Haunted Mansion Holiday (Seasonal Overlay)
About this ride
The Holiday ballroom features dancing Nightmare Before Christmas figures. Jack, Sally, Oogie Boogie, and the rest all feature prominently. The gingerbread house is rebuilt each year by Disney chefs into an increasingly elaborate confection. It's a completely different experience from the standard Haunted Mansion.
Best time to ride
Mid-October weekdays and early-to-mid January offer the best combination of festive atmosphere and manageable waits. Avoid late October, Thanksgiving week, and December.
Insider tips
- Ride both the regular Haunted Mansion and the Holiday overlay to appreciate how different they are.
- The gingerbread house in the ballroom scene changes every year.
- Oogie Boogie's shadow on the wall is one of the most impressive effects in the entire overlay.
- Ride in the first week of October for the freshest new theming.
What to know before you ride
- Nightmare Before Christmas aesthetic can be disturbing for young children unfamiliar with the film.
- Darkness throughout.
- The Oogie Boogie scenes are intentionally menacing.
Good for
Mateo's Take
“The single best version of any Disney ride overlay, period. The gingerbread house alone is worth the trip. If you're visiting Disneyland between October and January, this becomes the #1 must-do in the entire park.”
— Mateo, Lead Disney Parks Specialist
Related guides
Planning a Disneyland trip?
Save on tickets before your visit — same parks, lower prices.
Some links on this page are affiliate links. We may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. This helps us keep the site free.
More family-friendly rides at Disneyland
View all →Haunted Mansion is the quintessential Disney dark ride — spooky, witty, and endlessly detailed. You board a Doom Buggy for a guided tour through a grand manor populated by 999 happy haunts. The Disneyland version is the longest Haunted Mansion in any Disney park worldwide, with a unique outdoor section through the New Orleans bayou.
rating
4.8
/ 5.0
Pirates of the Caribbean is the original Disney dark ride masterpiece — the one that set the template for everything that followed. Walt Disney himself oversaw its creation, and it opened in 1967 as the last attraction he personally supervised. You drift through moonlit bayous and into a chaotic port town under siege by buccaneers.
rating
4.8
/ 5.0
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride is one of Disneyland's original 1955 dark rides, and it survives as the last of its kind — Disney World replaced theirs with Winnie the Pooh decades ago, making this the only Mr. Toad's Wild Ride left on earth.
rating
4.4
/ 5.0