Have no fear, the Thriller Zombie Party Bus Flash Mob is here

SAN DIEGO – If you think fast-moving zombies are scary, wait ’til you see zombies riding a party bus.

Thriller San Diego has added a shocking new twist to its annual October dance performances – zombies cruising the coast in a bus.

The Zombie Party Bus Flash Mob will take place on Oct. 11 from 1 to 5 p.m., with stops at the Oceanside Pier, Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach, La Jolla Cove, Belmont Park in Mission Beach, and the Imperial Beach Pier.

“This is the first year we’re doing the party bus,” said Larisa Hall of the nonprofit dance studio Tap Fever in Pacific Beach, the home base for Thriller San Diego.

“This is our local chapter in a community-based event of the global dance where volunteers spend time learning the Thriller dance as well as performing it,” said Hall, founder/executive director of the dance studio at 2146 Garnet Ave. “Currently, we do an average of 30-plus performances each season all over San Diego throughout October.”

The bus tour, done in conjunction with San Diego Party Tours in PB, will have room for 35 zombies (and a bathroom), so the dancers can perform up and down the coast in one afternoon.

Hall noted that she and eight other instructors teach dance classes all over San Diego. She added that participants start learning Michael Jackson’s Thriller choreography right after Labor Day.

“All of the zombies take the classes,” she said.

Is it tough to recruit Thriller zombies? “No,” answered Hall. “Pretty much everyone knows the song. It’s a bucket-list item for a lot of people.”

Hall has been teaching and performing with Thriller San Diego for 10 years. “I love doing the Thriller stuff, dressing up like a zombie and performing,” she said. “It’s huge and it grows every year. We’re also starting earlier, and performing at more events every year.”

The Thriller San Diego zombies also will be performing at Pacific BeachFest on Oct. 4.

“We’re doing a zombie walk, starting at Ingraham and Garnet near Trader Joe’s about 3:45 p.m., and then heading west on Garnet to the festival around 4:15 p.m., and performing at 4:45 p.m.”

The zombie dance group also performs at high-profile places like the Spreckels Organ Pavilion at Balboa Park. “We’re also potentially doing a performance at Campland in PB on Oct. 24, with our annual performance at PB Library on Oct. 28 at 7 p.m.,” said Hall.