NEWS: Haunt Convention Season is Underway

0:07 Coming up your weekly roundup of news from around the haunt industry. Welcome to the show. I'm Philip on the HN Show. We bring you the haunt news, information, and education you need to prepare for Halloween. On Tuesdays, we bring you a roundup of news from haunts worldwide. Read more about these stories and so much more in our free weekly newsletter. Subscribe at the link in the show notes, and as always for the news roundup, I'm passing it off to Darryl. It's March, and that means convention season in the Haunted attraction industry is upon us. Coming up in just a few weeks is trans World's Halloween and Attraction Show, the industry's largest professional trade show. Take a sneak peek at the first draft of this year's floor plans for trans World's Halloween an Attraction Show in Saint Louis, Missouri by following the links and our show notes. With over three hundred and fifty Halloween exhibitors and nearly one hundred Christmas Show exhibitors, you will want to start planning your strategy early to see it all. Trans World's Halloween an Attraction Show takes place March twenty six through twenty ninth at the Americas Center in Saint Louis, Missouri. Learn more and register today on the event's official website. Tickets are on sale for Midsummer Scream, taking place in the Long Beach Convention Center of Long Beach, California, August seventh through ninth.

1:29 Midsummer Scream kicks off the Halloween season with Minnie haunts and photo ops, hundreds of hours of panels, presentations, and performances, and three hundred and fifty of the spookiest vendors this side of the nether World. Single day passes range from forty dollars to sixty dollars, Weekend passes are eighty, and the VIP Gold Bat passes are one hundred and ninety nine. Be sure to buy your tickets early, as passes do sell out. Making this first ever Midsummer Scream appearance, Matthew Lilliard will be joining this year's celebrity lineup with iconic roles and scream Scooby Doo, Five Nights of Friday's and Thirteen Ghosts. Lilliard has cemented himself as both Horror Royalty and as a true ambassador for the spooky community. August eighth and ninth, he will meet with fans, sign autographs, and participate in professional photograph Stay tuned for more celebrity announcements in the coming months. The same February twenty sixth, the Facebook post that announced Lilliard did hint that more Scream alumni are on their way. East Coast Haunters Convention Haunt Tour tickets are now on sale. Tickets are now on sale for the East Coast Haunters Convention hont tours taking place ahead of the convention on April twenty fifth and twenty six the Greater Philadelphia ExpoCenter in Oaks, Pennsylvania.

2:43 The Thursday pre convention tour April twenty third visits Kim's Crypt Haunted Mill in Spring Grove, Pennsylvania, and the Lehigh Valley Scream Park in Orfield, Pennsylvania. The Friday Night tour on April twenty fourth features the Lincoln Mill Haunted House in Philadelphia and the Penhurst Asylum in Spring City. The weekend wraps up with a Saturday night party at sh Octoberfest in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, which includes access to attractions, behind the scenes tours, the catered meal, and a party at Club Shock. All seminars, events, tours, and parties are sold separately. Registration and tickets visit the East Coast Haunters Convention's website. Attendee registration is now open for the Texas Haunters Convention from Irving, Texas, taking place July eighteenth and nineteenth at the Irving Convention Center. The Texas Haunters Convention features over eighty four thousand square feet of family friendly vendors, events, demonstrations, and classes targeting Halloween and cosplay enthusiasts. Early bird tickets start at ten dollars to eighteen dollars for single day show floor passes, twenty dollars for weekend show floor passes, and sixty five dollars for VIP passes. Early bird prices and June fifteenth at midnight. This year, the event is partnering with a Transylvanian Symphony found A, a nonprofit organization that provides funding to schools, fine arts and music programs.

4:05 A portion of all ticket sales will be donated to support their cause. Trans World Vendor Spotlight Videos. The vendor spotlight videos are short form, professionally produced video features filmed live on the show floor at trans World's Halloween and Attraction Show. Each spotlight highlights one new product or one best selling item in a focused, thirty second interview style format. These videos are editorial features distributed through the Haunted Attraction Network, the leading news resource for the haunted attraction industry. Each vendor spotlight includes placement across the Haunted Attraction Network, including Haunted Attraction Networks, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, newsletter, LinkedIn and website, plus the opportunity to be tagged as a collaborator. The cost is three hundred dollars. Please contact Philip at Haunted Attraction Network to book yours today. United Parks reports declining numbers AMIT aggressive stock buybacks. United Parks and Resorts rep imported fiscal twenty twenty five results with declines across all major metrics. Revenue feil three point six percent to one point sixty six billion, attendance dropped one point eight percent to twenty one point one seven million guests, Net income fell twenty six percent, and adjusted EBITA declined thirteen point six percent. CEO Mark Swanson said the company should have delivered better results, particularly on the cost side of the income statement. During the earnings call, The company debuted a supplemental investor presentation arguing its parks have a replacement cost of over ten billion dollars and disclosed it has received multiple sale leaseback proposals for its two thousand plus acres

