Halloween Has Become Big Business at Disneyland

If you're looking for a quiet place to visit this month, don't go to Disneyland:

Five years ago, Disneyland Resort officials tried something new to lure visitors during the usually slow fall season: a Halloween promotion.

The experiment took off: The parks saw a 40-percent jump in attendance during that period last year, compared to the year before the Halloween promotion began. And the parks are expecting another boost this year.

Disney is capitalizing on the popularity of Halloween in theme parks nationwide. About half of the Halloween seasons at theme parks debuted in the last decade. In Southern California, in particular, Disney filled a void of family friendly events at theme parks, compared to gory events such as Halloween Haunt at Knott’s Berry Farm.

This is quite a change from just a few years ago. Back in mid-October 1988 with my wife just a couple weeks from the birth of our first child I decided to go to the park and shoot some video. The Lamaze coach had suggested bringing videos to the hospital to help make the labor process a little easier to handle, and I decided to make my own.

It was mid-week sometime around the middle of the month and there wasn't a soul in the place. I wandered from ride to ride shooting a total of 2 hours of tape. There were no lines - I walked on to every ride. It was great. Sadly, after my daughter was born I never thought I'd need that video again and probably taped over it at some point. I'd give just about anything to have that tape today. There was video on there of rides that don't exist today, including the PeopleMover and the Skyway buckets. I even rode in the very front of the monorail and filmed the whole trip. Thanks to security concerns they don't even let you do that anymore.

One year later, on my daughter's first birthday, we went back. It was October 30 and once again there was nobody in the park. My daughter wasn't walking yet (she waited another week) but she loved to crawl around and explore and we just let her go crazy in the Hub area in front of the castle. She was a mess but had a great time and there wasn't any concern about crowds - there weren't any.

Those days are gone forever.  Once the park came out with more discount pricing and the Halloween promotions the days when you could walk around unimpeded by crowds ended.  Of course, the people at Disney are very happy about that, but for some of us who remember the old days it's kind of sad.