something isn't right with this house, will be played by Chase Dillon. A young star on the rise, Dillon is probably best known for his chilling turn as Homer in "The Underground Railroad." Here, he stars along some serious talent with LaKeith Stanfield ("Atlanta") as a sketchy paranormal expert, Owen Wilson ("Loki") as an eager priest, Tiffany Haddish ("The Afterparty") as a psychic, and Danny DeVito ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia") as a historian.

Of course, they aren't the only names in this stacked cast. Jamie Lee Curtis, fresh off her Oscar win for "Everything Everywhere All at Once," also appears in the film, as does Jared Leto of "Morbius," who will appear as the ghastly Hatbox Ghost. They'll be joined by Winona Ryder of "Stranger Things," Dan Levy of "Schitt's Creek," and Hasan Minhaj of "Patriot Act."

Who is directing Haunted Mansion?

Before he became an acclaimed director, Justin Simien used to work at Disneyland. "It was the best summer job I ever had," he told audiences at D23 in September 2022. "And anytime I wasn't working on the ride I was supposed to, I'd ride Pirates and my favorite ride, Haunted Mansion." Clearly, the attraction holds a special place in Simien's heart, which makes him the perfect choice to helm the upcoming family horror flick.

While Simien doesn't have a ton of previous credit, the stuff he has worked on has impressed many a critic. He burst onto the scene with 2014's feature-length "Dear White People," a savage satire that he adapted into a celebrated Netflix series. He also directed the horror comedy "Bad Hair," and now he's bringing those sensibilities over to Disney. We can't wait to see what Simien has in store, and judging by the trailers, it looks like it's going to be a blast.

Who is writing Haunted Mansion?

Screenwriter Katie Dippold has quite a bit of experience blending gags with ghosts. In addition to penning the script for "Haunted Mansion," she also wrote the screenplay for 2016's "Ghostbusters." Dippold is definitely known best for her comedy cred, as she also wrote "The Heat," which starred Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, as well as several episodes of "Parks and Recreation," including classics like "Indianapolis," "Beauty Pageant," "Summer Catalog," and "April and Andy's Fancy Party."

Director Justin Simien seems quite impressed by Dippold's work. Speaking at D23 in September 2022, the director said, "For me, there was something about that ride I felt was there in the script. It was funny and full of interesting characters but with a dark edge to it."

Is there a trailer for Haunted Mansion?

The official trailer for "Haunted Mansion" opens with LaKeith Stanfield's paranormal expert showing up at the scene of the titular haunted house. "Wait!" Rosario Dawson's Gabbie shouts before he can come through the door. "I should warn you before you step inside the house, this could change the course of your entire life." "I'm not afraid of a couple of ghosts," he says defiantly, to which Dawson laughs, "You say that now..."

It's a decision the ghost hunter will come to regret, as a ghostly specter hurls an ax at his head basically the moment he starts poking around. From there, we watch as the dream team assembles, with Owen Wilson's priest, Danny DeVito's historian, and Tiffany Haddish's medium showing up on the scene. They're greeted by pistol-dueling spirits, twisting hallways, the terrifying Hatbox Ghost, and the head of Jamie Lee Curtis.

The stakes are incredibly high — if our heroes fail, they'll be stuck in the house for eternity — and this motley crew are in for the fight of their lives. Of course, while the trailer is definitely spooky, it also looks like a rollicking good time that pays the proper tribute to the beloved ride.

What is Disney's Haunted Mansion rated?

Sure, it's a Disney film, but "Haunted Mansion" is going to be a bit spookier than your typical offering from the House of Mouse. As a result, the rating reflects that. This ghost story is rated PG-13 for "some thematic elements and scary action." It's not unheard of for Disney films to receive this rating, especially their live-action fare. Think of titles like the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies or "Jungle Cruise," and those were all PG-13 pictures, perfect for most members of the family. In other words, while this movie isn't meant for the littlest ones, it's going to be totally fine for most kids.

The Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Mansion is a fan favorite that no visit to a Disney park is complete without. This popular attraction is a timeless classic that relies heavily on old school special effects and simple visual trickery to create a chilling atmosphere that’s the perfect combination of whimsical and scary. If you love to know the “how’s” and “why’s” behind Disney attractions, keep reading for an inside look at some of the special effects on the Haunted Mansion.

Spoiler alert: If you don’t want to know about the real-world mechanisms behind the other-worldly air of the mansion, don’t read any further.

The spooky scrims

The Endless Hallway

The Endless Hallway features a handy scrim Image: Chris Murray,  Flickr  ( license )

A scrim is a special effects tool that’s used not only in theme parks, but in museum exhibits, stage shows, and any other place where the show requires two interchangeable scenes in the same location. A scrim is a loosely woven piece of cloth that’s painted on one side. When it’s lit from the front, you’ll see the painting on the surface of the scrim. When it’s lit from behind, you see through the cloth to what’s behind.

Scrims are used generously throughout the Haunted Mansion to create chilling special effects. The most obvious scrims are in the Portrait Gallery. These pictures change when the lightning flashes, so you’re seeing the front of the scrim when it’s lit normally, and the ghoulish image behind during flashes of lightning.

The Endless Hallway has another scrim about halfway down the hall. The floating candle you see is located behind a scrim, which helps obscure the mechanism that causes the candle to “float.” The scrim here also creates a cloudiness that makes the mirror at the end of the hall more difficult to discern, so the seemingly endless corridor looks more realistic. Wondering how the mirror works with the candle in front of it? The candle is painted black on the backside so its light doesn’t disturb the mirror’s effect.

The Graveyard has another scrim. Here, the scrim is lightly painted to give the entire graveyard a foggy effect. This is the largest scrim in Walt Disney World. Here, its use is similar to that of the hallway. The lighting doesn’t change to reveal different visions, but the loosely woven fabric allows you to see through it strategically, so you can appreciate the ghosts behind, while painted areas create fog and help obscure other mechanisms that would make the special effects throughout the graveyard noticeably less special.

The ballroom ghosts

The Ballroom

The ghostly Ballroom at the Mansion Image: Brian Rechenmacher,  Flickr  ( license )

Many guests attribute the famous ghosts in the ballroom scene to a high tech special effect, such as a projection. However, long-time Mansion fans know that this scene has been around far longer than many modern video effects. The ghosts that appear and disappear in the ballroom below you are created using a projection technique known as phantasmagoria that dates back to the mid-1800s. John Henry Pepper was the first to perfect the approach, which is often referred to as “Pepper’s Ghost.” Disney’s use of the Pepper’s Ghost effect is the largest in the world, but it’s not unique.

The ghostly figures that you see in the Haunted Mansion ballroom are real animatronics that are just below your doom buggy in a separate room. What you’re seeing from your elevated vantage point isn’t the figures themselves, but rather a reflection of them. There are huge panes of glass set at an angle in the ballroom that are invisible to the viewer, until the figures opposite them are lit. The glass then reflects the ghostly characters, giving the impression of a room full of figures that appear and disappear.

