One Day at Horrorland is, without a doubt, my all-time favorite Goosebumps book. It was my favorite when I was a little nerdy bookworm in 5th grade, and it is STILL my favorite Goosebumps book after 10+ years. (I’m bad a math, okay? I’m 23 now, you do the math.)This Goosebumps novella is starring Lizzy and her family (along with a nerdy friend of her brothers, who is like a fat boy version of me when I was his age). They are on their way to the zoo for a vacation when they get lost because Lizzy’s dad forgets the map at home. They stop on the side of the road to see if they can finds some type of a map and stumble upon a sign for Horrorland (in my opinion one of the coolest ideas for a theme park I have ever heard of). The sign is this monstrous green thing with horns and a menacing look in his eyes. It tells the family that Horrorland is just one mile away if they are in for some frightful fun.Of course the kids are stoked when they see the sign and they coax their dad to head to the theme park. They find the theme park practically deserted (and secluded, which is the first sign of danger!!!!) when they arrive. They head for the front gate and they aren’t even 10 feet away from their car when IT BLOWS UP. LIKE OUT OF NOWHERE. The family is obviously freaking out at this point because GASP! WHAT IF WE WERE IN THAT CAR WHEN IT BLEW UP! They rushed to the main entrance where they are greeted by this monster who is green and huge, with horns and a purple tail (???). Lizzy’s dad at this point goes up to the monster and asked him if he could use their phone to call the police, because the first thing you think to do when your car blows up is to call the police. (Do you? I wouldn’t know, my car has never blown up.) The monster tells him that there are no phones whatsoever in the theme park, not even a payphone, and if they would like they could enter Horrorland and visit for a few hours while they figure out the car situation. Free of charge.So the family enters, and the amusement park is freaking awesome in my opinion. If a theme park was run by monsters and had things like a WEREWOLF VILLAGE I found think it was brilliant. Like you could legit make bank off of something like that. Crowds would flock. So anyways back to the story. They enter the theme park and the parents let the children go off by themselves while they search for the phone. The kids go off into the theme parks and ride some of the coolest rides (again, this would make bank!!!) I have ever heard of, or have ever read about. There’s the Doom Slide, where you choose 1 slide from a group of 10 of them and slide down. But be careful, because you could pick the Doom Slide, which makes you slide forever! (They actually were probably on that slide for only 10 minutes, but they could have sworn it was forever.) There’s the Room of Mirrors where the mirrors are literally everywhere and they could almost crush you to death! (The way Stine writes that Room of Mirrors scene is actually quite A+. Being crushed into a square by mirrors is probably a fear for everyone and Stine captured that nicely. There was also the Barn of Bats, where as soon as you walked in the doors slammed shut and bats start attacking you. Or do they? Because as soon as the doors were opened there were no bats in sight. Maybe it was their imaginations??? Anyways they go on those rides all while searching for their parents (which they eventually find). They decide before leaving that they are going to go on one more ride together, the Coffin Cruise. Yes, you heard me right. Coffin. Cruise. You lay in a coffin and drift down a river. I kid you not, that is the actual ride. But of course in the middle of the ride the coffin slams shut and you are almost out of breath from screaming and crying, but still. A coffin cruise. Where can I sign up?After the ride, they decide they need to get the hell out of this amusement park, but oh wait, they can’t. Because the Horrors (those green monsters from the front gates who are actually the only workers in the amusement park) have padlocked the doors. They are trapped in Horrorland. Oh, but PLOT TWIST! They are actually on a game show called Horrorland Hidden Camera on the Monster Channel (???). They have won a car and are free to go. Finally! An escape from the terrible Horrorland. All they have to do is go through some yellow door and they will be out in the parking lot. Of course, they go through the door and PLOT TWIST! THERE IS NO EXIT! THEY ARE TRAPPED IN A MONSTER OBSTACLE COURSE AND THEY HAVE ONE MINUTE TO RUN FOR THEIR LIVES! LITERALLY! So the one minute starts and monsters and rabid pigs and all of these random things start attacking the family, and they all end up surviving the course. But wait, they can’t leave. Because no one leaves Horrorland. At least, not alive. They are guided to this purple lake that is kind of like ooze where you are sucked into it as soon as you land on the surface of the pond. Terrified, Lizzy ends up coming up with the miraculous idea of pinching the monsters which ends up DEFLATING THEM. They start deflating monsters left and right and make a run for it, where they find a bus in the parking lot that they steal and drive home. They arrive home to find that one of the Horrors has actually latched onto the bus and has followed them home, only to give them free passes to Horrorland next year. And that’s how the book ended. It’s one of my favorites. Probably for the Horrorland aspect. I’m telling you, Stine should have sold that idea to someone. I would love to go to some park like that. Minus the whole monster potentially killing you bit. That part can be left out.
