The Haunted Mansion Parlor Is a True Disney Treasure

Somewhere along the way Disney became just as good at making bars as it is theme park attractions. The latest proof: the Haunted Mansion Parlor, a new themed lounge found exclusively on the Disney Treasure cruise ship and based on the beloved ride that originally opened in Disneyland in 1969. It’s as close as you’ll ever get to drinking a cocktail while creeping through the Mansion in a Doom Buggy, and the highlight of the brand new boat. 

The best Disney bars commit to a clear theme, with a level of detail and execution equal to their most popular attractions, and that’s exactly what you’ll find with the Haunted Mansion Parlor. They could’ve just covered a room in the ride’s distinctive wallpaper, thrown some of its spooky portraits on the wall, and played “Grim Grinning Ghosts” on a loop, and people would’ve been totally happy. Instead they went above and beyond, turning this bar into its own attraction, with all kinds of special effects and unexpected twists capturing the whimsy and atmosphere of the ride. It’s great enough that it should sway Disney parks fans considering a Disney cruise towards the Treasure, whose maiden voyage launches later this month.

The Haunted Mansion Parlor’s show cycle, which lasts for roughly 40 minutes or so, follows the story and flow of the ride. At the start of the cycle, the room looks like a creepy but not overtly haunted bar. Is it old, outdated, weirdly dark and filled with unsettling paintings? Sure. There’s no sign of any ghostly activity, though—not until after the familiar voice of the Haunted Mansion’s ghost host (the original audio of Paul Frees’ timeless narration is used here) welcomes us to the parlor and starts to explain its ghostly history. Paintings come alive—or, I guess, undead—as music starts to play throughout the room. Before long the ghost host calls upon Madame Leota to perform a seance (the bartender gave us a bell to ring upon Leota’s command), with her disembodied, crystal skull-encased head appearing in the mirror behind the bar. She goes through the same ceremony as the ride, after which ghosts from the attraction start to appear behind the bar for the rest of the show. The paintings, once static, dance within their frames while singing the lyrics to “Grim Grinning Ghosts.” The aquarium at the center of the parlor, once filled only with water, becomes home to swimming fish skeletons that look like the bones you’d see in a Heathcliff comic strip. Lights flash, lightning crackles, the ride’s famous song sees a few changes in arrangement and genre, and almost every recognizable ghost from the attraction shows up on the mirror at one point or another. 

If you’re a fan of the ride, you’ll no doubt love to see its story retold in a new way like this. It actually evokes the earliest concept for the Haunted Mansion, when it was going to be a walkthrough exhibit instead of a ride—only now, instead of walking, you sit on a barstool or in a comfy couch with a drink in your hand while all this spookiness unfurls around you. The Parlor also explicitly references a separate unbuilt walkthrough attraction that was planned as a kind of sidebar to the Haunted Mansion, the Museum of the Weird. Designed primarily by Imagineer Rolly Crump (who passed away last year at the age of 93), it would have been full of creepy occult artifacts without the overt comedy of the ride; some of Crump’s ideas were later used for the ride itself, and reappear here, along with a melting bust of a character named Brother Roland who is modeled after Crump’s appearance.

The show might be the main draw here, but any bar worth its salt needs good drinks, too—even themed ones. The Haunted Mansion Parlor doesn’t fail on that point; its menu features a diverse lineup of tasty cocktails whose names reference the ride. Among them is the Chilling Challenge, a riff on a blood orange margarita that arrives in a box and is topped with a lime salt air foam; images of ghosts are “hidden” in the foam, and only become visible underneath a black light. The Final Vow is a mezcal sour with a hint of strawberry and a hot sauce kick, and the Last Catch is a tropical whiskey smash, with Old Forester Statesman, rose syrup, mango, lime, and pineapple. Those last two both come in collectible tiki-style mugs based on Haunted Mansion ghosts and only available on the Treasure; the Last Catch mug is a grim mariner, seemingly hewn out of granite, with a small metal harpoon in one hand, while the Final Vow mug features a sultry mermaid bride smiling with devilish intent. Both of these characters can be seen within the ride in the gallery of portraits that grow sinister when lightning strikes; they’re also both on the wall of the Haunted Mansion Parlor, where their portraits sing along to “Grim Grinning Ghosts.” If you want a collectible that’s more affordable, there’s also a plastic sipper of the Hatbox Ghost, complete with a face that jumps from his head to his box and vice versa.

If you aren’t a drinker, but want in on the fun, no worries: the Haunted Mansion Parlor also serves up zero-proof cocktails, including a non-alcoholic margarita called Sympathetic Libations, a pun from Madame Leota’s ride spiel. Ghoulish Delights is an oat milk-based mocktail that tastes like the leftover milk in a bowl of cereal; it’s surprisingly delicious, with tapioca pearls at the bottom, and a gummy eyeball staring at you from the top of the glass. The Ghostly Retreat mixes a bottle of Creepy Crawly soda with grenadine, black cherry, and lime, and is a delicious treat for all ages. In keeping with the theme, those Creepy Crawly specialty sodas come packaged as “potions,” and shimmer in ghostly ways when the bottle is stirred; it’s just one of the many small touches that make this bar a total delight. There’s also a “secret menu” that can only be accessed by turning the digital menu upside down and answering a riddle from Madame Leota, in a fun bit of technical trickery in keeping with the spirit of the ride.

If you do sail on the Disney Treasure, and want to experience the Haunted Mansion Parlor, be warned that it’s guaranteed to be the most popular spot on the boat. If you want to guarantee a seat, you might want to show up early, before it opens each night. A 45-minute time limit will be enforced, like at Oga’s Cantina at Star Wars—Galaxy’s Edge, which is fortunately enough time to see the entire show cycle, and should help with the wait.

That popularity will probably make it hard to experience this space the way it should be experienced: from multiple vantage points in multiple seats. Although you can see everything from any seat in the house, your experience at the bar will be a little different than what you’ll find sitting in one of the seats by the fireplace, or on one of the couches beneath the paintings across from the bar. It’s worth repeat visits if you can swing them, especially since it’ll most likely be a long time before you’re back on board the Disney Treasure, if ever.

If you’re familiar with Disney bars, the closest comparison to the Haunted Mansion Parlor is Trader Sam’s, the tiki bar found at both the Disneyland Hotel and the Polynesian Lodge at Disney World. The Haunted Mansion Parlor is even more active and entertaining than Sam’s, though; although the show cycle can go several minutes with the same basic stuff happening and no major changes, that stuff is still happening, making the show a constant whir of activity to soak up. If the Parlor was built at any of Disney’s theme park resorts, it would instantly become the best bar there, and easily outclasses the really cool Star Wars bars on the Disney Wish and at the (no longer open) Galactic Starcruiser. 

The Haunted Mansion Parlor isn’t just a new highwater mark for Disney bars, though. It reveals a whole new way to approach them—not just as traditional bars with Disney theming and references to rides or movies (something you can see elsewhere on the Disney Treasure at deeply enjoyable taverns based on the Jungle Cruise and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), but as an adaptation of an existing Disney concept. It’s not a replacement for the Haunted Mansion, but it’s fun and exciting enough to impress anybody who might not know the ride, and if the bar came first it would be a beloved classic in its own right. We shouldn’t expect every upcoming Disney bar to match this one, but it does set the bar very high for the Pirates of the Caribbean lounge coming to the Magic Kingdom in 2025. The Haunted Mansion Parlor isn’t just an amazing bar; it’s one of Imagineering’s best projects, period, in quite some time.

Senior editor Garrett Martin writes about videogames, TV, travel, theme parks, wrestling, music, and more. You can also find him on Blue Sky.