A woman in her 60s has sadly died after experiencing a medical emergency on Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion Holiday ride.
The incident occurred on Monday (October 6) at the Anaheim theme park, where the ride had been transformed for Halloween with characters from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
According to Anaheim Police Sgt. Matt Sutter, emergency crews were called to the scene at approximately 6:30PM after the woman was found unresponsive at the end of the attraction.
“Anaheim Fire & Rescue responded to the Disneyland Resort for an unresponsive woman in her 60s who had just finished riding the Haunted Mansion attraction,” Sutter told The Independent.
He said Disneyland security provided CPR until paramedics arrived.
The guest was then transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Cause of death under investigation
The Orange County Sheriff-Coroner is investigating the cause of death.
Disneyland officials declined to share further details, citing privacy concerns.
The woman’s identity and exact age have not been released.
The news was first reported by Disneyland influencer Matt Desmond, who wrote on Instagram that the guest “had a heart attack on Haunted Mansion Holiday.”
He added that she “didn’t respond when it was time to walk off the ride".
No signs of ride malfunction
Despite the tragic incident, authorities said there is no indication that the ride malfunctioned.
“There is no indication of any operating issue with the attraction, which reopened soon after,” Sutter said in an email, shared by The Los Angeles Times.
“This appears to be an unfortunate medical episode, and our thoughts go out the family.”
The Haunted Mansion is a slow-moving dark ride in Disneyland’s New Orleans Square, with guests seated in “Doom Buggies” that travel at about one mile per hour through ghostly scenes, seances, and seasonal decorations.
First opened in 1969, the ride becomes Haunted Mansion Holiday each fall, with a themed overlay that merges spooky elements from the original with characters from the 1993 film.
Theme park safety expert Dennis Speigel, founder of International Theme Park Services Inc., noted how rare such incidents are.
“I have to say that if you picked a ride at Disney, this or Small World would be the last type of ride you would expect to see something like this to happen,” he said. “These are the rides for great-grandmothers.”
Speigel added that deaths at theme parks are uncommon, though not unheard of. “Transparency comes at the highest level for Disney,” he said. “It’s much safer to ride Space Mountain or any ride at Disneyland for a month straight than to drive one day on the 405 Freeway.”
Tragedy follows separate fatality at Universal Orlando
The incident comes just weeks after another fatality at a theme park, when 32-year-old Kevin Rodriguez Zavala died from blunt force injuries after riding the Stardust Racers roller coaster at Universal’s Epic Universe in Orlando.
His family and attorney Ben Crump have since accused the park of reopening the attraction too soon, before independent investigations could be completed.