The Happiest Place on Earth is embracing the scariest holiday.
The Disneyland Resort is going all out for Halloween this year with a month of decorations, food, activities and characters in special costumes.
Every year, Walt Disney Co. converts Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion ride to a scene out of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and hosts trick-or-treaters around Halloween.
But this is the first time the company has sought to lure visitors with a month’s worth of Halloween fare,like Knott’s Berry Farm has done for years with its yearly Halloween Haunt, which started Sept. 28 and runs through Oct. 31.
“There are 3 million kids who want to be a princess for Halloween,” said Gary Maggetti, director of food and beverage for Disney’s parks. “It’s a natural for Disney.”
Halloween has grown too big for Disney to ignore. The holiday generates $5 billion in yearly spending on costumes, decorations, candy, festivals and at theme parks.
“It’s not a day (anymore),” said Joey Michaels, senior producer with Walt Disney Entertainment. “It’s a season and the season is growing.”
Costume Sales, Attendance
Disney hopes that will translate into sales of costumes from movie characters. And, of course, it’s looking to spur visitors to its two Anaheim theme parks.
The company is coming off a blockbuster run with its 50th anniversary push for Disneyland, which Disney stretched from 2004 to this past summer. But now the summer and anniversary crowds have thinned.
In the past, Disney may have had trouble squaring away its family-fun image with the spooky and sometimes gory imagery of Halloween. The company seems to have done so with its month-long HalloweenTime push, complete with Mickey Mouse pumpkins and characters in special getups.
“Our consumer research indicates a need for alternatives to trick or treating,” said Lisa Cotter, vice president of marketing strategy for the Disneyland Resort. “Our intent is to build an annual family tradition of Disney magic meets Halloween fun.”
Disney expects an “incremental increase in attendance” from the events, Cotter said.
Disneyland draws about 13 million yearly visitors. Disney’s California Adventure brings in about 5 million.
Disney didn’t have to look far for Halloween inspiration.
Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park is widely seen as the theme park that started Halloween festivities in 1972. The idea was to boost attendance between Labor Day and Christmas.
The park’s Halloween Haunt,with its tag line of “everyone has to go sometime”,has turned October into its best month, accounting for about 15% of Knott’s yearly attendance of about 3.5 million people.
Attendance has grown every year and helps the park meet annual goals, said Knott’s spokeswoman Jennifer Blazey said.
Rival parks have added Halloween events to carve their own slice of the market with fright nights, haunts and other ghoulish events that often target teens.
Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia has its Fright Fest. Universal Studios Hollywood this year reinvented its Halloween Horror Nights to focus on a horror movie theme.
Even the Queen Mary in Long Beach has Shipwreck,a series of scary mazes aboard the ship.
Shipwreck now draws about 75,000 people each October,roughly 5% of the Queen Mary’s annual visitors,who pay about 25% more to visit during the event than on other days.
Disney is going after families with kids ages 3 to 11.
“We’re trying to stay to the fun side of Halloween,” Michaels said.
Along with the Haunted Mansion’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” theme, Disneyland has Woody’s Halloween Roundup, an area for storytelling and arts and crafts, a petting “boo” and cupcake decorating.
“When ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ is open, that area of the park sees a bump in visitors,” Maggetti said.
At California Adventure, Disney added characters at Tower of Terror who tell ghost stories of the cursed hotel tower. And the “Golden Dreams” theater has been re-themed to “Golden Screams” with a film that highlights villains from Disney stories.
Other Events
Others also are getting in on the Halloween action.
Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana has a “Spooky Science” program focused on the Legend of Chupacabra,a blood-sucking creature,to teach about blood in the spirit of Halloween. Last year’s Halloween-themed event there drew 9,000, about 3% of the center’s annual attendance.
The Orange County Marketplace at the fairgrounds in Costa Mesa plans to stage its ninth annual trick or treat festival on Oct. 29. It includes the Phantom Coaches Hearse Club parade made up of classic hearses, ambulances and other funeral vehicles that parade through the streets of Costa Mesa on their way to the fairgrounds.
“It’s one of our better days,” spokesman Eric Lackey said.
“We get several thousand more people over the other October days,” he said.
Cities have their own plans.
This year, Anaheim is moving its Halloween Spooktacular Parade back to an evening event set to be televised by local cable TV. The parade and a three-day fall festival “are expected to create economic impact for the city,” one organizer said.
