Knott’s Scary Farm has become a reference point for Halloween events
Happy Haunts at the Magic Kingdom in Florida is typical of Disney’s family-friendly approach to Halloween
Special events can be a critical element a theme park’s financial success. Buzz Price Thea Award winner Ron Miziker shares some tips for success from a lifetime in live entertainment
profit. When I was director of entertainment and show development for the Disney parks worldwide, part of my team’s efforts was creating a full calendar of events for Disneyland. This was because Disneyland’s attendance, unlike Walt Disney World’s in Florida, is locally based, primarily Southern California. Consequently the marketing folks were always looking for something new to promote and give a reason for people to come back. Special events provided such an incentive as well as giving a different look to the facility. These events went well beyond celebrations for Christmas
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and the Fourth of July. Standard events at US parks over the years have included country music nights, jazz festivals, Christian music nights, date nights and Brazilian-style carnivals. Anything to get the media and public’s attention! At Disneyland we targeted various ethnic groups with a Chinese New Year celebration, an Irish Festival near St Patrick’s Day, a Japanese Festival, a Vietnamese Celebration, and so on. Our Cinco de Mayo Mexican celebration featured a gathering of Charros (proud horseman on glittering saddles), something not seen at other Cinco de Mayo gatherings. Easter was a huge event highlighted by a spectacular ol’ fashioned Easter Parade with antique cars and bicycles decorated with flowers, early 1900s-style costumed dancers, suffragettes, barbershop quartets and of course the Easter Bunny.
Obscure occasions We also picked obscure occasions or reasons upon which to create events. For the Biosphere2 science research facility in Arizona we brought in leading chefs to create
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ears ago when I was producing events for Knott’s Berry Farm, revenues from those events were responsible for generating a large part of the park’s
Make an event of it! “
Utilising special events to increase income and attendance Good
dishes made with food found in a space station. At PortAventura park in Spain, we presented a festival of Gigantes y Cabezudos (giants and big heads) by collecting costumed figures several metres high. Carried over a person’s body as they perform, these are popular at parades and events elsewhere in Spain. Many of the events highlighted so far were included within
their respective park’s regular admission price. Events requiring a special ticket, called “hard ticket” events, are also common. For Knott’s, its biggest annual event is the famous Halloween season, known as Knott’s Scary Farm. It was, and still is, the godfather of Halloween events. Now many parks copy many of the traditional elements of this popular “haunt”. Even nearby Disneyland, after many years of ignoring the holiday, offers an alternative in the form of a softer, non-scary, no gore, event designed primarily for the younger crowd, or perhaps more precisely the parents of children who don’t want their children exposed to the more gruesome side of Halloween. Very cleaver counter programming.
Universal Studios Florida’s Mardi Gras celebrations, taking place about now
events have multiple but related elements, including street
entertainment shows,
concerts, even the food dishes too
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