Disney’s Not-So-Secret Halloween Tree

Halloween is arguably the best time of year in the Disney Parks (second best for us, but it’s close!). Pumpkins line the windows of Main Street, there are seasonal events like Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom and Oogie Boogie Bash at DCA, plus unique character dining on both coasts, and a variety of other decorations.

Nowhere does Halloween better than Disneyland. As soon as you step foot on Main Street USA, you see the gigantic Pumpkin Mickey Mouse in Town Square, along with a variety of other decorations that aren’t found in Magic Kingdom. You’re also greeted by Mickey Mouse (the ‘real’ one) and pals greeting guests in unique costumes crafted each season. At night, this part of the park really comes alive with the Halloween Screams fireworks, too.

This might be a controversial or unpopular opinion, but for me, the highlight of Halloween at Disneyland is Frontierland. There’s just something about the Old West with a spooky vibe, and it feels like a real lived-in (well, at one time) ghost town. It also helps that the Dia de los Muertos decor near Rancho del Zocalo gives meaning and authenticity to the decorations. But there’s one thing that really puts Frontierland over the top: The Halloween Tree.

Located near Golden Horseshoe, there’s also a lot of actual meaning in The Halloween Tree. For those of you who are not familiar with it, this post offers a bit of historical information about The Halloween Tree, and the man to whom it pays tribute, Ray Bradbury. (Please note that this is a ‘reimagined’ post from the DTB Archives–originally published 10 years ago on Halloween 2014.)

Most Americans probably know literary heavyweight Ray Bradbury for Fahrenheit 451. This has been a curriculum mainstay for countless grade schools around the United States; I fondly recall reading it as a child during “Banned Book Week.” It was one of the first “significant” (save for the seminal Monster Blood title from R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series) books that really captivated me, thanks to its edgy substance and controversial reputation.

Bradbury wrote countless novels, short stories, and other works over the course of a career that spanned decades. One of these was his 1972 novel, titled The Halloween Tree.

Interested in knowing a bit more about the plot but cannot be bothered to read such a voluminous novella because you have important Disney blogs to read? You’re in luck, because the internet is full of summary sites that spare students from such burdens.

The Halloween Tree is a story about eight boys who set out on a Halloween night to meet their friend, Pipkin, at a haunted house. Like all good Disney stories, “something goes terribly wrong,” and then instead end up encountering a mysterious character named Moundshroud next to a tree filled with jack-o-lanterns (hence the title).

This Moundshroud fella leads the boys through time and space making their way through various death-related scenes–witnessing a funeral procession in ancient Egypt, cavemen discovering fire, Druid rites, the persecution of witches in the Dark Ages, and the gargoyles of Notre Dame–as they try to chase after Pipkin.

They finally catch up with their friend and make a sacrifice to save his life. In the story, the Halloween Tree serves as a metaphor representing cultural Halloween traditions.

The Halloween Tree is really an engaging story. It’s sort of unfortunate that Walt Disney never adapted it into an animated short or television special to reach a wider audience. It also would’ve been fun to have an actual collaboration between Walt and Bradbury.

(There is an animated version of the Halloween Tree by Hanna-Barbera that features the voice talents of Leonard Nimoy as Moundshroud. I’ve never seen it, though.)

For years, Bradbury dreamt of having a Halloween tree at Disneyland. That wish finally came true on the 35th Anniversary of his book, when The Halloween Tree was introduced at Disneyland in 2007 with Ray Bradbury on-hand for its dedication. The Frontierland oak was given a glimmering makeover, complete with twinkling orange lights and hand-painted jack-o’-lanterns hanging from its branches.

“I belong here in Disneyland,” said Bradbury at the tree’s dedication ceremony, “ever since I came here 50 years ago. I’m glad I’m going to be a permanent part of the spirit of Halloween at Disneyland.” A plaque at the base of the tree commemorates the night’s celebration.

The Halloween Tree at Disneyland is said to be modeled after the illustration of the tree by Joseph Mugnaini, a frequent collaborator with Bradbury, that appeared on the original cover printing of the novella:

Brad Kaye, Creative Entertainment art director at Disneyland Resort, helped decorate that very first Halloween Tree. “As a fan of [Bradbury’s] books, it was really an honor,” he told D23. “For the first year, [Walt Disney Imagineers] Tony Baxter, Kim Irvine, and I sat in front of the Golden Horseshoe late one night and ‘magic-markered’ all the pumpkins. In the years following, park enhancement has done a wonderful job of keeping it up in all its Halloween glory.”

