Halloween takes over Mall of America as we explore everything from nostalgic traditions and family-friendly fun to the adrenaline rush of a truly good scare. Tabitha Barron from Twin Cities Fear Fest and Jacob Mullan, Entertainment Manager at Mall of America join us to reveal what goes into creating Halloween experiences for guests of all ages.
We go behind the scenes of Nickelodeon BOOniverse, the Fog Chute, Mall-O-Ween and a pumpkin weighing more than 1,200 pounds. Then we step into the scarier world of Twin Cities Fear Fest, where immersive storylines, scare actors and a secret bar called The Sanctum bring the thrills to life. Plus, Jacob and Tabitha share favorite Halloween memories, unforgettable costumes and what makes being scared so much fun.
1:30 Nostalgic memories of the Halloween season from movies to costumes
6:55 All about Nick at Fright, BOOniverse plus a 1,200 pound pumpkin
11:15 Twin Cities Fear Fest at Mall of America, fun and frights for everyone
12:20 The Magic of Halloween – a family friendly exhibit new this year
14:15 Two new scary mazes inside the haunt side of Twin Cities Fear Fest
19:30 What it takes to be a ‘scare actor’ during Halloween
23:30 All about Mall-O-WEEN at Mall of America
Visit: https://twincitiesfearfest.com/
Visit: https://nickelodeonuniverse.com/booniverse/
Visit: Crayola Screamin’ Green
Visit: Trick or Treat for UNICEF
Visit: Mall-O-WEEN
Guests: Tabitha Barron from Twin Cities Fear Fest; Jacob Mullan, Entertainment Manager at Mall of America
Hosts: Jill Renslow, Daniel Jasper
Presented by Bloomington Minnesota Travel and Tourism the official destination marketing organization for the city of Bloomington, Minn.
00:00 --> 00:04 Mall of America. It's home to world-class shopping, great dining,
00:04 --> 00:07 and amazing attractions and events. And these are our stories
00:08 --> 00:11 presented by Bloomington, Minnesota Travel and Tourism. Well,
00:11 --> 00:14 hello Mall of America fans. Welcome to this episode of So Much More. I am
00:14 --> 00:18 Jill Renslow, your host for today's show, joined by Dan Jasper. Hi, Dan. Hey,
00:18 --> 00:22 Jill. How are you? Well, a little uneasy here. We got scared
00:22 --> 00:25 coming into the studio, which was very relevant for what we're going to be talking
00:26 --> 00:29 about today because we are talking about how Halloween is so much
00:29 --> 00:33 fun, from childhood traditions and family-friendly experiences to the
00:33 --> 00:36 thrills of being scared. And anybody that knows me, I don't love being scared,
00:36 --> 00:40 so it was kind of a little shocker coming into the studios
00:40 --> 00:43 today. But we are joined by Jacob Mullen, who's our entertainment manager
00:44 --> 00:47 at Mall of America, and Tabitha Barron, who is the Twin Cities Fear Fest manager,
00:47 --> 00:51 who's going to be talking about all things Halloween at Mall of America and what
00:51 --> 00:55 is happening behind the scenes in creating these frightful experiences.
00:55 --> 00:58 So Jacob and Tabitha, thank you and welcome to So Much More.
00:59 --> 01:02 Thank you so much for having us. Yeah, excited to be here. We are talking
01:02 --> 01:06 about a big retail season. It has really grown over the years.
01:06 --> 01:10 We go from Summerween to getting ready for the holiday of Halloween.
01:10 --> 01:14 And honestly, it is so much fun here at Mall of America. So I
01:14 --> 01:16 would love to talk first before we get into the details of what we have
01:17 --> 01:20 got going on here. There's a special kind of nostalgia around
01:21 --> 01:24 Halloween and I'm curious of what we love so much about this holiday
01:25 --> 01:28 and what it makes so special and different from other celebrations, because it definitely spans
01:29 --> 01:33 multiple generations, but it also is a longer season than it ever
01:33 --> 01:35 has been before. So I'd love for any of you guys to talk a little
01:36 --> 01:40 bit about your Halloween memories and experiences that are special and that
01:40 --> 01:42 you think of this time of year. Tabitha, how about you? Personally, for me,
01:43 --> 01:46 I grew up loving Halloween and spooky, and then eventually
01:47 --> 01:50 horror movies, of course. One of my earliest memories is going
01:50 --> 01:54 trick-or-treating with my dad and my cousins and stuff. He has had the
01:54 --> 01:57 same Halloween costume costume since I was a kid. It's a scary monster mask and
01:57 --> 02:01 a black cloak, and I was Tweety Bird and my cousin was Sylvester. And like,
02:02 --> 02:04 that is a core memory for me of being able to just have fun on
02:04 --> 02:08 Halloween. And it grew into just trick-or-treating with my friends
02:08 --> 02:11 and creating my own costumes and then realizing, ooh, haunted houses are a thing,
02:12 --> 02:14 I want to do this. And then we built our own haunted house in our
02:15 --> 02:18 garage, and when I was 18, we worked at the, the haunted house
02:19 --> 02:22 where I grew up. So it's just It's a cascading thing for me.
