Queen Mary to launch Shaqtoberfest this Halloween
A new Halloween event is coming to the Queen Mary this fall: Shaqtoberfest. Details are scarce, but with the Queen Mary out of commission while undergoing repairs, the event will take place on land, featuring half a dozen Halloween-themed areas catering to kids and adults, featuring trick-or-treat trails, games, live entertainment, and vendors. The event will be kid-safe during daylight hours and somewhat scarier at night – though how much remains unclear, since no haunted house walk-through type attractions have been announced.
Produced by ABG Entertainment and Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group (who now own the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride and Delusion Interactive Theatre), Shaqtoberfest will be “narrated” by Shaquille O’Neal. The extent of the former basketball star’s involvement remains unclear; though the advertising art depicts him in garb reminiscent of Baron Samdi, there is no word on whether he will personally appear at the event.
Exact dates and ticket prices have yet to be announced. The official website is shaqtoberfest.com, but it contains little more than an option to sign up for future updates.
The Queen Mary’s last Halloween event took place in 2019. Known as Dark Harbor, the annual attraction was cancelled in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. During that time, the former-luxury-liner-turned-floating-hotel showed such signs of aging that its future became uncertain; it is currently undergoing 5-million dollars worth of repairs to make it safe, but reconstruction is not expected to until the end of the year. Hence, descriptions of Shaqtoberfest state that the event will take place at the Queen Mary as opposed to on the Queen Mary.