Bradbury visited his Halloween Tree many more times before his passing in 2012. Today, the Halloween Tree delights Disneyland guests of all ages as part of the park’s Halloween Time décor, and the tradition has even been extended to Disney Cruise Line where versions of the Halloween Tree can now be seen on all of the DCL ships. The Halloween Tree continues to honor Ray Bradbury’s illustrious contributions to The Walt Disney Company.

Speaking of which, you might be asking yourself, “why would Disney honor Ray Bradbury for this short story? Warwick Davis did more for Halloween with his work in the classic Leprechaun films!” I wholly agree with you that Pirates of the Caribbean should receive a Halloween Leprechaun overlay a la Haunted Mansion Holiday.

(Totally off-topic, but Warwick Davis is the only celebrity I’ve ever approached at Disneyland. He was waiting outside Radiator Springs Racers, I went up to him and quietly said, “don’t want to bother you–just wanted to let you know I love the Leprechaun films” and immediately walked away. He seemed surprised.)

Well, it’s probably because Ray Bradbury was a big advocate of Walt Disney and his theme parks. Ray Bradbury’s relationship to the Disney parks is well-documented, and dates all the way back to 1958 when he wrote a letter to the editor of The Nation magazine, defending Disneyland after he read an unflattering article titled “Disneyland and Las Vegas” in the magazine.

Bradbury wrote multiple spirited defenses of Disneyland, some of which told of his great friendship with Disney, how they validated each other’s more outlandish projects, and how Walt flatly refused to ever work directly with Bradbury on a Disneyland project (“It’s no use,” Walt told him. “You’re a genius and I’m a genius. We’d kill each other the second week.”).

One of Bradbury’s defenses of Disneyland argued that it was worthy of intellectuals (“snobbery now could cripple our intellectual development”), proclaiming that “Disneyland liberates men to their better selves.” Here was his closing to that piece:

I rest my case by sending you at your next free hour to Disneyland itself. There you will collect your own evidence. There you will see the happy faces of people. I don’t mean dumb-cluck happy, I don’t mean men’s-club happy or sewing-circle happy. I mean truly happy. No beatniks here. No Cool people with Cool faces pretending not to care, thus swindling themselves out of life or any chance for life.

Disneyland causes you to care all over again. You feel it is that first day in the spring of that special year when you discovered you were really alive. You return to those morns in childhood when you woke and lay in bed and thought, eyes shut, “Yes, sir, the guys will be here any sec. A pebble will tap the window, a dirt clod will horse-thump the roof, a yell will shake the treehouse slats.”

And then you woke fully and the rock did bang the roof and the yell shook the sky and your tennis shoes picked you up and ran you out of the house into living. Disneyland is all that. I’m heading there now. Race you?

Suffice to say, Ray Bradbury had a special friendship with Walt Disney, and the two consulted one another regarding creative endeavors. Even after Walt died, Ray Bradbury remained involved with The Walt Disney Company.

Ray Bradbury was a huge proponent of EPCOT Center. His role in developing the original script for Spaceship Earth is frequently noted, but there’s a good chance EPCOT Center wouldn’t have been the theme park it was at opening without Ray Bradbury so strongly advocating for it among other scholarly minds.

Bradbury’s writings on the significance of Disney theme parks gave them an air of legitimacy to otherwise dismissive critics, early on, and his role in changing the perception of theme parks was great. I could go on and on with what Ray Bradbury did for Disney theme parks, but others have covered what he did for Disney better and in more depth.

Ultimately, Ray Bradbury is definitely deserving of this tribute, and I hope it continues on for decades to come. I realize that most of this has little-to-nothing to do with The Halloween Tree itself, but I think it’s all pretty interesting and sort of related to why the tree is in Disneyland. It’s also nice to pause every once in a while and consider what makes the Disney parks special and significant, and why it’s important to maintain that essence even as they’re injected with more characters and compromises are made for modern audiences.

If you’re visiting Disneyland during the fall, make sure to read our Halloween Time at Disneyland Guide for information about all of the current Halloween offerings, and what we recommend seeing, doing, and eating.

Planning a Southern California vacation? For park admission deals, read Tips for Saving Money on Disneyland Tickets. Learn about on-site and off-site hotels in our Anaheim Hotel Reviews & Rankings. For where to eat, check out our Disneyland Restaurant Reviews. For unique ideas of things that’ll improve your trip, check out What to Pack for Disney. For comprehensive advice, consult our Disneyland Vacation Planning Guide. Finally, for guides beyond Disney, check out our Southern California Itineraries for day trips to Los Angeles, Laguna Beach, and many other SoCal cities!

Your Thoughts

Have you seen The Halloween Tree at Disneyland? Are you a Ray Bradbury fan? Thoughts on the intellectual or cultural significance of the Disney Parks? Do you agree or disagree with anything here? Any questions? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!