Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland Hits 25 Years, Classic Version Shelved

For thirteen days, one of Disneyland’s most recognizable attractions sat behind scrims with nobody going in.

That isn’t a strange sight in New Orleans Square this time of year. Haunted Mansion does not close casually, and when it does, the walkway past it feels empty. Anyone visiting between August 8 and August 20 found no version of it running.

The closure was never a secret. Disney confirmed the 13-day window ahead of time and everybody knew what was happening behind the walls.

But this was not a refurbishment. Disney was not fixing the ride and reopening the same show. Guests who rode August 7 and come back now get the same Doom Buggy system carrying them through something else entirely.

As of August 21, Haunted Mansion Holiday is open.

Sandy Claws Is Back

Jack Skellington and The Nightmare Before Christmas have retaken the mansion for the 2026 fall and winter seasons.

It starts before you board.

• Ribbon-style Haunted Mansion Holiday sign at the entrance gates
• Jack Skellington in his Sandy Claws outfit atop a jack-o’-lantern on an entrance column
• Garlands, dangling mathematical Christmas equations, and spiderweb candelabras across the balconies
• The hearse wrapped in seasonal greenery under a Santa hat jack-o’-lantern

The 2026 Gingerbread House

Most of the overlay repeats annually, and regulars can recite it. The one thing that changes every year is the gingerbread build in the Grand Ballroom, and it is the first thing fans look for.

This year it is a giant music box modeled after Haunted Mansion itself.

There is a winding key on the side carrying Jack Skellington’s face, Santa Jack on one side and regular Jack on the other. When the music plays, a skeleton cookie ballerina rises from the roof and spins.

Centerpiece of the banquet table, and a serious piece of work.

Inside the Ride

The scenes longtime guests wait for are all back.

• Jack and Zero replace the Caretaker and his dog at the cemetery entrance, handing out holiday “presents”
• Sally rests on a gravestone pining for Jack as you enter a graveyard of singing jack-o’-lanterns
• Oogie Boogie appears near the end in a candy-encrusted beard and pointed Santa hat, spinning his wheel of tricks and treats to drop a holiday “gift” in your Doom Buggy mirror
• A tiny Sally waves you off on the exit ramp

Why It Has to Close

People ask this every year.

Haunted Mansion Holiday is not decorations screwed onto the facade. Disney changes scenes throughout the attraction and swaps in different characters, props, music, and effects from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

That much work cannot happen around operating Doom Buggies. Hence the full closure. This year, thirteen days to do all of it.

The Classic Is Shelved

Important if you are planning a fall or winter trip.

Haunted Mansion Holiday runs continuously through Halloween Time and the Christmas season at Disneyland, staying up through early January 2027.

So the traditional Haunted Mansion is not coming back for months. Visit between now and early next year and you get the overlay whether you wanted it or not.

Prefer the overlay? August 21 opened a long runway. Prefer the classic? Settle in until 2027.

Twenty-Five Years In

The 2026 season hits a milestone.

Disneyland launched Haunted Mansion Holiday in 2001, making this the 25th year.

Disney marked it with a shirt released August 21, and per social posts about it, the back features the gingerbread houses built for the attraction across the years.

Fitting, since the gingerbread is the one element that has genuinely changed every season.

The Ride Underneath

None of it works without the original.

Haunted Mansion opened at Disneyland in August 1969 after years of development. Imagineers combined spooky environments with comedy, elaborate illusions, memorable characters, and a playful read on the supernatural.

Stretching room, ballroom, graveyard, endless hallway, Hitchhiking Ghosts. That formula got adapted at other parks later. Disneyland’s is the original.

Very few Disney attractions transform this completely for months before reverting, which is exactly why the swap is an event.

Going Soon

Haunted Mansion Holiday is open now through early January 2027.

Visiting during Halloween Time or the Christmas season? This is the version you are riding. Expect heavier waits over the next few weeks, since the reopening lines up with Halloween season crowds.

And if the gingerbread music box is the draw, watch for the Grand Ballroom.