NEWS: Trends shaping the 2026 Halloween season

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. A brief note from Philip Bernandez, publisher of the Haunted Attraction Network. It's a brand new week, and on one hand, it was a slow news week after the rush of halfway to Halloween, and on the other hand, we see some major trends emerging that could shape this Halloween season.

0:54 The clearest one is returned to live human driven entertainment Six Flags Great Adventures, bringing back dead Man's Party for Freight Fast after a one year absence, making the show's twenty fifth year and the first major live entertainment announcement under new CEO John Riley. Universal Horror Unleashed, Teased, food, film frights and four course pre fee dinner and a horror movie series running on Saturday and Sunday nights in May, and in Glendale, Nocturne Theater is premiering The Eves, an original paranormal stage play in a newly activated upstairs space stage for proximity and psychological unease rather than spectacle. It connects to something Jfi said during the Tea Inspire panels.

1:41 As we get more immersed in technology, people are going to be more willing to pay to be human. The operators leaning into live performances, intimate staging, and shared dinner experiences are betting on exactly that. Okay, I'll admit here to being biased on this trend, but hey, a man can dream, right. The Six Flags news also reveals a second three making spaces more family friendly, not just for thrill seekers and haunt enthusiasts. Dead Man's Party is a family friendly entertainment that local audience has upcome to expect. Also, Six Flags Saint Louis updated and reinstated a permanent chaperone policy in response to frights on opening day. In one hand, this is a response to a crisis. On the other, it's a way to ensure families see the spaces safe.

2:25 Also this week, the Ohio Haunters Convention takes place this weekend at the historic Ohio State Reformatory. The Midwester's Haunter Convention announced its pre show tour lineup, and the Spooky Swap Meet has announced its twenty twenty seven dates. Here's what you need to know this week in Theme Bark News. Dead Man's Party returns to six Flags Great Adventure for freight Fest. Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, New Jersey, is bringing back dead Man's Party, the live Broadway style dance show, for the twenty twenty six freight Fest season, after a one year absence in twenty twenty five. The popular production, hosted by Doctor Fright, debuted in the park in nineteen ninety nine and ran annually through freight Fest until it was dropped from the twenty twenty five lineup.

3:11 Its return marks the show's twenty fifth year at Great Adventure. Over the past twenty five years, dead Man's Party has become a signature part of the park's fall entertainment lineup, combining live performances with a spooky atmosphere of freight Fest. Six Flags said in a recent press release. The company also noted that the show become a coveted role for professional dancers from coast to coast and has helped launch many into successful performance careers. Six Flags has not yet announced the twenty twenty six freight Fest schedule, ticket pricing, or broader entertainment lineup. The company said additional details will follow closer to the season. Since their merger with Cedar Fair, six Flags has been going through a roller coaster of changes.

3:52 The new CEO, John Riley, recently restored park presidents to ten six Flags properties and suggested the parks would focus more on local and live entertainment. The return of dead Man's Party seems to be the first and hopefully many live entertainment announcements. Bringing back live entertainment that's popular with fans is a good idea not just for teens who like spooky things, but for the entire family. The move hits two of the themes from this year's TEA panel on regional park programming. Lean into local attachment offerings and program for the family friendly side of the seasonal calendar, not just the haunted house enthusiast. Six Flags of Saint Louis enacts as strict chaperone policy after fights involves as many as one hundred juveniles. Six Flags Saint Louis in Eureka, Missouri has reinstated what might be the strictest chaperone policy the industry has seen. Guests sixteen and under must be accompanied by a twenty one year older chaperone, with a max of six guests per chaperone daily throughout all operating hours.

4:54 Icon Park introduced a similar policy the same week. In this week the episode of Green Tag, Philip and Scott break down the takeover tread Scott's case that this is the first step toward the end of the family theme park and the upstream question nobody is solving why these kids are bored enough to organize fights at parks in the first place. Universal Horror Unleashed teases new dinner series. Universal Horror Unleashed from Las Vegas, Nevada is offering Food Film Frights at a new four course prefixed dinner with horror movie package Saturday and Sunday nights in May. According to the announcement, Food Film Frights includes a surprise horror movie screening, a themed four course prefixed dinner, limited time cocktails.

