One Day at HorrorLand

One Day at HorrorLand is the sixteenth book in the original Goosebumps book series. It was first published 1994. It received its first sequel as the thirteenth Goosebumps Series 2000 book, Return to HorrorLand.

The book has received several adaptations, and has inspired many other pieces of Goosebumps media, including a board game, three video games and a book series.

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

The 2008 Classic Goosebumps Reprint shows a Horror selling an ice cream pop shaped like a bat with an evil grin.

Blurb
THE NEXT RIDE MIGHT BE THEIR LAST...

The Morris family got lost trying to find Zoo Gardens Theme Park. But that's okay. They found another amusement park instead. It's called HorrorLand. In HorrorLand there are no crowds. No lines. And the admission is free. It seems like a pretty cool place. But that was before that heart-stopping ride on the deadly Doom Slide. And that terrifying experience in the House of Mirrors. Because there's something weird about the rides in HorrorLand. Something a little too creepy. A little too real...

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 one mile away. They drive there, but as soon as they are parked, the car explodes, and the family narrowly escapes the blast.

They are greeted by a worker in the toll booth in a lifelike "costume". 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. The parents decide to let the kids go off on their own, while they try to find a car. After narrowly escaping what seems to be a robot white wolf, the kids find a sign reading "NO PINCHING". puzzle by the strange sign, they decide to go on some rides. The deadly Doom Slide is their first choice. it consists of ten numbered slides, one of them being the never-ending Doom Slide that the workers warned about. Lizzy chooses slide number three because three is her lucky number; Luke chooses slide number two, and Clay chooses slide number ten. Once Luke and Lizzy reach the bottom, they can't find Clay anywhere. they ask one of the park workers where Clay could be. the worker responds that he may have taken the Doom Slide. Lizzy decides they should take slide number ten, thinking they'll end up where Clay is. the slide is very long, filled with hot sticky cobwebs. the ride ends with a wall of raging flames.

They discover that the rides in HorrorLand are a little too scary, maybe even a little too dangerous. 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.

Reprints and rereleases

 * The Classic Goosebumps reprint was released as a tie-in to the fifth Goosebumps HorrorLand book, Dr. Maniac vs. Robby Schwartz.

International releases
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Differences

 * Both the original and mid-2000s French Canadian releases feature unique titles. The original release of the book is titled Une Journée à Horrorville or "A Day in Horrorville" in English. The post-2000s reprint changes the title to Le Park du l'horreur or "The Horror Park" in English.
 * The French Canadian release has two unique sign changes. The first release reads "Bienvenue a Horrorville: ou le fantastique et irréel se côtoient", which in English reads "Welcome to Horrorville: Where the Fantastic and the Unreal Come Together".
 * The post-2000s reprint of the French Canadian release instead reads "Bienvenue au parc de l'horreur ou vos les cauchemars se realisent!" or "Welcome to the horror park where your nightmares come true!"
 * Other regions that use the original Tim Jacobus cover art also update the HorrorLand sign to the proper language.
 * The Spanish edition's sign reads "Bienvenidos a Horrorlandia Las Pesadillas se hacen realidad" or "Welcome to HorrorLand where nightmares come true."
 * Interestingly, the Chinese/Mandarin release reuses the Spanish version of the cover art.
 * In the French release, this is the twenty-fifth book in the original series.
 * Lizzy is called "Lise."
 * Luke is called "Luc."
 * Clay is called "Matthieu."
 * HorrorLand is called "Horror Park."
 * HorrorLand is called "Horror Park."

TV series
One Day at HorrorLand was adapted into a two-part episode of the Goosebumps TV series. It is the eight (part one) and ninth (part two) episode of season three.

Goosebumps Graphix
One Day at HorrorLand was adapted into a Goosebumps Graphix story in March 2007 by Jill Thompson, as the first story in Terror Trips.

Trivia

 * According to the 2015 rerelease of R.L. Stine's autobiography, Stine drew maps of HorrorLand so he could picture where each attraction would be while writing the book.
 * Stine also said it's one of his favorite Goosebumps books.
 * In 2015, Scholastic's official Tumblr page hosted a competition in which users could vote for their favorite book in the original series (with the addition of Cry of the Cat and Bride of the Living Dummy). Ultimately, One Day at HorrorLand won.
 * Zoo Gardens is a likely reference to either Busch Gardens or African Lion Safari.
 * The Classic Goosebumps reprint adds an error. "What if the warning is true?" replaces the question mark with an exclamation point.
 * The Classic Goosebumps reprint artwork is similar to the cover art for Return to HorrorLand, in which the art depicts a Horror selling ice cream.
 * This book references Toyota and the Chicago Cubs.

References in other Goosebumps media

 * HorrorLand has been a locale featured in several Goosebumps video games including 1996's Escape from HorrorLand and 2008's Goosebumps HorrorLand.
 * HorrorLand was featured in the first Goosebumps Comic Book arc, Monsters at Midnight.
 * Early plans for the sequel of the 2015 Goosebumps film were to feature HorrorLand. This was ultimately scrapped in favor of 2018's Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween.
 * HorrorLand is featured in Goosebumps HorrorTown, during the HorrorLand Carnival event.