02:22 --> 02:26 So it's always just going back to the familiar with the family and then the
02:26 --> 02:29 bonding and just how much fun we have. And I'm
02:29 --> 02:32 sure that you have the same experience. Oh yeah, definitely. I actually used to
02:33 --> 02:36 be terrified of all things Halloween, like going into some of
02:36 --> 02:40 these home goods stores and department stores, and they used to have those big Halloween
02:40 --> 02:44 aisles. I used to cry before walking down them. But, you know,
02:44 --> 02:47 my mom was like, there's candy down here. I'm like, oh yeah, let's do it.
02:48 --> 02:51 But now it's— It's so much fun being able to dress up, play a different
02:51 --> 02:55 role in a show. It's a great time. Exactly, being able to
02:55 --> 02:59 get into costume these days is so much fun because it's just, it's a further
03:00 --> 03:03 involvement of that. And especially for you, if you were scared of everything, now you're
03:03 --> 03:05 on the other side of things. Oh yeah. And it's a totally different perspective,
03:05 --> 03:08 right? Yeah, it's a great time. I got ruined by horror movies at an early
03:08 --> 03:12 age, and ruined is a relative term, but I was introduced to the realm
03:12 --> 03:15 of what horror movies really were early from my aunt, so I am the way
03:15 --> 03:19 I am because of my aunt. Thank you, Naomi. But I feel like it's made
03:19 --> 03:23 me a really well-rounded person, I love knowing how things work.
03:23 --> 03:26 I love the masks. I love the makeup. I love everything behind the scenes,
03:26 --> 03:28 as well as being one of the monsters that, you know, help terrify people.
03:29 --> 03:32 That is so funny, 'cause those horror movies growing up, that's what actually did
03:32 --> 03:36 hurt me. Like, I think I was scared too early in my— I don't
03:36 --> 03:38 know what it was. But Dan, how about you? Do you like to be scared,
03:38 --> 03:42 or do you like just the tradition of dressing up for Halloween?
03:42 --> 03:45 I don't like to be scared. I think the thing about Halloween, when I was
03:45 --> 03:48 a kid, and when my son was young, and now my grandchildren,
03:49 --> 03:53 what I see is it gives kids the opportunity to be creative.
03:53 --> 03:57 And to be, whether it's scary or something else, one grandchild's one of the Descendants
03:58 --> 04:02 this year, a Disney show, and one is going to be Bluey,
04:02 --> 04:05 and then one is going to be a frog. None of them are scary,
04:06 --> 04:09 but it gives them the opportunity to do something that's really creative
04:10 --> 04:14 and escape, right? Candy's a good incentive, right? But whether
04:14 --> 04:17 they go scary or not, I think the cool thing about this season more than
04:17 --> 04:21 anything else is that it binds us all in creativity and escapism.
04:22 --> 04:25 And I think that's really good. I agree. I think there's so much unique creativity
04:25 --> 04:29 coming back into Halloween. I think that leads into why it's so popular,
04:29 --> 04:32 that there's so many DIY and tutorials that are
04:33 --> 04:36 out there that people can pick up and find super easily that it's like,
04:36 --> 04:39 oh, I can do this myself and I don't have to go get a generic
04:39 --> 04:42 costume. And it's— I love the creativity because that's where I started too.
04:42 --> 04:45 It's like, oh, I want to do this costume and I want to be this
04:45 --> 04:48 character and I can't find it, especially back in the day. So being able to
04:49 --> 04:52 make it yourself these days is Yeah, so I had to, getting ready for this
04:52 --> 04:55 podcast, I wanted to see what were those top costumes this year? What are kids
04:56 --> 04:59 looking for? Spider-Man. Yeah. Definitely on the top of the list. Obviously a very popular
05:00 --> 05:03 costume. A lot of those superhero costumes continue to be year after year, but also
05:04 --> 05:07 a lot of the traditional costumes like witches. Yep.
05:07 --> 05:11 And vampires, Batmans, ghosts, princesses, especially for adults.
05:11 --> 05:14 A lot of those traditional ones usually ring to the top.
05:15 --> 05:18 But also some of the pop culture, like you were talking about, Dan, you know,
05:18 --> 05:22 it's demon hunt, K-pop demon hunters, Pokémon, Toy Story, Super Mario. Show and
05:22 --> 05:26 all the Marvel characters. So it's— I didn't see a lot coming to the top
05:26 --> 05:29 of the list that I was surprised of. Um, but we talk about candy as
05:29 --> 05:33 well, so I'm very curious what your favorite Halloween candy is because I
05:34 --> 05:37 know that I purposely do not buy my favorite because if we have leftovers,
05:37 --> 05:41 I'm gonna eat all of it. So Jacob, what's your favorite candy? Oh,
05:41 --> 05:44 uh, probably Butterfingers or Take Fives. Okay, okay, that was
05:45 --> 05:48 a good one. Butterfinger, that's usually mine. I love peanut butter, so Reese's Peanut Butter
05:48 --> 05:52 Cups. Um, but those are also Josh's favorite, so we have an issue in our
05:52 --> 05:55 household sometimes, so I have to hide my shirt. Dan,
05:56 --> 05:59 how about you? I think growing up I used to like those wax lips.
