Haunted Mansion during SW Half wknd - closed??

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Hi DL DISers! Haven't been to DL since maybe 2000, before the Nightmare Before Christmas HM overlay, I think. I was just reading the DL 2015 UG, and it says the overlay runs through "early January" and that the ride will be closed for "several weeks" afterwards.

Now I'm worried -- should we expect HM to be closed during the Star Wars Half Weekend, Jan 14-18?? Really hope not... This will be our kids' first time in DL, and they were looking forward to riding it and comparing with WDW.

 

[SMD]

In the 4 years that they've held a January race weekend it has been closed. In 2011, it was open by MLK weekend, but the holidays ended Jan 2nd that year and haven't ended that early since. Assuming they do the full overlay this year and the holidays run through the 6th like they have been, then yes, it will be closed through that weekend.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

In the 4 years that they've held a January race weekend it has been closed. In 2011, it was open by MLK weekend, but the holidays ended Jan 2nd that year and haven't ended that early since. Assuming they do the full overlay this year and the holidays run through the 6th like they have been, then yes, it will be closed through that weekend.

That's awful. I would have thought they'd keep it up until after race wknd when they're attracting so many visitors for it.

Would you happen to know if it's the same for IASW and its holiday makeover?

Thanks for the response... this REALLY makes me sad as it's a favorite of ours.

 

[figment_jii]

We do not yet know what the HolidayTime schedule will be for this upcoming season. As SMD said, HM usually closes as soon as the holiday season ends, but last year the attraction remained open through the following weekend (closed on January 12). Still, it seems unlikely that it would remain open that long past the end of the holiday season.

IaSWH generally remains open until HM re-open, at which point it will close. So, there is a good chance that IaSWH will be open on the race weekend.

 

[SMD]

IASW goes down the day HM comes back up. It will keep it's overlay. By January the HMH overlay has been in effect for 4 months, so it makes sense to take that down first. I know in 2014 Jungle Cruise had it's overlay removal that weekend, but I think last year they turned it around faster, so that one may be down too. Also, the last 2 years Splash was down in January. The last 3-4 years have also seen BTMRR down once and Matterhorn down twice in January. I would not be surprised to see another headliner down at that time.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Thanks all so much for your responses.

I have to say that I find it ridiculous to have so many headliner attractions potentially down when the forecast is for several 8-9 crowd level days around the race weekend. Splash I expect to be down in Jan -- but not all of these others. Right after the race, crowds drop WAY down -- why not wait until after that?? Very disappointing.

I understand wanting to remove a holiday overlay after it has been up for 4 mos -- why have it go up so early though?? Eesh. I'm annoyed.

 

[SMD]

It's the other way around. They're using the race weekends to boost crowds.

 

[NiceOneSimba]

I ran Tink two years ago and Star Wars last year. HM was down both times; IASW was up.

Most likely, one of the water rides will be down (GRR or Splash) and either HM or IASW will be down for holiday overlay removal.

Other than Luigi's, which very well may be open by then, there are no scheduled refurbishments that I know of. It is possible that some will be announced later, of course, but there's nothing months-long on the schedule except Luigi's at this point.

That's not so bad, really. There was a pretty rough period for a while when Big Thunder was done and it was refurbish-o-rama. But that's been over, and it seems like most rides have undergone a fairly long rehab in the last few years. I'm anticipating a good visit--and I'm going to miss HM on BOTH my race weekends (Disneyland half and Star Wars).

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

It's the other way around. They're using the race weekends to boost crowds.

I do understand that, but when they are so successful at boosting crowds that 8-9 crowd levels are observed/anticipated, maybe they should consider that when planning ride closures. Just my two cents.

I've done WDW Marathon wknd and Princess wknd in WDW, traditionally lower crowd times where they're looking to boost -- but crowds there don't hit 8 or 9 on those weekends. It remains slow-ish despite the boost, and they still don't do something like ROUTINELY closing HM. Splash in Jan is pretty much a given, but we're not generally that keen on water rides in Jan anyway.

They even left up the holiday lights in MK for runners on Jan 11. Feels like they could do the same with the HM overlay in DL -- especially given crowd levels.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I ran Tink two years ago and Star Wars last year. HM was down both times; IASW was up.

Most likely, one of the water rides will be down (GRR or Splash) and either HM or IASW will be down for holiday overlay removal.

Other than Luigi's, which very well may be open by then, there are no scheduled refurbishments that I know of. It is possible that some will be announced later, of course, but there's nothing months-long on the schedule except Luigi's at this point.

That's not so bad, really. There was a pretty rough period for a while when Big Thunder was done and it was refurbish-o-rama. But that's been over, and it seems like most rides have undergone a fairly long rehab in the last few years. I'm anticipating a good visit--and I'm going to miss HM on BOTH my race weekends (Disneyland half and Star Wars).

If it's just HM, a water ride and Luigi, I suppose we'll live...

The thought that they may ALSO close BTM or Matterhorn -- that this was commonplace over last 3-4 yrs -- pushes me over the edge!! LOL! If that's not anticipated, I'll feel much better. Still bummed about HM, but better... ...

THANKS AGAIN ALL FOR YOUR RESPONSES!! So helpful to someone who hasn't been to DL in... what seems like forever!

 

[figment_jii]

The thought that they may ALSO close BTM or Matterhorn -- that this was commonplace over last 3-4 yrs -- pushes me over the edge!! LOL! If that's not anticipated, I'll feel much better. Still bummed about HM, but better... ...

It depends on what you mean by "anticipated"...this year (2015) a fair number of attractions went down after the holidays ended in preparation for the 60th anniversary. So Matterhorn was down, but it was undergoing a major refurbishment that took until May. In 2014, Big Thunder was down, but it was coming off a major refurbishment that took far longer than anticipated (the original re-opening date was sometime in fall of 2013, but it missed by several months, so they had planned to have it back up and running for the holiday season and that didn't happen). So the last few years have had some anomalies. In the end it's hard to say if anything else major will be down for the race weekend or not at this point.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

It depends on what you mean by "anticipated"...this year (2015) a fair number of attractions went down after the holidays ended in preparation for the 60th anniversary. So Matterhorn was down, but it was undergoing a major refurbishment that took until May. In 2014, Big Thunder was down, but it was coming off a major refurbishment that took far longer than anticipated (the original re-opening date was sometime in fall of 2013, but it missed by several months, so they had planned to have it back up and running for the holiday season and that didn't happen). So the last few years have had some anomalies. In the end it's hard to say if anything else major will be down for the race weekend or not at this point.

Thanks! I know nothing is ever a guarantee -- something can go down at any time. But it makes me feel better that Matterhorn and BTM closures cited in recent years were mostly major rehabs and not near-annual closures like Splash, HM and IASW.

 

[SMD]

We typically wouldn't know 7 months out if a major refurb is planned for January. My point was that Disney is not adverse to planning major refurbs during MLK weekend. When the BTMRR refurb took longer than expected they actually delayed others, like moving Alice from January to March that year. So it's not that there won't be refurbs in January, it's that major refurbs can't be predicted or discounted as possibilities. In addition you can plan on at least 2-3 other rides having a minor refurb. If you're lucky at least one refurb will start or end during your trip, so you'll get at least one day to hit a ride that will be down.