Both of Orange County’s big theme parks are upping the ante when it comes to capitalizing on Halloween.
It’s a longer tradition for Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, where the annual Knott’s Scary Farm Halloween Haunt started 40 years ago.
Disneyland has always had the Haunted Mansion as a year-round attraction in Anaheim, and it started decorating the ride for Halloween in 2000. The rest of the park started getting an annual dress-up for Halloween in 2006.
Knott’s, Disneyland and its sister California Adventure Park are in Halloween swing and offering new attractions in the lead-up to the holiday this year.
Knott’s claims bragging rights as the “world’s first, largest and longest-running Halloween theme park event”—but it’s not resting on those laurels.
“We were the first theme park to do a Halloween event and have continued to make it a bigger experience every year,” said Knott’s spokesperson Jennifer Blazey. “People can expect a lot, and we plan to deliver a lot this year.”
Knott’s opened a special museum to celebrate the 40th Halloween Haunt. It’s located in the Calico Ghost Town section of the park, and displays video footage, costumes and other memorabilia from past Haunts.
Knott’s also has added five new mazes—including a reservation-only, interactive maze—for a total of 13. Other attractions this year include nine live shows and four scare zones. And Camp Spooky is geared toward kids and is open during the day, with age-appropriate scares, activities and trick-or-treating.
There are promotions on television, radio, print advertising and social media, along with an interactive webcam activity on the Halloween Haunt website.
Knott’s is owned by Sandusky, Ohio-based amusement park operator Cedar Fair Entertainment Co.
The Disneyland Resort is offering Halloween-themed events at Disneyland and California Adventure.
Disneyland hosts Mickey’s Halloween Party, an after-hours event that’s held on select nights and requires a separate ticket. Guests can dress up in costumes and trick-or-treat at Disneyland, go on the rides and watch a special Halloween-themed fireworks show, among other events.
There also are decorated rides, photo opportunities with Disney villains, trick-or-treating, a pumpkin display of 300 carved pumpkins and other activities.
New this year is a Halloween carnival at the Big Thunder Ranch Jamboree, featuring The Astounding Cauldron of Magic and pirate makeovers at New Orleans Square.
California Adventure features an exhibit called The Art of Frankenweenie with sets, props and puppets used in Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie film. The exhibit demonstrates how stop-motion animation was used for the film, and also features extended clips of the movie.
Advertising for Disney’s parks is handled by a mix of in-house and outside agencies.
Ducati Tops Again
Ducati Newport Beach has only been around for three years, but it just took honors as the top seller among the Italian motorcycle brand’s 149 dealerships in North America for the second year in a row. It earned the distinction earlier this month at a company meeting in San Diego.
The dealership also led Ducati’s Southwest region in new-vehicle sales for the second consecutive year. It had a 25% increase of new motorcycle sales year-over-year from 2011 to 2012.
New Ducatis range from about $9,000 to approximately $40,000 for special editions.
“Our third year in business has been an amazing one for us,” said Michael Guerin, principal at Ducati Newport Beach.
The 8,400-square-foot dealership features 30 motorcycles on the showroom floor, as well as Ducati accessories and apparel. It has six service bays and five mechanics.
The dealership relies heavily on promotions targeted to current and former Ducati owners, including live race screenings, bike nights, suspension seminars, fashion shows, barbeques and other events.
Social Strategies
Among recent promotional strategies involving social media:
n Irvine-based Habit Restaurant LLC promoted the grand opening of its new Huntington Beach restaurant by giving all the day’s proceeds to local charities. It advertised the charitable grand opening through Facebook and Twitter.
