The Haunted Mansion Came Out From Behind the Scaffolding With a New Roof, Ashy Chimneys and Shrubs Still to Be Replanted

The scaffolding is gone. After more than six months behind scrim, Magic Kingdom's Haunted Mansion was visible again on Friday morning, and the house that came out from under the wraps is not quite the one that went in.

We covered the color shift last week as it emerged through gaps in the scrim. This is the first clear look at the facade as a whole, and it brought details that were hard to make out before: a new roof, ashy black work near the tops of the chimneys, and a dome finial above the entrance tower that has traded its gold or bronze look for a green patina.

The Haunted Mansion with the scrim removed on Friday, July 31, 2026. Photo: Blog Mickey.

The dome went green

The most visible change sits at the top. Blog Mickey calls the dome finial above the entrance tower the most noticeable difference: it appeared gold or bronze back in January and now shows a green, weathered patina. WDW News Today, which calls the same element the cupola dome, reports that its green finish matches the way it looked in 1971.

Below that, the brick and the trim no longer sit as close in tone. "The bricks are a darker reddish-brown while the trim is gray instead of beige," WDW News Today wrote. Blog Mickey pointed to a second contrast, between the cornerstones and the body of the wall: "The cornerstone bricks have a much lighter finish. The bricks themselves are darker, creating a much richer look."

The same facade in January 2026, before the repaint, when the dome finial above the entrance tower still looked gold and the brick and trim sat much closer in tone. Photo: Blog Mickey.

The parts that were hard to see until Friday

Blog Mickey reports that a new roof was installed during the project, that all the paint was refreshed, and that the wrought iron roof cresting and the bat weathervane both appear freshly cleaned. The weathervane is still up there. WDW News Today describes the rest of the roofing as black and says the chimneys were refreshed with ashy black detailing. Blog Mickey separately describes a burnt, smokey finish near the top of the chimney stacks.

The greenhouse looks different too. WDW News Today reports its wrought iron framing appears to be a darker green.

It is not quite finished

A few things give away that crews are not done. WDW News Today reports that some trim below the greenhouse has not been fully painted and is still the pale color of primer, that gray tarps remain around the perimeter wall of the facade, and that the shrubbery and trees pulled out to make room for the scaffolding still need to be replanted in front of the building. Blog Mickey says the refresh appears complete from the front, with construction fencing still up at ground level.

How the project got here

Blog Mickey traces the work to a permit Imagineering filed in December 2025 that listed "install set elements" as the scope of work, with no detail at the time on what would change. The scrims and scaffolding expanded in January 2026. In February, according to Blog Mickey, Disney confirmed the project was a standard facade refresh with no changes to the show scenes or the stretching room, and said the mansion would stay open throughout. Most of the scrims were down by the morning of July 31.

Work continues just outside the mansion, which sits in Liberty Square. Blog Mickey reports new construction on a queue building near the mansion, built against the back of an existing facade that once served as an extended queue, and says that structure's footprint is expanding as part of the broader construction happening behind the walls in Liberty Square. Blog Mickey ties that queue building to the neighboring Piston Peak National Park expansion.

Sources

• WDW News Today: Scrim Removed From The Haunted Mansion in Magic Kingdom, Opening Day Color Scheme Restored
• Blog Mickey: Refreshed Haunted Mansion Facade Fully Revealed at Magic Kingdom

Image credits: Featured photo by WDW News Today. Facade reveal and January comparison photos by Blog Mickey.