Guests walking through Liberty Square are getting their first real look at the Haunted Mansion's updated exterior as workers continue removing the decorative scrim that has surrounded the building during its refurbishment. As of July 30, 2026, most of the covering across the front of the structure is gone, with only a section on the far side still in place.
The refreshed facade leans into the attraction's original color story. The cupola dome has returned to the green finish it wore when Magic Kingdom opened on October 1, 1971, while the brickwork across the exterior appears noticeably darker and the stone accents around the building look lighter — a contrast that mirrors how the building looked in its early decades.
Over the years, successive touch-ups gradually evened out those color differences until the palette became more uniform — the look guests knew right up until the current refurbishment began. The new work seems to deliberately pull the mansion back toward that bolder, high-contrast appearance from its opening era.
The attraction was not operating during the morning visit on July 30, though no official reopening date has been announced. WDW News Today was first to report on the scrim removal and the details of the updated exterior.
