One Day at HorrorLand

One Day at HorrorLand is the sixteenth book in the original Goosebumps book series. It was first published in 1994.

The cover illustration features a Horror that is attached to a billboard that reads: WELCOME TO HORRORLAND - WHERE NIGHTMARES COME TO LIFE! An amusement park is visible in the background.

Plot

The Morris family is driving through the desert, searching for the Zoo Gardens theme park. The family consists of Lizzy Morris, Luke Morris, Luke's friend Clay, and the parents. The father left the map at home, so they get lost.

Soon they come across a forest and they are sure that there is no hope, until a frightening billboard reveals the existence of a theme park called HorrorLand (Theme Park) one mile away. They drive there, but as soon as they are parked, the car explodes, and the family narrowly escapes the blast.

The person in the toll booth is in a lifelike "costume" and he apologizes for the inconvenience, allowing them to enter the park for free. When they ask to use the telephone, they are informed that there are no telephones at HorrorLand at all.

They decide to go on some rides. The Deadly Doom Slide is their first choice, and it consists of ten slides, and you must not pick the one that does not have an end. After narrowly escaping certain death, they go into the hall of mirrors, where they get lost and almost not to come out.

They discover that the rides in HorrorLand are a little too scary, maybe even a little too dangerous. But the rides aren't real, are they? They soon decide to go find their parents, who have gone missing, only to be attacked by a vicious swarm of bats.

After escaping from this, they find their parents and decide to ride the safest ride in the park, the Coffin Cruise. It is a relaxing ride down a river in makeshift rafts made of coffin wood. Soon, they are locked into the coffins and are shocked to discover that there are spiders inside. After they are let out, they try to escape, only to find a sign that says: NO EXIT. NOBODY LEAVES HORRORLAND ALIVE.

They are soon captured by the workers, the "HorrorLand Horrors". These monsters put them on a monster game show, where they exhibit the humans being killed or tortured on national television. As they are about to be pushed into a pit of death, Lizzy remembers the no pinching signs around the park. She pinches at the Horror, causing it to deflate and die. The family begins to pinch several Horrors, and that allows them to escape through the front gate which was now open. But then, the Horrors give chase and run after them.

They steal a bus and drive home, where they discover a Horror had clung to the back of the bus. Once the monster gets off the back, he gives them free passes to the park for next year.

Cover Art Gallery

Regional

Reprints

Media

Trivia

It is one of the most popular books, spanning one official sequel, a CD Rom, a video game, Escape From HorrorLand, and a spin off series.
This story was adapted as a comic book in the Goosebumps Graphix book, Terror Trips drawn by Jill Thompson.
In France, this was the 25th book in the series.

Television Adaptation

The TV version has a different ending: The Morris family win a new car in the game show. After escaping Horror Land, the Morris family nearly going off the cliff as the TV host does his cliffhanger closing to his show. The whole episode is revealed to be a show that two elderly Horror Land Horrors are watching, complaining that human shows are scary.
Clay was never mentioned in this episode, despite being one of the main characters in the book.
The Doom Slide from the book was never shown or mentioned.

Television Episode Trivia

Goof: In one scene, you can see the actors' real teeth under the horror mouth.
This television episode has been released on VHS. The television episode was also released on DVD along with Welcome to Camp Nightmare.
The game show Raw Deal has several references to the popular television game show Wheel of Fortune.
Ripper the Killer Beast is recycled from Sabre from the television episode adaption of Welcome to Camp Nightmare.

TV Series Gallery

Television Episode

Goosebumps series

#01 Welcome to Dead House	#22 Ghost Beach	#43 The Beast from the East
#02 Stay Out of the Basement	#23 Return of the Mummy	#44 Say Cheese and Die — Again!
#03 Monster Blood	#24 Phantom of the Auditorium	#45 Ghost Camp
#04 Say Cheese and Die!	#25 Attack of the Mutant	#46 How to Kill a Monster
#05 The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb	#26 My Hairiest Adventure	#47 Legend of the Lost Legend
#06 Let's Get Invisible!	#27 A Night in Terror Tower	#48 Attack of the Jack-O'-Lanterns
#07 Night of the Living Dummy	#28 The Cuckoo Clock of Doom	#49 Vampire Breath
#08 The Girl Who Cried Monster	#29 Monster Blood III	#50 Calling All Creeps!
#09 Welcome to Camp Nightmare	#30 It Came from Beneath the Sink!	#51 Beware, the Snowman
#10 The Ghost Next Door	#31 Night of the Living Dummy II	#52 How I Learned to Fly
#11 The Haunted Mask	#32 The Barking Ghost	#53 Chicken Chicken
#12 Be Careful What You Wish For...	#33 The Horror at Camp Jellyjam	#54 Don't Go to Sleep!
#13 Piano Lessons Can Be Murder	#34 Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes	#55 The Blob That Ate Everyone
#14 The Werewolf of Fever Swamp	#35 A Shocker on Shock Street	#56 The Curse of Camp Cold Lake
#15 You Can't Scare Me!	#36 The Haunted Mask II	#57 My Best Friend Is Invisible
#16 One Day at HorrorLand	#37 The Headless Ghost	#58 Deep Trouble II
#17 Why I'm Afraid of Bees	#38 The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena	#59 The Haunted School
#18 Monster Blood II	#39 How I Got My Shrunken Head	#60 Werewolf Skin
#19 Deep Trouble	#40 Night of the Living Dummy III	#61 I Live in Your Basement!
#20 The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight	#41 Bad Hare Day	#62 Monster Blood IV
#21 Go Eat Worms!	#42 Egg Monsters from Mars