On re-reading the Goosebumps series, I am surprised by how INSANE these books are. I have no idea what kind of ... substances... Stine was enjoying when coming up with this series, but the books are just so WEIRD. This is #16, and let me tell you, they are not getting any saner.Lizzy, 12, her 10-year-old brother Luke, and his best friend Clay are driving with Lizzy's parents to Zoo Gardens. But the family gets horribly lost and stumbles onto a remote amusement park called HORRORLAND.As soon as they get out of their car to buy tickets, their car explodes.Yes, you heard me correctly. THE CAR EXPLODES. And they decide to go into the amusement park and spend the day there anyway. Stellar parenting, Mr. and Mrs. Morris. Great job. Dad is told there are no phones in the park, but "We'll take care of it." This is said by the ticket-taker, a person dressed up like a giant monster. And the dad just ACCEPTS THIS. *blink blinkSo. The parents and the kids split up to explore the park. The kids go onto a scary Doom Slide, they go into a House of Mirrors that tries to crush them into human cubes, they pass by an alligator pond stocked with real, live alligators. The park is littered with signs saying NO PINCHING.The kids are getting more and more scared. (view spoiler)[ The people who run the park aren't dressed like monsters, they ARE monsters. They are filming the family getting scared for Monster TV. They make the family run an obstacle course full of scary monster animals. Everyone survives although the dad gets a deep cut. Then they plan to drown the family in a purple pond of goo. But Lizzy figures out that the reason there are so many NO PINCHING signs around is because if you pinch the monsters hard they will deflate and die. So they pinch a lot of monsters and escape in a HORRORLAND bus. The twist at the end? A monster is clinging to the back of the bus. And when they ask him what he wants, he gives them free tickets to visit HORRORLAND again. (hide spoiler)]
What do You think about One Day At Horrorland (2003)?
This story was published with another two Goosebumps stories - here's my full review of whole - Click, click"Един ден в Хорърленд" затова пък си го спомням доста добре. В моята категория той приспада към по-леките епизоди, същото важи и за писмения вариант. Страхът се надграждаше постоянно в течение на историята и ефектът като цяло беше сполучлив (но не колкото визуалния вариант). Принадлежността на историята към леката категория се потвърди и от финалната врътка - която тук я имаше, но беше по-скоро хумористична, отколкото заплашваща.~~~One Day In Horrorland is an episode - and a story - that I classify towards the lighter Goosebumps. The horror mood is building slowly to the end. This episode i remember very clearly, and watching some of the "attractions" in Horrorland had a great impact. The twist in the end is here present, but it is more of a humorous than scary one.
—Nina Ivanova
I often wanted to read this one as a child, and I wish I had been more interested in reading books back then, but it is what it is.The Morris family got lost trying to find Zoo Gardens. A Theme Park. Instead they find another one called Horrorland. Where the people that work there are called Horrors. In green and purple monster 'costumes.' Clay, Lizzy and Luke beg their parents to go to this Horrorland instead of the Zoo Gardens because it seems so much better. After giving in, they get there and as they are going towards the gates, their car blows up. For some reason, their parents are okay with the 3 kids going on the rides while they search for a phone een though the Horror at the ticket booth assured them there were no phones on site.After a couple of the rides, they start to feel like there mayu be something to the signs that are put up around the park. No Pinching. This ride may be your last. You may slide to your doom etc.5 out of 5 stars. It reminded me of Six Flags Great America in Gurney, IL. It was funny in parts too.Update: I've seen the two episodes that were based off of this novella, and if I'd seen them before reading this book, I probably wouldn't have read this book. Whoever did the script for the two episodes made it seem too silly and too weird. The novella was 10 times better. The episodes didn't even capture much of what really happened in this book. I mean, that literal cliffhanger ending was not in the novella. Oh well, at least the scriptwriters did a good job on most of the episodes I've seen.
—Andrew
The Morris family is driving through the desert for the Zoo Gardens theme park. The father left the map at home, so they get lost. They saw a sign that said horror land theme park 1 mile so they went there. The person in the toll booth is in a lifelike costume was sorry and allowed them to enter the park for free. When they ask to use the telephone they are informed that there are no telephones at HorrorLand.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 do not come out!They discover that the rides in HorrorLand are a little too scary, maybe even a little too dangerous.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 see a sign that said no one leaves horror land alive .They are soon captured by the workers. 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 lowered into a pit of death, Lizzy remembers the No Pinching signs around the park. She pinches a Horror, causing it to deflate and die. This allows them to escape.They steal a bus and drive home.
—Markus
