Aug. 4, 2026

NEWS: People Are Ready To Buy Halloween Now

Show Notes
Transcript

Guests are ready to buy Halloween in July. That's the takeaway from Mars' annual Tricks, Treats and Trends report, which put consumer numbers on trends we've been tracking all year: 57% of US adults now consider Halloween a full season, 71% want sensory food experiences, and half of Gen Z is discovering Halloween on TikTok and YouTube. This week's news shows operators building for exactly that: ScareHouse is returning to Pittsburgh with no haunted house at all, just the hangout, and SCREAM-A-GEDDON put $2.5 million, its largest capital project ever, into its midway.
In this issue:
- Halloween 2026 Trends: Season Creep, the Food Gap, & Discoverability
- HHN Roundup
- Universal's Q2: Orlando Softens
- ScareHouse Returns With Halloween Hangout
- SCREAM-A-GEDDON's $2.5 Million Midway Opens August 29th
- Fire Destroys Three Houses at Field of Horrors
- Freakling Bros. Pauses 2026 for a J.J. Abrams Film
- Delusion Returns to the Beckett Mansion
- Spirit Halloween's Flagship Opens Saturday
- How Much Do Professional Animatronics Cost?
- At Home Launches Its Biggest Halloween Assortment Ever
- Retail Roundup: Universal Monsters LEGO, Skullector, Lemax, Lenox, Monster Cereals, and More

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.

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First off, this message from Philip Heernandez, publisher of the

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Haunted Attraction Network. The annual Tricks, Treats and Trends report

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from MARS confirmed trends we've been tracking in the haunt industry.

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The season is stretching, there is real demand for unique

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Halloween food, and discovery has moved to social While this

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was in the context of Halloween candy, these are takeaways

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that haunts can use. First season creep. We told you

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last week that Helloween starts in three weeks. MARS says

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consumers agree. Fifty seven percent of US adults now consider

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Helloween a full season, and thirty percent of gen Z

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already celebrates Summer Ween. If your Haunt isn't selling tickets

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or at the bare minimum, promoting your twenty twenty six season.

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You're behind. Guests are ready to buy Helloween in July.

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Sell it to them on food. The demand is real,

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but the key is unique. Seventy one percent of adults

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wants sensory or textual experiences, and seventy four percent of

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gen Z seek out seasonal flavors, colors, and shapes. The

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Haunt version of extreme flavor is not a hotter wing.

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It's a themed named October only item. The kind of

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food that extends the story the way Scarehouse windsors one

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hundred and twenty five dollars dinner does. Fewer than ten

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percent of Haunts sell food at all, So the bar

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for standing out is on the floor. I'm sure you've

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heard about discovery on social, but stay with me because

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it all connects in a larger way. Fifty three percent

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of gen Z discovers Halloween on TikTok and forty nine

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percent on YouTube, but they buy in person. So social

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is demand generation, and it means having word of mouth

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style content from guests at your attraction. Now what do

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guests need to make that content and share it time

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we've written about why haunts are becoming scream parks. Guests

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need space to decompress between scares, and the connective tissue

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extends their stay and their perceived value. It also gives

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them the moment to pull out a phone, and the

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moment they capture is the moment that markets you. This

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week also saw operators investing in exactly that space, Scare

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houses returning to Pittsburgh after two seasons and going all

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in on the hangout space, movie nights, haunted happy hours,

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terror tailgates, and themed food with no haunted house at all,

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Scream again and put two and a half million dollars

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way largest capital project in park history into its midway

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covered pavilions, four food trucks, fire pits, and an bandoned

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beer garden. But don't forget the in between has to

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be entertaining. Empty hangout space is just a parking lot.

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In sadder news, a July twentieth fire destroyed three of

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the five houses at Field of Horrors in Brunswick, New York.