5:39 of owned real estate. Over the past fourteen months, the company spent approximately two hundred and forty seven million dollars on stock buybacks while generating one hundred and sixty two point six million dollars in free cash flow. Expansion capex was cut from seventy point seven million to thirty five point one million year over year. Hill Path Capital, a private equity firm, controls more than fifty percent of the board. When the company buys back shares, it reduces the total share count, increasing the owner percentage of remaining shareholders. If the company later monetizes assets through sale, these backs are development the value is distributed across viewer shares. It is conceivable that the buybacks are positioning the company for asset sales that would disproportionately benefit its largest shareholders. The twenty twenty six attractions lineup includes Barracuda Strike at SeaWorld San Antonio, SeaQuest, Legends of the Deep at SeaWorld, Orlando, or reimagined Shark Encounter in San Diego for Bolton Forbidden Turn at Busch Gardens, Williamsburg and Lion and Hyena Ridge at Bush Gardens, Tampa.

6:42 Follow the links in our show notes to hear the full analysis on the Green tagged podcast. Dark Masquerade returns to the Queen Mary Following a strong Valentine's debut, Dark Harbor's Dark Maskarade will return to the Queen Mary in Long Beach, California, on March thirteenth and fourteen, after what Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group described as a strong response to the events of Valentine's Day weekend debut. The February run drew both dedicated Dark Harbor fans and a new audience that doesn't typically celebrate Valentine's Day but found the immersive format compelling enough to attend. What stood out most was how many couples told us they don't typically celebrate Valentine's Day, but this event gave them a reason to rt. Bertolino, director of Special Project for Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, told Haunted Attraction Network that validated our belief that there's real demand for immersive story driven off season experiences that feel special rather than traditional. The March days will feature the same core experiences as the February engagement, Gale's Requiem, The Search for Mary Sweetheart's Slaughterhouse, and the Ring Master's Dark Masquerade Dance Party. According to the event's FAQ file, some live entertainment may vary, and a few early Easter eggs tied to the upcoming regular seat and May's surface throughout the night. General admission starts at fifty nine ninety nine plus an eight dollar fee, and the VIP admission starts at seventy nine ninety nine plus the eight dollar fee with access to an exclusive experience, Pressure test Bound below

8:15 Captain's Invitation. The top tier is already sold out for both March dates. Distortion's Unlimited reveals new Frankenstein's Monster animatronic. New for twenty twenty six, Distortion Unlimited has introduced their take on Mary Shelley's classic Frankenstein's Monster to a new seven foot tall animatronic. The figure is made of latex and has heavy duty shaker motor. It includes control sound, small lamp and audio track, and a light cord that goes through the head. The animatronic is on a timer and will come alive with light and sound approximately every forty five second. There is ambient audio that plays when he is not being shocked to life. Frankenstein's Monster is on sale now for nine hundred and sixty nine dollars.

8:57 Regular price is one thousand and six n The Cleveland Haunt Club hosts this sixth annual Halfway to Helloween Flea Market. Save the date. The Cleveland Haunt Club will host their sixth annual Halfway to Helloween Flea Market on Saturday, May twenty third, from ten am to four pm at the Medina County Community Center in Medina, Ohio. Admission will be two dollars at the door. Vendor applications are now available for those selling promoting items, services, or activities that relate to Helloween, horror and or haunting. Some upcoming events this March through May of twenty twenty six include trans World's Helloween, an attraction show from Saint Louis, Missouri, March twenty sixth through twenty ninth. The Spooky Swap Meet in Los Angeles, California, April twenty four through twenty sixth. East Coast Haunters Convention in Oakes, Pennsylvania, April twenty fifth through twenty sixth, and the Ohio Helloween and Haunters Convention from Mansfield, Ohio, May ninth and tenth.

9:54 And that's all for the news this week. Today's episode was produced by me Philip Bernandez, with reporting by Daryl Plunky post production by David Swope. This Haunt News Update is a production of the Haunted Attraction Network and you can sign up to our weekly newsletter at Hantattraction Network dot com. Support for this episode comes from Gantam Lighting and Controls. Until next time, Haunters Stay Scary. This is a Haunted Attraction Network production.