Being scary has become big business across the nation’s theme parks

The theme park industry’s biggest trick might be the way it earns so many treats for itself each year during the Halloween season.

And Halloween is a season at the nation’s theme and amusement parks. The fun starts even before Labor Day in some places, as parks start running lucrative “hard ticket,” after-hours Halloween parties that require special admission. Even at parks that don’t run these special parties, Halloween allows theme and amusement parks to extend their normal operations past the traditional end of the summer vacation season and keep earning money well into fall.

This is exactly what Silverwood does now with its Scarywood evenings.

“That’s important for an industry with high fixed costs and large capital infrastructure investment,” said Martin Lewison, a professor of business development at Farmingdale State College in New York, who studies the theme park industry. “Capital infrastructure only pays for itself when it’s actually operating: a closed park doesn’t make any money.”

Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom ran its first “Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party” on Sept. 2 this year. Neither Disney nor any other major park releases financial details specifically about their Halloween festivities, but with prices ranging from $72 to $95 per person, per night, and tens of thousands of people estimated to attend on each of the scheduled 29 party nights, it’s easy to do the math and see that the event brings in millions of dollars of extra revenue to Disney. And that’s before adding the income from all the special themed food and souvenirs that Disney sells during the event.

From a business perspective, “the concept of the hard ticket event is utterly brilliant,” Lewison said. “Collect admission for a day at the park, then close the park early, kick everyone out, and charge admission all over again. It’s like getting two operating days in one!”

California’s Knott’s Berry Farm got all this started when it launched its Halloween event back in 1973. Running after the park closed for the night during what had always been a slow time of the year, Halloween Haunt offered a different tone than people were used to from friendly, family-focused theme parks.

Knott’s Halloween party was designed to scare fans, with mazes and scare zones filled with costumed monsters and ghouls, who would jump out from the fog and darkness.

Fans loved it. By its second year, Knott’s was selling more than 20,000 tickets a night to the event, boosting the park’s revenue and establishing a model for the rest of the industry. The rebranded Knott’s Scary Farm remains one of the most popular and influential in the nation, with theme park operators from around the country traveling to Knott’s home in Buena Park, California, to learn how to replicate the event’s success in their own parks.

Six Flags started a Fright Fest event at its flagship park outside Dallas in 1989, and now that event runs at the chain’s parks across the country. Those extra operating days and upcharge opportunities have driven strong growth in the company’s revenue in recent years. According to Lewison’s analysis, Six Flags’ fourth-quarter revenues (the period that includes Halloween) have grown from 10.3 percent of the company’s total annual revenue in 2004 to 17.2 percent of total revenue in 2015, an increase of 67.7 percent over the decade.

In 1991, Universal Studios Florida joined in, and its Halloween Horror Nights now might be the largest and most lucrative Halloween event in the industry, with one-night tickets topping $100 and “Express Passes” that allow you to skip the lines at the event selling for another $100 or more. Universal brought the event to its original park in Hollywood in 1997, though it dropped the Hollywood event in 2001 before bringing it back in 2006.

“Universal is the movie studio that invented the horror film genre, making our annual ‘Halloween Horror Nights’ event a natural progression for our theme park,” said John Murdy, creative director of Universal Studios Hollywood and executive producer of Halloween Horror Nights.

“Just as we do with our rides and attractions, we collaborate with filmmakers to create authentic maze experiences based on today’s most compelling horror-themed movies and TV shows. We’ve been hosting the event for over 11 successful years and look forward to continuing the tradition.”

The industry’s devotion to Halloween has spread beyond America’s borders. Fans now can find Halloween events every bit as popular and well-developed as those in the United States at Great Britain’s Thorpe Park, Germany’s Europa Park and Hong Kong’s Ocean Park, whose Halloween Fest this year features a “Ghostbusters” theme, tying into the popular film franchise.

At Disney – whose theme parks attract more visitors than any other company in the world – the company takes a different approach to Halloween, offering events that feature abundant trick-or-treating rather than the monster-filled mazes and scare zones at other parks.

Don’t assume that Disney’s events are aimed solely at children, though. After all, where else can grown-ups trick-or-treat without getting suspicious looks? Many adults jump at the chance to put on a costume and go begging for candy with the kids again, and the Disney Halloween parties sell out almost every night, with ticket prices increasing as it gets closer to Oct. 31.

But as much as Disney’s trick-or-treaters might enjoy going home with bagfuls of “free” candy at the end of the night, with all the extra income from these events, it’s the theme parks themselves that are enjoying the biggest haul each Halloween.

Robert Niles is the editor of ThemeParkInsider.com. Follow him on Twitter: @ThemePark.