Sept. 2, 2025

NEWS: Halloween Horror Night's Market Shift; Kennywood, Haunted Car Washes, & Netflix House

Show Notes
Transcript

And as HHN leans on accessible IP like WWE, Fallout, and FNAF, builds in food-forward offerings, and pilots no-scare options, the question arises: is Universal future-proofing the brand—or diluting its horror core? Also this week: Kennywood's Phantom Fall Fest Debuts New Haunted House; Phantom Theater: Opening Nightmare Comes to Kings Island in 2026; Netflix House to Open in Philadelphia & Dallas; The Haunted Carwash Returns to SoCal with Three Locations; Coffin Creek Moves; Mr. Floats & The CarnEvil of Souls Tours U.S. to Promote Kickstarter Campaign; Walibi Holland Revises Ad Campaign Following Public Outcry; Spirit Christmas Stores will Return for 2025. Read the stories here.

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Coming up your weekly roundup of news from around the

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haunt industry. Welcome to the show. I'm Philip on the

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hn Show. We bring you the haunt news, information, and

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education you need to prepare for Halloween. On Tuesdays, we

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bring you a roundup of news from haunts worldwide. Read

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more about these stories and so much more in our

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free weekly newsletter. Subscribe at the link in the show notes,

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and as always for the news roundup, I'm passing it

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off to Darryl Universal.

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Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights in Orlando, Florida kicked off its

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twenty twenty five season on August twenty ninth and runs

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for forty eight select nights throughout November two. This year's

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event features ten haunted houses, five originals and five based

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on intellectual property, including five nights of Friday's follow out Terrafire,

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Jason Universe, and WWE presents The Horrors of the Wyat six.

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Returning entertainment includes Nightmare Fuel, Circus of Decay, and The Hantophonic,

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a ghoulish journey lagoon show, while new additions range from

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a zombie dance performance that melts die in with a

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roaming art the Clown also new er twenty dollars Deathly

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Afraid necklaces, which offer guests us scare free path throughout

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scare zones, but not haunted houses. The introduction of no

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Scare necklaces underscores the broader shift. HHN is quietly expanding

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its appeal beyond traditional horror fans. Several entertainment zones now

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function as standalone experiences, including The Undead DJ's Club Horror

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and The Cat Lady on Crooked Lane, a staged street

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performance that unfolds over time. Like Commerci Theater. Food continues

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to emerge as a major draw, and themed food items

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tied to each house like terrifiers, bloody popcorn, and illusion

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based desserts like Devil's Eggs made from gelatine. While Orlando

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hasn't introduced a tasting card, one is being tested in Hollywood,

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pointing towards a possible transformation into a Helloween food festival format.

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This year's most significant operational changes spatial haunted house queues

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have been moved outside the park, activating backstage zones with

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covered que lines and restrooms. This clears interior walkways for entertainment, food,

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and roaming characters. Effectively increasing event capacity. New scare zone

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boo boxes allow actors to perform and hide, dynamically enhancing

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immersion while managing crowdflow. These elements aren't just scenic, they're strategic,

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designed to hold guests attention while others queue for high

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demand houses where wait times regularly exceed two hours. Taken together,

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these moves reflect a new chapter for Halloween Horror Nights.

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The event is still anchored by its houses, but it

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is increasingly evolving into a multi layered festival style experience,

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and as HHN leans on accessible ip like WWE Fallout

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five Nights at Freddy's, built in food forward offerings and

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pilots no scare options, the question arises, is universal future

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proof the brand or diluting its horror core. Learn more

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from Philip and Scott in this week's edition of the

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Green Tagged podcast. Kennywood's Phantom fall Fest debuts a new

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haunted house. Phantom fall Fest at Kennywood Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,

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creeps out of the shadows in this longest season yet

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September twelfth through November first. This year, guests are in

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for even more nightmares as the park debuts its brand

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new haunted house, Detached. Brave souls are encouraged to pull

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themselves together as they enter the terrifying toy store of

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the puppet Master. In his delusional quest to build the

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perfect puppet, he is hand packing the parts he desires

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from all who enter the shop. Beware and keep your

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head on straight if you hope to survive a trip

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through the world deranged dolls and maniacal marionettes. Detached joins

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six more haunted houses, four sinister scare zones, and more.

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A day to night Halloween event offers family friendly fund

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rides for all during the day, then at six pm,

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the fear kicks in gears. Terror lurks behind every corner,

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with nearly two hundred scare actors roaming the park each night.