05:59 --> 06:03 I thought they were really— Seriously? I just thought they were— they made me look
06:03 --> 06:07 good. I don't know. They have like no flavor though. None at all.
06:07 --> 06:11 They were like almost like those bottles that have the wax bottles. That's my
06:11 --> 06:14 second favorite. Really? They dip you in wax? It had like a tenth
06:15 --> 06:17 of an ounce of some sugar in there. But it was fun. And then it
06:18 --> 06:21 was fun. And then the flavored Tootsie Rolls. I like the different flavored Tootsie Rolls,
06:22 --> 06:24 the orange and the lime and the grape and the— Okay, well, we don't have
06:24 --> 06:28 to worry about We're good. Candy, because we have— I am all about
06:28 --> 06:31 chocolate. I love the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. And I also love Twix. So those
06:32 --> 06:35 are my top 2. They're in the— so whenever the kids were little and they
06:35 --> 06:38 came home and separated, it was like, okay, 2 for me, 1 for you.
06:38 --> 06:42 Put it all together. Super, super fun. Well, we have a lot of fun things
06:42 --> 06:45 happening at Mall of America. So Jacob, I'd love for you to start. Give us
06:45 --> 06:48 a little bit of behind the scenes of what's getting set up. Let's start with
06:48 --> 06:52 Boo-niverse. This is our traditional festivity for Halloween
06:52 --> 06:57 in Nickelodeon Universe. So give us the scoop. Yeah, there's so much excitement happening this,
06:58 --> 07:01 uh, coming month. You know, we have Nick at Fright happening on the
07:02 --> 07:05 23rd and 24th, which is going to be a dance party with a character
07:06 --> 07:09 parade and so many fun elements in the, in the park.
07:09 --> 07:13 And then yesterday we just had our 1-pound,
07:13 --> 07:17 uh, pumpkin show up, uh, down in the loading dock. It is now in
07:17 --> 07:20 the park on display, so go check that out when you have the time.
07:20 --> 07:24 And there's so much more coming as well. Where do you find a
07:24 --> 07:28 1-pound pumpkin? Uh, great question. Uh,
07:28 --> 07:31 shout out to Mary, uh, who found it. There's a family in Wisconsin
07:32 --> 07:35 who grows a bunch of different giant pumpkins, the Engel family,
07:35 --> 07:39 Shannon and Jody. They've been doing it for so long. I think since
07:40 --> 07:44 2009 they've been growing these giant pumpkins, award-winning pumpkins,
07:44 --> 07:47 and they— we decided to bring it on over here to Mall of America.
07:47 --> 07:51 Can you actually eat a pumpkin that— and how many pumpkin pies would
07:51 --> 07:54 you get out of that? That is a good fun fact. We'll have to
07:55 --> 07:58 maybe inquire online someday. So where is that on display for families to find for
07:59 --> 08:03 a fun photo op? Yeah, just look for Adventure Bay Playpen,
08:03 --> 08:07 and it's right out there by the arcade. Okay, so like on the northeast
08:07 --> 08:11 corner side of the park. Fantastic. Log Chute transforms
08:12 --> 08:16 as well. Tell us about that. Yeah, so the entertainment team takes
08:16 --> 08:20 over the Log Chute, transforming it into the Fog Chute with
08:20 --> 08:24 Halloween decorations and a little more excitement
08:24 --> 08:28 with Paul and Babe this year as well. They got a cool little facelift,
08:28 --> 08:31 so come check it out. They did. I did get a little facelift. I'm excited
08:32 --> 08:36 to see now. Yeah. It is so much fun. And then for the younger trick-or-treaters,
08:37 --> 08:40 there's some fun things with Toddler Tuesdays. Tell us a little bit about that.
08:40 --> 08:44 Yeah, we've got our Toddler Tuesday Treat Trail happening in the
08:44 --> 08:48 park as well. You can check it out on NickelodeonUniverse.com.
08:48 --> 08:52 And we have a couple of treat stations stationed around the park.
08:52 --> 08:55 And you will take your bag, go to each station, and get some candy.
08:55 --> 08:59 And when does that take place? It's a great question. That's why I
08:59 --> 09:03 got to post a note because there's so much happening this month. That's fine.
09:03 --> 09:07 You're welcome to have notes. Yeah, right. It's going to happen on October 27th
09:07 --> 09:11 from 10 AM to noon. Okay. Right before Halloween. Perfect timing for those little
09:12 --> 09:15 ones to get their costumes out. We love walking around the mall and seeing
09:15 --> 09:19 everybody dress up on our Halloween weekends. It's so much fun. Dan, what's your favorite
09:19 --> 09:22 part of Halloween at Mall of America? Well, more than anything, I just love watching
09:23 --> 09:25 all of the kids in their costumes. And it actually starts in October, right?
