When The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland came to a halt recently, an unusual evacuation took place. Though Cast Members usually help guests exit a stopped ride, Haunted Mansion riders were ultimately told to escort themselves out.

The Haunted Mansion Self Evacuation

Reddit user -sharc- posted a video in r/Disneyland and wrote about their experience with the evacuation. It took place on Wednesday, May 27, near closing time at 11 p.m.

They wrote, “At first, the cast members advised people to remain seated and to wait to be escorted off the ride. After about 10 minutes, the message changed, stating that the cast members could no longer assist us and to go ahead and squeeze out of our buggies and find the nearest exit. It wasn’t until several minutes after this message that the cast members gave us instructions on how to manually release the clamshells (this is the message you hear on the recording). This was an absolutely wild experience and I would love to know if anyone knows what happened here.”

The announcement in their video states, “Once again, for all of my guests inside The Haunted Mansion, we can no longer assist you at this time. We ask that you hop out of your buggy and find the nearest exit.” The cast member then gave directions for opening the clamshell vehicle.

The video was taken in the graveyard scene, which was fully illuminated for the evacuation although animatronics continued to pop up from behind headstones. Guests can be seen climbing out of their vehicles and helping others.

A Cast Member who did not work at The Haunted Mansion commented that they had “only heard of a self-evacuation procedure in training on another attraction, but it was reserved for a serious emergency.”

In another Reddit thread about the incident, a former Cast Member theorized that a fire alarm was set off and cast members are not allowed to go into a potential fire. A TikTok commenter claiming to be a current Haunted Mansion Cast Member said this was the case, explaining that in a potential fire, the evacuation becomes the responsibility of first responders.

Disneyland officials told the Orange County Register that there was a small electrical malfunction on the track. Out of an abundance of caution, Haunted Mansion Cast Members gave verbal instructions and were deployed to assist guests during the evacuation procedure. All guests were safely evacuated from the attraction and no injuries were reported.

The ride is operating today, June 5, according to the Disneyland app.

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