Time Out Halloween Party - Oct. 31
Rocking DJs, 6-8RMB beers, rides and fairground games await in the Ant Kingdom area of Happy Valley - all for 60RMB!
Time Out’s Halloween party at the Happy Valley theme park looks set to be the best Halloween party ever. Here's why:
Fantasy ambiance
For those unfamiliar with Happy Valley’s layout, it’s split into several zones, each of which will be transformed for Halloween – think spider webs, coffins, jack-o’-lanterns, scarecrows – with each zone decked out in a specific theme. The charming Aegean Sea zone becomes a zombie castle; the mysterious Mayan Jungle zone will have a ‘Mayan Catastrophe’ every hour, with a gushing torrent pouring out of the mountain; the Ant Kingdom, which already has giant ant statues dotted around, will be full of wizards and magicians; the Atlantis City section will be full of Captain Jack Sparrows and sea monsters; and the Shangri-la zone will host myriad horror characters from Chinese mythology, including ghost brides and Yama, the death god. All the areas will be there for you to wander through.Rockin’ DJs
Time Out’s stage at the Ant Kingdom is where you can dance to the beats of Gossip DJs’ up-and-coming star Simon Adams, Great Wall beach party entrepreneur DJ El-Mar, and drum ’n’ bass deity DJ Blackie. They will be rocking the dancefloor from 8.30pm to midnight. These three represent the cream of Beijing’s talent, and with both the funky commercial and deeper side of house as well as drum ’n’ bass on the menu, your dancing needs will be well catered for.Spectacular night rides
Many of the rides will run until 10pm – they usually shut at sundown – meaning smaller queues and the opportunity to ride in the dark. While it hasn’t been confirmed that all the rides will be open, we know that the heart-stopping falling tower (officially titled, er, ‘Twin Tower Heroes’), which drops from a few hundred feet, will be working. If you can’t handle the wilder attractions, though, there are still 4D theatres, slower-paced adventure playgrounds and a host of addictive fairground games.Ghouls galore
Along with the complete transformation of Happy Valley, the management is also flooding the theme park with 400 professional ghouls in make-up and costume-ready to entice, terrify and entertain you. A late night luminous ghost parade will be led through the theme park, and the evening will climax with the crowning of Happy Valley’s Dark King and Queen. If your Halloween costume is outlandish enough, you might get picked to compete against 28 other aspiring Dark Kings or Queens, who will have been picked throughout Happy Valley’s two-week festival. The grand prize, we hear from the organisers, is worth dying for.Cheap thrills
Everything listed above is yours for only 60RMB. Read that again: all the rides, costumes, DJs, ghouls and spooky ambiance are yours for the price of a lychee martini at Q Bar. The party ends at midnight, allowing the more hardcore among you the chance to visit one of Beijing’s allnight Halloween raves, or head home satisfied. Parties don’t get much better than this.The Time Out Halloween Party is at Happy Valley on Saturday 31 October. Tickets at the door only, 60RMB. Doors open 6pm; DJs from 8.30pm.
Ross Goulding