09:26 --> 09:30 It's not— they don't even wait till Halloween week. There are kids in costume all
09:31 --> 09:34 month long. Fun fact, when my son was probably about 6 or 7,
09:35 --> 09:38 I created the most amazing costume for him. He was a toilet.
09:39 --> 09:42 And he would lift up his lid and they'd put candy in his toilet
09:42 --> 09:45 bowl. And we came and we took second place at the old Camp
09:45 --> 09:49 Snoopy in the costume contest. Should have been
09:49 --> 09:53 first. I'm just saying. Did you come up with this crazy
09:53 --> 09:57 idea? Yes. Yes. I loved it. Made it and he had a flusher and it
09:57 --> 10:00 was fun. I love that so much. Why does This is not surprising. But seeing
10:01 --> 10:04 the kids in costume here is so much fun. It is. Whether they're store-bought or
10:04 --> 10:08 not, because they are just in their own world and their
10:08 --> 10:11 smiles, it's amazing. Well, and it's great because they can leave their
10:12 --> 10:14 coats in their car. You don't have to worry about all the weather elements to
10:14 --> 10:18 come in, have fun. And the adults dress up
10:18 --> 10:21 too, which is a fun tradition. We love all of that. Did you guys know
10:22 --> 10:26 that the— I had a little fun fact. Jack-o'-lanterns were originally
10:26 --> 10:29 carved from turnips? Or turnips, not tune-ups.
10:29 --> 10:33 Turnips. Turnips. Turnips. I did not know that. They're not
10:33 --> 10:37 that big. Yes, it was an Irish and Scottish tradition, but pumpkins became more popular
10:37 --> 10:41 in America because they were just larger and easier to carve. But yeah,
10:41 --> 10:44 tune-ups or turnips, whatever you choose to call it.
10:44 --> 10:48 Turn up your turnip. Yeah. Oh my Lord. I had no clue. That's weird.
10:49 --> 10:52 And then they went to other gourds and then pumpkins. Yeah, that's why they carve
10:53 --> 10:56 the whole smorgasbord of Okay. Yes, all the things.
10:56 --> 11:00 So let's shift to being scared because that's
11:00 --> 11:03 what you're here for, Tabitha. I love this. So let's talk about the fun and
11:03 --> 11:07 nostalgic side of Halloween, about really this thrill of being scared. And we've done some
11:07 --> 11:11 research around this and it's super interesting about the connection
11:11 --> 11:14 that fear has with people, whether you're strangers or
11:15 --> 11:18 friends, it really brings people together. So talk a little bit about why you
11:18 --> 11:21 enjoy scaring people at your attraction.
11:21 --> 11:25 Honestly, it's kind of exactly what you said and even what you said, it's,
11:25 --> 11:29 I love watching people's reactions. I love people's excitement
11:29 --> 11:33 of being together, whether it's happy in anticipation or scared and finding new friends
11:33 --> 11:36 or discovering which were your friends, you know, you may not want to be friends
11:37 --> 11:39 with in the future because they signed you up for something that you weren't ready
11:39 --> 11:42 for, like clowns. Um, but I, I love the,
11:43 --> 11:46 the emotion of discovery. I like it when people discover things that they like,
11:46 --> 11:50 even things that they don't like. And that comes a lot with watching people
11:50 --> 11:53 watching within the haunts too. So for me, it's always the genuine feeling
11:54 --> 11:56 of, of how is this going to make somebody feel? Are they going to have
11:57 --> 12:00 a good time overall? Of course, our whole goal at Twin Cities Fear Fest is
12:00 --> 12:03 to scare you, but we also want to entertain you. We want to make sure
12:03 --> 12:07 that you're having a good time, whether that's running out screaming and laughing or even
12:07 --> 12:10 just enjoying the nice family-friendly side of things that we have this year too.
12:10 --> 12:14 So you have a lot of new things this year. So let's get started.
12:14 --> 12:17 What is the new family-friendly component? So we have our brand
12:18 --> 12:21 new event. It's called The Magic of Halloween. It is a full family-friendly pumpkin
12:21 --> 12:25 light display walkthrough. We have several different interactive
12:25 --> 12:28 exhibits in there. We have a few seasonal photo ops, and it's just a
12:29 --> 12:32 nice change of pace. For, you know, people who aren't looking for something that's super
12:32 --> 12:36 scary. It's nice. It's kind of spooky. There's some fun displays,
12:36 --> 12:40 whole lots of pumpkins, tons and tons and tons of pumpkins
12:41 --> 12:44 that are illuminated. Some of them sing to you, some of them crack jokes.
12:45 --> 12:48 We also have a really cool AI tiki man. His name is Olmec.
