Disneyland's iconic Haunted Mansion is set to reopen Saturday following an extensive yearlong refurbishment that brings significant changes to the 55-year-old attraction. The renovation includes a reimagined attic scene, expanded queue areas, and a new gift shop that deepens the ride's mysterious narrative.
The most notable change comes to the attraction's famous attic bride, who has received a complete technological and narrative overhaul. Using advanced projection technology, the spectral figure now appears to float while holding a physical three-pronged candelabra, creating a more sorrowful presence than her previous incarnation.
"We thought, what if we change the story back a little bit to the original story that the Imagineers had about a lost bride in the attic mourning the loss of her husbands," says Kim Irvine, creative director with Walt Disney Imagineering at Disneyland. "It was a sad thing. It was a story about lost love."
This change marks a significant departure from the previous "black widow bride," Constance Hatchaway. "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," Irvine explains. "We were celebrating someone chopping off her husband's heads, and it was a weird story."
The renovation extends beyond the mansion itself to include newly designed queue areas featuring themed gardens and a greenhouse. These additions serve both practical and storytelling purposes, accommodating modern accessibility standards while expanding the attraction's lore. The gardens are divided into distinct areas, each telling its own story through carefully curated details and antiques that Irvine personally sourced "from Pasadena to Temecula."
A new retail space, dubbed Madame Leota's Somewhere Beyond, has also been added adjacent to the ride's exit. The shop, designed as a carriage house, has been in development for approximately ten years. "To shoehorn anything into tiny Disneyland is really hard," notes Irvine, adding that "a lot of people in merchandising would have preferred it was bigger."
The shop features numerous connections to the attraction's history, including a chandelier that once hung inside the mansion itself. "We made this in the early '80s to go over the crystal ball before it floated," Irvine says, describing the spider web-inspired fixture that was relocated during previous updates.
Looking ahead, more changes might still be coming to the beloved attraction. Imagineering continues to evaluate potential updates, including the possible removal of the hanging corpse in the stretching room. "We're still looking at that," Irvine says. "That one is complicated, structurally… One thing at a time."
