Post Summary
Midsummer Scream 2026 was easily one of the best and brightest events that they’ve put on in the ten-year history of the convention. Before the final panel, I was ready to say at the top of this article, “Well, Midsummer Scream 2026 was fantastic, but the event is showing its seams with how many people are coming. They need to expand and go to a bigger space to keep people from being annoyed with long lines to get in and crowded floors.”
Well, they’re doing exactly that. They announced at the end of the show, right before the main event panel for Halloween Horror Nights, that they’re moving to the Anaheim Convention Center for 2027. But how was the actual event? The activations on the floor, the Hall of Shadows, the panels, the shopping, the party? Well, let’s dive in.
The Panels Highlight Once Again
If you missed out on the panels at Midsummer Scream 2026, you didn’t do the convention right. Even if you skipped out on the theme park ones, there were so many great panels across the weekend about the Musical Horror theme, Scream, and even some musical performances. This was the biggest area that the convention needs to improve on when they move to Anaheim though. The crew working the event did an admirable job keeping things orderly and sane, but the space in the Long Beach Convention Center on the second floor is much too small for this size now. Going forward, better organization with signs and other logistical issues would be welcomed.
The theme park panels are always a highlight for me, though, and we got plenty of them with Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group, Knott’s Scary Farm, Halloween Horror Nights, Queen Mary’s Dark Harbor, and Six Flags Fright Fest showing off what they have in store for the Halloween season. Of those panels, Halloween Horror Nights was the main event, they closed the convention on Sunday. But all of the various haunts had really interesting showings.
It would be nice for some of the smaller haunts to get some time to shine and show off what they have to offer. I know that SeaWorld also has some big plans for the upcoming Haunt season, but they didn’t have a showing besides their booth. But, that’s what the Hall of Shadows is for.
The Hall Of Shadows Sees Smaller Haunts Blow The Bigger Ones Out
The Hall of Shadows is kind of like a casino. There are no clocks, there’s no windows, its dark, and there’s always fog hanging around. Through the various home haunts and smaller haunts, Straite To Hale Productions put on the best (and longest) haunt in the room. They had plenty of effects, and showed off their talents for scaring the crap out of people nicely. As for the other haunts, there was a nice mix. The Haunted Carwash sounds like an interesting idea for people to go through. The only real big-time attraction in the room was the Lionsgate haunt. That one was a bit of a disappointment compared to previous versions of the haunt.
This one was a lot shorter and didn’t really have a general focus. It also took a lot longer to wait in line because they were waiting for new groups to reset the opening scene. With a Gold Bat pass, it still took around 25 minutes to wait for the around-one-minute-long attraction.
Overall, the Hall of Shadows was still a resounding success with a small slice of Halloween giving us a taste of what’s to come for various SoCal haunts.
The Best Event I Cover Each Year
Midsummer Scream is always packed with horror goodness. While the quality of that goodness waxes and wanes every year, one thing remains constant. For the most part, this is a collection of the nicest and best people in the horror community. Whether that’s the Gold Bat pass holders, the General Admission people, those working on haunts, those acting at the convention, or the people at the booths. The horror community comes together for one gigantic party every year and that party is only getting bigger in 2027.
If you have not made your way to a Midsummer Scream before, this is easily the best convention of the year. It’s hard to see them topping it, but with a move to Anaheim, and more space, they definitely can.
Midsummer Scream 2027 runs from August 6th to 8th at the Anaheim Convention Center.
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