Zeitgeist Design & Production, the creator of UX-IRL: User eXperiences In Real Life, is once again working with Pennsylvania’s Hersheypark, following the successful launch of the attraction’s world-class Halloween haunt event last year. In 2022, Zeitgeist developed three immersive and story-rich haunted houses that took inspiration from local legends: “Haunted Coal Mine,” “Creature Chaos,” and “Twisted Darkness.”
The haunted houses received great feedback from guests, launching a new annual Halloween tradition for the family park. Now, Hersheypark has further enhanced all three of Zeitgeist’s houses with more of the original design intent, including the addition of the Tommyknockers storyline and characters throughout the newly titled “Haunted Coal Mine: Curse of the Tommyknockers”. There are also new cryptozoological beasts inside “Creatures Uncaged,” and even more mis-told fortunes and oddities inside the re-named “Twisted Carnevil.”
Plus, the firm has developed several characters for a new radioactive “Fallout Zone” scare zone.
New monsters and more
Zeitgeist, led by location-based entertainment industry veterans Ryan Harmon and Joe Lanzisero, used its nearly four decades of global theme park and attraction design and production experience to elevate Hersheypark’s Halloween walk-through attractions and characters.
“We were very happy with the Zeitgeist houses last year,” says Brewer Lister, Hersheypark’s managing director of marketing. “This year we were able to “plus” up all three with more story and scares. Things have evolved with new monsters, new corridors, and new surprises, making Hersheypark Dark Nights even more dark for 2023!”
Deep under an abandoned Pennsylvania mineshaft, “Haunted Coal Mine: Curse of the Tommyknockers” welcomes guests and introduces these mischievous, gnome-like men of legend, who have unearthed gold and will stop at nothing to hoard their loot!
Meanwhile, the stories of legendary animals that are supposed to live in Pennsylvania’s woods served as the inspiration for “Creatures Uncaged.” Professor Stanley Darkstone and his travelling sideshow, introduced last year, has now been taken over by the strange collection of weird animals, now on the loose and ravenous for human flesh.
Additionally, “Twisted Carnevil” presents an otherworldly carnival of terrors. In this place, visitors try to flee a terrifying and all too real netherworld, turning the funhouse into a madhouse.
“We approached each haunted house like a dark ride,” says Harmon, Zeitgeist president and chief creative officer and former Disney Imagineer, who wrote the narrative for each house. “Your ride vehicle is your feet as you trepidatiously traverse a series of immersive environments as a compelling multimedia story unfolds around you, culminating in a spectacular finale every time! Our goal was not just the easy physical scare, but an emotional scare that will haunt your dreams.”
“We wanted to create thrilling experiences that are unique to Pennsylvania and thus to Hersheypark,” adds Lanzisero, Zeitgeist executive vice president and chief art director – and Disney icon. “We spent a lot of time researching local lore, as well as visual vocabularies we didn’t see in existing Halloween attractions. Of course, Hersheypark’s natural forested and creek-side setting – especially in the autumn – provided an already dark palate on which to paint.”
Hersheypark’s Dark Nights can be experienced through October 29, 2023.
Recently, Harmon and Lanzisero, along with Zeitgeist studio director Beckie Kiefer, spoke to blooloop about the company’s origins and its ethos. They also discussed current trends in the industry, and what they believe is key to creating timely yet timeless attractions.
