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Busch Gardens Tampa Bay has stepped up its rivalry with Universal Orlando over which theme park has the best Halloween event.
Busch is touting its top rating among all theme parks from HauntWorld, a consumer/trade magazine published (believe it or not) by a St. Louis haunted house builder for the 500 producers, suppliers and vendors who make a living from the haunted house phenomenon.
Over the years, Universal has gotten media attention by mailing reporters fake eyeballs, toy chain saws and other gruesome items with its Halloween Horror Nights news releases. This year, the park put a release in a metal film canister to introduce its new twisted character, the Director.
Last week, Busch Gardens countered by mailing a cake box to the media in Orlando. A note finger-painted in blood red claimed there was "a new king" among the nation's haunted theme park attractions. Enclosed was a smashed movie camera and film with images of the Busch Gardens Howl-o-Scream logo.
"It was just a teaser," said Gerard Hoeppner, Busch spokesman. "We never mentioned our competition or the Director. We just wanted to remind everybody that if anybody wants to make comparisons, we've got the No. 1 rating."
Universal was unimpressed.
"I haven't seen it," Universal spokesman Tom Schroeder said. "All I know is our guests tell us this is the best Horror Nights we've done, and our ticket sales are ahead of last year."
Said Larry Kirchner, president of HauntWorld, whose magazine mustered five-pages for a critique of last year's theme park haunted attractions: "Universal, Knotts Berry Farm and the 15 Six Flags amusement parks each claim to have the biggest haunted theme park attraction. But Busch Gardens has the best. Universal spent a lot of money improving theirs this year because of what they saw last year at Busch."