5:39 The prefixed menu is not included with admission to Universal horror Unleashed Nocturn Theater debuts and original paranormal play The Eves in new upstairs space. Nockturn Theater in Glendale, California is premiering The Eves, an original paranormal stage play written and directed by co owner Justin Meyer, in in a newly activated upstairs performance space. The world premiere runs April thirtieth through September twenty twenty six, with tickets priced from thirty dollars to fifty eight dollars plus booking fees. Play follows a paranormal investigator called to assist a grieving mother whose home is become the center of a disturbing presence, with the haunting eventually revealing itself as something more personal.

6:22 The production cites the women in black ghost stories in paranormal activity is inspirations, and the staged proximity, silence and psychological unease rather than spectacle. Meyer's previous Nocturn credits include Madam Scrooge, Frankenstein Resurrection, and Haunted Soire. Nocturn is operated by Meyer to Meyer Entertainment, the company owned by Melissa and Justin Meyer. The Meyers were part of the original two thousand and nine launch of the Los Angeles Haunted hay Ride and spent a decade as creative director and Chief Operations officer for ten thirty one Productions before launching their own slate of immersive programs, which now includes House of Spirits, a Haunted Cocktail, soare Kaleidoscope Experience, and the byte La. Follow the links in our show notes to read the full story. The Ohio Haunters Convention takes place this weekend. The Ohio Haunters Convention takes place May ninth through tenth at the historic Ohio State Reformatory in Mansfield, Ohio.

7:21 Join Haunt owners, actors, artists, builders, and fans from across the region for a full weekend dedicated to the haunt industry and horror community. The event features a curated vendor hall, educational seminars, a Saturday Night costume ball, blood Prison, Haunt Escape Room, and networking opportunities. Tickets are on sale now, starting at thirty dollars for weekend convention floor tickets and eighty dollars for the VIP pass. Midwest Haunters Convention announces pre show tours. The Midwest Haunters Convention from Rosemont, Illinois, has announced its pre Convention Bus Tour and Friday Night Haunt Tour lineup on Thursday, June fourth. The Prevention Bus Tour will begin with an immersive lights on walkthrough of Disturbia Haunted House in Downers Grove, Illinois. Next, the tour will stop at Hellsgate Haunted House in Lockport, Illinois for a light dinner and behind the scenes tour of the Haunts, Lost Souls Cemetery and Moorstone Manor. The evening concludes at Five Points Haunted House in West Chicago, Illinois, for a full show with live actors. On June fifth, the Friday Night Haunt Tour will visit Basement of the Dead and Aurora, Illinois and Massacre Haunted House in Montgomery, Illinois for full shows with live actors. Tickets for each or on sale now.

8:35 The pre Convention Bus Tour is one hundred and seventy five dollars, self driving tour is one hundred and thirty five, and the Friday Night Haunt Tour is one hundred and thirty Self driving Tour one hundred and five for Friday. Prices increased by fifteen dollars after midnight. On May twenty ninth, Spooky Swap Meet announces their twenty twenty seven dates. Mark your Calendar's Spooky Swap Meet returns to the Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles, California, April thirtieth to May second of twenty twenty seven. Some upcoming events this May through July include the Ohio's Haunter Convention this weekend in Mansfield, Ohio, May ninth and tenth, Scare Con UK May eighteenth through twentieth, Monster Palooza in Pasadena, California, May twenty ninth through thirty First Midwest Haunters Convention in Rosemont, Illinois, June sixth through seventh, and the Texas Haunters Convention in Irving, Texas, July eighteenth and nineteen.

9:32 And that's all for the news this week. Today's episode was produced by me Philip Hernandez, with reporting by Darryl 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 Haunted Attraction Network dot com. Support for this episode comes from Gantum Lighting end Controls. Until next time, Haunters, Stay Scary This It's a Haunted Attraction you look like a L.