Welcome Foolish Mortals to the Haunted Mansion! I couldn’t resist, sorry!! We went to Disney Springs last weekend to see the new movie and had just an overall Haunted Mansion day. So I thought this week I would share with you guys what that looked like and my thoughts on the new movie, but no spoilers I promise!! Let’s hop in a doom buggy and get started!
Special Treats
First we took a trip over to the Magic Kingdom to try to special Haunted Mansion treat at Sleepy Hollow Refreshments in Liberty Square. It was a Peanut Butter and Jelly hush pop. I’ll be honest here, I only got this because we were having a Haunted Mansion day and it came in a tube with the Haunted Mansion wallpaper on it. Hahaha! I knew it wouldn’t be anything I loved but I’m a sucker for anything Haunted Mansion. So needless to say I didn’t really like it. I was literally just peanut butter and jelly layered in a push pop tube. If you typically eat PB & J with a spoon you would probably really like this but it was not for me!
We wanted to go over to Port Orleans French Quarter to get the Haunted Mansion beignets and the cocktail but time wasn’t on our side so we settled for the push pop!
The Ride
Next we made our way over to Gracey Manor. If you don’t know that is the actual name for the Haunted Mansion and Master Gracey is the decaying gentleman in the portrait when you enter the foyer. This has been my favorite ride since I was a kid. I love the story line and that their are so many different stories depending on what happy haunt you are talking about!
Wether it’s Constance Hatchaway, the “widow” who only wanted fortune and luxury and obtained it by decapitating her wealthy husbands, the Hitchhiking Ghosts always looking for a ride out of the mansion, Madame Leota conjuring the spirits from regions beyond, the dueling brothers or any number of the other 999 happy haunts living in the mansion there is a good story to go along! The newest addition to the happy haunts will be the Hatbox Ghost materializing later this year! He is already in the California version of Haunted Mansion but now we are getting him too and I am beyond excited about it!!
Let’s Go To The Movies
Next we headed over to Disney Springs to see the movie! We grabbed some dinner at The Boathouse of course, it’s the best but that’s a topic for another blog. I LOVE the way Disney really does it up for movie releases at Disney Springs. Always head over to the AMC entrance closest to Splitsville, that’s where they have the photo ops set up and all the cool lighting at night! The boys love taking the picture where they have the step and repeat banners up and of course I dressed up like a Ghost Host!
The only thing I was disappointed with was that there were no special drinks or treats inside the movie theatre for the movie. No special popcorn bucket, no special cocktail or anything like that. But there were lots of pop up photo ops and they were really cool!
How Was The Movie
IT WAS GREAT! My whole family really enjoyed this one! The story line was fantastic and tied in so many happy haunts into the story very organically. The best part was that it tied the two coasts rides together. The New Orleans Square Haunted Mansion and the Disney World Haunted Mansion were both featured and connected in a very cool way. The Hatbox Ghost was also a central character and it was really cool to watch his story unfold and learn more about him.
It was an amazing cast of actors, Owen Wilson and Danny DeVito are two of my favorites! And without giving any spoilers, the story was just heartwarming while still being creepy and a little scary and also hilarious! It wasn’t too long and we left loving the Haunted Mansion even more!
Conclusion
Obviously I may be a little biased on this topic since the Haunted Mansion ride has always been my favorite and I even enjoy the old Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion movie. I know I’m in the minority there but I do love that one too. But this one is very different from that first movie in all the right ways and told an amazing story that tied into the two rides beautifully! I highly recommend going to see this, it’s not too scary for younger kids but not boring for the older ones.
As always, I thank you all so much for being here and reading along, you make my Thursdays the best day of the week! Now a spirit is going to follow you home (or wherever you’re going after reading)! Have a magical day!