I'm a full time freelance writer and former resident of Orlando, Florida. In the early 2000's I did two stints as a Disney CP, then joined the full-time ranks of Disney Cast Members. During my time at Disney I worked in all four theme parks at least once. Today I enjoy traveling around the country, experiencing and writing about all manner of destinations, both theme parks and beyond.

I may not have ever worked for Disney, but I do know how scrims work. For someone who works (worked?) for Disney, your knowledge is surprisingly WRONG.

At no point in the Haunted Mansion do they use scrims, except in the ceiling of the stretching room. A scrim CANNOT be partially lit. It is either fully invisible or fully opaque. In other words, you can either see everything through it or you can nothing through it. Let's take each of your "points" one at a time. Granted, if part of the scrim is painted, that part will still be able to reflect light when the back of the scrim is lit, but the part that is "see through" can only ever be fully opaque or fully transparent.

The portraits in the hall of portraits use a pigment that reacts to a certain frequency of light. When the lightning flashes it causes that pigment to glow in reaction to the light. This is why you can see the original portrait while also seeing the gruesome image AT THE SAME TIME. If it were a scrim, the lightning would have to come from THE BACK of the canvas, not the front. Plus, the paintings would obscure anything you might see from behind. You can see the lightning flashes on the wall around the portrait which clearly means it is coming from the front. Thus, NO SCRIM.

The endless hallway does not have a scrim because it does not need one. The hallway is long enough to really not even need the mirror. Simply lighting it properly will give the illusion that it is endless just by the fact the guests can't see the end of it. Further, the candelabra does not need a scrim to make it appear to float as fishing line is sufficient to achieve this effect. With a bit of gently wind from a hidden fan the candelabra can appear even spookier as the wind makes it move about on the fishing line, especially if the line is anchored at the top and bottom with just a little slack. As for not ruining the effect in the mirror, if the candelabra is in front of the front mirror (two mirrors are used to achieve the effect of an endless hallway), it will not be reflected by the mirrors. Finally, there is no need to obscure the mirrors with a scrim as the only lighting is coming from the chandeliers and the candelabra. This means that the effect works perfectly without needing to obscure it in any way.

The graveyard scene might use a scrim except for the fact that artificial fog is not difficult. Plus, creating fog is far more effective at making a scene look foggy. Considering the entire room is dimly lit, I very much doubt anyone would see the mechanisms that create the various ghostly effects. Plus, the guests are not stupid enough to think the ghosts are real no matter what you do to hide the various metal bits. If you bother to ride or watch video of someone riding, you will notice that many of the "ghosts" are clearly animatronics as they are not moving in anything remotely resembling a natural manner. Their movements are mechanical and jerky. Also, the graveyard is curved. Trying to put a scrim between the guests and the scene would be difficult at best. It would be necessary to ensure that the scrim does not move or sway in any manner. If the scrim moves, it ruins the effect. Thus it would be MUCH easier for the entire scene to be blanketed in actually albeit artificial fog.

The only place that actually uses a scrim, as I said before, is the ceiling of the stretching room. You didn't even mention that! When the lightning flashes ABOVE the ceiling in the stretching room, the guests can see the corpse hanging from the rafters. They CAN'T see the ceiling any more. THAT is how a scrim works. There is no other place in the entire ride where that effect is seen. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't try to say that the hitchhiking ghosts that ride for a moment with the guests at the end of the ride are using a scrim.

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Box Office: Disney’s ‘Haunted Mansion’ Eyes $30 Million Debut, ‘Barbenheimer’ to Remain on Top

By Rebecca Rubin

Rebecca Rubin

Film and Media Reporter

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HAUNTED MANSION, from left: Rosario Dawson, Tiffany Haddis, LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, 2023. ph: Jalen Marlowe / © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection

Disney’s remake of “ Haunted Mansion ” opens on Friday in theaters, where it’ll face an opponent that’s much scarier than the threatening ghosts that populate the world of the supernatural comedy.

That foe would be the collective force of “ Barbie ” and “ Oppenheimer ,” which have spent the past week putting box office projections to shame. “Barbenheimer,” as the inextricably linked movies have been nicknamed, will loom large over North American charts as Disney’s new family film aims for third place.

Justin Simien directed “Haunted Mansion,” which stars LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish and Owen Wilson. It is not to be confused with the 2003 film “The Haunted Mansion,” which featured Eddie Murphy as well as an article in the title. As a not-so-exact point of reference, the original ” The Haunted Mansion” debuted in a vastly different theatrical landscape to $24 million, not adjusted for inflation. It was not exactly a critical darling but managed to gross $180 million on its $90 million budget.

The reboot, which also garnered mixed reviews, is inspired by the Walt Disney theme park ride. The story follows a single mother and her son, who move into a mansion, only to find out that it’s haunted. (Don’t say the title didn’t warn you!) To ward off the spirits, they hire an eclectic team of a former paranormal investigator, priest, psychic and professor. Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto round out the cast.

Another spooky movie, A24’s violent thriller “Talk to Me,” should generate $4 million to $5 million when it opens in approximately 2,300 theaters across the U.S. It’s the feature film debut of Australian YouTube stars Danny and Michael Philippou. A24 nabbed the film at Sundance and then screened it at San Diego Comic-Con to generate hype ahead of opening weekend. The plot follows a friend group who discovers how to conjure spirits, which is all fun and games until one of them unleashes a horrifying supernatural force.

“Barbie” will claim the top spot again with anywhere from $65 million to $85 million (or more…possibly much more) in its second weekend of release. Meanwhile, “Oppenheimer” is looking to add $35 million to $45 million in its sophomore outing. What’s remarkable here is that those results would have been impressive to start , much less after a week in theaters. It’s a much-needed jolt for cinemas after disappointing turnouts for earlier summer tentpoles like “The Flash,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.”

Already, “Barbie” has crossed $200 million in North America and “Oppenheimer” has surpassed $100 million. Keep the box office milestones coming.

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Haunted Mansion Holiday

Decked out for the hallow-days.

Pumpkin King Jack Skellington has been busy decorating the Haunted Mansion with frightfully festive touches inspired by Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas .

Experience thrilling sights and seasonal surprises created by the citizens of Halloween Town. Sally, Oogie Boogie and other beasties from the beloved film will be on hand to wish you "Season’s Screamings!"

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Theme parks, disney cruise line – what you need to know, cruise line ships, recent walt disney world, recent disneyland, all reviews, recent reviews, allears style, newsletter home, is disney’s haunted mansion based on a real house.

disney haunted mansion projections

Since its opening at Disneyland over six decades ago, the Haunted Mansion has been one of the most popular attractions in Disney’s stable. It’s been replicated — in some form — at every Disney resort around the world, been the basis for two feature films (in 2003 and 2023 respectively), sold countless pieces of merchandise including numerous books on its history, and inspired a cadre of websites dedicated to it.

disney haunted mansion projections

However, despite all the information out there, questions still persist among many about the attraction. “What’s the official story?” “Are the character’s respective backstories interrelated?”, and perhaps most prominently, “Is the Haunted Mansion based on a real house?” The truth, as one arguably should expect from such a mysterious attraction, is somewhat complicated.

