Haunted Mansion Holiday

Haunted Mansion Holiday (known in Tokyo Disneyland as Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare) is an annual holiday overlay of the Haunted Mansion attraction at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland featuring the characters from The Nightmare Before Christmas and it had been held every year since 2001.

Story[]

Haunted Mansion Holiday takes place shortly after the events of the movie, where Jack Skellington (who tried to create his own twisted Christmas in a Halloween-style in the movie) now discovers the Haunted Mansion, home to 999 happy haunts. Deciding to spread joy to the mansion's gloomy residents for the holidays, Jack and his creepy crew from Halloween Town bring hundreds of Jack's original evil Christmas presents and decorations to the mansion and deck its happy haunting grounds for a thrilling and chilling holidays for the Grim Grinning Ghosts inhabiting the abandoned house, setting the stage for the ride itself.

Attraction[]

Exterior Queue[]

Upon entering the grounds, guests can see that the facade had been decorated with jack-o'-lanterns, candles, Halloween-style Christmas decorations, and a countdown clock to Christmas Eve. Jack's sleigh can be seen on the roof, and his long twisted "Christmas Equation" dangles from the sleigh. Jack Skellington in his scarecrow form wearing a Santa Claus hat stands in the front yard, and an Oogie Boogie topiary is placed in the pet cemetery. Outside the mansion, the music box track from Disneyland Pairs' Phantom Manor plays.

At Tokyo Disneyland, the mansion does not have a countdown clock or a Christmas Equation hanging from Jack's sleigh because of the design differences between the mansions. Instead, pumpkin snowmen can be seen and Sally's ingredients from the movie can be seen in the pet cemetery.

The Foyer[]

Guests enter the foyer, which has been decorated with skull wreaths and garland. The Ghost Host begins to tell the story in rhyme. From there, doors open, letting guests into one of the two portrait chambers.

At Tokyo, a painting of Jack Skellington transforming from his usual outfit to his Santa Claus outfit, in place of the changing portrait of Master Gracey.

The Stretching Room[]

In the stretching room, the stretching portraits are replaced by stained-glass pictures depicting Christmas scenes with wreaths as their frames. After the doors closed, the chamber goes dark and begins to stretch. The sound of the glass pictures breaking can be heard, and portraits of Halloween Town's Christmas vision are revealed including:

The Man-Eating Wreath hanging on a door. Or Jack Skellington riding his sleigh outside the mansion.
The evil toys emerging from the presents.
Jack with lots of ghosts behind him.
A massive carnivorous snake.

The Ghost Host begins reciting a dark variation of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" poem as eerie music plays, extensively featuring a choir. The suspense builds, a spider crosses the ceiling. Once the room stops stretching, the ceiling (which was revealed to be a stained glass ceiling) partially breaks, creating the grin of a jack-o'-lantern. It finally smashes all together revealing Jack and Zero in the attic cackling "Happy Holidays, everyone!". The room goes dark again, and a dread full scream and the shatter of bones can be heard with the grin of the jack-o'-lanterns reappears briefly. When lights go back on, Jack and Zero are gone leaving only the Ghost Host's hanging body visible. The doors reopen, leading guests into the hallway.

At Tokyo, and before 2013 at Disneyland, The Ghost Host's hanging body is replaced by the head of Jack Skellington.

The Portrait Corridor and Loading Area/Library, Music Room, and Stairway[]

Stepping out of the stretching room, guests walk down the portrait corridor. The changing portraits from the original ride are replaced with ones that change go back and forth between Halloween and Christmas including:

Santa riding his sleigh with his reindeer, which changes into Jack Skellington as "Sandy Claws" riding his sleigh with the bonedeer, and Zero.
A snowman with a Santa hat, and a yellow scarf, which changes into a pumpkin snowman.
The Haunted Mansion exterior, that transforms to the mansion decorated for Christmas and covered in snow.
Jack Skellington's "Pumpkin King" portrait, that changes into Jack wearing his Santa Claus outfit.
Sally admiring a small Christmas tree, which changes into the tree now burned into ash. (This changing portrait was based on the scene from the film)

