The 2023 opening date for Haunted Mansion Holiday — a “The Nightmare Before Christmas” overlay of the classic Disneyland attraction — has been announced.
Haunted Mansion Holiday will return on September 1, 2023. A closing date for the Haunted Mansion to receive the overlay has not been released, but it usually closes in mid-August.
Last year, Haunted Mansion Holiday was originally scheduled through early January before being extended for three more weeks. This wasn’t the first time the popular holiday overlay has been extended, but it doesn’t happen every year. When the holiday overlay is extended, it’s usually to help with ride capacity throughout the park when other attractions are already closed for refurbishment.
The overlay includes figures of various “The Nightmare Before Christmas” characters, including Jack Skellington, Sally, and Oogie Boogie. A unique gingerbread house is displayed in the ballroom scene each year. Lock, Shock, and Barrel were atop last year’s gingerbread house.
Watch our full video of the Haunted Mansion Holiday 2022 below:
The Haunted Mansion
This classic Disney attraction can now be found at several Disney Parks around the world. The first iteration opened in 1969 at Disneyland as part of New Orleans Square. Two years later, it was an opening day attraction in Liberty Square at Magic Kingdom. And in 1983, it was an opening day attraction at Tokyo Disneyland.
The Disneyland Paris version of Haunted Mansion is named Phantom Manor. And at Hong Kong Disneyland, Mystic Manor is a completely different attraction that draws some inspiration from Haunted Mansion.
The Haunted Mansion is full of famous ghostly characters like Madame Leota, the Bride, the subjects of the stretching room portraits, and the Hatbox Ghost.
The Hatbox Ghost was in the original Disneyland Haunted Mansion on opening day. Technology had not quite caught up to the ghost’s vanishing and appearing head, however, so the ghost only last a few weeks before disappearing for nearly 50 years.
The Hatbox Ghost returned to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland in 2015. He appears at the end of the attic scene, after the Bride. He will soon be installed in the Magic Kingdom version of the Haunted Mansion.
Haunted Mansion Movie
The upcoming “Haunted Mansion” film follows a doctor (Rosario Dawson) and her 9-year-old son (Chase Dillon) moving into the Haunted Mansion in New Orleans. Dawson’s character ends up calling in a priest (Owen Wilson) to exorcise the mansion. They also get help from a widowed scientist-turned-failed-paranormal expert (LaKeith Stanfield), a French Quarter psychic (Tiffany Haddish), and a historian (Danny DeVito).
Jamie Lee Curtis portrays Madame Leota and Jared Leto portrays the Hatbox Ghost. Curtis called the film “modern, fresh, old-fashioned, and scary, but not scary like a monster movie. It’s scary like a Disney ride, and funny. If you go on that ride, there’s a lot of humor as well as the scary, ghost-y stuff.”
During the “Studio Showcase Day 1: Celebrate the Magic of Disney and Pixar” panel at the D23 Expo 2022 in Anaheim, the new “Haunted Mansion” film debuted a trailer to fans. Director Justin Simien took to the stage to speak about the project and detail some of the cameos audiences can expect from Winona Ryder, Dan Levy, Hasan Minhaj, and more.
Previously, the “Haunted Mansion” film was due in theaters on August 11, 2023. However, the film’s release date was pushed up to July 28.
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