The scrims are down at the Haunted Mansion. After months hidden behind scaffolding that obscured one of the most photographed silhouettes at Magic Kingdom, the refreshed facade is fully visible again in Liberty Square, and the work looks complete from the front.
The Dome Is The Giveaway
The single most obvious change is at the very top. The dome finial above the entrance tower read as gold or bronze back in January. It now carries a green, weathered patina. Comparing before and after photos, Blog Mickey called it the most noticeable difference on the whole building.
The wrought iron roof cresting and the bat weathervane above the dome are both still in place, and both look freshly cleaned rather than replaced.
The Brickwork Went Two Directions At Once
Below the roofline the change is subtler and, in person, more effective. The cornerstone bricks have come out considerably lighter while the body bricks have gone darker, which pushes the contrast between them and gives the whole facade a richer look than the more evened-out scheme it carried before.
Here’s what it previously looked like:
Other details round it out: a new roof, a burnt and smoky finish near the tops of the chimney stacks, and a general refresh of all the paint. Taken together the changes move the mansion closer to its original color design rather than reinventing it.
How We Got Here
Imagineering filed a permit in December 2025 listing only “install set elements” as the scope of work, with no indication of what was coming. Scrims and scaffolding began spreading across the front in January. Disney confirmed in February that this was a standard facade refresh with no changes to the show scenes or the stretching room, and that the attraction would stay open throughout, which it did.
That February statement also turned out to be the answer to a separate mystery. When guests reported the stretching room’s hanging corpse had vanished, the cause was a lighting fault rather than a removal, consistent with what Disney had said about the exterior-only scope. That has since been resolved, and the corpse is visible again.
Not Finished At Ground Level
Construction fencing remains around the base while work continues nearby, and there is plenty of it. A queue building near the mansion is being expanded, built against the back of an existing facade that once served as extended queue space, as part of the broader construction behind the walls in Liberty Square.
All of that ties back to the Piston Peak National Park expansion taking shape next door, which is reshaping this whole corner of the park. The mansion itself, at least, is out from behind the scrim.
Updated photos provide by @IvanUnsupervised
For the latest news and updates make sure to follow us on social media! Facebook | Twitter | Threads | Instagram