To track down what home(s) provide inspiration for the Haunted Mansion, it’s important to take a brisk run through the attractions’ early development history. The first traces of the Haunted Mansion’s existence actually predate Disneyland, as a “Haunted House” was included in the early plans for “Mickey Mouse Park” — the earlier concept for a fun park that was supposed to be built across from the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank.

disney haunted mansion projections

According to some sources, Walt’s desire for a haunted house in his park came from an interest in the supposedly haunted Sauer Castle house in Kansas City, Kansas, which Walt was familiar with. However, it should be noted that haunted houses and similar attractions had long been a part of amusement parks, and the inclusion of one on early concept art could simply be a reflection of that.

A “haunted house” remained part of planning for Disneyland, and development on the attraction continued even after the park opened in 1955. Throughout the late 50s and early 60s, the concept continuously evolved with various ideas including a walkthrough manor haunted by the ghost of pirate who had murdered his wife, and a “museum of the weird.”

During this period, Imagineer Ken Anderson began working on sketches of the what would eventually become the Haunted Mansion. He took his primary visual inspiration from the Shipley-Lydecker House, which was located near Baltimore, Maryland. The home was first constructed in 1803 by Charles Shipley and included four two-story columns, a gilded weathervane, and round-arch windows. Nearly a century later, the house was was sold to Philip Lydecker, who added iron grillwork to the balconies.

We’ll note here that the Hamilton-Turner Inn in Savannah, Georgia — the site of a murder made famous in the book Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil — is also said to be the inspiration for the architecture of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. While it’s difficult to determine where this story originated, it is not one endorsed by the owners of the inn, though it is oft repeated by guides of Savannah’s popular “ghost tours.”

Anderson, who allegedly discovered the Shipley-Lydecker home while looking for inspiration in a photo book of Victorian homes, took heavy inspiration from the house’s Southern/Antebellum facade. In fact, in some photos, the Shipley-Lydecker House is almost indistinguishable from Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion. However, one element of Anderson’s original design didn’t make the final cut.

Initially, Anderson’s vision of the home was “overgrown with weeds, dead trees, swarms of bats and boarded doors and windows topped by a screeching cat as a weathervane.” However, Walt Disney himself put a stop to that, not wanting an unkempt home taking up space in his beloved park. According to well-known Disney lore, Walt allegedly proclaimed, “We’ll take care of the outside and let the ghosts take care of the inside.”

disney haunted mansion projections

While the Shipley-Lydecker House was the main specific inspiration for the exterior of Disneyland’s initial Haunted Mansion — and the facade that resembled it was built as part of New Orleans Square in the early 1960s — the development of the interior of the attraction would go on for nearly a decade more, finding inspiration in two more famous homes.

The first is San Jose’s Winchester Mystery House. The famed mansion was constructed by Sarah Lockwood Pardee Winchester in a continuous stretch from 1886 to 1922. Winchester was the widow of William Winchester, the inventor of the Winchester rifle. Allegedly, Sarah believed she was haunted by the spirits of those who had been killed by her husband’s gun. This led to Sarah attempting to make the house as labyrinth-like as possible — including staircases to nowhere, doors that opened to brick walls, and hallways with no end (sound familiar?) — as a way to keep these spirits away from her, supposedly. According to legendary Imagineer Rolly Crump, Walt and several Imagineers made several visits to the Winchester house during the attraction’s development.

disney haunted mansion projections

In addition to the Winchester house, Disney and his Imagineers also visited San Simeon, AKA Hearst Castle, the San Luis Obispo County, California estate of early 20th century newspaper and media magnate William Randolph Hearst. The visits were primarily made to observe how walking tours moved through the palatial San Simeon estate — as Hearst had donated much of it to the public after his death. While Imagineers would eventually leave behind the walking tour concept in favor of the omnimover Haunted Mansion that’s famous today, some parts of of Hearst Castle’s decor and layout would eventually inspire elements of the attraction.

As the finishing touches were put on Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion in 1969, a second version was being constructed across the country in Florida, with plans for it to be an opening day attraction when Walt Disney World and the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971. While the interior of the two attractions were essentially identical, the exterior would be completely different, as the antebellum manor the fit so well in Disneyland’s New Orleans Square wouldn’t fit in Liberty Square, the location of the Magic Kingdom’s Mansion. Instead, the Walt Disney World version’s facade was designed to look like the Dutch Colonial style of gothic mansions that were prevalent in the northeast of the United States, mostly along the Hudson River in New York.

disney haunted mansion projections

Pennsylvania’s Harry Packer Mansion — built by the then-owner of the Lehigh Valley Railroad — served as an inspiration for the Magic Kingdom’s facade. This Walt Disney World version of the Mansion would be copied for the Tokyo Disneyland version of the attraction.

disney haunted mansion projections

The sibling versions of the Haunted Mansion — Disneyland Paris’s Phantom Manor and Hong Kong Disneyland’s Mystic Manor — each have facades that are slightly more whimsical than their counterparts, with less specific real building inspirations.

disney haunted mansion projections

Were you familiar with these real world inspirations for the Haunted Mansion? Do they change your views of the attraction or make you appreciate it more? Let us know in the comments below.

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3 Replies to “Is Disney’s Haunted Mansion Based on a Real House?”

I am a direct ancestor of Charles Shipley and only found out about the mansion’s inspiration a few years ago, through our Shipley Family Newsletter. I saw the mansion in Baltimore in the early 60’s, I believe it was torn down in the late 60’s, my mom made sure I saw it as part of our family heritage. It is so perfect that the mansion gave inspiration to a theme park ride as our family is also a bit on the eccentric side!

Great overview. Excellent work.

Want to go to Haunted House in Anaheim do bad now,

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At Home Imagineering: DIY Haunted Mansion Effects

in Artwork , Disney

disney haunted mansion

With the recent and necessary cancellation of Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween party , a Disney-style fall experience this Halloween season seems all but lost. However, with these DIY Haunted Mansion Effects videos, fans can bring home an element of this fun fall event.

We’ve shared a haunting host of fiendishly fun At Home Imagineering examples showcasing Disney’s beloved Haunted Mansion . Now, we’d like to offer opportunities for fans to create a slice of spooky Disney magic of their own.

DIY Haunted Mansion FX peppers ghost

While it might be too early for some, Halloween is starting to slowly awaken across the country. Some stores (like At Home Stores, Hobby Lobby, and Cracker Barrel) either have already started or are about to line shelves with creepy-cool fall fun.

Related: Frightfully Fun ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ Yard Decorations

Sadly, one “to-die-for” event gave up the ghost for 2020. Due to safety concerns, Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party will remain in the crypt this year. So, we thought with many still stuck at home anyhow, maybe this year might the one to bring the macabre magic home.

