The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor is slated to return to The Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA, this Halloween season. On Saturday, the creative folks behind the event’s return took the main stage at Midsummer Scream to share new details about the event’s return.
The panel was hosted by Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group Regional Manager Amy Holloman and Director of Special Projects Brett Bertolino. Holloman opened by recognizing the haunt’s legacy and its committed fans, even asking past Dark Harbor workers and scare actors to stand up or raise their hands to be recognized for their accomplishments.
The team also announced they would be bringing back the event’s tradition of celebrating DÃa de los Muertos on November 1 and 2, 2024.
Early on in the panel, Holloman and Bertolino were joined by 13th Floor Entertainment Group CEO Chris Stafford, who shared that while The Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor has been on hiatus for the last several years, it was always The Queen Mary’s and the City of Long Beach’s intention to bring Dark Harbor back, even with the introduction of Shaqtoberfest.
Stafford talked a lot about finding a balance with Dark Harbor, recognizing a need to be true to fans of the past event while also moving the event forward. “It’s been four or five years since the event closed. So how would Dark Harbor have evolved?” said Stafford. “What would Dark Harbor look like today if it never closed? So instead of starting where the event closed, moreso starting where would that event have been five years in the future from when it closed.”
Stafford admitted this was a challenge but something he felt the team assembled could deliver on.
The panel then discussed some of the previously announced new and returning characters from the event, including Scary Mary, Graceful Gale, The Ringmaster, and The Surgeon. However, they also took the opportunity to announce the return of The Captain. The character will again be a significant presence at the event, especially when welcoming guests during the pre-show.
The Ringmaster and the Captain joined Holloman and Bertolino on stage for some entertaining banter and to help unveil the return of speakeasies at Dark Harbor. Both characters were less than thrilled about the return of the secret bars and their accompanying tokens, which both Holloman and Bertolino acknowledged as a past problem that detracted from the scares and overall experience, which is why the speakeasy system is being overhauled for 2024.
There will be four different speakeasies at this year’s event, located both on the ship and in the harbor, but how you get tokens is changing. You will no longer have to nag a monster at the event; instead, monsters will hand out tokens during the event pre-show. Can’t make it to the pre-party? Dark Harbor is also allowing attendees to purchase a token for a small fee from a new character named Lady Mabel, a psychic who also happens to be depicted on the access tokens.
During the panel, Bertolino also detailed plans for new rides at the event. While the iconic Sinister Swings will return to Dark Harbor, the team is also bringing in some new rides, including a carousel called Scary Mary’s Ghost Rider. This old carousel is being fully restored and themed to Scary Mary.
Speaking of Scary Mary, her maze Lullaby was the first maze announced as part of Dark Harbor’s return, and during the panel, Bertolino shared new details about the maze, which will be all-new for 2024. Due to changes to the ship and the loss of previous physical assets related to the maze, Lullaby has to be recreated from scratch, with the only thing remaining being the maze’s story. Guests will experience an all-new path for Lullaby, along with new sets and scenes. And while guests can’t access the pool where Scary Mary’s story originates, Bertolino did share how they plan to incorporate it.
“We are not going to step into the pool as a visitor,” said Bertolino. But you are going to look into the actual pool, and there is going to be a scene in the maze with actors in the pool area, where you’re going to see the authentic pool.”
An all-new maze was also announced during the panel, with the help of past Dark Harbor collaborator Ted Dougherty. Dougherty was the writer behind many of the mazes, including B340, and worked with designer Jon Cooke in 2018 on a reimagined Dark Harbor. Now, Doughtery is collaborating with the event again for the next chapter in the B340 story and its main character, Samuel the Savage, a passenger driven by an evil entity to murder several people aboard the ship who was confined to his room B340, where he mysteriously died.
The new maze, Breakout, retcons Savage’s untimely demise and instead finds the killer apprehended and imprisoned for his crimes at a nearby seaport. The maze will be housed in the harbor set in the English Village near The Queen Mary and will leverage the original architecture along with some new larger set pieces.
The panel concluded by sharing further details about the new maze Infirmary, home to the new character, The Surgeon, a twisted, sadistic doctor. Set aboard the ship, the maze will span three decks and, according to Bertolino, will feature “lots of blood” and “lots of gore.”
On Sunday, during a separate Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group presentation, one additional reveal about the return of Dark Harbor was made. Bertolino again joined Holloman on stage, to talk about the future of another legacy maze: Feast.
During the panel Bertolino shared that the legacy Dark Harbor character Chef was one of the few original Dark Harbor characters that fans didn’t really have an affinity for. However, in a weird twist of fate, his maze, Feast, happened to be the only maze aboard the ship to remain intact after it was assumed that all physical assets from past mazes had been lost. “When we started producing this event, we were told that all the mazes on the ship no longer existed,” explained Bertolino during the presentation. “And then, we got a call from Dylan, who runs events on the ship, and he said, I found something.” That something was the Feast maze, still tucked away deep within the ship like a haunt time capsule.
As fans of Dark Harbor, the team was moved by the find, but now faced a bit of a conundrum. They found an intact original maze, but it was tied to a character fans really didn’t care for. So for this particular character and maze, the team decided to go into a whole new direction and create what would be considered a “prequel” if this were a film.
Feast is being reimagined to tell the story of Chef when he was just an ambitious young butcher. After years of chopping meat for ungrateful first-class passengers, his dream of one day becoming the head chef on a luxury cruise line is crushed. Growing frustrated and resentful toward the passengers, he decides to take things into his own hands. Nabbing drunken passengers late at night, he turns the first-class passengers into first-class cuts of meat that quickly become a favorite among the ship’s passengers.
The reimagined maze will tell the story of the ambitious butcher, and the lengths he goes to rise in ranks and ultimately become the Chef character from Dark Harbor’s past.
Dark Harbor will return Friday, September 20, and run select nights through Saturday, November 2. Tickets will be available for purchase in late summer 2024. For the latest details or to buy tickets once they are available, visit www.darkharborhalloween.com.
