Since Khan Academy came out with a course in Disney’s Imagineering (a.k.a. how to design a theme park) the possibilities for creative fan bases around the world have been endless. My previous project, Imagineering Dreamland, was a theme park dedicated to Matt Groening’s Disenchantment, the medieval Netflix cartoon.
Now that spooky season is upon us (and forever in our hearts), I thought I’d give a go at something a bit more expansive: the world of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps. Beloved 90s kids TV staple and Scholastic’s most popular book series before the advent of Harry Potter, Goosebumps is a cult classic with a very specific brand and feel to it. Flipping back through the Khan course and my own notes, I’ve followed Disney’s formula and come up with a theme park dedicated to the ooky spooky franchise.
Step 1: Theme
First of all, I wanted to pay homage to Horrorland, the scary theme park within the Goosebumps series, without copying it. Elements like the Horrors, the monsters who operate Horrorland, would be included as characters and possibly tour guides, among other meetable cast. However, you’ll see the differences between my Goosebumps theme park and Horrorland as we go along.
Some of the first questions we’re asked as designers in the Khan Academy course are:
What does it feel like to be in your land?
Creepy, exciting, nostalgic, cool.
What might people learn who visit?
That everyone’s still just a kid inside.
What do you want them to think about after leaving your land?
That fear and imagination are integral and wonderful parts of childhood.
Keeping these answers in mind, a clearer guest experience came to me. Goosebumps has an entirely suburban, middle-class view of childhood. So that’s what I want to embody in the park. A small, suburban town with cookie cutter houses, a town square, and a school in the center (in this case serving as our version of Sleeping Beauty’s castle).
Therefore, the plant life should make you feel at home: manicured lawns of freshly mowed grass; tall, shady deciduous trees; flower beds full of sneaker prints. With this backdrop for our park, the soundscape (background sound) can be narrowed down to just the wind in the trees. The music, or the ‘song of the land’, of course, would be the iconic Goosebumps theme song (although we promise not to bore the heck out of you with it). Random/occasional sound effects could include crickets, dogs barking, and bike bells. We get into the creepy territory with Slappy’s laughing, eerie piano drifting from nearby houses, ghosts howling, and although it’ll likely be provided by the guests, some screams.
Step 2: Food
With my Disenchantment theme park, one of my favourite parts was coming up with a restaurant and a menu. However, I found souvenir stores to be much more fun for our Goosebumps Land — and I’ll tell you why.
Two restaurant options immediately came to mind: a kids-fare bonanza à la Chuck E. Cheese, and an adult bar for those coming to get in touch with their childhood while still being of legal age to have a beer. So, Slappy’s Diner (or Slap E. Cheese?) was born, serving tater tots, pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, mac and cheese, you name it. All outfitted with Slappy and his animatronic ventriloquist dummy cohorts — and an all-black ball pit. Maybe a couple of those balls are skulls, I dunno. The point here is to recreate a kid-friendly environment that is both nostalgic and new for adults. On the flip side, you can grab regular pub food and Bloody Mary’s at BAR. L. STINE, while chugging an R. L. Stein of beer (get it?).
Like I said, I didn’t go too far in depth on the restaurants this time, in favour of more dedicated shops littered throughout the park. A must-have would be the Halloween mask store from The Haunted Mask. Guests can even wear their masks around the park, so long as their outfits aren’t confused with actual park staff.
Snack stands throughout the park would specialize in weird 90s foods like Fruit by the Foot and Dunkaroos, rare stuff like Pepsi Blue and Orbitz included. Check out these lists by Ranker and Mashable for more 90s snack inspiration.
Then there’s the official Goosebumps merch: every possible t-shirt you can imagine, framed artwork by Tim Jacobus (the genius behind the iconic book cover designs), slimy containers of Monster Blood, and apparel galore. And books, duh! A second store on the grounds could cater just to 90s fashion where you can pick up a pair of overalls or matching sets (kid and adult sizes included).
Step 3: Attractions
Now moving on to the attractions! In the Khan course, the Disney Imagineers encourage what they call “high concept ideas”. This means to think of an experience rather than a ride when you’re coming up with attractions. So an experience I thought of in Dreamland was sneaking through Hell, like Bean, Luci, and Elfo do in the first season. This later became a dark ride called Luci’s Tour of Hell. For Goosebumps, my high concept ideas were exploring a creepy old house with your friends; trying to escape from a monster chasing you (insert werewolf, mummy, or giant plant thing here); and building a plan to defeat whatever ghoul happens to be bothering you.
These ideas transformed into several rides:
- A Haunted Mansion-style dark ride based on Welcome to Dead House, the first Goosebumps book.
- A few maze structures themed after A Scarecrow Walks at Midnight (corn maze), The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (pyramid structure), and Stay Out of the Basement (an underground plant lab).
- An escape room where you and your friends must defeat and escape none other than Slappy, with Curly the Skeleton providing guidance and hints.
