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Halloween Horror Nights Orlando attraction

MOTB
Midway of the Bizarre
Attraction type Scarezone
Event Halloween Horror Nights XIV
Park Universal Studios Florida
Area Production Central
Year 2004
Housed in The Boneyard
Based on Original

Indirectly based on Something Wicked This Way Comes (1983)

Preceded by Midway of the Bizarre (2001)
Followed by Midway of the Bizarre (2007)

The Midway of the Bizarre (2004) was one of the four scarezones that were featured during Halloween Horror Nights XIV. It was located in The Boneyard.

History and Location[]

For their 2004 event, Universal decided to bring back the once annual Midway of the Bizarre scarezone. This incarnation would tie in with The Festival of the Dead Parade that year, as the floats from the parade would be stored in this scarezone.

The scarezone was located in The Boneyard, which was an area of Universal Studios Orlando that held many props from various Universal films. It was eventually closed and replaced by the Universal Music Plaza. The props of The Boneyard were most likely moved to another location to make room for the floats. This would be the last time The Boneyard was used to hold a scarezone before its closing.

The name Midway of the Bizarre would be reused in 2007 for a park-wide scarezone.

Description[]

Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, Step Right Up, Step Right In… and get lost in a place where childhood dreams grew up to be nightmares and the nightmares are real. Old carnivals never die… old circuses do not just go away… and old sideshows play on forever in THE MIDWAY OF THE BIZARRE. This is the place where the Oddities are normal… and YOU are on display for them. Step into the hypnotic light of the midway and your journey is complete – a one way trip to the Breaking Point of no return.

Venture through an eerie collection of oddities cast off from the world's creepiest carnivals.

The Backstory[]

A woman by the name of Kelly Bernard was making a manuscript for a book titled Midway of the Bizarre: Profiles in Seduction with the help of a $13,000 advance by Scriber Harbrace publishing as long as she would complete the book before or on October 31, 2003.

In an excerpt of the manuscript (the foreword) she detailed in her book that there was a strange connection in regard a to a mysterious midway; every time it appeared with a parade, a person would go into the midway and vanish from public sight entirely. Kelly details the events of five disappearances in the forward, the first being that of Buddy Cline who was intrigued by the carnival and went to go visit it near a cornfield on October 13th, 1951. The second disappearance took place on October 1956, in Plains, Pennsylvania. This one involved the disappearance of Thomas Mann Johns. The third occurrence took place in 1965 in Milwaukee Wisconsin, the fourth being in 1973 in Fullerton California, and the fifth and final one being in 1984 in Beavercreek Ohio.

She went to say that in the last chapter, she would tour the Midway herself to see what was so alluring and why it caused a pattern of disappearances. However she never went on to complete it. Her advance was withdrawn as apparently she did not return any phone calls emails or letters. The reason for this was that she apparently went crazy, and was committed to an asylum, most likely Shadybrook. The records of her experience were kept in a box in one of the rooms of the asylum.

In the Patient Records on the Halloween Horror Nights XIV website, visitors could see the contents of the box detailing the story of Kelly Bernard. They could click on and read the notice in an open envelope she received from the publishing company telling her of the withdrawal of their advance, the forward of her unfinished book, and multiple posters detailing the various dates and location the Midway has traveled to. Also on the website was a poster detailing a visit to Oceanside, New York in 1981 by the Midway, multiple carnival tickets, two dolls, an advertisement for the Midway's appearance in Orlando, Florida in 2004, and a camera. The Point of Evil symbol appeared on the top of the camera, and when clicked on would take visitors back to the main page of the Patient Records.

In the scarezone, guests would experience the Midway of the Bizarre as it made its trip to Orlando, Florida in 2004.

References to the Number 13:

  • Kelly Bernard was given $13,000 in advance to write her book.
  • Her deadline to finish the book was October 31st, 2003.
  • The letter sent to Kelly by the publishing company said that they would terminate their agreement under the performance clause 1.0.13.
  • The first disappearance Kelly mentions in her manuscript took place on October 13th, 1951.

Website Pictures[]

Website Audio[]

Audio that played on the Scarezone Page:

Experience[]

The parade floats from the Festival of the Dead Parade were scattered throughout this scarezone. The entrance had a huge banner with a green skull on it. Various scareactors and carnival performers appeared in this scarezone.

(From the now defunct IOACentral.com)

You enter the brightly lit midway and are dazzled by the many interesting sights. There is an attractive young lady dancing on a stage. While you are watching here, actors dressed completely in black jump out at you. Going further into this demented carnival, you encounter menacing clowns, who follow you, making your escape unlikely. These clowns do not merely jump out at you, but they sometimes follow you, giggling all the while. There are many other interesting oddities here, such as stilt walkers from the parade. I was startled by one of them, when I was walking, and, all of a sudden, a cape billowed out in front of me. A smiling, pretty young lady on stilts smiled down at me. There's also a carnival barker, who invites you to play dangerous games of chance. There are also sideshow freaks here, such as a guy dressed in burnt up clothes, who looks like he has been burnt badly, who will chase you if you appear to be frightened. One time, he followed me, looking quite menacing, as I entered the Midway of the Bizarre, and, while he was menacing me, a short clown, who had been crouching behind a trash can, jumped out at me. The actors really work well together, and use teamwork to provide scares. Finally, you escape from the Midway of the Bizarre"

Pictures[]

Videos[]

Trivia[]

  • This was the last scarezone that was located in The Boneyard.
  • On the scarezone page of the website, the song that plays in the background of the logo of this scarezone is the Child's Play theme.
  • The green skull used for the entrance archway was previously used in the entrance sign for Dark Torment.
Halloween Horror Nights XIV
Characters: The Asylum Patient (Event Icon)  • Eddie Schmidt  • Jack the Clown  • The Caretaker  • The Director  • Gunter Karl Dietze  • Jeffrey Dietze  • Robert L. Strickland
Haunted Houses: Castle Vampyr  • Deadtropolis  • Disorientorium  • Ghost Town  • Horror Nights Nightmares  • Hellgate Prison  • Horror in Wax
Scarezones: Field of Screams  • Fright Yard  • Midway of the Bizarre  • Point of Evil
Shows: Bill & Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure  • Festival of the Dead Parade
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