Is the Haunted Mansion Ride Scary? Disney Guide for 2024

Is the Haunted Mansion ride scary? How about plus size friendly?

Planning your first (or next) Disney trip and find yourself wondering “is the Haunted Mansion ride scary?” Fear not (ha!) we’ve got you covered.

Disney is largely known as being the happiest place on earth, but does that mean all the rides are cheery? The Haunted Mansion is supposed to be a haunted house style ride, so is it really kid-friendly?

Luckily, yours truly LOVES this ride and has been on it more times than I want to count (seriously, let’s not tally it up). In this fancy lil’ post I’ll let you know everything you need to know about this Disney ride, whether or not it’s worth it for you to wait in line (honestly, it’s usually a short wait), and if you might find it frightening.

Is The Haunted Mansion Scary?

You’ll be thrilled to know that the Haunted Mansion ride is not scary. It does contain mildly frightening scenes (but not really) and it’s very dark — but the ghosts are friendly, there’s no gore, and the ride moves very slowly. The average adult and children (ones that aren’t too young) should be totally fine.

The Haunted Mansion Experience

Every good theme park has a haunted house, and Disney parks are no exemption. The Haunted Mansion is Disney’s attempt at taking a light-hearted jab on the traditional haunted house, and it works.

Unlike in your average haunted house, the ghosts in this ride are there to make you smile, not cry. There are no jump scares and don’t expect to see any headless axe murderers — which leads me to say that MOST adults and children alike will not have an issue with this ride.

It’s worth noting that the dark could make it scary for some younger or particularly sensitive children. However, I do think that the biggest problem you’ll come across is with your older children finding it a tad bit boring.

Recommended Age

There’s no official recommended age for the Haunted Mansion ride, but the dark could be scary for some toddler-aged cherubs. There is also no height restriction on this ride, but children under the age of 7 must be accompanied by someone who is 14 years or older. So, if you don’t have any built-in visitors (AKA teenagers) you might have to ride with little Susie.

Special Effects

What makes the Haunted Mansion ride unique are some of the special effects that Disney Imagineers have employed to give it its overall look and feel.

In particular, when you first head into the ride you go into the stretching room. It’s not some medieval torture room, but instead a room that, quite literally, seems to stretch. In the Florida version of this ride it is an actual illusion, but in California there’s a hidden hydraulic elevator under your feet that slowly moves you (and your fellow passengers) underground.

You’ll also come across a few floating ghosts and objects. Again, there’s no real magic here, simply an age-old illusion technique called Pepper’s Ghost. To employ this fancy little technique, you’ll need a few panes of glass, an object you want to float and a well placed light or two. In Disney, these dancing, floating ghosts are actually moving around a hidden ballroom, and using glass and lights, Disney’s imagineers have reflected them in the glass in the room you’re in.

All-in-all, while the Haunted Mansion isn’t a thrilling ride, it’s got a lot of cool features that are worth seeing at leastonce.

Wait times

The Haunted Mansion is one of the park rides that usually has shorter wait times. On average, the wait time to get on one of the Doom Buggies will probably be around 30 minutes. However, during busier park days the wait times could be closer to an hour.

Is the Haunted Mansion ride plus size friendly?

Chances are you won’t find the Haunted Mansion ride scary. But you know what you might find scary? Walking ALL THE WAY to the front of the line only to learn that you can’t fit in the vehicle.

Luckily, I find the Haunted Mansion ride to be fairly plus size friendly. I’ll admit that I fit into the smaller end of the plus size spectrum, but let’s dig into this a little bit.

Ride Vehicle

The ride vehicle of the Haunted Mansion is called the Doom Buggy — yeah, that’s right. It’s a half-sphere vehicle that features a bench in the middle with a pull-down lap bar to secure you in.

Each car features a single Doom Buggy that can fit either two adults or a single adult paired with two children. Note if you are plus size, you might need to ride in the Doom Buggy by yourself. That’s TOTALLY fine. My mom and I rode separately because honestly, two plus size adults won’t fit comfortably into a single car. That’s TOTALLY fine.

There is no BEST seat in the Haunted Mansion ride. All of the cars give you the same experience as they move around and turn you towards whatever display you’re supposed to be watching. You will board your Doom Buggy as it moves slowly through the loading area, and throughout the ride, the maximum speed you’ll experience is 3 miles per hour.

