Some people dream of being movie stars. Some people dream of working at Disneyland. Josh Gad gets to do both. Over the last several months, Disney Parks has been running a series that sees the actor take on various theme park jobs from Jungle Cruise Skipper to Kilimanjaro Safari tour guide, but on this first day of October, Gad takes on his most chilling challenge: to be a Haunted Mansion caretaker.
In a new Disney Parks video, Gad dons the traditional costume of a Haunted Mansion Cast Member and gets to do something that I‘ve only been able to do when being evacuated from the Haunted Mansion: walk through the attraction itself. He’s clearly having a blast, making plenty of puns that would be perfectly fitting of the Ghost Host himself. Check it out.
The highlight of the video is the back half that sees Gad fully take on his Caretaker role and welcome people to the Haunted Mansion. Many of the guests entering the attraction recognize the actor and are shocked and amazed to see him there, while the actor jokes that nobody will believe them. A real highlight is the mother who points out to her kid, “That’s Olaf.”
Of course, the best Olaf-related moment comes at the end of the video when Gad drops the absolutely perfect Caretaker line from a guy who is also the voice of a talking snowman when he says: “I like cold hugs.” It’s actually a fairly creepy line when you think about it.
The spooky season has actually been going on at most theme parks for well over a month. Disney and Universal largely started Halloween activities in August, but today is October 1, which is the day when rational people begin to celebrate Halloween, making today the perfect day to celebrate the Haunted Mansion.
That said, the video itself is pretty funny because right now Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion looks nothing like it does in this video. When Disneyland starts Halloween Time, the Mansion gets a Nightmare Before Christmas overlay, meaning that this video was filmed sometime over the summer before that transition took place. Of course, a lot of Gad’s jokes wouldn’t be as funny if there was a distinctly Christmas feel surrounding the Mansion as he walked through it.
Who knows where Josh Gad will end up next, but it seems likely he’s not done taking on Disney Parks Cast Member Jobs. Perhaps he’ll become an Imperial interrogator on Rise of the Resistance or drive the Disney World Monorail. Maybe we'll see him sing on Pirates of the Caribbean with John Stamos again. I’ll certainly be keeping my eyes open for him on my next trip to the parks.
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