Zero can be seen phrasing through the portraits with his nose illuminating the parts of them. The choir sings the song Kidnap the Sandy Claws. Outside, a snowstorm appears to be taking place, and the Halloween Town Band can be seen outside. The staring busts now haven spider-webs in front of them that glistened with the words "NOEL" and "Ho-Ho-Ho". The loading area is decorated with Halloween and Christmas decorations and there is a huge Christmas card with many characters from the movie celebrating the season. The card features the words "MERRY CHRISTMAS" at the bottom of the card, which changes into "SCARY CHRISTMAS" intermittently.

At Tokyo, there is no changing portrait hallway like at Disneyland's. Instead, after the stretching room, guests enter the loading area, which is decorated with orange Christmas lights, little pumpkin snowmen, garland with skulls, and wreaths. After boarding the doom buggies (which are renamed to "Black Sleighs" or "Black Christmas Sleighs" for the overlay), guests glide underneath a stairwell where Jack, Sally, and the Vampire Teddy Bear greet guests. Guests enter a portrait corridor, where the Sinister 11 portraits are replaced with portraits of the citizens of Halloween Town. In the library, orange Christmas lights are wrapped around the staring busts, and Zero is seen wrapping a floating Christmas tree made out of books wish tinsel garland (The library can be seen in a doorway from the balcony in the ballroom at . In the music room, Sally is sitting in the chair next to the piano that the Vampire Teddy Bear is playing. The Doom Buggies then enter up the stairs, where they see terrified green cockroaches in cages with gift tags that read "For Oogie". At the top of the stairs, Oogie Boogie's shadow can be seen dancing and turning into a Christmas tree shape in the full moon above.

The Endless Hallway and Corridor of Doors[]

After boarding the Doom Buggies, guests travel up a staircase, where a pile of presents are seen at the top with the Vampire Teddy Bear sitting on one of them, fishing for humans. As the Ghost Host continues to tell the story, guests pass by the endless hallway where Zero is seen floating in the hallway in place of the floating candelabra. The moving suit of armor wears a jack-o'-lantern mask and has garland wrapped around it. A pile of bones are seen in front of the hallway and a wreath made out of dog bones adorns at the top of the hall. One of the bones is floating and has a gift tag that reads "To Zero". Presents sit on the chair next to the hallway, and poinsettias reside next to the chair.

In the conservatory, the Vampire Teddy Bear with a hammer in one hand is sitting on the coffin that the corpse is trapped in, nailing the nails back in. The dead funeral flowers have sprung to life and sing Kidnap the Sandy Claws. The coffin is wrapped with a ribbon and a tag that reads "DO NOT OPEN TILL CHRISTMAS" hangs from the lid. The corridor of doors is now decorated with skulls and garlands, and the Man-Eating Wreath which all the flowers seem to be connected to is seen above the guests. The demonic grandfather clock remains, but now had a ribbon and a gift tag that reads "To Leota: 13 Special Gifts for You! - Sandy Claws" on it.

Seance Room[]

The Doom Buggies then enter the seance room, where Madame Leota is now in the appearance of an ornament. She chants "The 13 Days of Christmas" while the Vampire Teddy Bear sits on top of the chair behind Leota's table ringing two tiny bells. A bewitched nutcracker with green glowing eyes moves its mouth in unison with Leota. The floating instruments are replaced with huge tarot cards depicting Leota's 13 Christmas gifts of which she is chanting.

In Tokyo, the raven remains in the scene and candles are centered around Leota. Lock, Shock, and Barrel appear outside a window at the back of the room.

At Tokyo and before 2006 at Disneyland, Madame Leota didn't float and just stayed on the table.

