Disney has filed another new commencement of construction permit, this time for the address of The Haunted Mansion in Magic Kingdom Park.
Haunted Mansion Construction Permit Filed
The new permit is a commencement of construction permit, which is used to provide information about an upcoming construction project. In the permit, the location of the construction is listed as 1600 Magic Kingdom Drive – the street address for The Haunted Mansion in Magic Kingdom Park.
While the permit only lists “general construction” as the project description, the name listed as the contractor may provide some clues. While general refurbishment work is usually completed by Walt Disney Imagineering as an in-house company, this permit lists MLC Theming Inc. as the contractor. MLC Theming is a specialty construction company that specializes in “scenic painting and aging of structures, fabricating facades, carving rock work, and more,” according to the company’s website. The fact Disney is hiring an outside company that specializes in themed elements, including scening painting, implies that the planned project could involve exterior work as part of the planned expansions for Magic Kingdom rather than a standard ride refurbishment.
This permit proves interesting because it comes just a few weeks after the reopening of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, which just reopened after an extended refurbishment. As a part of the refurbishment, The Haunted Mansion in Disneyland Park received updated scenes including digital Hitchhiking Ghosts and a new ghost Bride replacing Constance Hatchaway.
In an interview with the LA Times, Imagineer Kim Irvine mentioned that the technology used for the Disneyland ghost was outdated, and her story was overly violent, “The bride that used to be in there was an axe murderer, and in this day and age we have to be really careful about the sensitivities of people.” The same axe-wielding bride is still present at The Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World.
Irvine also mentioned that plans are still on the table to remove the hanging corpse scene from Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion, which is again duplicated in the Magic Kingdom attraction. This new permit may imply that Disney is planning on refurbishing the Magic Kingdom Haunted Mansion and changing some of the attraction’s scenes. Officially, however, Disney has made no announcements regarding any closure or changes to the Haunted Mansion in Magic Kingdom Park.
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