Jack Skellington isn't taking over the Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom Park this season. A small nod to the film does already live inside the attraction, though, and a recent video from Walt Disney Imagineering has fans wondering whether a bigger version could ever follow.
A Tradition Florida Has Never Had
Every year, the Haunted Mansion Holiday overlay, inspired by Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), transforms the ride at Disneyland Park in Southern California and Tokyo Disneyland in Japan. Walt Disney Imagineering has never brought the overlay to Central Florida. Walt Disney World Resort hasn't explained why, but a few reasons seem plausible.
Disneyland Park is often described as a “locals” park. The resort has only a handful of onsite hotels and two theme parks, while Walt Disney World Resort has dozens of hotels and four parks and draws far more visitors each year. Pulling a popular attraction offline for a few weeks in August and January to install and remove an overlay is less disruptive in California than it would be at Florida's Magic Kingdom.
Florida is also often a once-in-a-lifetime trip for families who travel from around the world. Guests who save for years to visit might be disappointed to find one of the park's most storied rides covered in Jack Skellington and Oogie Boogie for a limited run.
Even so, Walt Disney World Resort has never ruled out the idea.
The Easter Egg Already Inside
The overlay debuted at Disneyland Park 25 years ago, but at Walt Disney World Resort, the film has only one presence: in the library of the Liberty Square attraction. The official @waltdisneyimagineering Instagram account recently posted a close-up of the two Easter eggs inspired by the movie, asking:
Did you know you can find a reference to Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion?
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“We do have an homage to The Nightmare Before Christmas in this stack of books,” said Jessica, a Senior Illusion Developer for Walt Disney Imagineering.
Visitors shouldn't expect Oogie Boogie, Sally, Jack Skellington, or Zero to appear at the Magic Kingdom attraction this year. But the film does have a permanent, if quiet, place in the Liberty Square ride.
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