12:48 --> 12:51 So you can go and ask him a question and he'll think about it a
12:51 --> 12:55 little bit and he'll respond to you as well. I love this. So do
12:55 --> 12:58 you have to get tickets in advance? How much is it? So for tickets
12:59 --> 13:02 for Magic of Halloween are $10. They are $10 across the board. The Magic
13:03 --> 13:06 of Halloween is open the same days that the haunted attraction is open, but we
13:06 --> 13:09 are open a little bit earlier. So we open at 3 PM for Magic of
13:09 --> 13:12 Halloween. That way we get some of the kids a little bit earlier before the
13:12 --> 13:16 sun goes down, and that way we can capitalize on, you know, the parents wanting
13:16 --> 13:19 to bring their small kids through but maybe sending their teenagers over to the really
13:20 --> 13:23 scary side of things. But you can get tickets for the Magic of Halloween at
13:23 --> 13:26 magicofhalloween.com. You can see all of our operating times, and tickets
13:27 --> 13:30 are $10. That's fantastic. What a great affordable thing for families to do.
13:30 --> 13:33 I love that. I think you need to bring your grandkids. I think so too.
13:33 --> 13:36 It's fantastic over there. I would spend all of my time over there if I
13:36 --> 13:40 could. Yeah, having that family-friendly opportunity
13:40 --> 13:43 is really nice for families with little kids, right, who don't want
13:44 --> 13:47 to be scared, correct, but they want the fun of Halloween. Yeah, it's spooky enough
13:48 --> 13:51 over there because it is still dark, and we do have like some friendly skeletons
13:51 --> 13:55 and friendly ghosts, but it's, it's kind of easing them into their own Halloween tradition,
13:55 --> 13:58 especially over here at the mall, because there is so much to do here.
13:58 --> 14:01 That way it's expanding upon people's Halloween traditions they may have
14:01 --> 14:05 with Boonaverse and the Malloween that they do here. We love adding to
14:05 --> 14:09 the family of the Mall of America. Okay, so you shift to the other
14:09 --> 14:13 side. The other side, I like the way you said it. Tell us
14:13 --> 14:16 about what that experience is all about. Absolutely. So on the haunt side
14:17 --> 14:20 of Twin Cities Fear Fest, we have 2 brand new mazes. One of the mazes
14:20 --> 14:23 is our brand new IP that we have with Jason Universe, which I am
14:23 --> 14:27 thrilled with because I am a huge Friday the 13th fan. So Jason
14:27 --> 14:31 is one of my slashers after my own heart. So we have Jason
14:32 --> 14:35 Universe: Survive the Night. We have several rooms fully
14:35 --> 14:38 themed just like several of the Friday the 13th movies. You will
14:38 --> 14:42 encounter Jason in places you never thought, so the anticipation
14:42 --> 14:46 and expectation is high. After you experience Jason:
14:46 --> 14:50 Survive the Night, you're going to Dead City Uprising, which is
14:50 --> 14:54 all zombies all the time. You're gonna have to fight your way through a
14:54 --> 14:58 house area. You're gonna go and meet some clowns in a weird sewer section,
14:59 --> 15:02 and then you're gonna end up in another area where my zombies are ready to
15:02 --> 15:06 take you out. And of course, we end on our very famous chainsaw,
15:07 --> 15:09 because you can't have a haunted house without ending it on a chainsaw. It's true.
15:10 --> 15:13 So when you get access to the attraction, do you get both
15:14 --> 15:17 of these paths, or do you get to choose? How does that work? With one
15:17 --> 15:21 ticket to Twin Cities Fear Fest, you get access to both mazes, and the haunts
15:21 --> 15:24 are linear, so you're gonna go through one and then immediately go through the other
15:24 --> 15:27 before you come out. Last year was a little bit of a challenge because we
15:28 --> 15:30 had 2 separate lines. We learned a a lot from last year. We were going
15:31 --> 15:34 to make the event even better than before. And so we've made it a lot
15:34 --> 15:37 easier for people to come in, do the haunt immediately. As soon as they leave
15:38 --> 15:41 the haunted attraction, they're in our beautifully redesigned midway that we
15:41 --> 15:44 have a bar at. We have a whole bunch of really awesome merch. And then
15:45 --> 15:47 right on the other side of the midway is the Magic of Halloween event.
15:47 --> 15:50 So both of the events actually empty into the midway. So you can see
15:50 --> 15:53 all the fun stuff, all the beautiful things, grab yourself a quick drink,
15:53 --> 15:56 enjoy the ambiance, people watch, because people do come in costume,
15:57 --> 16:00 kids and adults. And it's just a wonderful afternoon or evening
16:00 --> 16:04 even. At the Mall of America with us. So you had me at
16:05 --> 16:07 bar. Yeah. And we do still have— Talk a little bit about this. Yes,
16:08 --> 16:10 we have. Because that's probably where I'm hanging out while my friends are going through
16:11 --> 16:14 the— Exactly. So we do have our main bar, which is our Midway.
