For those who aren't aware, Terrorific Night is a hard ticket event held at Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris that is similar to Universal's Halloween Horror Nights. It's an event designed for adults and teenagers to enjoy.
Now, I would love for something like this to come to the US, more specifically at DHS, but let's be realistic for a second. Disney has a very family friendly image, so bringing an adult themed Halloween Event seems to not really fit that image. The way to get around this is to make it less gory and more creepy. The goal is to focus more on giving it a strong atmospheric look than gory pop out scares. So, without further adieu, I present my vision for Terrorific Night at Disney's Hollywood Studios!
Now as far as the overall event theme, I'm thinking the best course of action is for the darker side of Disney to come alive as opposed to something more kid friendly such as the villains taking over the park. My suggestion is after the sun sets, the darkness rises to cover the park in shadow. Things are not always what they seem, especially in the night. A seemingly harmless movie studio can become so much more when your darkest fears are allowed to run free...
Let's kick things off with Hollywood Blvd. Now, the goal here is to give it a dark edge. The easy way to do that is to have the spirits of 1940s movie starts return to where they wanted to make it big. The whole area will be clouded in a fog with the buildings lit in a dark, deserted kind of way. Street performers would wonder the street as departed movie stars looking for someone to give them their next big break... Maybe a director thinks you'd be a great star of his next slasher flick? Now these street performers wouldn't be as in your face as those at Horror Nights. The goal here is to creep you out more than terrify you...
Sunset Blvd has been taken over by Hollywood Tower Hotel Bellhops leading guests to their hotel rooms while undead rock stars throw a crazy concert for the ages. Tower of Terror's queue would be enhanced to include performers wondering the area as well as up and down the street leading to the ride. Rockin' Roller Coaster's courtyard would have a stage set up where the undead perform a rock show to wake the dead, well, those who aren't already up.
Pixar Place has been taken over by Sid's Toys. Are they friendly, or just looking for more spare parts? That's the question...
Star Tours has been overrun by the dark side. Stormtroopers wonder looking for rebels to capture and take to Darth Vader or the Emperor.
The Streets of America is an interesting challenge. My solution is to pull a Mad T Party or ElecTronica and turn the area into an electrified night time dance party area. Because it's part of a Halloween event, I think an excellent theme would be Nightmare Before Christmas. The Streets of America would become Halloweentown complete with decorations, lights and a DJ playing creepy songs for ghosts and goblins to dance to.
The Muppet Courtyard has been taken over by the Moopets, giving the area their own twist.
Now for the event to be worth paying a separate admission price, you need to bring in some exclusive stuff just for the party. The "scare zones" are a start, but you need more than that. The solution comes in the form of three haunted houses and a scary version of the Backlot Tour. The three houses would be located in the lot next to Rockin' Roller Coaster, the Indiana Jones extended queue and the area outside the premiere theater.
My three house suggestions are Once Upon a Time, Indiana Jones and Lights, Camera, Disaster!
If you haven't seen the show Once Upon a Time, it's essentially a darker retelling of classic fairy tales mixed with a modern day storyline. This house, built near Rockin' Roller Coaster, would allow guests to travel through the fairytale work and into Storybrook, braving any danger they might come across along the way.
The Indiana Jones house, built of course in the extended queue area for Epic Stunt Spectacular, would allow guests to feel what it's like to travel through creepy catacombs in search of treasure, or an early demise...
Lights, Camera, Disaster! is an original concept where something goes horribly wrong while making a disaster movie on the backlot, so now guests must fight their way through the wreckage in order to escape.
The Terrorific Tram Tour, as I'd like to call it, would involve the backlot being taken over by villainous characters, so now guests on a seemingly harmless tram tour must encounter shootouts, zombies, aliens and Catastrophe Canyon.
I'd also throw in a Halloween themed improv show like the Comedy Warehouse one held last Christmas, which would be housed in the ABC Sound Studio.
Regular attractions open during the event would be Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Toy Story Midway Mania, Muppet Vision 3-D, Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster.