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The buildings were uninsured and owner Dave Mollinio is rebuilding anyway,

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targeting September with steel walls this time It's the third

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building setback we've covered this month, and as we said

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in July, buildings and insurance remained two existential threats for

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independent haunts. Freakling Brothers is also dark for twenty twenty

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six for a much better reason. Co owner JT. Moliner

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is directing a horror film produced by jj Abram, and

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the full lineup returns in twenty twenty seven. Also this week,

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HHN Orleto completes its Scare Zone slate with a downtown

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Clowntown putting killer clowns and terrifiers art The Clown on

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One Street. Hollywood announced its first original house, Fortnitemare's lands

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on both coasts. Universal Studios Japan announced the first R

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eighteen attraction in its event's history. Delusion is returning to

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the Beckett Mansion, where it all started in twenty to eleven,

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and we price professional animatronics against retail's twenty five thousand

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dollars ballrog. Here's what you need to know this week

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in Halloween Horror Nite news, Evil dead Burn is coming

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to HHN twenty twenty six at Universal Orlando and Universal

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Studios Hollywood. Universal has announced Evil dead Burn haunted houses

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of both of its United States Halloween Horror Night events

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this fall, tied to New Line Cinema's newly released sixth

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film in the Evil Dead franchise. For Universal's release, The

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Nightmare grows more and more fierce as guest venture through

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the haunted House, encountering ferocious Dead heights around every turn

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before succumbing to the evil forces the mo Universal Studio

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Hollywood's own tagline for the house, The Book of the

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Dead has been reopened, and now an internal force consumes

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a family home encounter not just the root of evil,

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but the whole family tree. Follow the links in our

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show notes to read the full story. Fortnightmares is coming

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to HHN twenty twenty six at both Universal Orlando and

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Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights is opening a Fort Nightmares scare

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zone in both of its US events for twenty twenty six,

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Tied to Epic Game's annual in game Halloween event of

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the same name, Guests will encounter the battle Bus and

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familiar Fortnightmare's characters, plus HHN exclusive editions. Scott and Philip

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broke down with this licensing bet actually cost Universal on

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this week's green tagged Fortnite was the number one most

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played console game in the United States in twenty twenty five,

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with more than one hundred million monthly players and six

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hundred and fifty million lifetime registered players, and its in

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game events draw audiences that rival stadium concerts, But a

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scare zone has none of the Q control a house does,

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and the tween demographic Fortnite brings as the same one

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associated with teen takeovers. Dead Deader Deadist at HHN Hollywood's

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first original house. In twenty twenty six, Universal Studios Hollywood

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announced Dead Dead or Deadist, the first original, non IP

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haunted house for HHN Hollywood twenty twenty six. The premise Ambrotox,

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a miracle drug that claims to restore the deceased feature

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without embombing, backfires inside the Deville family funeral home and

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raises a century worth of corpses. The Deville name is

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a deliberate callback to twenty twenty two's original house, Universal

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Horror Hotel and its infamous hotel in Presario Maximilian Deville.

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Downtown Clowntown puts killer clowns and art the clown on

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the same street. At HHN thirty five, Universal Orlando announced

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Downtown Clowntown, the fourth and final scare Zone for HHN

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thirty and it does something HHN almost never does. It

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puts two separately licensed horror ips in one zone, the

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Killer Clowns from Outer Space and Terrifiers Art. The clown

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take over the New York section of Universal Studios Florida

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together alongside unnamed other murderous clownsfolk. Neither franchise has a house.

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In twenty twenty six, the clowns exist only on this street.

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The Clowns are back in Orlando after a seven year

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absence twenty eighteen zone in the twenty nineteen house, and

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Art moves to the street after his twenty twenty five

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Terrifier House. One House of the Year Orlando's Zone slate

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is now complete. Infernal Carnival of Nightmares in Illumination Boulevard,

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The Side Show of Decay in the Hollywood area, fort Nightmares,

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Freaky Fields in Central Park and Downtown Clowntown in the

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New York area, plus Street Experience Mals Die In Club Horror,

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and the Roaming Chainsaw Horde. Announced July twenty first, usj

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announces Zenz, its first R eighteen age restricted helloween horror

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nights attraction. Universal Studios Japan announced Zanzo or after image,

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the first R eighteen age restricted attraction in its Halloween

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Horror Nights fifteen year history. Guests seventeen and under are

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barred entirely, and everyone else must consent to a waiver

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before entering the premise, a facility that researches nightmares where

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guests are psychologically cornered through isolation and confinement in a

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space where hallucination and reality blur. Sanzo builds on usj's

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history of extreme experiments like Hotel Albert, the NDA required

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small group experience on the same Stage eighteen building, and

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the retired open air biohazard experience that sprayed guests with water.

