Bats Day in the Fun Park

Last updated
Bats Day in the Fun Park
Genre Electronic music, gothic music, industrial music
Location(s) Anaheim, California, United States and Disneyland
Years active1999– present
Founded byAbsynthe and Release the Bats

Bats Day in the Fun Park, also known as Bats Day, Goth Day, Goth Day at Disneyland, The Spooky Trip to Disneyland Resort, California., Bats Day in the Park and Bats Day Out, started in August 1999 [1] as a joint effort between the promoters of the goth, industrial, and deathrock clubs Absynthe and Release the Bats. It has become an annual three-day event taking place in Anaheim, California, United States near Disneyland. In previous years, the events commenced on the weekend before Labor Day. [2] [3] Since about 2008, Bats Day event weekends have usually happened on the first or third weekend in May.

Contents

Events

Group picture in front of Sleeping Beauty Castle on Bats Day 2013

For several years, Bats Day in the Fun Park had six events:

History

The event started as a relatively small goth "meet up" event of about 80 people from two dance clubs, Absynthe and Release the Bats. It has grown to include more aspects of the goth subculture. Other dark subcultures represented at the event include Horror punk, Halloween, Rockabilly, Psychobilly, Black metal, Steampunk, Hearse Societies, Industrial and EBM. Noah Korda, a graphic artist and club promoter in Los Angeles, is the organizer of the event. [4]

The event draws people from not only the local area but all over the world, including New Zealand, England, Brazil, France, Germany and Mexico. It has evolved into a family friendly event as well. [1] Parents in this subculture are able to bond with their children at the "Happiest Place on Earth" more comfortably at an event such as this one, whereas they might be regarded as out-of-place on any other weekend at Disneyland or other theme parks.

An article on the event appeared in the June 2009 issue of Gothic Beauty Magazine. [5]

Though there are rumors that this event occurred due to the success of a similar event called 'Baumaus', the two clubs promoting this event claim that they had no idea that 'Baumaus' ever happened.

Bats Day in the Fun Park helped solidify and push the DisneyGoth community into the public eye.

The event turned 20 years in May 2018 and is going back to its roots of just a park meet, for the time being.

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 Kane, Rich (2003-08-28). "When You Wish Upon a Scar: Goths invade Disneyland! Disneyland?". OC Weekly. Archived from the original on 2010-05-27. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  2. Chuck Klosterman (2007) Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas, ISBN   0-7432-8489-5. The chapter of the book about Bats Day was originally printed in the July 22, 2003 issue of Spin magazine as "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (the article title is a line from Macbeth)
  3. "Looking Back On A Week That We Spent In A Happy Place". idolator. August 24, 2007. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  4. "Disney's a Pretty Big World After All". Fox News. 2015-03-25. Retrieved 2022-02-21.
  5. "Bats Day: Disneyland's gothic gathering". Gothic Beauty Magazine. No. 28. June 2009. pp. 44–48.