Springtopia Debuts in Woodland Hills with Two Scare Mazes

Danny Bennish: Hi, I'm Danny Bennish, I'm the owner and president of Valley Fright Nights. We are here at Springtopia, and Valley Fright Nights is presenting one of the seven lands here at Springtopia. 

Philip Hernandez: Yeah, that's a lot to unpack. Valley Fright Nights is at main brand, but you also created Springtopia Fest, and then within Springtopia Fest you're bringing Spooky Land. So, there's a lot going on. Let's, let's start with Spooky Land, tell me about Spooky Land and why something scary in April. 

Danny Bennish: We're haunt people, that's at our core, and we always believe scary is scary no matter what time of year it is or what month it is, exactly why we did Valley Fright Nights during the Summer to kick off the haunt season. So, this is no different. We thought this was a great opportunity to have a couple awesome scare mazes inside this great event. How great is it to have a couple scare mazes in the middle of April? 

Philip Hernandez: Tell me about Springtopia fest. A

Danny Bennish: The cool thing about it is the uniqueness of it. That was the goal with Springtopia. What we're learning here is, we've been to many carnivals and fairs, and we were trying to do different things here than you've ever seen before. We have a 3D circus maze where you walk through the maze, you put on your glasses, and all the props and characters come out in 3D. We don't have the typical petting zoo that you would see at a fair carnival, we have a Puppy Land where we brought in puppies that people get to pet and play with. A one-of-a-kind Light Show land that we created, eight different rooms, eight different experiences inside Light show Land, Pirate Land. Everyone loves pirates, walk the plank. Then you got Holiday Land also, where you get to see Santa, and elf, the Grinch, and play in the snow in April as well. So, it's very unique here. We're going to be back at the Summer event. 

Philip Hernandez: Yeah, Midsummer Scream. 

Danny Bennish: Midsummer Scream, and we're going to bring something cool and unique there. Then after that we'll be right on to the Valley Fright Nights again, for year 2, during the Summer again. We're excited about that.

Philip Hernandez: I think some people were wondering whether or not you'd bring back the full, standalone event because you have Springtopia Fest. 

Danny Bennish: Yeah, we're definitely doing Valley Friday Nights, year two, we're going to bring in some new concepts, some new mazes, we're going to add a little more and make it more of an event. Probably have rides and games, some performance, some music, kind of incorporate it into a big event. 

Philip Hernandez: Do have a rough time period when we're going to have it?

Danny Bennish: It's going to start the weekend of July 21st, through the second week of August. 

Philip Hernandez: And it's going to be in the same college area that it was last time?

Danny Bennish: Yeah. 

Philip Hernandez: Awesome. 

Danny Bennish: Pierce College again. 

Philip Hernandez: That's awesome. Tell me a little bit about, you mentioned the ride component, this event is huge. 

Danny Bennish: ??? approached us after Valley Fright Nights to say we want to get involved, and I said, "great timing. We have another new event coming out during the Spring." So, that was great. We're just we're constantly evolving; how can we get better? How can we get bigger? How can we add more to the experience when people come? That's what we want to do. We want to keep creating and providing really great events where there's something for all ages, that's our goal. How do we appeal to a lot of different markets and people and ages?

Philip Hernandez: Where do you see yourselves broadly going?

Danny Bennish: Well, I think valley fright nights, we're going to keep doing that. 

Philip Hernandez: That was wildly successful last year, I thought.

Danny Bennish: Yeah, it was great. We love the Summer event, especially out here in the San Fernando Valley. There's not a lot to do during the Summer. Then this Springtopia, we think there's a lot of good traction, good possibilities. We're talking about a Summertopia, Fall-topia, Wintertopia, and different parts of Southern California. 

Philip Hernandez: Do you think that horror will always be a part of what you're creating?

Danny Bennish: I won't do it without horror, that's our roots. 

Philip Hernandez: Because you're haunt guys, right? 

Danny Bennish: Yeah, yeah. Spooky Land will always be a part of Springtopia or whatever event we do.

Philip Hernandez: Tell me a little bit about why you think that year-round horror is important. 

Danny Bennish: You just asked the $1,000,000 question. Here's my partner, Darryl, he has to answer that question. 

Darryl: Somebody sold the world that horror is only one time a year, on Halloween. Horror is a genre that's every single day, 365 days a year, so it can be in the Summer, in the Spring, doesn't matter, every day.