NEWS: Haunt Trends Playing Out in Real Time

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. Celebrate the art of monsters in movie magic this weekend May thirtieth through June first at Monster Palooza in Pasadena, California. Taking place at the Pasadena Convention Center, Monster Palooza features over four hundred exhibitors, a monster museum, special guests and makeup demos, presentations, and more. Early bird tickets are on sale online until May thirty, eth starting at forty dollars plus fees for Friday admission, forty five dollars plus fees for Sunday admission, and ninety dollars plus fees for the three day admission. Saturday tickets are currently sold out online.

1:11 A limited number will be available for purchase at the door on Saturday for fifty five dollars each. Spirit Halloween has canceled their flagship store grand opening event. In a May twenty second Facebook post, Spirit Halloween announced that due to international disruptions and supply chain challenges, they have been forced to cancel their annual Egg Harbor Township grand opening event, typically taking place in early August. The grand opening event allows fans and influencers to get a sneak peak at the animatronics, props, costumes, and more to come. Over one thousand stores across the US for the upcoming Halloween season. While Spirit intends to bring the grand opening celebration back for twenty twenty six, the company did state that over fifteen hundred stores are on track to open their doors for twenty twenty five, some as early as mid August.

1:56 A list of locations has yet to be released. Their next stop is Mattison Scare Park. Spirit Halloween tease their twenty twenty five theme on Facebook with a video showing some of the new products for this Halloween season, from giant sewer rats to zombie raccoons. The Spooky Subway theme is sure to include chills and thrills for all six flags presses. Reset. On May twentieth, Six Flags Entertainment Corporation unveiled plans for the Great Reset, their new strategic plan, in which they aim to reach fifty eight million in annual attendance and three point eight billion in revenue by twenty twenty eight. The eighty eight slide presentation boils down to one thing, a better product makes more money. The plan gives concrete examples of what industry professionals have known for decades. Improving the guest experience means guests will want to come back and spend more, convert to annual passes, bring their friends, and grow market penetration. Halloween and other seasonal events were cited as being critical for the plan, which makes it likely that six Flags intends to keep or expand those events at the fifteen properties they are focusing on. One example given in the presentation was how the creative themed Halloween blood bags drinks increased transactions per guest.

3:09 The company will look into other upgraded dining experiences to boost food and beverage revenue. Listen to Philip and Scott's complete analysis of the presentation on this week's episode of The Green Tag Podcast by following the links in our show notes Zombies takeover Hello Kitty Land this summer. Sanrio piro Land in Tokyo, Japan, home to the cute characters like Hello Kitty, Kiromi and Pompomperen, will be overrun by zombies on June twenty eighth and July fifth as part of a special collaboration with Obakan, Obakan Zombie Land and Sanrio piro Land. Rebirth Code will challenge brave guests and navigated dystopian nightmare, where a long dormant infection has mutated and triggered an emergency lockdown. The infected roam the grounds while special forces attempt to contain the chaos. Participants must reverse the seven themed zones and complete missions to prove that they are uninfected. If they survive the night, they will receive exclusive merchandise. Twenty twenty five marks the tenth anniversary of the event. Tickets are on sale now for nine hundred and eighty yen. Only one thousand tickets will be sold for each night. The Ghostly Manor debuts at Paulton Park in New Forest, United Kingdom. Paulton's Park welcome their newest dark ride this week. Ghostly Manner. The new three point five million pounds scare attraction will feature interactive gameplay, storytelling, and plenty of ghostly surprises. We're thrilled to celebrate the launch of Ghostly Manner at Paulton's Parks that its creator's

4:41 Mack ride. Step inside the Haunted Halls where guests become part of the story, combining thrilling interactivity, immersive set design, and playful scares for the whole family. This is not your average dark ride. It's a game, a theater, and a ghostly good time all in one. Housed in the Armer forty Cinema building, the ride transports visitors through a series of spooky scenes, combining large projections with sets and special effects as they try to capture a collection of escaped ghosts. Guests can compare scores at the end of the ride to determine who is the most skilled ghost hunter of their group. Learn more on Fulton's Park's official website. Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party tickets are now on sale as Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party returns to Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom Park in Orlando, Florida thirty eight select nights from August fifteenth through October thirty first of twenty twenty five. The festive fun includes a new meet and greet with Mickey and Minnie Mouse at town Square Theater, the transformation of Storybook Circus into a Happy Haunt for families with younger children, and a dance party inspired by Zombies four Dawn of the Vampires. Many longtime fan favorites are reappearing as well, including Mickey's Booty You Halloween Parade, Disney's Not So Spooky Spectacular Fireworks show, and the hocus Pocus Villain spell Tacular. Don your costumes and satisfy your sweet tooth with trigger treating at various locations in the park and limited time Halloween food and beverages.

