Walt Disney World Resort’s Haunted Mansion is once again under fire as some Disney Park guests claim the ride has “sinister” energy. The discussion comes amid ongoing debate about the hanging doll in the “Stretching Room” portion of the attraction’s pre-show.
The Haunted Mansion is one of the most well-known Disney dark rides, operating at Disneyland Park, Magic Kingdom Park, and Tokyo Disneyland. Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris have their own distinct versions of the not-so-scary haunted house, called Mystic Manor and Phantom Manor. The attraction has also inspired two feature films.
As The Walt Disney Company corrects past mistakes, like turning the racist Splash Mountain attraction into Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, some Disney Parks fans fear that The Haunted Mansion’s iconic Stretching Room could be next on the chopping block. The pre-show has long been criticized for using suicide as a punch line.
At the end of the pre-show, The Ghost Host tells Disney Park guests that the chamber they find themselves in has “no windows and no doors…which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out!”
He laughs: “Of course, there’s always my way.” The entire room goes dark, someone screams, and a doll in a hanging noose drops from the ceiling.
This week, one Disney Park guest said they felt Walt Disney World Resort needed to do more to make The Haunted Mansion enjoyable for guests. On Reddit, user u/Nightskyy722 said the Magic Kingdom Park attraction had “sinister” energy that made them never want to ride again:
“I know many of you absolutely LOVE this ride and I get that. There’s a certain appeal and there’s some pretty neat effects but I seriously could not wait to get off this ride and I will never be riding it again. Yes I know it’s supposed to be ‘spooky’ and all but being in this place gave me a really weird almost sinister vibe. It’s not that I found it particularly scary or anything it just made me feel really uneasy and like the place had real negative energy or something. Anyone else feel this at all or am I just crazy?”
The Walt Disney World Resort guest said they didn’t feel the same energy on other scary rides.
“I love Tower of Terror and find that way more of a spooky sort of a ride but I don’t get the same weird feeling I got at the mansion,” they added.
Other Walt Disney World Resort fans empathized with the guest’s experience.
“I’ve actually always felt off on that ride,” u/Olive521 commented. “It’s not scary or spooky… more like unsettling. I avoid it when I can.”
“Once I was in the long hallway near where they put the Hatbox Ghost recently for an extended period of time- and it is very creepy and overstimulating there,” u/ThePlanets14 replied. “It’s a great effect- but 5 minutes of it was too much! I felt like I was in the conjuring!”
Still, most Disney Parks fans argued the ride operates precisely as intended.
“It was designed to be both fun-spooky and unsettling-spooky,” u/BlaineTog wrote. “Sounds like one half just resonates with you more than the other and that’s ok. Not everyone has to love every ride.”
u/BigMax agreed:
“It sounds like you got more out of it than most of us! We love it, but aren’t THAT put off by it. People pay lots of money to be genuinely scared or uneasy.
Count it as a win!
For what it’s worth, I think for some people, the ‘classic’, old timey vibe kind of gets spookier over time, as it’s obviously perfectly accurate to it’s time, since it was made a long time ago at this point. It’s not classic because someone made a ride in 2024 to feel classic, it’s classic because it was made in the 1960’s and still is much the same. It looks, smells, acts, and feels like no rides that are made today, because of a million really little things that would be different if it was brand new. I think that “out of time” feeling could be off putting to some people.”
Walt Disney Imagineering has not announced plans to remove the hanging body from the Stretching Room or otherwise permanently update The Haunted Mansion.
Disneyland Resort modifies its Haunted Mansion every Halloween and Christmas season, transforming the New Orleans Square ride into The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) inspired Haunted Mansion Holiday. The attraction is currently operational but requires a Virtual Queue as Walt Disney Imagineers reconstruct the queue and a new gift shop.
Should Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort retheme The Haunted Mansion ride? Share your opinion with us in the comments.
Please stop! If you don’t like a ride at Disney don’t go on the ride!!! I am tired of people ruining it for other people! In fact, don’t even go to the park!!!!
This right here! If you dont like it dont ride. It leaves more room for the rest of us! Go to Six Flags!