Santa Claus is a folklore/pop-culture figure who appears in portrait form within the seasonal-overlay of Haunted Mansion Holiday and Haunted Mansion Holiday Nightmare. His presence is also alluded to within context throughout the attraction through other characters.
Origins[]
Figure[]
Santa Claus is an archetypal gift-bringer found in Western Christian-derived folklore and media, being adapted from a combination of several similar gift-bringer figures. He is shown to be an immortal old man who brings toys to good children on Christmas Eve night.
Santa is typically portrayed as a plump, old man with a long beard in a red fur coat with a white trim. He uses a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer to deliver toys which his elves make in the North Pole.
The Nightmare Before Christmas[]
In the world of The Nightmare Before Christmas (the poem and the 1993 film), Santa Claus is the ruler of Christmas Town, a town which personifies the iconography and traditions of the Christmas season. When the town is found out by Halloween Town's, "Pumpkin King" Jack Skellington, Jack becomes obsessed with the season and of (who he refers to as), Sandy Claws.
Jack goes about deciding to recreate Christmas for that year, taking up the identity of Sandy Claws for himself. To give Santa a sort of break, Jack has the deranged trick-or-treaters Lock, Shock and Barrel to bring Santa to Halloween Town, only for them to kidnap him and bring him to their boss Oogie Boogie. Being the bogeyman, Oogie Boogie aims at torturing, killing, and possibly even eating Santa while Jack is gone on his gift-giving spree.
The film's secondary protagonist Sally later goes to save Santa only to be captured herself by Oogie Boogie. Jack later leans of what he had done after his Christmas goes horrendously wrong due to his macabre understanding of the holidays. Jack saves the pair and defeats Boogie before Santa Claus reprimands Jack and leaves to fix the mess that Jack made. By the film's end, he brings snow and an understanding of Christmas to Halloween Town and its residents.
Other Relevant Appearances[]
- Silly Symphonies: Santa appears in the 1932 short, Santa's Workshop.
- Mickey Mouse Appearances:
- In House of Mouse, Santa appears in the Christmas special.
- Santa appears in Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas (2004).
- A Santa inspired by his Silly Symphonies appearance is featured in the Mickey Mouse cartoon Duck the Halls.
- The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & other stories: Santa appears in this illustrated poem collection within the "James" story. Santa is shown handing over a teddy bear to a little boy named James, unaware that earlier that year James had been mutilated by a grizzly bear.
Appearances[]
Unused[]
According to imagineer Steve Davison, the idea of Santa Claus landing on the rooftop of the Haunted Mansion is what first inspired the idea of Haunted Mansion Holiday. However, as Santa Claus would not mesh with the locale, they chose to try and find different pre-existing characters.[1]

Jack Skellington dressed as, "Sandy Claws"
Haunted Mansion Holiday[]
Santa appears in portrait-form within the Portrait Corridor (or Loading Area in Tokyo Disneyland) where he is shown in his Nightmare Before Christmas incarnation. Santa is driving his flying sleigh helmed by four of his reindeer before the portrait changes to show Jack dressed up in his Sandy Claws costume, riding his own sleigh being pulled by three skeletal reindeer and headed by Jack's ghost dog Zero. The location of this portrait takes up the space typically used by the WereCat Lady's painting.
A depiction Santa's head is seen in the queue, popping out of Lock's sack in the diorama. This is the same sack which was used to kidnap and transport him in the film.
Many references to, "Sandy Claws" are made in the attraction by characters such as the Ghost Host although always in reference to Jack's assumption of the identity. Jack stays in his Sandy Claws wardrobe for all his in-person appearances in the ride and even Oogie Boogie dresses up as, "Boogie Claws" within Disneyland's Exit Crypt.
Within the Conservatory and Corridor of Doors, Santa is indirectly referenced by man-eating plants singing the song Kidnap the Sandy Claws which was sung by Lock, Shock, and Barrel in the film when they were planning out their kidnapping of the gift-giver.
Santa Stops at Disneyland[]
One page of this Little Golden Book has Santa Claus visiting the Haunted Mansion to deliver 999 gifts to the spirits, with the illustration showing him having given gifts to the Hitchhiking Ghosts and proceeding to walk through the graveyard by lantern light with a scared reindeer in the style of the Caretaker and his dog.
Live Appearances[]
In 2003, Santa Claus appeared in a musical show hosted by Ken Page outside of Haunted Mansion Holiday. In the story of the show, Oogie Boogie kidnapped Santa to force him to perform in the show with Santa deciding to sing, "Have yourself a merry little Christmas", all while pleading for help from the mortal audience. He was later joined by Jack Skellington in Sandy Claws attire to sing a duet of the song while Jack worked to free the gift-bringer, only to accidentally get tied up himself in the process.
Following this number, Ken Page sang Oogie Boogie's song from The Nightmare Before Christmas, aimed at terrorizing the bound-up Santa Claus. Throughout the number, Santa reprised his own lyrics from the song in conversation with Page.
Other Disney Parks appearances[]
- Santa Claus is a common figure to appear at Disney Parks during the winter holiday seasons. He is typically featured in holiday-themed parades, live-shows and in photo-opportunity, and meet & greet areas.
- Santa can often be seen in these live-appearances with his wife Mrs. Claus who also appeared briefly in the Nightmare Before Christmas.
- His French variant Le Père Noël can also be met at EPCOT's France Pavilion in Walt Disney World.
- Santa's silhouette could be seen through the window of his workshop in the North Pole segment of the seasonal, It's a Small World Holiday overlay of It's a Small World in Disneyland. He was also referenced by name throughout the attraction.
- During the Christmas seasons, certain characters might dress up in Santa Claus outfits for live-appearances. This includes Jack Skellington in Phantom Manor's gazebo.
- During the seasonal holiday overlay of the Jungle Cruise, "The Jingle Cruise", several letters addressed to Santa can be found around the queue from the Jungle Navigation Company's skippers.
- In Blizzard Beach, the Winter Summerland mini-golf house is themed to being the Floridian summer-house of Santa Claus.
Trivia[]
- In The Nightmare Before Christmas, Santa was originally going to be voiced by late-actor Vincent Price before Price dropped out due to the death of his wife. In Phantom Manor, Vincent Price is known as being the English voice of the Phantom/Henry Ravenswood.