Listed below, several how-to videos describe how to create various elements of spooky-boo fun for this fall. Yes, we know fall is about 100 days away, but this allows for planning and purchasing supplies. Hopefully, these ideas also offer an acceptable alternative for the loss of Disney’s Halloween event.

DIY Haunted Mansion FX Lady Carolotta

DIY Haunted Mansion Effects

While these informative videos cover only a few fun effects and eerie environmental elements of Disney’s Haunted Mansion , a bit of planning and imagination can easily conjure up fiendishly fun experiences.

Animated Leota Tombstone

A Dark and Stormy Night

Inspired by the changing portrait hallway, this next video shows how to “enjoy” a thunderstorm on demand. This simple, gloomy effect sets a somber and chilling tone for any home haunt.

Related: Disney Unveils New ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ Merchandise

Cemetery Tombstones

After falling out of the attic window, into the cemetery below, the spirits materialize in full force for a fearsome, yet fun finale to Disney’s Haunted Mansion attraction.  A pair of instructional clips below guide the way for either simple, static ‘stones or, for more of a challenge, an animated marker (similar to Madame Leota’s at Walt Disney World).

Perhaps the easiest of these eerie decor experiments is none other than the dusty old cobweb. While inexpensive bags of spider web material offer a cheap method of adding cobwebs, this method can be frustrating and often does not turn out as expected.

Careful use of a hot glue gun and forced air (either via an air compressor – as shown in the video below, or with the exhaust of a shop vac) can create realistic web-like effects. A very light dusting (from the right distance) of white or eggshell spray paint can add a fun layer of ‘dust.’  Here experimentation, planning, and adequate ventilation are important.

Peppers Ghost

One of the most elaborate, yet simple effects found at the Haunted Mansion is the infamous ballroom party scene. This swinging wake ghost illusion takes advantage of a Nineteenth-century trick known as a Pepper’s Ghost . Using a reflective surface that can also be seen through, illumination provides ghostly materialization “magic.” This simple effect sets the stage for a host of haunting possibilities.

Related: At-Home Imagineering: A Disney fan’s recreation of Haunted Mansion Holiday

BONUS – Faux Fire

This simple special effect is more prolific in Pirates of the Caribbean . However, scaling down a bit and changing the color of illumination can cast the same eerie green glow from the ethereal fireplace flames in the Mansion’s ballroom.

Final Arrangements

These videos deliver directions on how to create similar versions of the eerie effects found within Disney’s Haunted Mansion in your own crypt, office, or haunted house.

For more DIY Halloween décor fun , be sure to also check out our Haunted Mansion bride feature.

Life-sized Bride

The makers of each spellbinding selection include many more make-it-yourself Halloween decoration ideas on each of their YouTube channels.  Additionally, one creator ( Halloween DIY ) also produces a short, animated web series, Gardner and Wells .

Source and images: YouTube, Michael Gavin

Haunted Mansion: Breaking Down Every Easter Egg in the Disney Remake

Disney's Haunted Mansion remake is packed with eerie Easter eggs and nods to the classic ride's spooky allure, adding to its visual charm.

Director Justin Simien, a former employee of Disneyland, takes us on a thrilling adventure in his passionate film interpretation of the popular Haunted Mansion experience at Disney Parks. The movie offers a wealth of Easter eggs from the ride to the big screen with its recognizable stretching chamber, floating candelabras, and eerie adorned walls.

A popular attraction at several of the company's theme parks, Disney's Haunted Mansion is a terrifying ride that transports guests through a haunted mansion full of unsettling spirits and paranormal activity. It has grown to be a fan favorite over time, prompting several versions, including a 2003 movie starring Eddie Murphy. In 2023, a brand-new recreation of the Haunted Mansion will hit theaters.

Welcoming the Foolish Mortals

Lakeith Stanfield in Haunted Mansion

As the curtains rise, the film opens with Madame Leota greeting us with the familiar line: "Welcome, foolish mortals." Accompanied by a ghostly organ-driven version of the ride's classic theme song, Buddy Baker and X Atencio's "Grim Grinning Ghosts," this nostalgic nod sets the stage for the eerie adventure ahead.

Related: What Haunted Mansion's Rotten Tomatoes Score Says About Disney Remakes

Simien's meticulous attention to detail becomes evident as we step into the mansion's historical New Orleans-inspired architecture, closely modeled after the Disneyland version of the ride. From the tall entry columns to the emblem on the brick perimeter gate, every aspect reflects the haunting beauty of the original attraction. Interestingly, the film pays homage to the former scare actors, who donned the suit of armor to thrill guests.

The Ghostly Footsteps and The Watching Eyes

The Cast of Haunted Mansion on Stairs

We come upon Alistair Crump (Jared Leto), also known as the Hatbox Ghost from the California version of the ride, as the story progresses. As visitors leave the attraction, he menacingly says, "You'll be baaack," imitating the Ghostess' ominous remarks. The creepy images on the walls of the mansion also match those on the ride, particularly the famed "Werecat Lady," whose metamorphosis from a human to a tiger is chillingly shown in the movie.

The white busts that border the library are like the Watchful Busts from the ride, appearing to swivel to keep an eye on onlookers. One of the ride's opening sequences is mirrored by a floating candelabra that Ben comes across as he explores the estate. In addition, William Gracey is introduced in the movie, whose backstory draws from the attraction's lore.

Harriet and Leota's Psychic Connection and the Hitchhiking Ghosts

jamie lee curtis as madame leota in haunted mansion

The film pairs local psychic Harriet with Madame Leota in a captivating collaboration . Leota's head appears inside a crystal ball, just as it does in the ride, as she unveils key elements of Gracey's haunting tale. The plot ties together Gracey's grief over the loss of his wife and the Ghost Host's suicide, creating a mesmerizing blend of their stories.

Related: Haunted Mansion: Why Wasn't the Film Delayed?

As Harriet conducts her seance, an evil force possesses her chair, pushing her through the mansion, reminiscent of the ride's doom buggies that travel through the eerie estate. Soon after, Ben encounters the ghost of a man with a quivering dog, reminiscent of the lone human and canine companion seen in the ride's graveyard musical scene.

Astral Projections, Dueling Ghosts, and the Mysterious Constance

Haunted Mansion

In the mansion's attic, Ben faces a chilling encounter with an axe-wielding ghost bride adorned with photos of her unfortunate ex-husbands. This chilling effect mirrors the ride's attic scene, where heads mysteriously vanish from the groom's portraits. Curtis echoes Leota's remarks from the journey as the bride speaks, asking the spirits to open a bridge to a location far beyond.

During a scene of astral projection, Ben encounters the ghost of an opera-singing woman, similar to the one seen in the ride's graveyard scene. Additionally, Ben meets recurring ghost brothers, mirroring the Duelists' dual deaths seen in portrait form in the ride. Another intriguing ghost swings from the chandelier of the dining room, reminiscent of the ride's wedding party scene.

