Due to our upcoming Disney Adult trip to Disneyland Hotel Villas, this post will focus on news and updates to Disneyland Resorts. There has been a lot of updates and news on the west coast Disney parks. Sometimes Disneyland news gets lost in all the updates on the Florida properties. I have a certain fondness for the California resort. Disneyland was the first park I visited back in the late 60’s. (1960’s not 1860’s!) It was also the first park where Grandma and I took the family on what became a long family tradition of Disney family vacations. The parks have changed a lot since then. This will be our first trip back since the 50th Anniversary! We are very excited. I have been digesting lots of info and without further ado, we will start with one of our favorite attractions. The Haunted Mansion.

PS. Let me know in the comments what other aspect of Disneyland you would like to see covered.

Haunted Mansion

On one of my first trips to Disneyland, the Haunted Mansion was not open. All that was there was the building and fence, along with various signage giving the back story for the attraction. My heart was broken. I was very much a horror movie fan, even at this young age. Since then Grandma and I have experienced the Mansion in many incantations. (Pun Intended, HA!) . It never disappoints. We still prefer the OG attraction at Disneyland. The Brick Mansion at WDW is great, but there is just something about Disneyland’s version that is very special.

New Queue

First up is the Haunted Mansion Queue. This attraction has been undergoing a major overhaul. The queue area was completely renovated. As you can see in the Disney concept art, it was queue was greatly expanded. This is to facilitate a new elevator to make the attraction more accessible. Excellent video coverage of the new queue was done by wdinfo.com. This post features an Imagineer giving a tour of Haunted Mansion’s new queue. Read about it in Imagineer Gives Tour of Haunted Mansion’s New Queue at Disneyland

Gift Shop

The next change is somewhat controversial. A new gift shop was added. I must say that I am not a big fan from the photos I have seen. Seems really out of place and not at all in keeping with the over all theming of the Mansion. The video blog Hey Brickey gives an excellent run down with both pros and cons of the new structure. Brickey is a designer and has a unique perspective. Here is his analysis: Did Disneyland just Ruin the Haunted Mansion? I highly recommend watching it.

New Bride

© Richard Harbaugh Disneyland Resort

The Haunted Mansion just reopened after its closure to remove the holiday overlay. Not only was the overlay removed, but a new bride and other subtle changes were made in the attic scene. This changes actually is a throw back to the original bride when the attraction first opened. This change was even covered by one of my favorite Tech News Blog, Gizmodo. This article, Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Bride Has a Surprising New Backstory, contains quotes from Disneyland’s executive creative director of Imagineering, Kim Irvine. The video blog, FreshBaked, has an excellent video of the changes as well as a great commentary in the entry: Is the new bride better? Is the new bride RIGHT?

Wrap up.

Grandma and I are very excited to see all the new changes to the Haunted Mansion. It has long been a must do attraction for us. We made our DVC reservations 11 months ago. We have been watching the progress of all the renovations. At one point in time, the only way to experience the Haunted Mansion was by using a virtual queue. Fortunately, that requirement has been removed. I have not had much luck with virtual queues. There will be a trip report forthcoming once we return home. Stay tuned for more Disneyland in the news.

Do you like the updates to the Haunted Mansion? Let me know in the comments what you think.

Until Next Time