The Ballroom[]

Guests leave the seance room and move onto the balcony looking down into the ballroom, where a ghostly Christmas party takes place. The ghosts remain the same, but the ballroom is now decorated with Christmas decorations. The table has a huge gingerbread house version of the Haunted Mansion sitting in the center, which changes every year (as per request by Tim Burton). The organist is now playing Kidnap the Sandy Claws. A immense Christmas tree (with one live branch at the top) covered in candles and spiders with lights is placed in the middle of the dance floor, but the dancing ghosts waltz right through it. The monstrous train from the movie can be seen traveling around the tree, and Zero floats above the scene near the tree as the duelists try to shoot him. The curtains at the top of the staircase in the back of the hall are opened, revealing the mansion's library, complete with a floating Christmas tree made out of books.

In Tokyo, the curtains are still closed and Jack and Sally's shadows can be seen exchanging presents under a mistletoe behind the curtain due to the library already seen at the beginning of the ride. Also, instead of a gingerbread house, a giant Christmas cake is in the middle of the table in order to account the culture differences.

The Attic[]

Leaving the Ballroom, the Doom Buggies take guests into the attic, where Jack's halloween-themed Christmas presents are stored including the toy duck, the monstrous train with tentacle-like tracks, a cymbals-crashing Oogie Boogie doll, and three jack-in-the-boxes who's heads pop out while guests pass by. The large orange and purple stripped snake coils around the attic while swallowing some presents and holding the naughty and nice list in its mouth.

The guests leave the attic and head onto the balcony where the Hatbox Ghost stands. The Hatbox Ghost has adorned the top of his top hat with a decorative Christmas skull pin and the hatboxes are topped with Santa hats.

The Graveyard[]

The Doom Buggies move to the side of the balcony overlooking the graveyard now covered snow and orange Christmas lights and the spiral hill from Halloween Town is featured as the centerpiece covered in snow and glowing jack-o'-lanterns. Snowflakes are seen falling instead of ghosts rising as guests go down the stairs next to the balcony. The Vampire Teddy Bear can be seen chewing on Christmas lights, threatening to blow a fuse. As the Doom Buggies reach the ground level, they pass by Jack Skellington dressed in his Sandy Claws outfit wishing guests a merry Christmas with Zero in place of the scared Caretaker and his scared dog. The tombstone and crypts in the graveyard are decorated with ribbons and bows, and the pop-up ghosts are now wearing Santa hats. Sally (who was added in 2016 at Disneyland) can be seen leaning over a tombstone watching admiringly at Jack. The music combines "Grim Grinning Ghosts", "Jingle Bells", "We Wish You a Merry Christmas", and "Jolly Old St. Nicholas". The vehicles pass the singing busts, now topped with singing jack-o'-lanterns at the base of the spiral hill. A bonedeer is seen flying with the bicycle ghosts while they ride their bikes in circles. Another bonedeer can be seen serving cups of teas to the ghosts in the graveyard. The Doom Buggies pass under huge snow angles with pumpkin heads. Before entering the crypt guests, can see the Vampire Teddy Bear one last time, playing a trumpet with another pumpkin-headed snow angle above.

The Crypt/The Exit[]

The Doom Buggies then enter the crypt, where Oogie Boogie as "Oogie Claws" stands next to a roulette wheel under black light, offering the guests some strange gifts. The guests pass by the three mirrors, where they can see what present they're getting this year. If a guest gets a coffin imprinted with a question mark, Lock, Shock, and Barrel will pop out behind each of the three mirrors.

Guests then arrive at the unload area, which is filled with snow and jack-o'-lanterns. As guests travel up the speed ramp to the exit, Sally (taking the place of Little Leota) is seen thanking Jack as he flies away in his sleigh as she waves goodbye to the guests, telling them to hurry back.

Before 2003, Lock, Shock, and Barrel replaced the Hitchhiking Ghosts (who were still in the ride as they were visible from a window in the distance behind the three trick or treaters).

In Tokyo's version of the final scene, the crypt features Lock, Shock, and Barrel inside some presents, hitching a ride with the guests. Sally bids goodbye and waves at Jack as he flies away in his sleigh, crossing the face of the moon and wishing her a Merry Christmas. The guests then disembark in a wreath-adorned mausoleum.