16:14 --> 16:18 It's huge. We have— it's not a full-service bar,
16:18 --> 16:21 so we don't do mixed drinks, but we have plenty of canned beverages, alcoholic and
16:22 --> 16:25 non-alcoholic available, as well as snacks. And Jill, last year you had a friend
16:26 --> 16:29 come into our secret bar, which we do still have. Yes. Our Sanctum secret bar
16:30 --> 16:34 does still exist. That is an upgrade experience for the haunt. But that is a
16:34 --> 16:37 bar that you get pulled into randomly in the middle of the haunt,
16:37 --> 16:41 and you're given a special drink for your redemption of your
16:41 --> 16:44 glow that you're given. And it's a really cool atmosphere as well.
16:44 --> 16:47 You can buy an additional drink in there for a little bit, and then you
16:47 --> 16:50 can continue on through the maze and enjoy the rest of your night. It was
16:50 --> 16:53 super cool. I'm so glad I have a reputation that I just hang out in
16:53 --> 16:56 the bar. But they were very kind, and they gave me a little back
16:57 --> 17:00 access. I did not have to be scared. This is true. We showed you
17:00 --> 17:03 the backside of Haunts, which is really cool. Yes, it is very, very cool.
17:04 --> 17:07 So talk about like, what do people need to do before they
17:08 --> 17:10 go? Do they go online? Do they get their tickets? Can you do any walk-ups?
17:10 --> 17:13 Like, give them the whole skinny of what they should do. We are cash— uh,
17:13 --> 17:17 we are card only, so we don't do any cash. We can do walk-up tickets.
17:17 --> 17:22 However, you can always buy your tickets in advance online at twincitysfearfest.com.
17:22 --> 17:25 We have dynamic ticketing and time ticketing, so we have
17:25 --> 17:29 certain time slots available, and the price will get more expensive the
17:30 --> 17:32 closer to Halloween you get. Sure. So you definitely want to make sure you come
17:32 --> 17:34 out and see us early. That way you save a little bit of money and
17:35 --> 17:38 you can experience this, the space, free of a whole lot of
17:38 --> 17:41 people. Because our opening weekend was last weekend and we
17:41 --> 17:45 felt it went really well, and we anticipate to have
17:45 --> 17:48 a lot more people coming out in the future weeks. So if you want to
17:48 --> 17:51 come out and see us, come out early, avoid the lines. We have ticket upgrades
17:52 --> 17:55 available for skip the line or front of line, as well as our add-on experiences
17:55 --> 17:58 with the Secret Bar and our Jason Director's
17:59 --> 18:02 Cut, which is a whole new experience as well. Can you tell guests where they
18:02 --> 18:05 can find Twin Cities Fear Fest inside Mall of America?
18:05 --> 18:09 Absolutely. We are on level 2. We are in the old Bloomingdale's building
18:09 --> 18:12 or excuse me, location. But you can really find us if
18:13 --> 18:16 you find Spirits or you find the Christmas store, you're in the right space because
18:16 --> 18:20 we are in the back end of that hallway. We keep calling ourselves the holiday
18:21 --> 18:25 corner back there. So it's perfect. So we're on level 2. We are above Primark
18:25 --> 18:29 and below Crayola Experience. Yeah, right in the heart of
18:29 --> 18:33 everything. Everything. It was perfect, to be honest. We're like, Spirit, Christmas,
18:33 --> 18:35 done. It is great. I'm glad you brought up Spirit because it's a great destination
18:36 --> 18:39 to buy Halloween costumes, decorations, all the things. Plus we have Spencer Gifts.
18:40 --> 18:43 Ragstock's another great place for— actually picked up some costumes from Ragstock.
18:44 --> 18:46 That's great. Yeah, I mean, there are a lot of different options within the mall,
18:47 --> 18:50 and there's a lot of like hidden gems kind of within other stores, and especially
18:50 --> 18:53 if you're going to be creative and putting something together on your own. Are you
18:53 --> 18:57 ready to buy I am. I want to go. I don't like
18:57 --> 19:01 scary things. I think you had me until you mentioned the clowns. I know.
19:01 --> 19:04 I know. You think Jason is scary enough or zombies?
19:04 --> 19:08 Clowns are scary. It's funny how many people are still afraid
19:08 --> 19:11 of clowns. And it's not just because of It, you know, it's that they have
19:12 --> 19:15 their own reasons to be afraid of clowns. So that's why we have a very
19:15 --> 19:19 small section of clowns, but they do exist. So I'm sorry.
19:19 --> 19:22 So I've got a fun fact. I don't know if you guys knew, but Jake
19:22 --> 19:26 Jacob was a scare actor, or maybe still is a scare actor himself.
19:26 --> 19:29 So I would love to hear about how you got into that industry and
19:30 --> 19:33 what motivates you to want to scare people.
19:33 --> 19:37 Yeah, like I said before, I was terrified of all
19:37 --> 19:41 things Halloween, but I really love acting and theater
19:41 --> 19:45 acting. So this is another immersive theatrical experience,
19:45 --> 19:48 you know, and my goal in life is to make sure that people are having
19:48 --> 19:51 a great time no matter where they're at. And this is a good avenue for
19:51 --> 19:54 that, whether you're scaring, laughing at your friends getting scared, or just
19:55 --> 19:58 having a hoot and a holler, I'm here for it. So what was one of
19:58 --> 20:02 the most unexpected reactions you ever received when you scared somebody?
