Over a year after his arrival was first announced, the Hatbox Ghost has joined the happy haunts of the Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World.
Hatbox Ghost Arrives at Magic Kingdom
Guests can now encounter the Hatbox Ghost in the Endless Hallway scene, standing beside the neverending passage and grinning at guests as they ride by in their Doom Buggies. This makes him the first specter that guests actually see on the ride, appearing before the narration states that happy haunts are “beginning to materialize.”
Initial preparations for his arrival were made in August, with curtains going up in the Endless Hallway on August 1. The Haunted Mansion closed for refurbishment from August 7–10, and while the Hatbox Ghost was not present when the attraction re-opened, some minor changes were visible, such as an updated Madame Leota and the return of Prince Amenmose, the tea-sipping mummy, to the graveyard scene.
We have wondered whether the addition of the Hatbox Ghost in this particular location will negatively affect the lore of the Haunted Mansion, but Disney Imagineer Daniel Joseph shared at Destination D23 2023 that since Hatbox Ghost is an “unhappy haunt,” he can come and go as he pleases.
The Hatbox Ghost was in the original Disneyland Haunted Mansion on opening day. Technology had not quite caught up to the ghost’s vanishing and appearing head, however, so the ghost only lasted a few weeks before disappearing for nearly 50 years.
The Hatbox Ghost returned to the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland in 2015. He appears at the end of the attic scene, after the Bride.
Stay tuned for our video of Hatbox Ghost in action inside the Haunted Mansion at Magic Kingdom:
Have you seen the Hatbox Ghost now that he’s materialized in Magic Kingdom? Let us know what you think of the new addition in the comments.
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