Orlando’s Halloween Theme Park History: Hurricanes! Three hour wait! Scary!

The history of Halloween in the tourism capital of the world is full of spooky facts.

The wait alone was enough to give you goosebumps at Universal’s 1991 Halloween event, which featured a single haunted house.

People lined up for three hours to walk through the Dungeon of Terror at Fright Nights, which eventually turned into Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights.

“Quite honestly, scaremongers would interact with people in line to make the wait less terrible or more terrible,” he said Orange County Regional History Center historian Rachel Williams during Friday’s talk about the early stories behind Orlando’s multi-billion dollar Halloween industry.

The horror actors of “The Dungeon of Terror” recreated torture in a variety of creative ways.

“There was a woman in a glass coffin and she was buried with rats – The Rat Lady, very popular in the Halloween Horror Nights story,” Williams said. “People would also have to walk through the darkness, so to speak, through the halls, and feel their way out, and the walls would be covered in slime.”

“Nobody can do horror events like Universal, so they knew it would be a success.”

Williams described the early challenges Universal faced: cease-and-desist letters after using Regan from The Exorcist or renaming Fright Nights to HHN in 1992 due to a copyright issue.

Back then, the Halloween event lasted three nights. Fast forward today, Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights runs 48 nights.

In 2004, Universal created a scare zone called the Field of Screams on a backlot connecting its two theme parks.

“To accomplish this, they planted this corn months in advance so it was tall and ready for the scare zone,” Williams said.

But Universal’s corn was cursed.

“When they opened in September and then as we all know happened in 2004, four hurricanes hit Central Florida and destroyed a significant portion of that crop,” Williams said. “So they had to get back on their feet very quickly.”

They swapped corn for a plant that looked similar or used visual distractions to block out other areas.

The tamer Halloween party in Orlando has always been Disney World, where Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party Sold out months before October 31st.

But in 1972, when the park was new, Disney was more reserved on Halloween weekend. It offered free rides on the Haunted Mansion and showed the animated film “Legend of Sleepy Hollow” for general admission. (Back then, Haunted Mansion guests had to purchase tickets to each attraction, so a free ride was a big deal.)

In the 1970s it became more sophisticated. “The Police” and “Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show” performed at Disney’s Halloween Hysteria Party in 1979 at the Lake Buena Vista Shopping Village, now Disney Spring, Williams said.

Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Party began in 1995 as a one-night-only event and then expanded into multiple nights.

“In just over a decade, Walt Disney World has extended the Halloween season by more than a month, extending the spooky festivities into the oppressive heat and humidity of early August.” according to Magic Trip Tools.

Williams also mentioned SeaWorld’s family-friendly Halloween celebrations, which allowed guests to actually stay overnight in the park in 2004. The Halloween event included staying overnight at the Wild Arctic Ride and having breakfast with Shamu, she said.

Over the years, other events have taken place without much corporate support, including “Skull Kingdom” in front of International Drive. During the rushed opening of Skull Kingdom in 1997, scary actors set up the sets in the castle, wearing no costumes or scary makeup. Instead, they shared masks and wore black T-shirts, Williams said.

“Opening day was pretty messy,” Williams said.

Things got better.

A scary actor dressed up as Michael and chased a visitor out of the castle. The bachelor party attendee ran out of the castle screaming and jumped into a van – and Michael followed him in, Williams said.

Skull Kingdom closed in late 2006 and the building was demolished.

Williams had her own frightening admission.

“Look, don’t come for me,” she joked as she admitted she doesn’t go to Halloween events in Orlando. “I’ve never been to one and that’s partly because I’m a scaredy cat… I’m a fraud and I’m scared.”

“A holiday that began as an evening of pranks and pranks has truly integrated itself into the horror genre as a whole, creating a very immersive experience based on adrenaline and nostalgia.”

The Orange County Regional History Center regularly hosts lectures about Orlando’s unique history, from boy bands to theme parks. Williams’ Halloween Lunch and Learn event will be repeated later on Center YouTube page.

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