FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Now It’s Time to Say Goodbye to All Our Batty Family…

Anaheim, California (January, 2018) — Twenty years! Let that sink in for just a moment: May of 2018 brings with it the 20th Bats Day In The Fun Park. What began in 1999 as a small group of Goths and Deathrockers having fun has turned into a huge, amazing, world-famous annual tradition. But although 2018 marks the 20th year of Bats Day in the Fun Park®, it’s also unfortunately time for us to say goodbye after one last gathering of dark subcultures.

Due to the new 2018 tax plan, the struggling economy and ever-rising costs, we can no longer run Bats Day in the Fun Park on the grand scale that it has had for the past 15 years. What most people don’t realize is that Bats Day is a labor of love; we don’t make money on it. Bats Day has never had any corporate funding or sponsorship, either: It is an event we do for the community. It is something our crew donates varying amounts of time and energy toward without seeing any kind of pay or profit from it. Many people have held the erroneous belief that Bats Day gets a cut of ticket sales from people coming to the Disneyland trip for Bats Day, but that’s far from the truth. In fact, our funding comes from the events we hold outside of the Disneyland trip, and now that funding is in serious jeopardy. And for the past four years,
Bats Day has had to pay the expenses for all the group photos in front of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, the Sword in the Stone and the Haunted Mansion. What has kept us afloat has been the deductions on the event’s taxes.

Sadly, that will no longer be possible: The new tax laws going into effect in 2018 (and impacting every American’s returns when they’re filed in 2019) no longer allow small businesses to deduct anything from their taxes—and Bats Day would also be taxed on any money that comes into the event before anything gets paid out to the event’s vendors. Bats Day already barely breaks even, so adding this set of burdens makes things really tough for us. They force us to raise certain prices and otherwise jeopardize the event’s logistics. On top of this, we’ve been priced out of the hotel we held our events in for the past eight years, reducing our chances to keep this event happening for the community even further.

Our modest budget has matched this sort of grassroots event, but now costs have ended that, and we have to bring Bats Day to a close. This is a hard decision to make, but we felt that it was time. What does this mean for the future of Bats Day in the Fun Park? Bats Day will be taking a step back. A Disneyland park meet may still happen from time to time, but it will just be that: A park meet. If we feel that a Bats Day Black Market or a concert event can happen, then that will be announced. Most people also don’t know that Noah K. (Founder/Executive Producer of Bats Day) is a full-time single father. He balances this responsibility with doing ninety percent of the work that goes into Bats Day in the Fun Park.  Stepping away from the event will mean he has more time to spend raising his daughter.

In the immediate future, the 2018 Bats Day events—The Bats Day Black Market™, Bats Day Dark Park™ & Bats Day in the Fun Park®: The Spooky Trip to the Disneyland CA Resort—are still being planned and scheduled to go on in May of 2018. We haven’t even yet announced who is playing Bats Day Dark Park this year, but it will be SPOOKTACULAR!!!

Now this situation seems like a sad one, but let’s remember all the amazing things that have come out of the past 20 years:
The friends we have all made, the amazing artists, bands, vendors, people that have either performed or come out of the event, all the amazing people that have donated their time to make this event great and the wonderful and incredible Bats Day Staff members throughout the years, and most of all, all of you who have participated throughout the years.

There will never be another Bats Day in the Fun Park.

We think it’s amazing how many other “meet up”-type evens have followed in the footsteps of Bats Day in the Fun Park. Bats Day was the very first subculture “meet up,” and now there are so many other choices out there. Bats Day in the Fun Park (which is not a themed dress-up day, but a Goth Pride day) really helped change how Disney views its fan base, and encouraged them to allow more and more “themed days” to happen at their resort.

So wipe away those tears, because your eyeliner is running. Let’s all have one more amazing weekend as Bats Day in the Fun Park returns for its 20th Spooky event this May 5-6, 2018, and blow the lid off this coffin.

The 20th annual Bats Day in the Fun Park weekend will be held May 5-6, 2018, with an estimated 7,000+ people expected to attend. Scheduled events for 2018 include:

– The Bats Day Dark Park™: Concert event with performers to be announced soon
– The Bats Day Black Market: A spooky shopping experience with over 75 unique vendors—you are bound to find something for the spooky thing in your life here (vendor applications available now)
– The Bats Day in the Fun Park trip to Disneyland, CA—the world-famous event that wraps up the weekend, where attendees are encouraged to participate in as many photo opportunities and meet-up locations as they can, culminating in a spooktacular Photo Event and Ride Experience through Disneyland’s classic Haunted Mansion attraction.

Bats Day in the Fun Park has become a spooky phenomenon, paving the way for other group meet-ups and social gatherings. Bats Day in the Fun Park attracts people from all dark subculture genres and walks of life, from deathrock to Goth, Industrial to steampunk, rockabilly to psychobilly, Halloween and anywhere in between, all for the love of Disneyland. Over the years, we have met quite a number of people from outside the subculture that enjoy attending, too. We welcome everyone to join in the spooky fun! Bats Day in the Fun Park has grown from a humble group of 80 friends in 1999 to over 7,000 guests from all over the world in 2017. This year, we hope to shatter new records and continue the growth of this dark subculture event.

Information on event tickets, hotel accommodations, meeting times and locations for Bats Day in the Fun Park: The Spooky Trip to Disneyland can be found at the Official Bats Day website: www.batsday.net, along with photos from previous Bats Day in the Fun Park trips.

The Bats Day in the Fun Park events are not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

Bats Day in the Fun Park Weekend 20 happens May 5-6, 2018, at the official Bats Day Hotel, event locations
and at the Disneyland Resort California.

“It really must be the happiest place on Earth, when even the Goths can’t stop smiling.”
⎯ Claire Luna, Los Angeles Times
“Don’t let anyone tell you that the Age of Irony is over. It’s alive and well in California, and here’s the proof: Goth kids love Disneyland.”
⎯ Chuck Klosterman, Spin Magazine
“Who could resist the fun ⎯ the gloomiest people in the universe in The Happiest Place on Earth?”
⎯ Jonathan Gold, LA Weekly