The Weird Bob Chapek Curse of the Haunted Mansion

“We have 999 happy haunts here, but there’s room for a thousand. Any volunteers?”

Inspiring spooky merchandise, Halloween parades, movies (starring Eddie Murphy and soon Owen Wilson), and The Muppets Haunted Mansion Disney+ show, the Disney attraction Haunted Mansion features a ride-through tour from a Ghost Host in Omnimover vehicles called a Doom Buggy.

But the popular Disney Park ride and its ghosts may have a darker curse for the recently ousted Disney CEO, Bob Chapek.

The beloved Disney dark ride is one of Disney’s most popular and classic attractions. Disney’s haunted house uses a range of clever tricks to create its creepy 999 happy haunts (like Madame Leota and Constance the bride), including spectral Audio-Animatronics and optical illusions like Pepper’s Ghost.

Haunted Mansion can be found at Disney Parks across the globe, albeit in different forms and variations. The classic Haunted Mansion is located at New Orleans Square at Disneyland Resort and Liberty Square at Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, while it is called Phantom Manor in Frontierland at Disneyland Paris, and Mystic Manor at Hong Kong Disneyland and Fantasyland at Disneyland Tokyo.

And like the ride famously states – there’s always “room for one more” ghost among its 999 happy haunts. It seems, however, that this was not the case for the recently fired CEO of The Walt Disney Company, Bob Chapek.

Bob Chapek officially began leading The Walt Disney Company as CEO back on February 25, 2020. On November 20, 2022, his tenure ended “effective immediately” after being replaced by previous Disney CEO Bob Iger, meaning that Chapek was CEO for 999 days.

Yes, you read that correctly. 999 happy haunting days.

Was this on purpose from the Disney Board? We don’t think so, but it has definitely caused a stir in the Disney community.

Was it a message that there wasn’t room for “one more” day of Chapek as CEO? Are Disney execs hinting that Chapek’s tenure as CEO was haunting? Are they insinuating Chapek needs to hitchhike out of Walt Disney World? Or is it a Haunted Mansion curse?

All we know is that in a shock announcement, it was revealed that Bob Iger, one of the most successful CEOs in the history of The Walt Disney Company, is returning to once again head the Disney empire. The former CEO of the Walt Disney Company has been reinstated by the Board of Directors as of November 20, 2022.

Susan Arnold will continue to serve as Chairman of the Board. Alongside the official release from Disney, Iger sent an email to Disney Cast Members sharing “gratitude” and “amazement” at his return to the helm.

Bob Chapek’s time as CEO has divided Disney fans, with several Disney PR backlashes, a political battle with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, a divisive reputation, and a recent focus on budget cuts and layoffs after a poor quarterly earnings report.

With a petition going viral last year trying to persuade the Walt Disney Company to fire Chapek, the Disney head had become quite a continued topic of discussion among Disney Guests – and now it seems, the Disney Board itself.

We’re not sure if his 999-day tenure was planned, but it will certainly remain infamous in Disney fandom. As the Disney Parks attraction famously sings: “Happy haunts, materialize. And begin to vocalize. Grim Grinning Ghosts, come out to socialize!”