Winona Ryder and Dan Levy Cameos

Haunted Mansion Trailer Winona Ryder

Dan Levy and Winona Ryder make delightful cameos as tour guides at Crump Manor, offering a humorous nod to the initial concept of Gore Mansion, a much darker walkthrough experience that was initially considered for the Haunted Mansion ride. Levy's character dresses in old-school detective attire, recounting the grisly murder of a butler, tying in with the mansion's lore.

As Ben sneaks past a party room, Levy's tour guide can be heard playing "It's a Small World" on the piano, offering a playful tribute to the iconic Disney boat ride. In search of Crump's hat, Travis ventures into a crawlspace beneath the house, encountering graves with comical puns reminiscent of the ones in the ride's queue line.

Twisting Hallways and a Nightmare Maze

Haunted Mansion's Twisting Portrait Gallery

The film's thrilling climax sees Ben racing through twisting hallways in search of Gracey while being confounded by Crump's maze-like corridors. One of the doors Ben opens leads to a room with staircases, some upside-down, mirroring the Endless Staircase scene added to the Magic Kingdom's ride in 2007.

After Crump's defeat, the film ends with a celebratory scene where the ghosts rejoice in the dining room. Ever wonder what happened to Disney’s less family-friendly fare? Well, it appears in some cases to have taken up residence in the Haunted Mansion. Given the number of rides built since the mansion, such as Tower of Terror and Pirates of the Caribbean, it’s likely that someday soon, these jokes will need to find a new home.

Simien's Haunted Mansion pays tribute to the classic ride with a plethora of hidden references and Easter eggs . From iconic lines and ghostly apparitions to spooky set designs, the film is bursting with nods to the Disney attraction.

MickeyBlog.com

Recreate the Haunted Mansion at Home With These Awesome Papercraft Downloads!

by Melissa Roden · October 28, 2021

disney haunted mansion projections

It’s only a few days until Halloween Disney friends and we’ve got the perfect way to celebrate! Disney has created an awesome DIY series called Paper Parks that allows you to recreate the magic of Disney World’s Haunted Mansion while at home! 

All you need is paper, a printer, scissors and an adhesive and Disney takes care of the rest! Below you’ll find downloadable templates that you can print out as well as a set of instructions on how to build each distinct section of the house. 

disney haunted mansion projections

There’s a lot of fun tidbits in these packs include Paper Parks 5 which includes the hitchhiking ghosts. There’s also the Portrait Chamber, Madame Leota’s Seance Circle, Haunted-Mansion-inspired tableware, home décor and paper wearables.  

Oh, an if you’re downloading these beauties, be sure to print them at the actual size rather than scaling to insure that all of the pieces fit together properly. 

You can download all of the activity sheets in the Haunted Mansion Paper Parks Collection below: 

  • Paper Parks 5
  • Paper Parks 4
  • Paper Parks 3
  • Paper Parks 2
  • Paper Parks 1

Readers are encouraged to keep following along with MickeyBlog for further Disney new, tips, tricks and fun DIY projects! 

disney haunted mansion projections

Have you heard the news!?  Walt Disney World packages are currently available through 2022!  Book your getaway with ME before the end of 2021 and I’ll throw in a Disney Gift Card!* Plus 1 lucky family will be picked each month to receive a special in-room delivery from Disney Floral & Gifts!  Simply fill out my form below to get your FREE, no obligation quote!

With new policies and procedures in place for next year, there’s never been a better time to work with an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner who can help you navigate through Disney’s new way of doing things! Just fill out my form  HERE  to get your FREE, no-obligation quote. Alternatively, feel free to reach out at  [email protected]  or follow along on  Facebook

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Melissa Roden

As an agent with MickeyTravels and a Blogger with MickeyBlog I enjoy sharing, tips, tricks and advice to help readers and clients get the most out of your time with Disney. When I'm not helping clients plan their perfect holidays or nab those hard-to-get discounts you can find me enjoying a Dole Whip at Disney World with my daughter! Reach out for a FREE, no obligation quote at 1.800.801.4025 or find me on Facebook !

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AtmosFAN Creates Her Own Haunted Mansion

A few weeks ago, we showcased a terrific Halloween display that was inspired by a theme: Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas . Since then, we've received even more examples of how you can deploy AtmosFX Digital Decorations in service of a theme. This week we present to you – drum roll, please – Disney's Haunted Mansion.

Yes! It is hard to imagine pursuing a better kitchy-cool Halloween theme than the ghostly manor and the "999 happy haunts" who reside therein. (By the way: The original Haunted Mansion at Anaheim's Disneyland celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.) So who's the genius behind this creative display? Kara Benson of Daytona Beach, Florida.

As you can see from the video, Kara has gone all out when it comes to honoring both the characters and look of Disney's iconic attraction. For example, she uses the Grave Digger scene from Sinister Shadows Digital Decoration to mimic – you guessed it – the mansion's quivering grave digger. Projected onto her garage is an interior of a haunted room, which she got from the Boo Crew Digital Decoration . In a clever less-is-more move, she didn't use the Boo Crew ghosts, so it would have a similar feel to the Disney attraction.

Of course, there are oodles of skillful effects in Kara's display that don't utilize AtmosFX Digital Decorations. We love them too! Everywhere you look there are perfect little touches that are intended to pay homage to the original theme park attraction.

In fact, many of the techniques Kara uses – like projecting onto three-dimensional objects – are essentially what we call “ prop mode displays ,” and they are similar to the techniques used in the Haunted Mansion, as well as other theme-park attractions.

Kara tells us the video was the second year she’s paid tribute to this iconic attraction and, even though she’s since moved into a new home, she’s hoping to keep building on it each year. We’re sure her new neighbors will love it.

"I've learned to have a notepad and pen handy when people come by to see my decorations," Kara tells us, "so I can write down AtmosFX.com and get others started on the fun journey of digital decorating."

Aw, Kara! That is above-and-beyond ... just like your homage to Haunted Mansion Halloween display!

Now, we ask the rest of you: How do you use your AtmosFX Digital Decorations? Do you create a theme? Do you have a specific inspiration? We know there are countless incredible displays out there! You can inspire others just like Kara by sending videos and photos to us via the AtmosFAN Hall of Fame submission form . And while you are there, check out the other incredible creations in the Hall of Fame !

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Sinister Shadows

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Disney Cruise Line Reveals Haunted Mansion Parlor Coming to Disney Treasure

  • by Michelle Snow
  • October 24, 2023 October 24, 2023

Haunted Mansion Parlor  Disney Treasure

Disney Cruise Line has revealed that a Haunted Mansion Parlor will be aboard its newest ship, the Disney Treasure.

The Details

The Haunted Mansion Parlor will be the world’s first Haunted Mansion-inspired bar, and it will be found aboard the Disney Treasure .

The design of the Haunted Mansion Parlor will resemble a first-class drawing room of a classic cruise liner from the golden age, complete with nostalgic tributes to Haunted Mansion attractions around the world.

disney haunted mansion projections

It will draw primary inspiration from the original 1969 Disneyland version of the ride, including purple wallpaper, a mantel clock, a distinct chair tucked into the corner, and hitchhiking ghosts behind the bar.