These are our high concept rides, while a few others like Monster Blood Coaster and Coffin Cruise are pretty self-explanatory.
Something that the Imagineers didn’t talk about, but I’d like to add to our Goosebumps land, are parades. An integral part of the Disney theme park experience, I think parades are an excellent way to bring the more complicated and larger-than-life Goosebumps concepts to visitors. Giant ants in the form of Macy’s Parade-style balloons and puppets could take over the park in the middle of the day, or at night there could be an alien Pumpkin Head invasion. I’d love for Monster Blood to pour into the streets and consume people, but we’ll probably have to put that idea on the backburner for now.
Step 4: Characters
We’ve touched on animatronic characters briefly, and if you’re engineering-inclined, please do take the Khan course as they really go in depth there, but most Goosebumps characters can be played by real people. The most important animatronics in our park will be Slappy, Mr. Wood, and Curly the Skeleton. I’d also love to have the R.L. Stine ventriloquist dummy from the intro to Night of the Living Dummy. This is probably a good time to say that I am 100% partial to the Slappy design from the original TV series, as I find he’s the scariest, but with so many incarnations (including in the new Goosebumps movie), we may have to include them all.
Other classic Goosebumps characters like the Executioner, Carly Beth, Dr. Brewer, and the Masked Mutant will be freely roaming around the park (and maybe popping out from behind corners). I wish we could get Jeff Goldblum to reprise his role as Dracula, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen. Maybe for an extra-special Halloween night show.
Other park locations will include Grove Cemetery as a picnic spot, and a man-made lake for swimming as well as housing the Coffin Cruise ride from Horrorland. I’ve also thought about what to call the park. Horrorland seems like a no-brainer, as ‘GoosebumpsLand’ doesn’t really have the same ring to it. I think we’ll call it Goosebumps’ Horrorland, and leave it at that. As for physical location, it’s got to be in Canada. As a Canadian maybe I’m biased, but I think building it in the Niagara region of Ontario, close enough to Niagara Falls to reel in the tourists and Americans, seems about right. We also need all seasons, especially autumn, so Florida won’t cut it.
The Completed Park
So here’s a walkthrough of a typical guest experience at our Goosebumps theme park:
Guests leave the parking lot and walk toward the main gates, which read “Visitor Beware, You’re In For A Scare”. A Horror at the ticket booth (and a couple of teenagers working computers) hand you your novelty tickets as you go through the turnstiles and enter the park. You’re now in a grassy suburb, an elementary school looming in the distance. Pick up some snacks right away as you explore, maybe Lunchables or a big pack of Gushers. Carly Beth, wearing her terrifying green mask and carrying her own plaster head on a stick, beckons you to visit the Haunted Mask Novelty Shop, laughing maniacally as you enter, then skipping off the find more kids to scare.
If you’re ready to go on a ride, you can reserve a time slot for Night of the Living Dummy: Escape Room and then head right into the maze of your choosing. If you brought your swim trunks along (if not, grab a Goosebumps bikini in the merch store), take a dip in the lake at Camp Nightmare. Don’t worry, those shrieks are just from the Coffin Cruise attraction nearby.
All out of Doritos 3D? Take your packed lunch to Grove Cemetery for a picnic with the (un)dead or step into the funzone from hell that is Slap E. Cheeze! No kids to drag along with you? Then skip right to BAR. L. STINE for drinks on the patio. Now that your belly’s full, get ready to puke it all back up on the Monster Blood Coaster winding its way through the halls of the elementary school, including the haunted auditorium!
Uh oh, what time is it? Are we getting smaller? The park turns into a giant ant farm, and you’re the puny insects now! Awesome Ants come through town square in a parade of giant antennae and long, spindly legs. Just be glad they aren’t spiders. As the parade passes, you hear a ghostly moaning and decide to follow it, with a little nudging along by your more brave friends. You come upon a dilapidated house on the outskirts of the town, where you’re loaded into carts and plunged into the dusty, cobwebby, pitch-black interior of a haunted house. Having barely made it out alive, it’s time for your showdown with the head dummy himself. You find the right address, and enter the seemingly normal, suburban house — then the door locks behind you. Curly the Skeleton guides you through the clues as the timer counts down and you hear the scamper of tiny feet upstairs. Will you defeat Slappy in time? Or become his slaves forever?
Regardless, when your time’s up, you’ve earned a little treat. Time for some shopping! Always wanted a Fifi the Vampire Poodle plushie? Or is that XL classic Goosebumps T-shirt calling your name? When you’ve bought enough souvenirs to last a lifetime (or placate your horror-obsessed kid) head back to the front gates.
Wait, where was the exit again? Oh, no.
Et voila! That’s your Goosebumps’ Horrorland experience so far. I’d love to hear what all you Halloween, horror, and 90s fans think and what you’d do differently. Let me know in the comments below!
