As for nights during the month of October the theme parks take on a whole different feel. The streets are filled with smog. The noise of chainsaws and screams ring through the air and overpower the sound of the coasters on their tracks. The walking dead lurk behind every crevice and corner awaiting their next victim.
One Halloween tradition that has gained major steam amongst Haunt Industry fans and enthusiasts within the last twenty years is the creative transformations that take place at night where the usual fun filled facades of the amusement parks give way to park wide Haunted Attractions. Not only is this a great Halloween marketing shtick for the parks, it's also a great way to capitalize on the season.
Lets take a look at some of these parks and see how they take on the season of spooks.
Walt Disney World's Mickey's Not-So-Scary-Halloween - Let's start with one that's not as scary as it is family friendly. We have to ease some of you into this slowly so this might be for the very first timer. And when I mention "Very first timer" I'm talking three to about fourteen year olds. Folks fifteen on through their twenties may not feel as fright challenged and roll their eyes at the hefty serving of cheese factor that is rolled out. Keep in mind it is Disney and the place is run by a mouse, so a heavy dose of fromage is to be expected. On the other hand hard core Disneyphiles, no matter what age, will bask in the family friendly trick-or-treat glory at Not-So-Scary. Highlights are trick-or-treating stations all over the park, the Halloween parade, a spectacular fireworks display that will blow your mind and a couple of exclusive villain filled parties. One of which takes place at Cinderella's Castle. Take a look. No severed heads or bloody entrails here.
On an additional note, The DIS in a really good resource for unbiased Disney related travel tips and reviews. Find their podcast on itTunes.
Six Flags Great America's Fright Fest - Let's step it up a notch, shall we? The folks at Great America have been turning their park into one big graveyard year after year. Everywhere you walk there are grave stones and creepy tableau's of diabolical characters stationed anywhere there is usually spare room. A large number of scare-actors roam the park interacting with patrons. Last I heard they have two professional haunted mazes to go through. Both are pretty quick to get through, but have some pretty cool stock scares and affects. If they are going to compete with the big boys, they may want to invest in one or two more and change things up from time to time.
Knott's Scary Farm - You say you want something a little more intense? Ok, then what about Knott's Berry Farm's Halloween season show, Knott's Scary Farm? Much like Great America this park utilizes haunted mazes and scare-actors galore, but they step it up in number of mazes, the themes of those mazes and overall intensity of the experience. Although there's a good dose of blood and gore, they also go out of their way to make sure there's also more than a spoon full of creepy and eerie within the haunted mazes. They don't have any horror franchises that other parks can rely on. They have to come up with original content and I think that is frackin' great! They even have a full fledged, interactive, zombie laser tag experience. Add to all of that Elvira, Mistress of the Dark doing her own musical show. Here is a daytime guided overview of this year's show.
Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights - A lot of haunt fans claim this to be the Grand Daddy of them all when it comes to haunted theme parks. Not only does this attraction cater to the Halloween fan, it serves it up on a silver platter for those that are fans of the movie and TV horror genres. Here you will find classics as American Werewolf in London as well as The Walking Dead strongly represented within the mazes in this park. Folks from the special effects profession pull out all of the stops and are not afraid to dowse it in tons of blood and gore. Most of the mazes and attractions are based on already existing horror franchises which kind of takes a bit out of original content, but also rakes in the bucks from hard core horror fans.
One of these days I've been meaning to rob Fort Knox so I can afford to visit these attractions. Sadly I am lacking a portly, asian henchman with a bladed bowler hat. So that's not going to happen soon. But I will seek out and post a video or two of some of the mazes from these attractions soon.
That's it for me today. Tray and get some form of Halloween hi-jinx into the mix before this season is done, will you please?
Until next time, sty vertical!
Zangz.
No comments:
Post a Comment