D23 Gold Members Treated To ABC-Quality Livestream Delving into Disneyland's Haunted Mansion Holiday

This evening, D23 Gold Members sat down with their devices and screens for this month’s installment of D23 Gold Theater. This recurring event invites D23 Gold Members (for free!) to a virtual screening room for a special broadcast or livestream of a special event or topic. This time, we got a highly produced (in a good way) special event that rivals most of the other fare (replays of D23 panels, etc) that has been featured in the Gold Theater. 

Tonight, we joined Disney Legend Don Hahn as he took us into the annual creation of the Haunted Mansion Holiday attraction at Disneyland Park. The whole special was highly crafted, and rivals a lot of Disney+ and even sponsored Disney Parks National Geographic fare taking a fun, behind-the-scenes look at this annual transformation of the classic Disneyland attraction. Perfect since the park is still celebrating their 70th anniversary. 

The whole thing started with Hahn going to the Walt Disney Archives where he was joined by their president, Becky Cline. There, they give a few minutes of summary of the creation of the Haunted Mansion (more of the same of which can be heard in more detail in the Haunted Mansion episode of the Disney+ series, Behind the Attraction) touching upon original ideas and sketches that date back to 1957. Some of which might sound or seem a bit familiar to those who have visited the Haunted Mansion Parlor aboard the Disney Treasure or upcoming Disney Destiny, as they have carried over into that special Disney Cruise Line experience, focusing on a sea captain and his new bride. 

In fact, the only thing the say that carried over into the Haunted Mansion from those original ideas was the idea of guests seeing a hanging corpse - which inevitably made it into the top of the stretching room at the beginning of the attraction. 

Cline then pulled out a vintage piece - yes, vintage - from when Haunted Mansion Holiday first debuted at Disneyland, back in October of 2001. She opened it up to reveal that it was an invitation to a special sneak preview event on October 3rd, 2001, showing off that Steve Davison (who helped bring the attraction overlay to life and is also known for his work on the nighttime spectaculars of the Disney Parks), Danny Elfman, and Tim Burton among others would all be in attendance at the event. 

She also showed off some of the scrolls that featured the lyrics of the Holiday Scarols that would play in the queue of the attraction early on in its history. While the special didn’t mention this, those Scarols were removed due to poor audience reception, after being subjected to hearing them repeatedly (and being encouraged to sing along) while waiting to experience the exciting new offering. 

Hahn then took us back to the Mansion itself as it got ready for this year’s version of the now-classic attraction overlay. We get to see of the creatives and teams that install much of the decor and animated figures that are seen inside, as they explain that as soon as the original version of the attraction closes on that last day, they move quickly to strike as much of the “classic show” as quickly as possible and start bringing in all the Haunted Mansion Holiday decor and show pieces. Fortunately, they don’t have to go very far. 

As they explained, 95% of the set pieces - like the Pumpkin Mountain, and Pumpkin Snow Angels - are all stored in the building year round. Later on in the special stream, we learned that a lot of this storage takes place in the attractions rig loft. You might be surprised to learn that that storage and area is practically in plain view of guests who ride the attraction. Kind of. One cast member explained that yes, it’s there all the time, but to guests passing through the graveyard scene, it appears as a forested area just over the hill.  To get all the sizable decor out, chain motors are set up in the rig loft, stretching out across the graveyard scene, and everything is brought down for installation for the attraction’s annual new look. 

Among the things brought out of storage - approximately 75 to 80 animated figures that are added to the attraction for the seasonal makeover. When asked if other figure animation is changed (there are a lot of figures already in the Haunted Mansion), the answer was clear. Nothing changed, only the addition of the animated figures. I guess that doesn’t count the complete removal of the groundskeeper in favor of Jack and Zero, but that could also fall under the aforementioned striking of the “classic show.”

It’s also funny to note that Don Hahn, a longtime producer at Walt Disney Animation Studios before setting off on his own projects, like the documentaries Waking Sleeping Beauty and Howard among others, said that he had first heard of the idea of retheming the classic Haunted Mansion for the holiday season to Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas and laughingly thought “that will never work.”

Now, years later, fans wait eagerly and specifically for this seasonal attraction layover to occur. It’s a fondness shared largely because of the same fondness over the original stop-motion animated film. That’s why we head over to the Animation Research Library at the Walt Disney Animation Studios - which Hahn himself had a hand in creating. There, we meet up with manager Fox Carney, who showcases a bit of art and puppets from the actual production of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas. Many of the selections show how the look and ideas lend themself to the idea of Haunted Mansion Holiday - including a Christmas tree with pumpkins, the idea of Jack as Santa, a graveyard with snow, and more. 

A lot of footage from the original Making Of documentary dating back to 1993 was also featured as we discuss the puppets, the rigging, and the switching out of multiple Jack Skellington heads to make him talk in the film - as is the process of stop-motion animation. 

