Is the Haunted Mansion Holiday or more less scary that usual?

[MissMichigan]

If they are a little scared, keep them distracted while in the stretching room. IMO, that & the walk to the buggy is the scariest part. Plus, I personally think the hanging body is just not appropriate for small children to see. But that's just me...

As far as I know, this isn't actually part of the holiday overlay version of the ride. Instead of the "attic" with the body, you see Jack Skellington's face.

OP, I think the ride is less scary with the NBC overlay. Bright colors, catchy songs, and the gingerbread house in the ballroom all make it seem more fun than the original. However, it's a lot LOUDER (especially in the stretching room!). So if your kids don't like a lot of loud noise or something, that's one thing to be aware of.

 

[All American]

We waited until this version of the ride rolled around before we took our daughter (then 6) on it. She had seen bits and pieces of the movie, so she was somewhat familiar with it. She really liked Zero, so we kept the focus on him. Before the ride I told her that we were going to count how many times we could find him in the Haunted Mansion. It really helped her focus on one fun thing rather than look around and get overwhelmed by it all. She came off the ride all smiles and can't wait until she gets to ride it again next month.

I think it's a great way to introduce kids to the Haunted Mansion. However, I agree with the others that it's best to brace your kids (and yourself) for the stretching room. I don't think the room itself is so bad; I can't say the same for the screaming.

With that being said, when everyone was referring to Nightmare Before Christmas as "NBC", I kept wondering what that channel had to do with Disney. I thought ABC belonged to them. Oops!

 

[bumbershoot]

@Bumbershoot - we'll be there the same time. Our first disney day is Sept. 30th. LOL!

Yay!

 

[blyday]

I agree that the stretching room is the worst of it. And unfortunately....the screaming is actually part of the sound track so even if you are the only people in the room.....the screaming will happen (trust me.....we've been there!!!) And just as a correction...there is not a body hanging in the Holiday version....that is the original. The Holiday version ends with Jack's face covering the entire ceiling.

After you get past the stretching room....the rest is easy going from there. And most definitely less scary then the original version.

 

[MusicalDisneyDreams]

When we went in 2005, I was nine. I'm a total scaredy cat; even more so then. I'd seen NBC before going and so I refused to go on the ride; the movie really freaked me out. I think it gave me nightmares for weeks. My mom made me go on the ride and I absolutely hated it. My parents had to cover my eyes to get me through NOS the rest of the trip.

Now, I love the movie and the ride. But I was apprehensive when I was smaller because I knew I hated the movie. I would suggest taking them on the ride before showing them the movie, personally. I find the ride much less scary than the movie.

 

[chrissiecutie]

I agree that the stretching room is the worst of it. And unfortunately....the screaming is actually part of the sound track so even if you are the only people in the room.....the screaming will happen (trust me.....we've been there!!!) And just as a correction...there is not a body hanging in the Holiday version....that is the original. The Holiday version ends with Jack's face covering the entire ceiling.

After you get past the stretching room....the rest is easy going from there. And most definitely less scary then the original version.

Sorry- I must not have been very clear. I do know there's no body in the NBC version. But was comparing the original to NBC for scare factor.

Personally, I find NBC to be cheesy & fun. The original is my fav but what I said was that the scariest parts (IMO) are the stretching room & the long hallway to the buggys. DS always has a death grip on my hand during the walk. Everything else, he's totally fine.

And when doing the original HM, if kiddos scare easily, don't let them look up at the hanging body I just think its inappropriate for small children to see but that's just me.

 

[larina]

I agree that the Haunted Holiday version is less scary. It is very cartoonish (I don't care for it at all; my daughter and I were totally bummed that we wasted a special FP on it on Christmas night) and not as creepy as the regular version.

 

[scrapshappen]

Last October, my six year old got a little freaked out in the NBC HM. But he has a hard time with the difference between pretend and real. It was one of the first rides we went on and it ruined part of that day for him. But a few days later, when he was more into "Disney Magic" we took him on it again (we gave him the choice of going on it with me and a friend, or staying back with dad and brother and he chose to go with mom) and he was fine.

I don't know why, but we generally end up on the HM pretty early in our trip and we had a similar issue with the oldest when he was much younger. So if you are going for multiple days, I would put off going on it a day or so until they are into the "Disney Magic."

And definitely, watch the movie first. We'll be doing that before we go back in November.