Haunted Mansion Parlor Disney Treasure

Guests will also encounter a few legendary characters from the original Disney Parks attraction, as well as some new seafaring arrivals, in a portrait gallery depicting the Disney Treasure’s own ghostly residents.

A custom musical arrangement by Shruti Kumar helps sets the mood inside, and draws inspiration from the ride’s iconic theme.

From themed craft cocktails and exclusive onboard merchandise collection to nostalgic décor and beloved characters, the Haunted Mansion Parlor will immerse foolish mortals…er…guests in the lore of the Haunted Mansion, with a new story that centers on a captain who entered the ghostly realm following a tragic dinner with his fiancée.

Haunted Mansion Parlor Disney Treasure

Cocktails and Mocktails

Some of the ghostly concoctions will include the aptly named Signature Beverage , a margarita with lemon foam, presented to guests amidst a swirl of pepper-flavored smoke, with a secret message written on it, that can only to be revealed by black light.

Mocktails will include the Ghoulish Delight , which will combine decadent ube fudge, oat milk, and tapioca pearls into a glittery purple concoction, garnished with a gummy eyeball, and the Sympathetic Libations , featuring sour cherry and blood orange flavors with a lime foam, that uses Agave Blanco zero-proof tequila.

disney haunted mansion projections

Haunted Mansion-Inspired Merchandise

Haunted Mansion fans will want to bring an empty suitcase for all the merchandise they’ll find on board.

Some of the items to bring home:

The Haunted Mansion Parlor Music Box will be a keepsake inspired by an eerie music box that will be found inside the Haunted Mansion Parlor. As the rumors go, this mysterious box belonged to the captain’s bride-to-be and only opens in the presence of malevolent spirits.

Haunted Mansion Parlor Music Box

Inspired by the old grandfather clock from the original Disney Parks attraction, the Haunted Mansion Parlor clock will evoke the nostalgic allure of the Haunted Mansion.

Haunted Mansion Parlor clock

And, a ghost may even follow you home on your voyage… The Haunted Mansion Parlor Mirror will offer a frightening surprise when the hitchhiking ghosts mysteriously appear in the frame.

Haunted Mansion Parlor Mirror

Disney Cruise Line has put together this first look artist concept video of this themed lounge:

Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion Parlor! 🔮👻 Take a look at this first-of-its-kind lounge coming to the all-new Disney Treasure. Check out the @DisneyParks blog for more: https://t.co/Vn4OuwhAnE pic.twitter.com/lsdPjeAyVS — Disney Cruise Line (@DisneyCruise) October 24, 2023

Book Your Cruise

The Disney Treasure will sail 7-night Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries beginning December 2024. Bookings are available now.

If you don’t want the hassle of dealing with all of the details of your trip, please contact The Disney Blog’s own authorized travel planning expert, Stacey at Pixie Vacations .

Booking your travel with Stacey helps support this blog, and you’ll have access to her wealth of Disney and cruising knowledge to help you book your trip. Thank you!

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Disney and Lowes Now Offering ‘Haunted Mansion’ Light Projector In Time for Halloween

Disney and Lowes Now Offering 'Haunted Mansion' Light Projector In Time for Halloween

Disney and Lowes Now Offering ‘ Haunted Mansion’ Light Projector In Time for Halloween. Disney Fans are running to their local Lowes in hopes of acquiring the new Haunted Mansion Disney Multi-Function Color Changing Battery-operated Halloween Indoor Light Show Projector. The hot ticket item has been in-and-out of stock online over the last few days, so your best bet at getting yours would be to check with your local Lowes location!

Related: Disney Magic Holiday Collection now available at Lowes

Disney and Lowes Now Offering 'Haunted Mansion' Light Projector In Time for Halloween

“ Transform a room with this amazing Halloween decoration. The ShadowLights™ tabletop projector features color-changing lights and bright, energy-efficient LEDs. It projects a rotating scene with images from The Haunted Mansion. Place it on any mantel or tabletop surface for a fun Halloween display. “

  • Projects a rotating scene with images of characters from The Haunted Mansion
  • Features color changing lights
  • Decorative embossed base

Order your very own Haunted Mansion Light Projector for $14.98+ shipping by CLICKING HERE (as long as they are in stock!)

Related: Halloween Merch lands at World of Disney in Disney Springs

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How many Disney Haunted Mansions Are There Around the World?

by Sara Bryce | Oct 30, 2020 | Magic Kingdom , WDW Blog

Just how many Disney Haunted Mansions are there? We’ll take a look at every one, and what makes each so unique!

Haunted Mansion invites guests to join the 999 happy haunts for a ghoulish adventure. But did you know there are FIVE different versions of this beloved attraction? And they are very different.

Let’s explore the five different versions of the Haunted Mansion around the world.

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1. Haunted Mansion at Disneyland 

Photo courtesy of Disney Parks Blog

  • Opening Date: August 9th, 1969
  • Facade: Southern Plantation
  • Located in: New Orleans Square
  • Unique Feature: Walt Disney himself worked on it

Walt Disney and his team of Imagineers worked on Haunted Mansion as one of the original attraction ideas for Disneyland. Due to the extravagant nature of the ideas behind Haunted Mansion, construction was delayed so long that Walt did not see it open during his lifetime.

While the exterior of the building was finished in 1963, it sat unoccupied for six years at Disneyland. It took so long for Haunted Mansion to open that Imagineers placed a tongue-in-cheek sign outside the mansion as recognition of the delays.

Beginning in the attraction queue, you’ll walk through the ornate gardens and step past large gothic columns welcoming guests into the haunted estate. 

As you journey through the haunted halls, the Hatbox Ghost is one frightening character you will not recognize from the Orlando version of this attraction. 

Perhaps the most memorable difference happens every September through December by way of Haunted Mansion Holiday, a Nightmare Before Christmas themed overlay. 

This tradition has taken place every year since 2001 and replaces several of the animatronics and props to tell a different tale for the holidays. 

2. Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom

Photo by Laurie Sapp

  • Opening Date: October 1, 1971
  • Facade: Dutch Gothic and Hudson River Valley style
  • Located in: Liberty Square
  • Unique Feature: The endless staircase room

The Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World was an opening day attraction at Magic Kingdom in 1971, and its facade was a complete departure from the Disneyland look. 

The exterior of Magic Kingdom’s mansion was modeled after colonial styles to fit in with Liberty Square, but was inspired specifically by the Harry Packer Mansion in Pennsylvania.

Photo by Ken Ratcliff

Throughout your Doombuggy journey, you’ll encounter ghastly portraits, marble busts, creaking floorboards, and the whispers of spirits “dying” to have you join them—all narrated by the charming Ghost Host. 

You’ll encounter all sorts of frightful characters, including the floating Madame Leota and the sinister bride Constance Hatchaway. 