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The hard eighteen plus age gate is the genuine first

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for the event. A separate ticket from nineteen hundred yen

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about thirteen dollars goes on sale July twenty seventh at

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approximately nine pm JST. Official web site only capt inventory

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and a new Universal Express Pass three plus one from

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eleven thy eight hundred yen guarantees one Zanzo experience plus

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priority for three other attractions. It runs on Stage eighteen

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from September eleventh through November eighth, HHN thirty five Orlandos

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Frequent Fear passes are on sale, plus a new five

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House Rip tour. Universal Orlando has put its Halloween Hornites

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thirty five multi night frequent Fear passes on sale, and

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it has added a brand new five House Rip tour

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to the twenty twenty six lineup at a lower entry

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price than the standard rip product. The Dead Coconut Club

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returns to Universal City Walk for HHN thirty five with

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an alien invasion overlay. Universal Orlando has confirmed Dead Coconut

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Club Harvest the twenty twenty six Helloween Horronites overlay of

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Universal City Walks Red Coconut Club. The venue transforms into

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an alien invasion at a fictional Midwest town's thirty fifth

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annual Harvest Festival, a nod to hhn's thirty fifth anniversary

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and a tie in to the alien content elsewhere in

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the event Invasion, Alien Abduction, and the returning Killer Clowns

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from outer Space. Universal Orlando has confirmed two returning street

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experiences for Halloween Horrnites thirty five this fall, Mels Die

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In Zombies tagline Shake Rattle and Rip and Club Horror

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tagline Party Like Your Life Depends on It. Both are

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in the mid level programming layer along the walkways between houses.

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In other theme park news universals Q two, guests who

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commerce spending more fewer coming. Universal theme Parks grew revenue

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two point seven percent to two point four billion dollars

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in Q two, but segment EBITA fell five point one percent,

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the segment's first decline since Epic Universe opened. Orlando. Attendants

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began softening in June in the state pressure into the

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third quarter, and management blames weaker consumer sentiment and higher

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travel costs. Lego Land adds Bricker Treat Street at both

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California and Florida for twenty twenty six. Lego Land is

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adding a new attraction called Bricker Treat Street at both

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Legoland California and Lego Land Florida for the twenty twenty

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six Halloween season, an interactive trick or Treat walk through

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featuring six life sized Lego Monster homes and a new

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Halloween light trail. Guests knock on the doors of six

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Lego Monster houses, each theme to a fan favorite Lego minifigure.

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Lego Land has designed the experience so guests interact at

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every door, collect Lego bricks along the way, and help

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build a giant Halloween creation together At the end of

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the trail, it joins each resorts returning Brick or Treat

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lineup of trick or Treat stations, meet and greets, and shows,

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and it will also feature a new Halloween interactive light

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trail with tricks and visual effects layered throughout. Jack O'Lanterns

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Spectacular moooves to Kentucky Kingdom for its fourteenth year. Kentucky

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Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky is the new home of Jack

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O Lantern Spectacular, the illuminated hand carved pumpkin trail that

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runs through its fourteenth year at the Louisville Amusement Park.

