Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion now closed for refurbishment

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Posted: Monday August 7, 2023 8:30am ET by WDWMAGIC Staff

The Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom is now closed for a brief refurbishment.

The closure begins August 7 and will continue through August 9, reopening to guests on August 10, 2023. Disney says that the closure is a "routine refurbishment," and although not confirmed, we believe the refurbishment will include replacing the conveyor belt at unload.

Although Disney started work on the installation of the Hatbox Ghost last week, it is expected that he will not be unveiled on the August 10 reopening of the mansion. Disney is yet to give a date for his unveiling and has only said that he will materialize "later this year."

Hatbox Ghost installation

A curtain is now in place on the left side of the Endless Hallway, where the Hatbox Ghost will be positioned.

The addition of the Hatbox Ghost to Magic Kingdom's Haunted Mansion comes after years of speculation, and its return to the Disneyland Haunted Mansion in 2015.

Haunted Mansion Hatbox Ghost at Walt Disney World

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JoeCamelAug 15, 2023

If they did Spirit would close

some other guyAug 15, 2023

I thought China had strict anti-spoopy laws?

yensidtlaw1969Aug 15, 2023

What, was it the Load Belt that was replaced? I was told Unload EDIT: I see I both misread your post and made a typo in mine, thank you! I definitely meant unload

Splash4evaAug 15, 2023

They still arent running?!? That is an absolute disgrace. Wow

peter11435Aug 15, 2023

Yep. This. Except unload belt.

ToTBellHopAug 15, 2023

The Epcot trams are receiving your sympathetic vibrations but need you to vibrate 18% more.

buckeyegatorAug 14, 2023

or the trams re-appear

yensidtlaw1969Aug 14, 2023

Hatbox.

Tha RealestAug 14, 2023

What occurs first? Hatbox arrives in WDW, or Haunted Mansion arrives on D+?

yensidtlaw1969Aug 14, 2023

It really wasn't. The unload belt needed to be replaced, and it needed to be done before the busy Halloween season started. That meant the refurb had to be done before the 11th. The WDW Mansion doesn't get a lot of downtime, so they tried to maximize it by hitting as many bullet points as possible - Park Leadership has a soft spot for the Mansion and wants it to look as well as it can (within the constraint of the necessary downtime) for when The Hatbox Ghost arrives. The Hatbox Ghost being added to the WDW Mansion is only very loosely tied in to the movie - he will look like Disneyland's figure, not like the version in the movie, and clearly his arrival is not timed with any particularity to the movie's release, given that it's already been out for more than 2 weeks and the HBG's reveal date remains mysterious. But the fact that there was a new movie featuring The Hatbox Ghost made it easier to justify throwing a couple dollars towards that project, for which interest had existed since his successful return at DL.

JustInTimeAug 14, 2023

I absolutely think the timing is due to the film but the changes aren’t directly inspired by the movie. Remember - the budget was approved for this refurb and it was supposed to be part of the 50th celebration.

SourcererMark79Aug 14, 2023

New Leota B-Mode?

Disgruntled WaltAug 14, 2023

Fair enough...I'm not reaching for anything. I'd much rather the movie stays out of the park. I just thought it looked similar, and now thanks to this post, I see what you mean. Though I still believe the timing was likely related to the film.

BocabearAug 14, 2023

I think the new more sculptural wig looks great, and is also probably lacquered within an inch of it's life so that any cleaning or repairs to the head in the ball would not require a re-styling of the hair component... I like it... and it not so different, but feels a little more designed and stylish now.