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We are taking terror to a whole new level in

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twenty twenty five as we debut our newest and most

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horrifying haunt ever during Phantom Fall Fest Detached, said Ricky Spacuza,

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Kennywood General Manager. With the longest event run in Kennywood

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history and the debut of Detached, we're delivering next level

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horror and thrills that you won't find anywhere else in Pittsburgh.

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Tickets are on sale now starting at thirty seven forty

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nine for dated tickets and fifty nine ninety nine for

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any day tickets. Phantom Theater Opening Nightmare comes to King's

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Island in twenty twenty six. The stage is set for

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guests to be ushered into a new but familiar chapter

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in King's Island in Mason, Ohio, as Phantom Theater Opening

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Nightmare will make its debut in spring twenty twenty six.

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Located at the site of the park's original Phantom Theater

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Dark Ride, They're Quirky characters and chaos from the original

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will return along with modern technology, enhanced scenic elements, and

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expanded storytelling. Guests will board and chanted opera boxes and

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arm themselves with interaction of spellbound flashlights to journey through

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haunted hallways, magical dressing rooms, and wild backstage areas to

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capture ghost notes before they can ruin Maestro's thrilling musical performance.

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Manufactured by Sally Dark Rides, the ride will feature twenty

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six interactive scenes with multisensory effects, hidden easter eggs and

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nods to the original attraction, and plenty of spellbinding musical chaos.

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Families who have visited King's Island will remember how special

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the original Phantom Theater was and they've always wanted it

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to return, said Tony Caravellano, Park Manager of King's Island.

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While paying homage to the original ride, Phantom Theater opening nightmares,

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modern and advanced features will help create new memories and

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stories for all who take their seat inside this amazing experience.

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To make way for this attraction, the current dark ride

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Boo Blasters on Boo Hill will close on September first.

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Stay tuned for the King's Island Facebook page for construction

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progress and opening date announcements. Netflix House announces opening dates

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for Philadelphia and Dallas locations. Get ready to step inside

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your favorite films and franchises with Netflix House. Netflix will

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open two one hundred thousand square foot locations this year, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,

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on November twelfth and Dallas, Texas on December eleventh. These

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year round attractions will offer a mix of complimentary and

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paid experiences to immerse guests in the world of the

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streaming giants, hit shows, and movie with a variety of

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entertainment options including engaging photo opportunities, fund programming, Netflix Bytes Restaurant,

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and the Netflix Shop finally a place where the Netflix

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Store you can't get enough of becomes something real that

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you can play, shop and taste. This is fandom coming

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to life, where you can actually step inside the worlds

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even watching and loving for years, whether going on an

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epic adventure with a straw hat, taking a journey into Hawkins, Indiana,

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or grabbing a cocktail inspired by your latest obsession. With

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fresh experiences dropping regularly, there's always a new reason to

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come back, says Mary and Lee, Netflix's chief marketing officer.

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Each location will feature unique offerings. Opening experiences in Netflix

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House Philadelphia will include Wednesday, Eve of the Outcast, where

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fans can discover games, misfortunes, and horrifying surprises in an

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immersive exploration on the eve of the Outcast Festival. One

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piece Quest for the Devil Fruit, where guests can dodge

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infamous villains and escape the marines in a high stakes

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race to reach the mysterious Devilfruit ahead of the straw Hats,

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Netflix Virtual VR Games, Top Nine, Mini Golf, and Too

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Dumb Theater. Netflix House Dallas will feature Stranger Things Escape

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the Dark, where guests can journey through ruins of Hawkens

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to find three missing townspeople before the horror lurking within,

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find you Squid Games, Survive the Trials, where guests can

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play diabolical games, face off against the frontman and betray

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friends for a chance to win it all, and Netflix

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replay a game room packed with physical challenges, immersive story rooms,

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and retrostyle games based on popular ips. Tickets will go

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on sales starting October seventeenth for Netflix House Philadelphia and

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November eighteenth for Netflix House Dallas. Stay tuned to their

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official website for further details and pricing by following the

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links in our show notes. Plans are already underway to

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open a third year round location in Las Vegas, Nevada,

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in twenty twenty seven. The Haunted car Wash returns to

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so Cal with three locations. Southern California's Haunted car Wash

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makes its highly anticipated return this Halloween season by taking

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over three locations, the Carwood car Wash in Lakewood, Flash

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and Go car Wash in Montclair, and the Big Wave

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Car Wash in Anaheim, select nights October third through November

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first in Anaheim and Lakewood, and October seventeenth through November

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first in Montclair. Fearless adventurers can face their Darkest Beers