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This fall, jack O Lantern Spectacular joins Pumpkins at Kentucky Kingdom,

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the park's family friendly fall festival, for a combined Wednesday

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through Sunday run October one through November first of twenty

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twenty six. Jack O Lantern Spectacular is produced in partnership

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with Passion for Pumpkins, Incorporated, a multimedia production company with

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twenty five years of experience bringing illuminated pumpkin galleries. The

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twenty twenty six display will feature more than five thousand

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hand carved pumpkins by local artists and sculptors along one

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illuminated trail. Pumpkins at Kentucky Kingdom is now in its

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fifth year and on the event night that offers more

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than thirty rides, themed foods and beverage options, and over

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a thousand illuminated par umpkins across the park, The Nightmare

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Before Christmas is getting carved into two million pounds of

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ice at Gaylord Rockies. The Nightmare Before Christmas headlines Gaylord's

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twenty twenty six ice lineup is one of their three

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new themes. The running of Gaylord's Rockies outside Denver from

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November twentieth, twenty twenty six through January third of twenty

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twenty seven. Jack's story gets told across more than ten

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walkthrough scenes and hand carved from roughly two million pounds

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of ice by three hundred artisans from Harbin, China on

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a forty day build clock kept at nine degrees. Scream

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Ageddon spends two and a half million on its midway

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and opens August twenty nine. Scream Ageddon opens its twelfth

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season on Saturday, August twenty ninth, one day after Halloween

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horror Nights, and it's arriving with the largest capital project

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in the park history at two point five million dollar

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rebuild of the midway, renamed Bonzo's Bazaar. That August twenty

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ninth date is worth pausing on central floor or theme

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park events open first every year, and independent haunts typically follow.

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From mid September. Scream again and is opening ahead of

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every other independent haunt in the country on our twenty

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twenty six calendar, and ahead of four of five major

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Orlando Park events. Bonzo's Bazaar is a fifty thousand square

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foot rebuild a fully paved midway winding past permanent covered pavilions,

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four new food trucks, fire pits with s'mores, and an

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upgraded beer garden pouring local winding craft beer, plus newly

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paved parking lots and park roads. Reading the list theme

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is dwell time. Covered pavilions, fire pits, four food trucks,

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and an expanded bar are all built to keep people

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on property between houses rather than moving them through a

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QUEU to Q circuit. Scarehouse is back for twenty twenty six.

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It is not building a haunted house. Scarehouse, one of

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the most nationally acclaimed haunted attractions in the country, is

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returning this October after two seasons dark and it is

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not building a haunted house. Scarehouse and the Plaza at

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north Shore announced Helloween Hangout, a month long takeover of

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the outdoor venue across from PNC Park and Pittsburgh, running

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October first through thirty first. It is a multi year

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partnership with Legacy Hospitality Partners. Year one has no mazes

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and no traditional haunted attractions of any kind. The programming

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is movie nights running from the Rocky Horror Picture Show

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to hocus Pocus to Halloween, Scarehouse, haunt Knights aimed at

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older audiences seeking more intense thrills, a community trick or treat,

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a charity pumpkin patch, Haunted happy hours, terror tailgate parties

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around home football games in the north Shore, and themed

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food and drink from Sugarbird. Creative director Scott Simmons told

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HN the emission of mazes is deliberate. Year one doesn't

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offer any traditional haunted attractions of mazes, but it will

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include plenty of thematic environments, original characters, and new experiences.

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The hope is that we can grow and expand it too,

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something increasingly elaborate in future seasons. Delusion is going back

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to where it started. Delusions twenty twenty six show Den

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of the Mosquito will run at the Beckett Mansion in

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West Adams, Los Angeles. That is the building where John

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Braver staged the first Delusion in twenty eleven and the

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Neil Patrick Harris co production in twenty twenty twelve. Fifteen

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years and roughly ten shows later, the longest running IMMERSA

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theater series in the country is Going Home. The play

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is set in nineteen twenties New Orleans. Bloodless corpses, strange abductions,

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and a missing mayor prompt President Woodrow Wilson to form Anomaly,

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a secret organization tasked with investigating supernatural threats. Guest play

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Anomaly agents sent to a Bayou brothel run by the

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Nolo Mafia to recover an ancient relic. Delusion is billing