There is also a lot of talk about Tim Burton. After all, his role in the creation of The Nightmare Before Christmas was a pivotal one, originating the story and characters and serving as a producer on the film. The whole idea came from a poem that he wrote, evolving into this film. However, he was not the one who directed it - that title and honor went to his friend, Henry Selick, who was skilled in the art of stop-motion animation. However, largely due to Disney’s marketing, there has been some confusion over that fact, especially with the title "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

This is addressed a bit later when Hahn takes a seat at Madame Leota’s table to contact both Danny Elfman, who composed and wrote music for the film, and director Henry Selick. Both are talked to individually, and via crystal ball - which, let's be real - is a clever way of disguising the Zoom conversation. Like I said, this is a very produced and well crafted special that quite frankly, deserved better than the D23 Gold Theater, but it is a great opportunity for D23 Gold Members. It was honestly refreshing to hear Hahn call Nightmare Selick’s movie, considering Burton is largely attached to it in every way. On the flip side, it was also slightly heartbreaking when Selick explained that ahead of the debut of Haunted Mansion Holiday, he had only ever heard rumors of the idea. It wasn’t until he received an invite (presumably like one shown at the top of this special) to the preview of the attraction that he knew that they had made a theme park adaptation (in some way) of the film. 

Selick also shared that he thinks the movie and attraction overlay have stood the test of time because of the music. Ironic, considering he had once told Tim Burton that he felt worried because he felt that there were too many songs in the film. Burton told him to animate everything (easier said than done) and if the songs hurt the movie, then they’ll cut some of them. After everything was animated and all was said and done, they revisited the idea of cutting some of the songs but Selick said that there will be no songs cut from the movie - he had grown too attached to them. The same thing happened with the audiences. They all got attached. 

That music came from Danny Elfman, who shared with Hahn how Burton pitched him the idea. Remember, this was the early 90s. While Elfman and Burton are commonly associated today with the idea of collaboration, this was still early on in their partnership. While Burton tried to present the idea, Elfman told him to tell him the story like a campfire tale. He’d get through it little by little and get to a point where something would inspire Elfman - “That’s a song!” One example: Elfman spoke of Burton saying “and Jack will get there and he’s wondering what’s this, what’s that?” Any fan of the film knows, “That’s a song!” 

What some might not know, Elfman himself is the singing voice of Jack Skellington. They needed to give demos to Henry Selick to begin animating, but Elfman had grown largely attached to the idea of performing this character. As he told Hahn, he was trying to think of a way to delicately request the role with Tim, who when approached with the very idea replied “Don’t worry, you got it.”

Along with these special moments, we head back into the Mansion to see more of its annual transformation. Another stop: the ballroom. One of the most iconic scenes of the attraction, this room gets a bit of special love each year. Not only are additional effects using the Pepper’s Ghost technique added for the overlay - including Zero putting the star on the tree and the Terror Train rolling around beneath it - but also the fan-favorite annual gingerbread house. Each year this real culinary creation takes center stage on the table in the ballroom. This year, it’s covered in a murder of crows. Just like every other year, it is made from real gingerbread, real fondant, real everything. Each year this masterpiece is different, and has crowds come annually just to see the annual iteration. 

They have become so big that this year, it had to be cut into six different chunks that were made small enough to get into the ballroom, and then reassembled once inside. Also, look closely on those shingles for a popular three-circled “hidden” icon.

While other items return year after year, like the pumpkin mountain and snow angels, other touches - like the bows on the graves, gifts in the attic, and more, are more nuanced and are different each and every year. This is something that is discussed when Hahn asks if the snow (which is enhanced cotton batting) that fills up the graveyard just goes into the closet until next year. The short answer was “no.” Explaining that there is no guide to where each piece goes, but the artists and creatives get to do their own thing to make it look as real and natural yet fantastical as possible. 

Another one of those enhancements that is new this year, complete with the artist making it look like it just jumped off the screen, is a newly enhanced Oogie Boogie Audio-Animatronic figure. The special stream also showed the new figure without its skin, surely pleasing a tech-obsessed sect of D23 Gold Members. 

We get to spend some time with Hahn and some of the figure animators and programmers who helped bring this new Oogie Boogie to life, enhancing his performance with broad, big belly laughs. We also get a peek into the animation itself, being done on digital puppet. A far cry from old Disney specials where we see an animator at a console full of knobs and sliders, but equally as effective and interesting. Hahn even compared the process to the original Oogie Boogie armatures that were used in the production of the film. 

While we also look at some of the exterior enhancements to the Mansion facade to wrap up the stream, I couldn’t help but think that this is easily one of the - if not thee - best of these Gold Theater livestreams I’ve been able to sit down and enjoy. While I love the idea that these are just getting better and better, giving value to D23 Gold Members, it was crafted in such a way that I’m stunned it didn’t show up on The Wonderful World of Disney this season. It had a very classic television special, just without a musical performance or Kurt Russell getting lost with the Osmonds. 

If you didn’t catch it tonight, don’t worry. ALL D23 Members, Gold or Otherwise, are invited to tune in for a special encore performance on Thursday, October 30th, 2025, at 6 p.m. PT / 9 p.m. ET. Making Haunted Mansion Holiday with Don Hahn can only be found at the official D23 website, and at that scheduled time. Be sure to tune in! To see Haunted Mansion Holiday for yourself at Disneyland Park, be sure to reach out to our friends at Mouse Fan Travel, who can assist with all your Disney planning needs.