Haunt fans have helped transform Halloween from a one-day holiday into one of the entertainment industry’s most popular genres. And the theme park industry is looking to take advantage.
Fan demand has pushed theme parks across the country to program Halloween as a two-month event in the late summer into fall — extending to nearly three months at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida. Now Six Flags has blown up the calendar by bringing Halloween to the spring, launching the new Six Flags Scream Break at its parks across the country. This after-hours haunt event opens Saturday, March 18 and runs Fridays through Sundays through April 16 at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
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Other theme park companies are expanding their commitment to the Halloween genre, too. Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights is the biggest theme park Halloween event in the industry, and now Universal is going year-round by creating a new haunt attraction at AREA15 in Las Vegas. Another enduring haunt-related theme park brand also is getting ready to take the next step into the zeitgeist, as Disney prepares to debut its new “Haunted Mansion” movie in theaters on July 28.
Many haunt fans I have spoken with over the years have told me that Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride was one of the first things that helped them fall in love with the genre as a child. To that end, Disney seems to be pushing its new Haunted Mansion film for a family audience, playing up comedy and nostalgia for the Disneyland ride in its recent trailer for the film.
Disney’s competitors are leaning into the more mature side of Halloween with their new projects, however. Universal has promised “thrills and frights its horror fans have come to love” within its planned, 110,000-square-foot Las Vegas installation. Six Flags Magic Mountain will offer two haunted mazes and three scare zones, “all with a chilling Spring Break twist,” at its new Scream Break event.
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Not every new Halloween or haunt-themed project hits with the public, of course. Disney’s first attempt at a Haunted Mansion movie bombed with critics and failed to deliver anywhere the box office of the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, which Disney released the same year. Universal Studios Hollywood has tried year-round haunts before, closing its latest “The Walking Dead”-themed effort after audiences grew tired of franchise.
We soon will learn if Six Flags’ new springtime, upcharge haunt events will win over fans of its longtime Fright Fest. Few new haunts find their tone immediately. Most of today’s best events took years to evolve into their winning forms.
Halloween is a genre of and for outcasts, and as a result, its fan community might be the most welcoming and tolerant that I know. Offer them a sincere effort, and the community will embrace it and help an event grow into something great. Bring nothing more than a cynical cash grab, on the other hand, and the even the welcoming haunt community will recognize and reject that insincerity.