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it as the company's longest and most interactive play to date,

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with a full fifty minute runtime, more interactivity and split paths,

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extremely limited availability, and the return of the play year

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part VIP option. Field of Horrors lost three haunted houses

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in an electrical fire. The buildings were uninsured and the

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owner is rebuilding anyways. A July twentieth fire destroyed. Three

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of the five haunted houses at Field of Horrors in Brunswick,

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New York, just north of Troy. Insanity, Return of Mummy's

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Curse and The Condemned Manner all sat inside a single

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interconnected building roughly one hundred and fifty feet long. Every July,

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and employee repairs wiring that mice have chewed through during

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the off season. That work is underway. On Monday, owner

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Dave Millinio said the employee flicked on a generator and

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believes the spark caught the burlap inside the building. Millenio

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also sprays roughly five thousand dollars of fire retardant across

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the facility every year. Just before opening day, it had

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not been applied yet. The buildings were gone in about

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an hour. Millineo told The Times Union that destroyed buildings

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were uninsured. He is rebuilding anyways, targeting to September opening,

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with clean up already underway in construction expected to start

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within two weeks. He plans to prioritize two of the

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three houses and wants to replace the old wooden walls

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with steel. Capital Combat Zone, the Paintball and Airsoft operation

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sharing the property, was unaffected. Freakling Brothers is taking the

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twenty twenty six Halloween season off. Here's why and what

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returns in twenty twenty seven. Freakling Brothers horror shows. The

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Las Vegas Haunt, running for more than thirty one years,

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will not open for the twenty twenty six Halloween season.

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Co owner and creative director J. T. Moliner is stepping

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away to direct Skeletons, a horror thriller produced by JJ

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Abrams and starring Brie Larsen, and the family is pausing

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the entire operation rather than running it without him. Duke

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Molner has a supporting role in the film, and Ginny

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Molner contributes an original song. The full three Haunt lineup

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returns in twenty twenty seven. Gates of Hell, Nevada's only

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R rated Haunt, Coven of thirteen, and The Nest, the

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all new haunt replacing the classic Castle Vampire that was

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originally planned for twenty twenty six. The Halloween season is

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almost upon us, and the haunts around the country announcing

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their dates, new editions, special events, and more. To help

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you manage the myriad of updates, the Haunted Attraction Network

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has compiled comprehensive guides to the top haunts in the

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US and top theme park events around the world. Follow

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the links in our show notes and bookmark these important

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pages for reference and check back often for updates as

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new information is released. Our guides include when do Haunted

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Houses open in twenty twenty six, The Best and Scariest

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Haunted Houses in America, The Top Hants List, Halloween Horror

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Nights twenty twenty six, Dates, tickets and lineups for every park,

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Disney Halloween twenty twenty six, Every park worldwide. Freight Fest

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twenty twenty six, The Complete guide to Six Flags Halloween

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events at every park. Hello Screams twenty two twenty six.

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A complete guide to the All Five. A complete guide

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to all five United Park locations. Orlando Halloween Events, Every

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park party in Haunt Halloween Time at Disneyland twenty twenty six.

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A complete guide. Haunted Houses in California twenty twenty six,

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twenty twenty six, Date, tickets and what's new. Halloween Horror

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Nites twenty twenty six, hours, costume policy and no before

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you go. Haunted Houses in Texas twenty twenty six, Dates,

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tickets and what's new. Halloween Horror Nites Tickets twenty twenty

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six Complete guide to all universal parks in retail news.

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How much do professional haunted animatronics cost less than retail's

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twenty five thousand dollars Balrog? Retails headline animatronic this year

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is Halloween Costumes dot COM's thirteen point seventy five foot

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Lord of the Rings Balrog for twenty four thoy, nine

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hundred and ninety nine dollars and ninety nine cents. The

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most expensive piece in Distortions Unlimited Entire twenty twenty six

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collection is an eleven foot gorilla called Kong at eight

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eight hundred and ninety roughly a third of the price.