So that's my suggestion. Thoughts?
Now, I would love for something like this to come to the US, more specifically at DHS, but let's be realistic for a second. Disney has a very family friendly image, so bringing an adult themed Halloween Event seems to not really fit that image. The way to get around this is to make it less gory and more creepy. The goal is to focus more on giving it a strong atmospheric look than gory pop out scares. So, without further adieu, I present my vision for Terrorific Night at Disney's Hollywood Studios!
Now as far as the overall event theme, I'm thinking the best course of action is for the darker side of Disney to come alive as opposed to something more kid friendly such as the villains taking over the park. My suggestion is after the sun sets, the darkness rises to cover the park in shadow. Things are not always what they seem, especially in the night. A seemingly harmless movie studio can become so much more when your darkest fears are allowed to run free...
Let's kick things off with Hollywood Blvd. Now, the goal here is to give it a dark edge. The easy way to do that is to have the spirits of 1940s movie starts return to where they wanted to make it big. The whole area will be clouded in a fog with the buildings lit in a dark, deserted kind of way. Street performers would wonder the street as departed movie stars looking for someone to give them their next big break... Maybe a director thinks you'd be a great star of his next slasher flick? Now these street performers wouldn't be as in your face as those at Horror Nights. The goal here is to creep you out more than terrify you...
Sunset Blvd has been taken over by Hollywood Tower Hotel Bellhops leading guests to their hotel rooms while undead rock stars throw a crazy concert for the ages. Tower of Terror's queue would be enhanced to include performers wondering the area as well as up and down the street leading to the ride. Rockin' Roller Coaster's courtyard would have a stage set up where the undead perform a rock show to wake the dead, well, those who aren't already up.
Pixar Place has been taken over by Sid's Toys. Are they friendly, or just looking for more spare parts? That's the question...
Star Tours has been overrun by the dark side. Stormtroopers wonder looking for rebels to capture and take to Darth Vader or the Emperor.
The Streets of America is an interesting challenge. My solution is to pull a Mad T Party or ElecTronica and turn the area into an electrified night time dance party area. Because it's part of a Halloween event, I think an excellent theme would be Nightmare Before Christmas. The Streets of America would become Halloweentown complete with decorations, lights and a DJ playing creepy songs for ghosts and goblins to dance to.
The Muppet Courtyard has been taken over by the Moopets, giving the area their own twist.
Now for the event to be worth paying a separate admission price, you need to bring in some exclusive stuff just for the party. The "scare zones" are a start, but you need more than that. The solution comes in the form of three haunted houses and a scary version of the Backlot Tour. The three houses would be located in the lot next to Rockin' Roller Coaster, the Indiana Jones extended queue and the area outside the premiere theater.
My three house suggestions are Once Upon a Time, Indiana Jones and Lights, Camera, Disaster!
If you haven't seen the show Once Upon a Time, it's essentially a darker retelling of classic fairy tales mixed with a modern day storyline. This house, built near Rockin' Roller Coaster, would allow guests to travel through the fairytale work and into Storybrook, braving any danger they might come across along the way.
The Indiana Jones house, built of course in the extended queue area for Epic Stunt Spectacular, would allow guests to feel what it's like to travel through creepy catacombs in search of treasure, or an early demise...
Lights, Camera, Disaster! is an original concept where something goes horribly wrong while making a disaster movie on the backlot, so now guests must fight their way through the wreckage in order to escape.
The Terrorific Tram Tour, as I'd like to call it, would involve the backlot being taken over by villainous characters, so now guests on a seemingly harmless tram tour must encounter shootouts, zombies, aliens and Catastrophe Canyon.
I'd also throw in a Halloween themed improv show like the Comedy Warehouse one held last Christmas, which would be housed in the ABC Sound Studio.
Regular attractions open during the event would be Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Toy Story Midway Mania, Muppet Vision 3-D, Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster.
So that's my suggestion. Thoughts?