However, Magic Kingdom’s ride is longer and includes more elaborate scenes , like the infinite M.C. Escher-inspired staircase room (that always reminds us of David Bowie in Labyrinth ). 

Photo by Cliff Wang

This room was added during the 2007 refurbishment. Before that, this space was a pitch-black room with spiders menacingly dangling. 

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3. Haunted Mansion at Tokyo Disneyland 

  • Opening Date: April 15th, 1983
  • Facade: Same as Magic Kingdom, but grungier
  • Located in: Fantasyland
  • Unique Feature: A time capsule of the Magic Kingdom mansion

Tokyo’s version of the attraction is a mix of those in both Walt Disney World and Disneyland, though it most closely resembles Magic Kingdom’s iteration.

While Magic Kingdom’s ride underwent refurbishment in 2007, Tokyo Disneyland stuck with the classic rooms and storytelling. 

There are no holographic hitchhiking ghosts at the end of the ride, and animatronic spiders are in place instead of the endless staircase scene at Magic Kingdom.

The attraction is also nestled within Fantasyland, so the mansion facade tends to lack immersion in the theme of the land. 

They leave the grounds untended on purpose to give it an unkempt appearance, like the spear shattered through an exterior window. In the line queue, guests wait in a ruined wing of the mansion.

Like the Disneyland version, Tokyo’s Haunted Mansion sports the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay for the fall and winter festive months. 

The Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare overlay has been creeping on the Christmas season at Tokyo Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion since 2004, reportedly after Magic Kingdom decided they did not want the overlay each year.

If you were ever wondering what the original Magic Kingdom Haunted Mansion would look like with the Holiday Nightmare overlay , a trip to Japan is in order!

4. Phantom Manor at Disneyland Paris

Photo courtesy of Disney parks Blog

  • Opening Date: April 12,1992
  • Facade: Second Empire Style
  • Located in: Frontierland
  • Unique Feature: Often considered the scariest mansion

Deviating from the previous three, this version of Haunted Mansion bears a new name and a different premise entirely.

This reimagined Western attraction is within Frontierland. To fit into its rugged surroundings, the facade was inspired by the Fourth Ward School in Virginia City, Nevada.

Photo by TravelNevada

Phantom Manor primarily focuses on the doomed bride of the manor, whose groom unfortunately did not make it.

This French attraction features some of the same elements of previous attractions including singing busts, creepy portraits, and Madame Leota, but is significantly darker both in score and animatronics. 

The music throughout the attraction is bone-chilling even before you encounter the skeletal corpses that are much scarier than anything in the US versions. 

Most notably, this version does not have a graveyard towards the end of the attraction—instead, guests ride through Phantom Canyon, an incredibly eerie version of a Western town fit for the dead that inhabit it. 

5. Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland

  • Opening Date: May 17th, 2013
  • Facade: Victorian
  • Located in: Mystic Point
  • Unique Feature: It’s about magic… not ghosts!

Rounding out with another unique take on the Haunted Mansion, Hong Kong’s version of the attraction is the most unique due to differences in Chinese culture. 

No references to spirits or the afterlife are mentioned. 

Instead, Mystic Manor tells the tale of an enchanted music box that has the power to bring inanimate objects to life (Beauty and the Beast anyone?). 

Photo by Floyd B. Bariscale

The exterior of the attraction is also somewhat unique in being modeled after a large Victorian mansion, specifically the now-demolished Bradbury Mansion in Los Angeles.  

Mystic Manor features jewel tone colors and a distinctly not-haunted feel. 

With a much more lighthearted feel, this attraction still features elements from the other mansion attractions , including a Medusa portrait and busts that seem to follow you with their eyes. 

Haunted Mansions Around the World

Room for one more at The Haunted Mansion. Photo by Judd Helms

“When hinges creak in doorless chambers, and strange and frightening sounds echo through the halls. Whenever candlelights flicker where the air is deathly still. That is the time when ghosts are present, practicing their terror with ghoulish delight!”

From 1969 to 2013 , new and decidedly creepy Haunted Mansion experiences have been popping up all over the globe to spook Disney Parks guests.

If you’d like to learn the details of our own ghostly apparitions at Walt Disney World, check out these 5 Chilling Haunted Mansion Facts we bet you didn’t know and tell us about your favorite take on the Haunted Mansion over on our Facebook page!

Hurry Baaaack… and don’t forget your Death Certificate!

Keep the magic going! Spookify your home with these DIY Halloween decorations! Tim Burton’s lesson in how to get FIRED by Disney. Danny Elfman and Disney- You know, Besides Jack Skellington.

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Lowe’s Haunted Mansion collection is materializing this Halloween

Invite Disney’s grim grinning ghosts to your house this Halloween with Lowe’s Haunted Mansion collection of indoor and outdoor Halloween décor.

Lowe's Haunted Mansion collection

Lowe’s Haunted Mansion collection from Gemmy Industries features happy haunts, including:

Lowe's Haunted Mansion collection

Inflatable Doom Buggy –  Six-foot Airblown Inflatable black Doom Buggy carrying the “dead tired” Hitchhiking Ghosts – Gus (aka the Prisoner), Ezra (aka the Skeleton), and Phineas (aka the Traveler). Lights up for nighttime visibility.

Lowe's Haunted Mansion collection

Ghoulish Greetings+Fire & Ice Haunted Mansion Spotlight – Projection lighting featuring the iconic Disney Haunted Mansion logo surrounded by flickering, flaming lights. It can be projected on exterior or interior walls, front doors, porches, garage doors, or fences (comes with a convertible tripod/stake for in-ground or tabletop setup).

Lowe's Haunted Mansion collection

Haunted Mansion Musical Busts – Airblown Inflatable featuring three bust characters – including one that’s lost his head – that can be programmed as a synchronized light show, where the characters flash blue and white to the tune of “Grim Grinning Ghosts.”

Lowe's Haunted Mansion collection

Haunted Mansion Hitchhiking Ghosts Spotlight – Projection lighting featuring the hitchhiking ghosts with WaveMotion and Color Changing technology creates a spooktacular Halloween effect on indoor or outdoor surfaces.

Lowe's Haunted Mansion collection

The Lowe’s-exclusvie Haunted Mansion Collection also includes a musical Haunted Mansion logo wall plaque that lights up blue and plays “Grim Grinning Ghosts” with sound or motion activation (a ghostly surprise for unsuspecting guests); an animated Madam Leota crystal ball, from which the spooky soothsayer speaks to souls from the beyond; and a nearly 2.5-foot resin tombstone featuring an animated Leota speaking with synchronization technology, so when she speaks in true character voice, her eyes flash blue for an added creepy effect.

The Lowe’s Haunted Mansion collection ranges from $29.98 to $139.00 and will be available at select stores and online beginning on Aug. 29, 2022.

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The Disney Cruise Line Blog

An unofficial disney cruise line news, information, weather, and photo blog..