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Distortions has been building props for professional haunted houses in Greeley, Colorado,

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for more than forty five years, and its cheapest twenty

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twenty six item Frank and Kat at two hundred and

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eighty nine undercuts Home Depots two hundred and ninety nine

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dollars ninety eight cents. Skelly Home Depots Viral Halloween buckets

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are back for twenty twenty six. Here's where to find them.

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Home Depots Viral two dollars and ninety eight cent. Halloween

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print buckets are back for twenty twenty six and the

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Bucket Hunt is one of the most searched Halloween retail

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stores of the week. The two gallon orange utility bucket

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comes wrapped in ghosts, jack o, lanterns, bats and spiders

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alongside the Home Depot logo, and it's an in store only.

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As of this writing, does not appear anywhere on home

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depot dot com. The Halloween bucket crazes spread to Petco,

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and there started at a dollar fifty. The bucket Hunt

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is a second front. Petco is selling hell Halloween printed

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buckets and two sizes, and unlike the one, everyone has

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been driving store to store for these ship The skeletons

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and ghost trick or treat pails are a dollar fifty

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at seven by nine inches, which undercuts home Depots to

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00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:15.119
ninety eight by nearly half. The bigger one is a

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00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:18.759
two gallon lidded utility bucket and pumpkin or Frankenstein at

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00:22:18.799 --> 00:22:21.920
seven dollars, and Petco files it under fish supplies in

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00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:25.680
aquarium maintenance, describing it is good for water changes to

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trick or treating. It is a water change bucket and

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00:22:28.680 --> 00:22:31.880
a Halloween wrapper the same move Home Depot made with

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00:22:31.960 --> 00:22:35.599
their paint bucket. There's a Universal Monster's Lego set coming.

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Here's what's in it. Lego has approved the Universal Monster

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Set and it comes with six monster minifigures, Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster,

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the Wolfman, Pride to Frankenstein, Invisible Man, and The Phantom

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of the Opera. They live in a Gothic castle and

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the concept runs about two two hundred and fifty pieces.

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Monster High Scullector is going all in on horror, Michael Myers, Crampis,

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Uh Bog Boogie and the Universal Monsters. Mattel used San

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Diego Comic Con to reveal the biggest horror wave yet

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for Monster High Scullector. This premium collector doll line, the

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Universal Monsters Trio Frankenstein, Dracula and the Mummy forty four

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00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:18.640
dollars each, dropped July twenty fourth on Walmart dot com,

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with stores and international following September first. Michael Myers from

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nineteen eighty one's Halloween two seventy dollars, Mattel Creations exclusive

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August eighth, Oogie Boogie from the Nightmare Before Christmas Fall

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twenty twenty six, and Crampas from the twenty fifteen legendary

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film seventy dollars available December third. Monster Cereals are back

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for twenty twenty six, and this year the box turns

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into a puppet. Count Chocula, Booberry and Frankenberry Hitchhells nationwide

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this month, marking the Trios fifty fifth anniversary, General Mills

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is running the Jim Henson muppet puppet designs again in

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an all new box art. The new part every box

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double says to build your own puppet, printed with cutout

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designs that turn the empty box into a monster puppet.

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At Home just dropped one thousand plus Halloween pieces across

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five collections. At Home launched its biggest Halloween assortment ever,

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more than a thousand items across five collections available now

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online in an all two hundred and twenty eight stores

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in thirty nine states. The retailer claims the largest selection

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of Halloween decor under one roof of any brick and

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mortar retailer. The five lines are a Western Hollow, an

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old wild West ghost Town, Gothic graveyard, black and ruby,

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Redgothic elegance with gargoyles, crows and reapers, grim gardens, mossy,

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overgrown Bug covered organic textures, Spellbound Tarot and Celestial Party serveware,

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and Happy Haunting the classic orange and black item. Target's

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twenty twenty six Halloween collection is quietly live on Target

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dot Com. Target's twenty twenty six Halloween drop is live

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NEWS: People Are Ready To Buy Halloween Now

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