Gingerbread Houses[]

Each year, there is a different gingerbread house in the ballroom. They are real gingerbread houses designed by the talented culinary team of the Disneyland Resort.

2001: The Haunted Mansion with arms counterbalancing each other.
2002: A giant sack of presents in the shape of the mansion.
2003: Oogie Boogie on a roulette wheel, with a small gingerbread house version of the mansion in one hand, and a bowl of ice cream in the other, and two dice cakes on his legs.
2004: Zero's dog house with four bones for pillars. Around the dog house, there are various treats for Zero, who would appear and disappear around it.
2005: The Mansion with the Man-Eating Wreath on the front impaling gingerbread men on the table with forks.
2006: A possessed gingerbread house with tentacles and snakes, and skeleton hands breaking off the roof of the mansion.
2007: A giant jack-in-the-box with Jack, in a jester hat and two jack-o'-lanterns bouncing out of the top and a crank on the side.
2008: The mansion in the shape of a coffin, with a lid that opens, and a giant gingerbread zombie sits up in it.
2009: A scary-go-round, with gingerbread bonedeer as the vehicles and Zero as one of the vehicles.
2010: The mansion in the shape of a tombstone with Jack popping up from behind and the five singing pumpkin heads in the front.
2011: The mansion that reveals to be a monster when it opens it's mouth.
2012: Jack's mansion from Halloween Town with Zero floating at the top of the mansion and the monstrous train traveling around the table. The train carries a cupcake with a candle, which the birthday ghost blows out whenever it travels to her side of the table.
2013: An advent calendar featuring 13 doors. Each week, a new door is opened and a new cookie with Jack's face is added. The thirteenth door has Jack as Sandy Claws.
2014: An iron maiden in the shape of the mansion that opens to reveal a gingerbread man inside.
2015: The mansion made out of cards that was built by spiders and gingerbread construction workers. The mansion leans to the left side as if its about to topple over.
2016: The mansion appearing to be sewed together. A ghost's arm protrudes from the front of the mansion and its eye can be seen in the upper window. The ghosts appears to be itself inside, which may be a reference to the ghost that is walling himself in the graveyard with bricks.
2017: The mansion infested with spiders with Oogie Boogie standing behind it, having pried the roof open, which the bugs came from.
2018: The mansion decorated for Christmas, that is being uprooted by a giant spider.
2019: The haunted mansion featuring gingerbread versions of the familiar characters in celebration of the original attraction's 50th anniversary.
2021: In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the overlay, the gingerbread house takes on design elements from the previous houses.
2022: A large gingerbread guillotine shaped like the mansion with Lock, Shock, and Barrel on top and a cake at its base. The three trick or treaters operate the blade of the guillotine, making it drop over the cake before rising again. Shock and Barrel hold two long poles holding cake slices, which they pass to the ghosts at the table.
2023: A gingerbread mausoleum with a gingerbread ghost named Von Ginger inside, holding a fruit cake.

Voice Cast[]

Corey Burton - Ghost Host
Chris Sarandon - Jack Skellington
Catherine O'Hara - Sally
Susanna Blakeslee - Madame Leota (voice)
Kim Irvine - Madame Leota (face)
Ken Page - Oogie Boogie, Lock, Shock, and Barrel (laughs)

Trivia[]

The original idea for the attraction was for it to be themed around Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. However, the idea was scrapped due to the attraction's setting in New Orleans Square.
Prior to the debut of Haunted Mansion Holiday, Imagineers explored the idea of a standalone Nightmare Before Christmas dark ride, where guests would have hopped onto a coffin sleigh (similar to Peter Pan's Flight) and glide through scenes from the movie.
The props for the Tokyo Disneyland mansion were originally intended for the Magic Kingdom version at Walt Disney World, but when the park decided not to use it, the props were sent to Tokyo's Haunted Mansion, since the the Tokyo mansion is a duplicate of the Magic Kingdom version.
In the pet cemetery at Disneyland, Sparky (from Frankenweenie)'s tombstone can be seen with the dirt being fresh and dug up, implying that the grave is empty (likely thanks to Victor Frankenstein).