“Oh, You changed Something Again…” A Look at the NEW Scene in Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion

Over the last 6 decades, change has been a constant at Disneyland’s legendary Haunted Mansion. The attraction has gone through a plethora of changes since it opened in 1969, with both its technology and its themes evolving in multiple ways over the years. During the Mansion’s recent refurbishment, the well-known attic scene featuring the Bride (we’ll get to the specifics on the bride, hang tight) saw yet another change, which just debuted as the original version of the ride has returned from its annual turn as Haunted Mansion Holiday.

The Bride

The attic sequence has been altered somewhat considerably, with the backstory of murderous, axe-wielding bride Constance Hatchaway, which was introduced to the attraction’s mythos in the mid-2000s, being altered considerably. The new scene harkens back to the original version of the Bride from the Mansion’s earliest days, complete with a red beating heart and melancholy visage that seems to imply her husbands have either left her or died, without specifying whether she had anything to do with their deaths.

According to Kim Irvine — longtime Disney Imagineer and the daughter of Disney animator Harvey Toombs and animator-turned Imagineer Leota Toombs, the latter of whom provided the facial design for the Haunted Mansion’s Madame Leota — the inspiration for the change did mainly come from a desire among Imagineers to “change the story back a little bit to the original story that the Imagineers had about a lost bride in the attic mourning the loss of her husbands. It was a sad thing. It was a story about lost love.”

However, Irvine did admit that the “sensitivities of people” did play a role. According to Irvine,“The bride that used to be in there was an axe murderer, and in this day and age we have to be really careful about the sensitivities of people. We were celebrating someone chopping off her husband’s heads, and it was a weird story. I know the fans — some will like it and some will say, ‘Oh, you changed something again.’ That’s our job. That’s what we’re here for.”

A close up of the new Bride and ever-beating heart

In addition to the new backstory, the latest version of the Bride features new projection technology that allows the character to “levitate” in front of guests.

In addition to the new attic scene, Disneyland’s version of the Haunted Mansion has also added new gardens as part of the queue, had its Hitchhiking Ghosts scene upgraded to digital projections, and a new gift shop themed to Madame Leota at its exit.

Decor in the new shop

Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion has re-opened with a newly updated attic scene that once again changes the backstory of the iconic Bride. Stay tuned to AllEars for more on the evolution of Disneyland.