Accessibility

There’s mixed reviews of the accessibility of the Haunted Mansion. According to Disney, guests need to transfer from their wheel chair or electric vehicle to the ride car. However, it’s recommended that you ask the cast member for guidance.

At the very least, the cast member can slow down or stop the walkway so you can board. But there may also be a modified Doom Buggy (or Transfer Access Vehicle) that can be of assistance as well. It’s possible this depends on the exactly location of the ride your visiting (i.e. Disneyland vs World), note that I’ve never accessed the accessibility features on this particular ride.

Haunted Mansion history

The Haunted Mansion is primarily a scenic ride — that is, it’s not about the thrills but about what you see — and it took a long time to build. Construction of the Disneyland version of the ride began in 1961. However, the Haunted Mansion opened almost eight years later on August 9, 1969. It was the first ride that was opened without Walt Disney’s direct supervision. While he did take part in early designs of the ride, he died in 1966 and never saw the ride through.

In my opinion, the Anaheim version is the one to see if you’re there during the Halloween special set up. Over the holiday season (from around September to January) they overlay themed decorations from The Nightmare Before Christmas to host the Haunted Mansion Holiday. To be fair, I’ve never actually seen the Anaheim version without this overlay — and it’s well worth it. However, they do close the ride for a few weeks before and after the holidays to set up and take down the decor.

Where can you find the Haunted Mansion ride?

There are four versions of the Haunted Mansion ride that you can check out, but where in the park you’ll find it depends on which Disney Park you’re visiting:

Disneyland, Anaheim

In the OG Disneyland, located in Anaheim, California, you’ll find the Haunted Mansion ride in New Orlean’s Square. It’s right around the same area that you’ll find the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Walt Disney World

In Walt Disney World, you’ll need to visit the Magic Kingdom park. You’ll find the Haunted Mansion ride in Liberty Square land.

Tokyo Disneyland

For those visiting Tokyo Disneyland, you’ll want to head to the Fantasyland area in the park where you can ride the Haunted Mansion ride.

Disneyland Paris

Finally, in Disneyland Paris, you’ll head to Frontierland (the same place you’ll find the Big Thunder Mountain ride) where you can ride the Haunted Mansion.

Tips for riding the Haunted Mansion

I’ll be honest, the Haunted Mansion ride is not that hard to access. The average wait time is around 30 minutes, though on busier days it could reach closer to an hour. However, there are a few tips and tricks I can pass along to make your ride that much more enjoyable:

• You can use Lightening Lane: Like I said, the queue for this ride isn’t anything like Space Mountain where you need to wait for an hour or longer. But if you just LOVE it and have to experience it without waiting in line, you can use the Lightening Lane pass as part of your Genie+ if you want to.
• You might want to skip it if you have young kids: The Haunted Mansion doesn’t have much of a true scare factor, but it is dark throughout and there are ghosts (friendly ones, but alas). If you have young kids that scare easily, it might be a good idea to skip this ride and avoid your friendly ghost host.
• The Halloween is the BEST time to visit the Disneyland (Anaheim) version of the ride: If you love Nightmare Before Christmas (like I do), the best time to visit this ride is sometime between September and January where you can experience the Haunted Mansion Holiday.

I’ll be the first to say that the Haunted Mansion isn’t the best ride in any of the Disney parks. However, it is worth at least a single visit so you can say you did it.

Final thoughts: Is the Haunted Mansion ride scary?

The Haunted Mansion ride is NOT scary at all. Most children and adults will be able to handle it with no problem, however it is dark and there are (friendly) ghosts. If you’re a rider that’s concerned about accessibility, you’ll need to transfer to the Doom Buggy car, according to the official Disney note on the matter — but make sure to talk to a cast member.

This is a pretty cool ride, even if it’s a little more on the boring side (says the girl who LOVES the Mark Twain Riverboat), and I highly recommend you check it out at least one. It’s not based on any films — though notably Disney did put a movie called The Haunted Mansion out after the ride was built — but if you head to Disneyland in Anaheim during the Halloween and Christmas season, you’ll get a chance to experience The Nightmare Before Christmas version.

All-in-all it’s a slow, easy-going ride that you can tell the Imagineers put a lot of effort in to. I’d say the best part of the ride is checking out the overall experience — particularly the stretching room and the cool little special effects that are in play. Isn’t that just like Disney though? It’s less about the ride and more about the overall experience.

Haunted Mansion FAQs