20:02 --> 20:06 Um, this was a long, long time ago. Uh, I was playing
20:06 --> 20:09 a clown, funny enough. Um, I was sitting on a ledge.
20:09 --> 20:13 This girl— I popped out, this girl dropped to the ground, stood back up,
20:13 --> 20:16 looked right at me, was laughing hysterically, then, uh, kind of
20:17 --> 20:19 peed her pants, and then was not happy after that.
20:19 --> 20:21 But it was fun for me.
20:23 --> 20:27 People's reactions to getting scared is my favorite. It varies,
20:27 --> 20:30 and it's always interesting to see how the body reacts to
20:30 --> 20:34 fear. Yeah, it's so fascinating. So, Tabatha, what goes into preparing
20:34 --> 20:38 your scare actors to be able to deliver the best experience possible?
20:38 --> 20:41 It's a lot. It's a lot of pre-training.
20:42 --> 20:46 And thankfully, we have— our cast is pretty experienced.
20:46 --> 20:49 They have worked attractions other places, but it comes down to timing
20:49 --> 20:53 and knowing your space and knowing your character and knowing that
20:54 --> 20:56 people's reactions to scares are going to be unpredictable.
20:57 --> 21:00 So we have a technique where it's like we scare and
21:00 --> 21:04 retreat, scare and retreat, where we always want to make sure that we're getting the
21:04 --> 21:08 group the best scare possible, but we're not targeting too aggressively
21:08 --> 21:12 because we don't want to traumatize people, because we want to make sure people come
21:12 --> 21:16 back and see us and have a good time, right? So we articulate,
21:16 --> 21:19 this is your scare zone, this is how we want the scare to work,
21:19 --> 21:22 this is how our operates, and then you basically reset and do it all
21:23 --> 21:26 over again. That way every group who comes through has a similar experience.
21:26 --> 21:28 It's not going to be the same because, like you were saying, it's live theater
21:28 --> 21:31 essentially. That way they have an idea of what
21:31 --> 21:34 to expect when people come through. And so we have training,
21:34 --> 21:38 we have workshops, we have a performance manager who is outstanding this
21:38 --> 21:42 year, who is just fantastic at making sure my actors and my monsters have
21:42 --> 21:45 everything they need to make sure that you guys are going to have the most
21:45 --> 21:48 thrilling night as possible. So what's the strategy behind jump scares?
21:48 --> 21:51 Because Dan and I were both scared by a jump scare as we came into
21:52 --> 21:55 the studio today. We were. And you just get that heart-pounding moment.
21:56 --> 21:59 Is there— obviously you guys are strategically placing them throughout
21:59 --> 22:02 the maze, but man, they're just right at the right spot when you just
22:02 --> 22:05 know it's going to happen and it happens and you still get scared. I mean,
22:05 --> 22:09 it helps that we know how to build blind corners that even
22:09 --> 22:13 though you know are going to be there, we have a way your
22:13 --> 22:16 brain kind of turns off. You're like, oh, I know that's a corner. And even
22:16 --> 22:19 if you think something is gonna happen, sometimes we psych you out and we don't
22:20 --> 22:23 put anything in those corners. Then you're like, oh, sense of relief, I'm safe.
22:23 --> 22:26 And then it comes from the other corner. It's just, it's a matter of
22:27 --> 22:30 learned experience. And with pop scares, that's just our body's natural
22:31 --> 22:34 reaction, right? As soon as something leaves our peripheral vision, we kind of forget about
22:34 --> 22:38 it. And so that's what makes it so unique. And that's how one way that
22:38 --> 22:41 I know we train our actors is like, as soon as they stop realizing that
22:41 --> 22:44 that space is there, that's where the pop scare is most effective.
22:44 --> 22:47 And that is one of the few scares that still gets me after almost 20
22:47 --> 22:51 years in the industry because I don't get scared by much, but I went
22:51 --> 22:54 to an event last night because as a haunter, I like to go to other
22:54 --> 22:58 events and a pop scare barrel gag got me. So every now
22:58 --> 23:00 and then I still get, I still get the startle scare for sure. Well,
23:01 --> 23:04 it's a great market to be in for haunts and all things Halloween because
23:04 --> 23:08 the Minnesota, especially the Minneapolis-St. Paul market, like we're known for
23:09 --> 23:11 haunts. People love it. And I'm so excited for people to be able to The
23:12 --> 23:16 experiences out here are fantastic. Yes, there's a lot of great outdoor opportunities. And that's
23:16 --> 23:20 the thing is you can like schedule your entire month or week, like 6
23:21 --> 23:24 to 8 weeks out of like all these fun things to do for all the
23:24 --> 23:28 Halloween festivities. I love it. So as we get close to Halloween, we actually on
23:28 --> 23:32 Halloween have our Malloween. So Jacob, if you can finish
23:32 --> 23:35 off by giving everybody the update on that and how they find out more information.