The Disney Cruise Line Blog

Details Materialize for the Disney Treasure’s Haunted Mansion Inspired Bar – Haunted Mansion Parlor

Today, Disney Cruise Line revealed a Haunted Mansion inspired venue which will materialize onboard the Disney Treasure when it joins the fleet next year. The Haunted Mansion Parlor will be in the location of Star Wars: Hyperspace Lounge found aboard the Disney Treasure’s sister ship, Disney Wish, and will compliment Skipper Society on deck 3 midship in the shopping area between the Grand Hall and The Walt Disney Theatre.

Disney Treasure Haunted Mansion Parlor

The one-of-a-kind experience will invite guests to partake in the next chapter of the Haunted Mansion, focused on the story of a jovial captain who entered the ghostly realm after a disastrous dinner with his beloved fiancé.

Disney Treasure Haunted Mansion Parlor Jovial Captain Portrait

A custom musical arrangement inspired by the attraction’s original score arranged and adapted by composer Shruti Kumar and Walt Disney Imagineering will set the stage for an ever-escalating anthology of illusions that immerses guests into the mysterious lore of the Haunted Mansion.

Legendary characters from Haunted Mansion attractions at Disney Parks around the world, as well as new seafaring arrivals, will come out to socialize in mysterious ways throughout the experience. The venue will follow the nostalgic art style of the original 1969 Disney Parks classic, and true to the original attraction, the Haunted Mansion Parlor will blend humor with Disney’s own distinct brand of spooky storytelling.

Disney Treasure Haunted Mansion Parlor Entrance

The design of the Haunted Mansion Parlor will be reminiscent of a first-class drawing room from the classic cruise liners of the golden age, invoking inspiration from the original Haunted Mansion with a nautical twist.

Disney Treasure Haunted Mansion Parlor Fireplace

The lounge will include tributes to the Disney Parks attractions, from the iconic purple wallpaper framed by wooden finishes to a mantel clock atop an inviting fireplace to a distinctive purple armchair tucked in the corner.

Disney Treasure Haunted Mansion Parlor Donald Duck Arm Chair

Guests will also encounter a few new ghoulish faces in a portrait gallery depicting the Disney Treasure’s own ghostly residents.

Disney Treasure Haunted Mansion Parlor Hitchhiking Ghosts

Hello, you Grim Grinning Ghosts! Your favorite ghosts and ghouls will soon be onboard Disney Cruise Line’s newest ship, #DisneyTreasure . Check out this announcement from the Cast of @DisneyStudios ’ film, @HauntedMansion , for more details! Now, look alive! (Previously Recorded) pic.twitter.com/cY2ktZVEZo — Disney Cruise Line (@DisneyCruise) October 25, 2023

Deliciously Chilling Drinks 

At the Haunted Mansion Parlor, guests will sample from a selection of ghostly cocktails that capture the  spirit  of the famed theme park attraction, The Haunted Mansion.

Haunted Mansion Parlor Beverages

  • Blood orange and sour cherry flavors will harmonize in a shimmering zero proof cocktail served in a specialty mug aptly titled,  Sympathetic Libations .
  • The  Ghoulish Delight  will be an ube-flavored treat that everyone will be able to enjoy. The drink, with hints of sweetness and nuttiness, will incorporate decadent ube fudge, oat milk and tapioca pearls in a purple concoction garnished with a gummy eyeball and ube glitter.
  • A spooky twist on a classic margarita, presented to guests amidst a swirl of flavored smoke, will be another signature drink at the Haunted Mansion Parlor. Topped with a lemon salt foam, this tequila-based cocktail will contain a secret message, only to be revealed by black light.

Disney also shared the following recipes.

DCL Treasure Haunted Mansion Parlor Recipe Ghoulish Delight

Mysterious Merchandise 

The new bar venue will introduce an exclusive array of haunted homewares and spooky souvenirs to the shops onboard the Disney Treasure:

  • The  Haunted Mansion Parlor Music Box  will be a keepsake inspired by the eerie music box that will play a melodic soundtrack inside the Haunted Mansion Parlor.  As the rumors go, this mysterious box belonged to the captain’s bride-to-be and only opens in the presence of malevolent spirits.
  • Honoring the memorable grandfather clock seen in the original Disney Parks attraction, the  Haunted Parlor Mantle Clock  will loom over the fireplace inside the venue, instigating mysterious happenings when it strikes 13. As a part of the new merchandise collection, Disney Cruise Line guests will be able to bring home their very own mantle clock, just like the one from the parlor.
  • Featuring the same octopus design from the bar’s entrance onboard the Disney Treasure, the  Haunted Mansion Parlor Sculpted Mug  will depict an aura of intrigue and will be accented with a variety of sea life, including a hidden Mickey Mouse-shaped barnacle.
  • The  Haunted Mansion Parlor Mirror  will allow guests to take home a piece of the magic, offering a ghoulish surprise to unsuspecting users when the hitchhiking ghosts mysteriously appear.

Haunted Mansion Parlor Mantle Clock

The venue was teased with the Hitchhiking Ghosts featured in a porthole during the announcement of the ship’s name at the 2022 D23 Expo .

DCL Disney Treasure Porthole Hitchhiking Ghosts

Moana and Coco were also teased in portholes. Plaza De Coco announced during the big reveal of the Disney Treason in September followed by reveal of Disney The Tale of Moana stage show on October 10th.

Get a first look at the Haunted Mansion-themed parlor coming aboard Disney's Treasure cruise ship! @ginger_zee has the sneak peek. pic.twitter.com/iNWUcFrTJ7 — Good Morning America (@GMA) October 25, 2023

Haunted Mansion Parlor’s happy haunts are eager to welcome foolish mortals to this spirted space on board the Disney Treasure in December 2024.

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7 Replies to “Details Materialize for the Disney Treasure’s Haunted Mansion Inspired Bar – Haunted Mansion Parlor”

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I take it this time they will make it family friendly and not adults only?

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It’s a bar so best guess is family friendly on select days but that it will primarily be an adults only venue.

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Hyperspace on the Wish is only 18+ after 9pm.

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Maximum occupancy 100?

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I hate to be a killjoy, and I applaud the Imagineering team for incorporating the Haunted Mansion into this or any ship. However, I feel they missed the opportunity to use this theme in one of the main dining rooms. Think of the amazing dinner entertainment and atmosphere this would create. I was imagining this on our last trip on the Wish while I was sitting in Arendale pondering how you make a second dining night worthwhile. I loved the architectural theming of that and thought how great it would be to have that same level of detail from the Haunted Mansion (maybe even on a Villain themed ship?). Just using the Turtle Talk technology and having haunts move around the room would keep kids glued in their seats the entire time. Alas, now it will never materialize, but I do hope they figure out a better way to accommodate the entire demand better than they did with Hyperspace on initial sailings.

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This looks a lot better than the Hyperspace Lounge on the Wish.

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Hyperspace is the biggest joke ever. Cold, boring, no atmosphere, drinks are the worst. You couldn’t pay me to ever walk in there again. We went in walked around. Didn’t even get a drink just left.

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