During the Halloween Time and Holidays seasons at the Disneyland Resort, Jack Skellington wrecks the halls of the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland Park with merry and macabre décor inspired by “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” – transforming the attraction into Haunted Mansion Holiday. In this collision between Halloween and Christmas, Jack dresses up as “Sandy Claws” and brings eerie Halloween Town delights.
One of Jack’s holiday traditions is leaving a giant, nightmarish gingerbread house for the ghosts who dance around the Haunted Mansion’s Grand Hall. Standing at 9 feet, 13 inches tall, this year’s masterpiece takes the form of a merrily creepy mausoleum that traps a haunted apparition inside. The gingerbread house also employs two new deviously creative techniques – cotton candy decorations that take the form of a frightfully fun food ghost and masterfully molded gingerbread chains.
Frightfully fun facts about Haunted Mansion Holiday
- More than 400 flickering candles create a ghostly glow on the façade of Haunted Mansion Holiday. Each night, more than 100 jack-o-lanterns shine their ghoulish light.
- Jack Skellington and his ghost dog Zero appear in a fully animated sequence on the ceiling of the “stretching” room, which transports guests into the depths of the mansion. Zero also makes surprise appearances among the transforming portraits in the gallery corridor.
- For Haunted Mansion Holiday, Kim Irvine, Executive Creative Director at Walt Disney Imagineering, gives a spirited portrayal of Madame Leota, the psychic floating inside the crystal ball. Irvine’s mother, Disney Legend and longtime Imagineer Leota Toombs, originated the role in the classic attraction.
- In the Séance Room, Madame Leota’s “13 Days of Christmas” are featured in 13 spinning fortune cards that tell of the Christmas gifts which, as she proclaims, “My ghoul love gave to me…”
- Each year, a team of carpenters, storytellers, pastry chefs, bakers and confectionary and technical wizards collaborate to construct the mansion’s gingerbread house. The magnificent creation emanates the scent of tasty gingerbread throughout the Grand Hall, tempting Happy Haunts and mortals alike.
- The graveyard is covered with nearly 7,500 square feet of snow, and nearly 1,000 tiny orange lights decorate the trees – making it a festive place to rest.
- From man-eating wreaths to vampire teddy bears, more than two dozen additional animated figures “materialize” as part of the Haunted Mansion Holiday transformation.
