This month, Disneyland finally reopened the Haunted Mansion in its original form after more than a year. Since August 2023, the classic ride has been either closed for construction or presented in its “The Nightmare Before Christmas” holiday overlay format. Although its reopening should have been cause for celebration, in the intervening months, Disneyland made a terrible decision: It removed one of the ride’s most-loved storylines.

For years, a ghostly bride has resided in the mansion’s attic. As a sinister figure pounded out Wagner’s “Bridal Chorus,” guests saw portraits of the bride’s many husbands, each one disappearing in turn as she gave them the literal and proverbial ax. Now, she is merely a heartbroken widow with a bevy of dead husbands, mourning her unlucky streak in love.

“The bride that used to be in there was an ax murderer, and in this day and age we have to be really careful about the sensitivities of people,” Disney Imagineering creative director Kim Irvine told the LA Times. “We were celebrating someone chopping off her husbands’ heads, and it was a weird story.”

While Disney’s Imagineers were well-intentioned a murder bride may not be the most kid-friendly character removing scary elements from the theme park does more harm than good.

I was an incredibly anxious child. Everything scared me, from being late to school to going trick-or-treating. The world was one big bundle of uncertainty. Disneyland was one of the few places where I could be scared in a different way. The first time I rode Indiana Jones Adventure, I kept my eyes closed. When I got off the ride, I felt a completely foreign emotion: I was scared, but I was also exhilarated. Being scared was actually, in some strange way, fun.

Knowing I was secure in a children’s theme park helped me learn fear in a safe environment. I could scream at a snake popping out at me without being in mortal peril. I could feel my heart race in the Haunted Mansion elevator while noticing all the adults were smiling and laughing. Until that moment, I’d never realized that you could be scared without spiraling. Many years later, I understand what was so healing about that realization: As silly as it seems, theme park rides allowed me to test out a deep, painful emotion and survive it. Fear was OK because it wasn’t forever.

As Disney reevaluates its rides for the modern audience, it has made important and necessary changes. Removing the racist “Song of the South” theme of Splash Mountain and replacing it with “The Princess and the Frog” was undoubtedly the right decision. But removing fear is swinging the pendulum too far. This issue even shows up in Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, where the biggest problem with the ride is that it lacks a sense of danger. Although the retheme is cute and fun, there’s no villain to give the storyline any heft. Tiana’s story feels random, and the iconic drop is missing any sense of peril. Stories need stakes to be meaningful, and villains are just as important as heroes.

Keeping frightening elements will no doubt mean some children get the scare of their young lives. While it’s always sad to see a sobbing child leaving a ride, there’s an important lesson there, too. That’s a child finding and expressing their boundary. There’s no lasting damage done, just a marker in time for what they’re ready for. (Not to mention that small children certainly did not understand that the bride was a serial killer anyway.)

Despite the changes to the Haunted Mansion which may also reportedly include removing part of the famous elevator scene I’ll never skip a chance to ride it. I just hope that it can stay scary for generations to come, because in learning to cope with our fears, we can feel so much more joy.