Theme_Park_Insider
10-14-2010, 11:50 PM
By Robert Niles: Theme parks' Halloween events have become wildly popular, with thousands of fans filling queues at Universal's Halloween Horror Nights and Halloween festivities driving attendance and revenue at Disneyland (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2010/10/halloween-time-at-disneyland-draws-in-crowds-and-revenue.html), to cite just two examples.
But as the theme park industry milks its season-extending cash cow, individual parks are dividing into two camps.
The older camp presents Halloween as a frightful affair, with guts, gore and scares (examples are from top year-'round theme parks):
Halloween Horror Nights (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201009/2119/) at Universal Studios Florida
Howl-O-Scream (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201009/2121/) at Busch Gardens Tampa
Halloween Haunt (http://haunt.knotts.com/) at Knott's Berry Farm
Halloween Horror Nights (http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/hollywood/2010/) at Universal Studios Hollywood
Fright Fest (http://www.sixflags.com/magicMountain/events/FrightFest2010.aspx) at Six Flags Magic Mountain
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/WeirdGermanDude/HOS-2010/MyX-Revenge-Rocks-guest-scares.jpg
But a (relatively) newer collection of events presents a more child-friendly version of Halloween, based largely upon trick-or-treating:
Mickey's Halloween Party (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201010/2130/) at Disneyland
Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201009/2114/) at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom
Brick-or-Treat Party Nights (http://california.legoland.com/tickets/botpn/) at Legoland California
Halloween Spooktacular (http://www.seaworldspooktacular.com/) at SeaWorld in Orlando and San Diego
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/WeirdGermanDude/MNSSHP_2010/Costumes.jpg
Which type of Halloween event do you prefer? That's our vote of the week.
To be fair, many of the parks that offer scare-filled Halloween events in the evening (Knott's, Six Flags) offer kid-friendly Halloween festivities during the daytime. But it's still interesting to me to see how one holiday elicits two very different styles of celebration.
Please tell us in the comments why you voted the way you did, or just which theme park Halloween events you're looking forward to visiting this month.
More... (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201010/2151/)
But as the theme park industry milks its season-extending cash cow, individual parks are dividing into two camps.
The older camp presents Halloween as a frightful affair, with guts, gore and scares (examples are from top year-'round theme parks):
Halloween Horror Nights (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201009/2119/) at Universal Studios Florida
Howl-O-Scream (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201009/2121/) at Busch Gardens Tampa
Halloween Haunt (http://haunt.knotts.com/) at Knott's Berry Farm
Halloween Horror Nights (http://www.halloweenhorrornights.com/hollywood/2010/) at Universal Studios Hollywood
Fright Fest (http://www.sixflags.com/magicMountain/events/FrightFest2010.aspx) at Six Flags Magic Mountain
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/WeirdGermanDude/HOS-2010/MyX-Revenge-Rocks-guest-scares.jpg
But a (relatively) newer collection of events presents a more child-friendly version of Halloween, based largely upon trick-or-treating:
Mickey's Halloween Party (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201010/2130/) at Disneyland
Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201009/2114/) at Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom
Brick-or-Treat Party Nights (http://california.legoland.com/tickets/botpn/) at Legoland California
Halloween Spooktacular (http://www.seaworldspooktacular.com/) at SeaWorld in Orlando and San Diego
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v210/WeirdGermanDude/MNSSHP_2010/Costumes.jpg
Which type of Halloween event do you prefer? That's our vote of the week.
To be fair, many of the parks that offer scare-filled Halloween events in the evening (Knott's, Six Flags) offer kid-friendly Halloween festivities during the daytime. But it's still interesting to me to see how one holiday elicits two very different styles of celebration.
Please tell us in the comments why you voted the way you did, or just which theme park Halloween events you're looking forward to visiting this month.
More... (http://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201010/2151/)