Go Ape adds actors and décor to
various park locations for “Frights
at Height” each fall.
Simply scary. Parks don’t need to make a huge upfront investment to stoke the spook, according to Michael Cellini, co-owner of Mountain Ridge Adventure in upstate New York, who says darkness has proven to be the scariest element of his park’s Halloween experience. “When people get out of their cars, all they see is a path of tea lights leading into the dark,” he says. Once on the trail, the only navigation is via a “bloody line”—pink masonry tape strung on both sides of the three-foot-wide path through the woods to the top of the zip line course. Zombie guides lead groups of 12 guests every 20 minutes, ensuring an eerie silence to go along with the lack of light. After seven years of hosting its Zombie Zips at Mountain Ridge Adventure, Cel- lini says he’s learned that dim lighting also mitigates the need to go overboard with detailed décor. “Our first year, I was pulling teeth out of animal carcasses to display, but people walked right past them,” he says. Go all out. Go Ape’s Very, however, feels the key to a successful Halloween event is to “go all out,” she says. “The out- doors—and frequently, indoor parks—
location, and added a “Monsters of the Mine” version at a second park in 2022.
largely on how ambitious their Hallow- een plans are. Adjusting an existing glow event is pretty seamless, whereas Go Ape’s more elaborate events have more of an operations impact. Scaled back. Bahman Azarm, founder and CEO of Outdoor Venture Group, which operates The Adventure Park at Storrs and five other locations, describes the experience on offer as “more of a Halloween theme than a Halloween event,” focusing primarily on decor rather than added attractions. It’s an approach that has evolved since the company launched its first Halloween nights at its former West Bloomfield, Mich., park in the mid-2010s. “We hired a designer and staff and bought animatronics to create a walk- through experience on the ground, mostly aimed at kids under age 12,” Azarm recalls. “It worked out well, but it took a lot of time to set up and a lot of manpower to run.” More simplified Halloween-themed nights seem to work equally well at get- ting people to come to the parks during times where they otherwise might not, he says. Like Storrs’ regular glow nights, the Halloween offering typically sells out.
“There was no one doing large-scale, im- mersive Halloween events in the area, and we knew we had a special location that is super creepy in the night,” says Zip World brand manager Wesley Earl. “We felt that adding some theatrics and characters would really draw people in, because it was more authentic than what other people were offering.” Zip World incorporates several attrac- tions into Ffear Fforest. The ropes course becomes “The Nets”, for example, infest- ed with killer clowns who also roam the park’s mountain coaster and grounds. “There isn’t a set path; you could en- counter a character at any point,” says Earl. “This enables us to create a really immersive and personal experience that’s different for everyone.”
BIG OR SMALL PRODUCTION?
Animatronics and actors, or tea lights and scary music? Different operators take dif - ferent approaches, and all seem to work.
Operationally, the amount of adjust- ments parks need to make depends
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