23:35 --> 23:39 Yeah, it used to be just right in the rotunda, you would get a bag
23:39 --> 23:43 and get some treats in there, but it's going to be expanding into multiple
23:43 --> 23:47 stores. We're gonna have a little map that's gonna be digital instead of printing
23:47 --> 23:51 out a map, which is amazing. So come on down, get your treats
23:51 --> 23:54 at many different stores, dress up. It should be
23:55 --> 23:57 a good time. I believe we're gonna be involved in that this year. We'll have
23:57 --> 24:00 the Magic of Halloween site open. So we're really excited about being a part of
24:01 --> 24:03 that again this year. It is a big thing because it lands on the weekend.
24:03 --> 24:07 It does. Saturday. Saturday this year. Get ready.
24:07 --> 24:11 And that's the thing, even if it's icky outside, like It's always 70s
24:11 --> 24:14 and 75s. It's gonna be wonderful in here. Absolutely. It's always great. But I mean,
24:14 --> 24:18 I was doing a little research and it's crazy because NRF already
24:18 --> 24:22 has predicted $13.5 billion
24:22 --> 24:25 this year towards Halloween. I mean, it's a huge retail holiday.
24:26 --> 24:30 That's obviously spending a lot of money on costumes, candy, and decorations, but it
24:30 --> 24:33 is a huge holiday. And we love the fact that we have so many retailers
24:33 --> 24:37 here at the mall that celebrate it, decorate, and really
24:37 --> 24:40 enjoy by having people come in and spend their traditions with us.
24:41 --> 24:43 So at the heart of it, it really seems to be about creating memories.
24:44 --> 24:47 And we talked about that, the creativity around creating memories and giving people permission
24:48 --> 24:51 to experience something just a little bit different. So to
24:51 --> 24:54 wrap us up today, how do you guys all want to finish this
24:55 --> 24:57 off by— why do you— what do you want people to take away with their
24:57 --> 24:59 Halloween experience here at Mall of America? Jacob?
25:00 --> 25:03 Hmm, it's about togetherness. It's about being
25:03 --> 25:07 with your family, friends, and just having a good time and forgetting
25:07 --> 25:10 the world for a little Exactly. I mean, I couldn't say it any better,
25:11 --> 25:14 especially here in the mall because it provides such a
25:14 --> 25:17 welcoming experience. I mean, we have the parking, we have the controlled climate.
25:17 --> 25:21 It's about coming here, enjoying yourself, finding out new
25:21 --> 25:25 things about your friends and family, and just ultimately having a good time and just
25:25 --> 25:29 basking in the fun of creativity of Halloween. I love it.
25:29 --> 25:32 How about you, Dan? 2 things. Take photos.
25:32 --> 25:35 Capture the moment with photos and video. I think that's so important.
25:36 --> 25:39 And sometimes little ones get a little ornery, a little tired,
25:39 --> 25:43 And let that go. Just let it go and enjoy the moment, right?
25:43 --> 25:46 Because they're not going to be this age again. Just carry a couple little pieces
25:46 --> 25:48 of candy in your pocket. That's right. And you'll give them a little sugar.
25:49 --> 25:53 I like your mention about taking pictures. There's so many amazing photo ops here in
25:53 --> 25:56 the mall for Halloween. Not like, not just tooting our horn, but like there's so
25:56 --> 25:59 much really cool stuff down in Booniverse. You guys have some amazing stuff in the
25:59 --> 26:03 rotunda. So I hope that people come and make some amazing memories this year.
26:03 --> 26:07 Absolutely. I love the big pumpkin, but I also love our Patrick and
26:07 --> 26:11 SpongeBob Halloween sculpt photo op. They have their candy. It is is
26:11 --> 26:14 the cutest photo op ever. So find that in the park when you're here.
26:14 --> 26:16 I would love to try to get some of our monsters on one of the
26:17 --> 26:19 roller coasters this year. So we'll work on making that happen. We know people and
26:20 --> 26:22 can help you make it too. We might have a little bit of fun.
26:22 --> 26:25 Do some fun social content. I love it. Well, Jacob and Tabitha, thank you so
26:26 --> 26:29 much for joining us. Dan, thank you for joining me as a co-host. And to
26:29 --> 26:33 everyone listening, thank you for joining us for this Halloween episode of So
26:33 --> 26:37 Much More. It's from family fun traditions to unforgettable scares.
26:38 --> 26:41 We want to see you right here for everything in October. And we hope to
26:42 --> 26:45 see you all season long. So thanks for listening to So Much More, and we'll
26:45 --> 26:49 see you next time. Thanks for listening to So Much More, a Mall of America
26:49 --> 26:52 podcast. Subscribe wherever you find your favorite podcasts.
26:52 --> 26:55 This show is presented by Bloomington, Minnesota Travel and Tourism.