Disneyland's Haunted Mansion Holiday



Past the gates, we hear the haunting music box theme from Phantom Manor at Disneyland's sister park in Paris -- a nice addition to this holiday event which also supports the atmosphere of the Nightmare Before Christmas tale. I must admit, at first I found this view a bit disarming and 'chaotic' compared to the stately, classic clean lines and forms of the Mansion I've known all my life. This impression is partly due to seeing the Mansion on-end when you enter, so the decorations condense in space to appear more crowded than they really are. But as seen below, the decorating scheme's logic reveals itself upon closer inspection.

Apparently those skeletal reindeer barely landed Jack's gothic sleigh safely on the Mansion roof -- his coffin-bodied sled teeters precariously over the edge of the upper portico. Jack's list of formulas to recreate Christmas drapes down past the wreath and holly festooned balcony, lined with more candelabra which flicker to life each evening. Click Next for some nighttime photos which exploit this effect's fullest impact.