6:11 Event tickets range from one hundred and nineteen to two hundred and twenty nine per person. Scare CON's Scar Award winners have been announced. Scare Con from United Kingdom announced their twenty twenty five Scar Awards winners at their May twentieth scare Ball. The twenty twenty five awards were based on events and attractions that opened or operated for a significant duration between April twenty twenty four and March twenty twenty five. All fifteen categories were judged by the scare Con and scare Tour review team and were scored upon specific requirements for each category, including public reviews. Awards were received by Screamfest Burton, The Nightmare Realm, Extreme, Scream Park, Tali's S, October Fest, Traumatica, York, May's Hallow Scream, Screams at Thornton Hall, Wallsale, Scare May's London Bridge Experience, Thorpe Park, Horror At Hitchings Brook House, The Howell Scream Park, and Horror Land. Queen Mary's Dark Harbor presents Butcher's Blackout on Friday, June thirteenth. Dark Harbor returns to historic Queen Mary in Long Beach, California for a special, one night only off season event on Friday, June thirteenth. Experience Butcher's Blackout, a walk through the Feast Maze incomplete darkness with only a glowstick to guide you. The maze will feature an all new Grizzly Finale sequence Combo. Ticket Holders will also have the opportunity to experience the Summoning of Samuel, where they can join Psychic Lady Mabel in the interactive Seance, where

7:42 the veil between the living and the dead lifts and something ventful steps through. More fearsome festivities around the ship include the Spirits of Dark Harbor Bar and the Engine Room, where you can learn more about the haunted history of the ship. Tickets will go on zale soon. Sign up to the event's official website to get early act so that's the tickets once they are available. The Mystic Museum's Total Grotesque Live launches May thirty first. Get ready for the newest immersive exhibit at the Mystic Museum in Burbank, California. Total Grotesque Live TGL Launching on Friday, May thirty first and running for a full year, This interactive photo experience invites brave souls to step inside the screen and become the main character in detailed recreations of ten iconic horror scenes crafted by the same twisted minds behind Mystic Museum's previous hit experiences. Pre sale Grand opening Day tickets are available online for twenty two seventy eight. Urban Death's twentieth anniversary show in May Friday and Saturdays now through June fourteenth.

8:43 Zombie Joe's Underground Theater Group in North Hollywood, California celebrates twenty ghoulish years of Urban Death with an all new Signature horror production and twentieth anniversary Mays directed by Denise Devin and Jana Weimer, the music by Joseph Peshara. This new iteration of Urban Death fuses the phantasmic and shocking with a terrifyingly human, guiding audiences through a bone chilling walk through maze followed by a forty five minute sit down horror theater thrombosis. Each night, brave guests will be led into the darkness and thrust into a series of haunting, grotesque, freaky, and often beautiful vignettes that have defined Urban Death as a genre breaking theater phenomenon since it was created by Zombie Joe and Jana Wimer two decades ago. Tickets are on sale now for twenty dollars online and twenty five at the door. This production is for audiences ages seventeen plus due to graphic content and full nudity. Haunt Doll's experience coming to the Midwest Haunters Convention. Haunt Dolls MHC Booth thirty thirty nine, an exhibitor that creates collectible crochet Horror Dolls announced they are bringing a new experience to the Midwest Haunters Convention in Rosemont, Illinois, June sixth through eighth.

9:53 MHC will mark our second in the Flesh collection release, limited edition crocheted pieces that you can only access by meeting us in the Flesh at an in person events at Alex Berland, CEO and founder of Haunt Dolls, we want to connect these pieces with a truly one of a kind experience. You will leave with a limited edition display piece and a story to go along with it. Specific details are still under wraps, but the basic premise is that participants will complete an immersive experience before receiving their limited edition doll entertainment and products combined. Haunt Dolls as partnering with ktl Illist, Moonhawler Productions, Brandybeast, and Lost Soul's Chicago for the experience. Follow Haunt Dolls on social media or sign up for their mailing list for more information as it is announced, Ask the Haunt expert Bart Butler.

10:42 Coming up in live streams, Hunter's Toolbox is hosting a live Q and a session with Terror on the Corn Show director Bart Butler on Tuesday, June tenth, at five point thirty pm Pacific daylight time. In this ninety minute live session, Butler will discuss scare actor management, scenic design and construction, character development, increasing attendance, and more. Haunted Attraction Network founder Philip Bernandez is featured in an article in Interpark Magazine. In this interview from the twenty twenty four Halloween season with editor Beth Whittaker, Philip discusses the history of the Haunted Attraction Network, has favorite haunted attractions, and the significant changes in the haunted attraction industry he has witnessed in recent years. Some upcoming events this May through July twenty twenty five include Monster Palooza from Pasadena, California, May thirtieth through June first, the Midwest Haunters Convention in Rosemont, Illinois, June sixth through eight in the Texas Haunters Convention in Dallas, Texas July twenty sixth then twenty seventh.

11:45 And that's all for the News this week. Today's episode was produced by me Philipernandez, 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 home Anti Attraction Network dot com. Support for this episode comes from Gantum Lighting and Controls. Until next time, Haunters stay scary. This is a Haunted Attraction Network production.