Halloween is about a month and a half away but its celebrations are just around the corner. Candy and costume companies are not the only ones who cash in on Halloween festivities; theme parks have also noticed this cash cow. The biggest attractions locally have been Knott’s Scary Farm: Halloween Haunts, Universal Studios Hollywood: Halloween Horror Nights, and Six Flags Magic Mountain: Fright Fest. A fairly new comer to the A-list attractions is Disneyland Resorts Mickey’s Halloween Party. Each of these event tickets do cost a decent amount of money (average of 50 dollars) so the challenge is finding which is the best for you?
Fright Fest, Halloween Haunt, and Halloween Horrors Nights are all fairly similar but Mickey’s Halloween Party has found a target niche audience that have been only marketed to by candy companies. Mickey’s Halloween Party is a place for families to go and feel their children will be safe while they celebrate Halloween and trick-or-treat. There are candy stations around the park, a Halloween parade, and the Halloween Screams fireworks show. It is also a great place for Disney fans or anymore who prefers not to be scared out of their mind when Halloween comes around. The party will kick off September 30th.
For people who love the thrill of a scare the other Halloween themed events aim to be that place. Knott’s Scary Farm will have a total of 13 mazes, seven shows and three scare zones this year. The three new mazes include Delirium, a play on the mind, Invasion Beneath, part of the Calico Mine ride, and End Games: Warriors of the Apocalypse, an end of the world experience. According to LATimes.com Knott’s Scary Farm accounts for more than half of the theme parks profits for the year. Knott’s Berry Farm was the original place for Halloween scares so they do have history on their side as a reason to choose them for your Halloween celebrations.
Universal Studios Hollywood is advertising more mazes than ever before and opens this Friday along with Knott’s Scary Farm. Halloween Horror Nights has only six mazes but have pop culture relevance. Four out of the six mazes premise around movies and one is themed around rocker Alice Cooper. A new maze this year is The Thing: Assimilation, based on the new horror flick coming out this October. Expectations are usually high for Horror Nights because it is created by a theme park based on Hollywood movie magic.
Lastly, is perhaps the most inferior of A-list events for Halloween, Six Flags Fright Fest. It is open significantly less compared to the other events and does not start until October 7. Fright Fest has a lot of special offers and have tried to put a new twist on their rides. Several rides will have the lights turned off, like Tatsu, and the popular X2 becomes X2: Area 19, an alien adventure. It has a good variety of attractions but probably falls short because Knott’s and Universal Studios put on a better event for about the same price.
Personally I fit into the scare demographics. My pick this year will probably be Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. I like the relevance of the attractions and the realistic costumes and makeup. Which event will you be at for the Halloween season?
Unfortunately I do not have a job at the moment, so sadly I will not be attending any of these. I use to be super scared at Halloween Haunt, but the last time I went (which was a couple of years ago), I was not so impressed and not too scared. I have heard that the Horror Nights at Universal is super scary though. Which not too surprising because of the resources they have for effects. However, I am not too sure if I would be able to handle that. I would love to go to the Mickeys Halloween Party at Disneyland one year because it looks really cute and fun. Especially looks like a great place to be when you have a family. In a world where it's not so safe to roam neighborhoods trick or treating, it seems like a great alternative. I really don't care much for 6 Flags, and actually did not even know they had a Halloween thing there. I guess that would be fun for the people who enjoy those intense rides.
ReplyDeleteI am a HUGE fan of Disneyland, though I have yet to attend Mickey's Halloween Party. The price tag on is costs a pretty penny, IN ADDITION to the theme park ticket prices, if one decides to go that route. I really like how it offers a family-oriented vibe to it though, unlike the others, which is geared towards scare tactics.
ReplyDeleteOut of the attractions you've listed, Universal Studios has got to be the top of the top for them. Obviously, they're a movie studio so it would be a shame if they did not offer chilling and adrenaline-pumping mazes and tours.
I LOVE Universal Studio's Halloween Horror Nights. I've never been to Knott's Scary Farm, but I can't imagine how anything could top Universal. Some say it's an unfair comparison, given that Universal is a movie studio, but I don't care. It is what it is.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that it's a movie studio, and thus uses scary films as the basis for it's theme, is genius and the main reason I love it. I'm a huge movie fan, and I love horror/thriller films at that, so naturally I'd be more impressed with Universal. The mazes are really well made, too, which makes the whole experience even better.
Last Year's Nightmare on Elm St. maze was amazing. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go through Rob Zombie's House of a Thousand Corpses, but it looks like Universal is bringing that maze back, so perhaps I'll get the chance this year. Then there's also Alice Cooper's Welcome to My Nightmare, which I'm pretty excited about.
Of course, one of my favorite things about Halloween Horror Nights is the ScareTram. I love that it drops you off in the middle of the woody backlots and you have to walk your way back alone (or with people you came with). It makes the whole experience extra creepy, which of course in my opinion makes it extra awesome. AND the theme this year is Scream 4, which I like much better than last year's Chuckie from Child's Play.
It looks like they've got some good themes, mazes, and attractions for this year; I can't wait to check it out.
This is my favorite time of year to go to Disneyland. I love the fact that they incorporate The Nightmare Before Christmas at the Haunted Mansion and I love the way they decorate the theme park overall. I've been to Knotts Scary Farm a couple of years ago and that was scary! I literally walked through the mazes with my ears covered and my eyes closed. I haven't been to Universal Studios for the fact that it's much more realistic. I think I would freak out, but I'm trying to convince myself to go this year.
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