Among the flood of Disney Park rumors lately is one that seems a bit more far-fetched but I wanted to comment on anyways, that is a possible Haunted Mansion Restaurant Coming to Magic Kingdom. This news was shared by the often reliable WDW1974 who says it’s a sure thing that at some point we will see a Haunted Mansion Restaurant. Just to be clear this is only a rumor and nothing is official at this point but the idea seems possible, yet with some major problems to hurdle if true.
First off, where would a Haunted Mansion Restaurant go?
There’s not a ton of real estate close to the HM for a restaurant if you aren’t making some serious changes to the existing structures. Some have suggested it could go where the Columbia Harbour House currently is, I really hope not. The Columbia Harbour House is one of the best quick service spots in MK and I would hate to see it go honestly. For fish it’s #1. Even if you put a Haunted Mansion restaurant there, it’s a long distance from the Haunted Mansion and would throw off the theming of Liberty Square imo. At that point why not just rename the whole square?
I don’t think an expansion of the mansion itself is possible, and many feel it ruins the story having 2 haunted mansions. How could you explain the dining room in the Haunted Mansion and another one in a Haunted Mansion Restaurant? While I understand that thinking, I think one place it could potentially go is to the back left of the existing HM structure. You could make a line queue to the left of the existing attraction line that wraps around the building and have some other structure there, like a guest house or something I guess. Something like this:
This is where a potential Haunted Mansion restaurant could go
Would it be a quick service option or table service?
My guess is probably something along the lines of what you have at Be Our Guest…an elaborately decorated environment in a fast casual setting where perhaps at times it could be table service or others more like quick service. The problem is I don’t think the Haunted Mansion environment is best suited to when you’re eating. I mean who wants spiderwebs falling down on your head while eating, or skeleton hands crawling into their plates? No thanks. I know HM is extremely popular with WDW guests, but I have a feeling many would get the same impression.
Disney has tried other attraction-based restaurants before besides Be Our Guest, like for example the Skipper Canteen Restaurant which was put in a year and a half ago, which has had mediocre success if that. Now that’s not because Skipper Canteen is a bad place, it’s actually themed excellently, their failure for the most part is trying to keep a unique menu fit for the jungle cruise while at the same time appease the normal theme park crowd that only wants chicken tenders and pizza. They’ve had 2 menu overhauls already and Skipper Canteen is consistently one of the lowest occupied restaurants in the Magic Kingdom.
Also it just seems a bit too forced. Yes I know HM is very popular, by why kill something that works? Do we have to squeeze out every last bit from each attraction, movie, etc that Disney does, just to make a few extra bucks? We’ve seen that lately with Disney re-booting every classic film in its vault into a remake. I get the feeling that Disney is just chasing every dollar and a sloppy presentation of the Haunted Mansion would be a terrible idea. They shouldn’t add stuff just to add stuff, but only if it really adds value to the current attractions/movies/etc. But since there is another Haunted Mansion movie coming out (didn’t they learn anything when the first one flopped?), it wouldn’t surprise me if Disney tries to force it.
Don’t get me wrong, I think if done properly it could be a success, but it just doesn’t seem necessary to me. Instead why not focus on some new originally themed attractions and restaurants? That’s always when Disney is at its best, when it comes up with fresh new ideas, characters and stories, not when it rehashes the same stuff.
When would this all happen? Walt Disney World has its 50th anniversary in 2021 so if this is really in the works then expect it before then. WDW1974 expects it in 2020 which sounds like a reasonable bet. What do you think?
Your Thoughts:
I want to know what you think so far about a potential Haunted Mansion Restaurant Coming to Magic Kingdom. Would you like to see it happen? Where would you put it and what would it be like? Let us know in the comments section below!
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My name is Ziggy and I love Disney, everything Disney! I grew up on Disney and it has and continues to be a huge part of my life. I started young when my parents took me to Disney World when I was 18 months old. Little did they know that would be the first of an uncountable number of trips we would take. I have so many amazing memories going to Disney with my family and friends and it has been interwoven into my DNA.
Echo the Smythe (amateur imagineer)
Friday 21st of March 2025
Your general overall idea of an in-parl, in pavilion, etc restaurant themed to the attraction is of course very lucrative and to fans of said attraction/franchise also exciting. That said, your second paragraph likely loses many who would also second this idea because you refuse to think like both a true fan AND a creative but managerial profiteroles imagineering exec/concept builder in that you can't even imagine how much better, way, Columbia House or similar nearby and thus ride hosting pavilion sites might actually fare with this major thematic refurb. Sorry, but the likes of that exitising restaurant, or maybe Memento Mori in the Disneyland equivalent, just aren't as fresh and or lucrative as perhaps a mixed use and ir thematically overhauled business there could. Traditional DISNEY isn't about making a new and or inconvenient such addition so much as "plussing" (the now faitly famous in-company abd fandom term, even outsude of DISNEY, for simply adding on to ab existing concept to make it even better than it pribably or actually is or could be) what already exists/is at least somewhat far into the early development design process. What would be much smarter in this case is to take a logical existing thematically adjacent location and further tie that in by reworking at least the internal theming to reflect the related attraction (in this case, say, refurbishing Memento Mori into a mixed use restaurant with an equally thematically related exit/entry shop and or converting the look and menu theming of a near enough site like Columbia House to tie into the attraction in question). Barring this more cost effective and more guest convenient solution, a similarly lucrative alternative at least in the case of MK would be to at keast situated the completely ground up new subfacility somewhere almost as convenient and thematically lucrative. I literally almost laughed outta my seat seeing your too quickly patched imsgineering idea of placing the new restaurant way on the inconveniently accessible side of the ride facade, which at very least almost certainly would require sacrificing a sizable area within the exterior queue section of WDWs mansion nit to mention the slight hassle guesrs would gave to endure of having to walk that long, far too dedicated subpath way over around to the inconveniently located restaurant, when its more feasible and amenable to if anything sacrifice the mostly inimaginative theming on the MK HM exterior gateside exit area from the ride. Theres just enough space in that sub-lot to create a restaurant/mixed use HM subsite of adequate size to accommodate expected typical capacities. Why not simply use that if not sacrificing an adjacent in business site in nearby Liberty Square? Better still, rework the rude exit to be part of this new tie-in business, tyoucal 8f the now decades old standard of theme park rides that empty to if not load adjacent a shop and or eatery? This would at least guarantee enough entry/exit interest to initially if not persistently throughout time maintain adequate or better subsite foot traffic AKA knock-on business. Thats all how to think like an actual balanced imagineer who is minding creative versus capital concept. Your ideas likely could ultimately doom such a subbbusiness simply because of, say, a very inconvenient subfacility location.