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with a spine chilling car wash experience starting at just

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thirty dollars per vehicle. The Haunted car Wash features an immersive,

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interactive drive through experience with creepy performers, haunted special effects,

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and unexpected surprises each night. Tickets are on sale now

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on the event's official website. Coffin Creek moves in teams

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with Paris Pumpkin Patch in Southern California Fair. Now in

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its nineteenth year, Coffin Creek has moved move to a

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new location, the Paris Fairgrounds in Paris, California. Running October

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ninth through November first, the Haunt will return with one

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bone chilling attraction, the Asylum. New for this year, Coffin

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Creek is teamed up with the Paris Pumpkin Patch, who

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will provide family friendly fun right next to the Haunt

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during opening weekend. Coffin Creek will be part of the

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California State Fair October ninth through eleventh. All attendees much

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purchase Fair admission in addition to the Haunt ticket to

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access the attraction. Tickets for Coffin Creek are on sale now,

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starting at twenty dollars for general admission and thirty dollars

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for VIP Paris. Pumpkin Patch admission is five dollars on Thursdays,

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eight dollars on Fridays and Saturdays. Mister Floats and the

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Carnival of Souls tours us to promote their Kickstarter campaign.

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Fresh off headlining The Hall of Shadows at Midsummer Scream

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in Long Beach, California, PCB Entertainment announces their collaboration with

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Mister Floats and the Carnevil of Souls, heading to Kickstarter

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on September twenty third. The forty four page children's book

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will feature whimsical and creepy illustrations inspired by Edward Gorey,

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Maurice Sendak, and Tim Burton. The story of Mister Floats

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and the Carnival of Souls reads as follows. In eighteen

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oh six, Rotabert caasparov Grau created for Lorreene Seal the

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Lost Souls, based on the infamous seventeen to eleven carnival disaster.

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Reprinted under the title A Carnival of Souls, the book

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became known as the fable that originated the children's song

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Row Row Row Your Boat, and now the forgotten classic

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has been restored for generations to come. During this campaign,

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backers will have the chance to pledge from multiple tiers,

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including a five x seven hardcover, a twelve inch leather cover,

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and a twelve inch vinyl. The first two hundred backers

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to pledge in a physical tier within the first forty

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eight hours will receive an early bird bonus containing an

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exclusive Carnieval of Souls patch and the twenty twenty five

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Convention exclusive Mister Floats tarot card. Mister Floats and his

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Twisted Carnival characters will be touring live across the United

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States to promote the campaign this Halloween season, launching at

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La Comic Con September twenty six through twenty eight. Additional

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appearances will be made at the Crew of Boo in

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New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creep at Real Festive in Santa Ana, California.

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Will Lie bi Holland revises their ad campaign Following public outcry,

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officials at Willie B. Holland in Beating Weis in Netherlands

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permanently removed a promotional video for the park's Halloween event

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following criticism on social media. The video depicted a woman

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being auctioned off to sinister characters and then murdered, prompting

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hundreds of posts condemning the video, glorifying human traffic, and femicide.

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Park representatives initially stated the video would be taken down

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through August twenty fourth. They have since announced the video

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will not be posted. Spirit Christmas Stores will return for

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twenty twenty five. Once again, Spirit Christmas will take over

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a number of Spirit Helloween locations after the Halloween season.

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The announcement was made on August twenty fifth via social media,

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with Spirit sharing a holiday video and the Captionpirit Christmas

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is coming back to town. Stay tuned on our social

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channels for more infos. Opening dates and further information have

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not been released at this time. Last year's Spirit Christmas

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locations featured different sections catering to all things winter Wonderland,

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including a spooky creep miss Area which combined horror with

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the holidays. Stay tuned to their official website for announcements.

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Some upcoming events this September through November include creep It

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Real oc September twelfth through fourteenth, and Santa Ana, California,

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Son of Monster Palooza October tenth through twelfth in Burbank California,

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IAPPA November seventeenth through twentieth in Orlando, Florida, and creep

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It Real Festive November twenty first through twenty third in

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Santa Anna, California.

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And that's all for the news this week. Today's episode

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was produced by me Philip Hernandez, with reporting by Darryl

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Plunky post production by David Swope. This hant News Update

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is a production of the Haunted Attraction Network and you

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can sign up to our weekly newsletter at Hantatractionnetwork dot com.

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Support for this episode comes from Gantum Lighting and Controls.

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Until next time, Hunters Stay Scary. This is a Haunted

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Attraction Network production. HM