Theme Park Adventure Begins Annual Roll-Out Of Halloween Content To Fans Around The World 

Internet’s First Website Dedicated to the Themed Entertainment and Dark Industry Celebrates its 15^th Anniversary Reviewing Knott’s Halloween Haunt, Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights and More

GLENDALE, CA – Theme Park Adventure, the Internet’s oldest themed attraction fan site, is celebrating its 15^th Halloween season by delivering content from Knott’s Halloween Haunt and Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights, as well as many professional and amateur haunted attractions throughout Southern California.

The first website to ever bring video footage of Knott’s Halloween Haunt to the Internet, Theme Park Adventure is known around the world for its in-depth reviews, hundreds of professional scenic and “action” shots free of charge to dark industry enthusiasts everywhere.  Now celebrating its 15^th Anniversary, Theme Park Adventure has begun its annual roll-out of Halloween content that it spent the month of October collecting throughout Southern California.

For the 2009 haunting season, Theme Park Adventure partnered for the first time with Universal Studios Hollywood to capture exclusive content from its multi-million dollar extravaganza, Halloween Horror Nights (HHN).  Included in TPA’s first-ever in-depth coverage of HHN are detailed reviews of the elaborate mazes experienced at the theme park/studio such as The Life and Crimes of Michael Myers, SAW: Game Over and My Bloody Valentine: Be Mine 4 Ever!  Working closely with Halloween Horror Nights Creative Director John Murdy, Theme Park Adventure began exploring and reporting on the event in September for its readers, giving them sneak-preview glimpses of the terrors to come.

“One of the most interesting aspects of Universal Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights event is that its Creative Director, John Murdy, is not only a total horror genre aficionado and so, is absolutely aware of every detail that goes into the production of HHN’s mazes and scare zones – he frequently and openly invites direct input and ideas from the event’s fans to help make the event stronger,” said Rick West, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Theme Park Adventure.  “John’s almost constant use of Twitter to communicate directly with HHN fans really impressed us to no end.  You typically don’t see this type of interaction between attraction/show designers and the fans.  Universal Hollywood really raised the bar this year as far as fan communication goes – and it was really well-received.  Our hats are off to John for embracing Twitter and the fans so perfectly.  Not only did John tweet around the clock to folks about every aspect of Halloween Horror Nights, he also made himself available to fans visiting the event by letting everyone know where he’d be each night to meet and greet.  We were thoroughly impressed by this.”

In addition to content from Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, Theme Park Adventure also worked with and captured content from such Southern California haunted attractions as the LA Haunted Hayride, Old Town Haunt in Pasadena, Sinister Pointe (Brea), The Empty Grave (Anaheim), Field of Screams (Lake Elsinore), The Haunted Hotel (San Diego), The Haunted Trail (San Diego) and amateur home haunts throughout the Southland such as The Backwoods (Burbank) and Boot Hill (Irvine).

“In addition to covering large-scale professional events,” said West, “Theme Park Adventure also loves and appreciates the dedication and creativity of home haunters.  They are the heart and soul of Halloween – the kids that loved the holiday so much, they grew up and wanted to share their love with others willing to travel and see their displays and shows.  I personally really love seeing yard displays and how far some of these haunters can really push the envelope – in some cases, delivering a superior experience than the big players and theme parks.  Home haunters are a special group that cannot be discounted when it comes to quality and show – which is why TPA remains dedicated to showcasing them each Halloween season as well for our readers.”

Theme Park Adventure’s love of Halloween is shared by thousands of core readers and visitors that come to its site year round.  Catering to this “demand”, TPA has a page within its site dedicated to the haunted attraction industry year-round; TPA’s 365 Days of Halloween.  The page is one of the most popular destinations of theme park enthusiasts and web surfers that frequent TPA.

Knott’s Halloween Haunt coverage continues to be the main thrust behind Theme Park Adventure’s annual Halloween content.  There is so much material to publish from the Scary Farm, that it will take weeks, if not longer, to make everything available to eager fans.  “This year mark’s TPA’s 15^th season working closely with the folks at Knott’s to bring their event to thousands of Halloween fans online,” explained West.  “We’re very proud of the fact that TPA has been covering Haunt bigger and better than anyone else for so long.  We were the first media organization to really get into the human story behind Halloween Haunt back when we were a printed publication.  TPA was the first fan site on the Internet, and so, we were also the first to bring the Scary Farm into the digital realm.  We were providing fans exclusive behind-the-scenes looks at construction and the event long before other fan sites started following suit and definitely long before Knott’s began utilizing social tools on its own such as Twitter.  It’s satisfying to us to know that Theme Park Adventure absolutely blazed the trail for other sites and ultimately, Knott’s itself to follow when promoting Haunt.  We are very proud of our history and the impact we have made in this industry.”

Highlights of this year’s Halloween Haunt coverage will be images and video from Haunt’s new mazes Terror of London, Dia de los Muertos, Uncle Bobo’s Big Top of the Bizarre and Lockdown: The Asylum.  Additionally, TPA visitors will also be able to access images from all other areas of the Scary Farm, from the iconic Ghost Town Streets scare zone to the event’s flagship show, The Hanging.

About Theme Park Adventure

Founded in 1994 by Rick West, Theme Park Adventure is distinguished as the Internet’s first attraction fan site, beginning as a printed publication and then merging on to the Information Superhighway as the technology became available.  TPA has worked closely with such industry leaders as The Walt Disney Company (Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World, Tokyo Disney, Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Imagineering), Knott’s Berry Farm/Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, Anheuser-Busch (SeaWorld Adventure Parks/Busch Gardens theme parks), Six Flags, Holiday World, Paramount Parks, Landmark Entertainment, Universal Studios Theme Parks/Universal Creative, IAAPA, Luxor Las Vegas, The San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Parks, to name a few.

Theme Park Adventure can be accessed online: http://www.themeparkadventure.com/

Theme Park Adventure’s official Twitter: http://twitter.com/TPAMagazine

Theme Park Adventure’s official YouTube.com Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/ThemeParkAdventure

The official Theme Park Adventure Message Board: http://themeparkadventuremagazine.yuku.com/

More news and information about Theme Park Adventure: http://www.themeparkadventure.com/westworld.htm

Media Contact:

Rick West

Founder/Editor-in-Chief

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