Haunted Mansion Holiday
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Haunted Mansion Holiday is a seasonal attraction at the Disneyland parks in California and Japan. Called Holiday Nightmare, it is a blend of The Haunted Mansion and Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Since 2001, Disneyland has closed The Haunted Mansion during the month of September to convert it into the Haunted Mansion Holiday. The ride is closed again during January to return the Haunted Mansion to its original state.
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[edit] Storyline
The story of the new overlay of the Haunted Mansion follows the story of the Nightmare Before Christmas. Jack Skellington and the townsfolk of Halloween Town invade the mansion and transform it into a Christmas winter wonderland.
[edit] Popularity
This yearly holiday overlay is very popular with guests in California and Tokyo. Waits of up to 1 hour are not uncommon. In California, the attraction's FASTPASS machines, usually defunct for the original Haunted Mansion, are utilized when the Holiday overlay is open.
[edit] Changes
- The Haunted Mansion, both inside and out, is decorated in Christmas decorations and jack-o-lanterns.
- The plaque outside the mansion is replaced by the spooky Christmas wreath from the Nightmare Before Christmas.
- The Ghost Host's lines rhyme, and he is voiced by Corey Burton.
- In Tokyo Disneyland Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare, the portrait of Master Gracey is replaced with a portrait of Jack Skellington. The portrait then changes to Jack in his "Sandy Claws" outfit.
- The stretching and changing portraits are all different. On Tokyo's version, the changing portraits are part of the ride itself.
- On the Tokyo version, the library features Zero decorating a Christmas tree made of floating books.
- Zero, the ghost dog, replaces the floating candelabrum in the endless hallway
- The strange vampire teddy bear replaces the raven in the conservatory.
- The evil wreath appears again in the corridor of doors.
- Madame Leota has a new speech about the 13 days of Christmas.
- In the ballroom, there is a massive gingerbread mansion and a large Christmas tree, too.
- In the attic, most of the old stuff has been replaced by scary toys, including a jack-o-lantern in the box, and an enormous snake curls around the room with a long naughty and nice list in its mouth. The bride doesn't appear.
- In the graveyard, Jack Skellington appears in his Santa suit with Zero, standing where the caretaker and his whimpering dog are.
- A group of singing pumpkins replaces the singing busts, singing a new version of Grim Grinning Ghosts.
- A skeletal reindeer plays tug-o-war with a skeletal dog in the graveyard.
- Lock, Shock, and Barrel (recently Oogie Boogie) have replaced the Hitchhiking Ghosts. Instead, the trio "pop-up" during the mirror reflection. On Tokyo's version, audio-animatronic versions of Lock, Shock, and Barrel replaces the Hitchhiking ghosts. They are also seen as the cars pass the mirrors.
- Replacing Little Leota at the end of the ride is a miniature version of Sally the living ragdoll.
[edit] Soundtrack
The attraction's musical score was originally arranged by Gordon Goodwin. It was replaced in 2002 with an original score by John Debney, based on themes from the film's original score that was composed by Danny Elfman. Several characters in the ride are voiced by the original actors from the Nightmare Before Christmas.
The original ride soundtrack can be found on A Musical History of Disneyland (2005).
The attraction also has its own CD: Disneyland: Haunted Mansion Holiday (2003 CD).
The music in the graveyard of the ride is Jingle Bells and Grim Grinning Ghosts mixed together.
[edit] Hidden Mickeys
- In the ballroom scene, a few piles of snow are gathered around on the floor by the hearse. One of the piles is in the shape of Mickey's head.
- One set of plates on the ballroom table is in the shape of Mickey's head: One large plate for the head and two smaller plates for the ears.
- In one of the stretching portraits, the Scary Teddy from the Nightmare Before Christmas has a head with two small ears that resemble Mickey's ears. Scary Teddy was also in the movie, and frequently featured in the ride, replacing the ride's mascot raven.
- Again in the stretching portraits a "regular" Teddy Bear wrapped around the snake can be seen as a hidden mickey.
- One of the "pre-stretched" portraits has a Christmas tree, where two tiny ornaments line up with a larger one.