The Boos and Don’ts of Halloween Themed Attractions in LA
By, your ghoulish guide, Kelly Kinas ‘17
As a lover of horror films and scares, my friends and I have visited many theme parks during the month of October. I am here to help your through the struggle of figuring out which theme park or halloween theme attractions to visit this October. Let the scaring COMMENCE!
KNOTT’S SCARY FARM:
Scare factor: 3 ghost emojis
Entertainment factor: 3.5 ghost emojis
Waiting line factor: 4 ghost emojis
Best part: TRAPPED
My friends and I visited Knott’s Scary Farm last October. We went on a Thursday night, which probably explains why the lines were all so short. I got a funnel cake half way through (best choice EVER). Every theme park has the scare-actors who are walking around the park, in the shadows, in the darkness, just waiting to jump up and scare any passerby. The scare-actors were decent here, nothing special, but it is quite difficult to imaginative with such a small purpose. The mazes here were very idealistic, meaning that they were conceived off a specific idea like “Voodoo” or “Poe” and not specific scary things. They were still incredibly interesting and obviously scary but they weren’t the best quality mazes. There were a lot of them so they blended together into a great mash of mazes but the mazes themselves were a little less impressive. A great part about Knott’s Scary was that all of the roller coasters were open so if you have someone in your party who doesn’t like doing the scary mazes, there are a lot of rides you can go on and still make the ticket worth your while.
My favorite part about KSF was the TRAPPED maze. We had to pay extra for it but it was definitely worth it. It’s an interactive maze where the characters within the maze force you into situations and you have to solve your way out of them. We enjoyed this part the most because we felt the most connected and involved in the story and THAT’S what made it truly scary.
OVERALL: 3.5 ghost emojis
LA HAUNTED HAYRIDE
Scare factor: 1 ghost emojis
Entertainment factor: 2 ghost emojis
Waiting line factor: 5 ghost emojis
Best part: The Hayride??
This, to be honest, was a slight disappointment. I love all things scary and this just wasn’t that scary. For some reason, I was expecting more? Even though I have never been there before? The sets were slightly low quality, the actors couldn’t really get that close to you because you were being dragged along by a tractor, and there wasn’t much interaction other than the actors being behind you and yelling “boo” trying to scare you. On the plus side, there was barely anyone there so the line for the hayride was incredibly short and we actually got started on the tractor relatively soon.
This attraction might be better for kids or people who don’t actually like being scared because it does not really have a scare factor in my opinion. A couple people in my friend group do not come to the Halloween themed attractions with us because they don’t like scary things. I would take them here because it is still Halloween-y but not scary. At all, really.
OVERALL: 2.5 ghost emojis
UNIVERSAL STUDIO’S HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS
Scare factor: 4 ghost emojis
Entertainment factor: 3 ghost emojis
Waiting in line factor: 1 ghost emojis
Best part: Walking Dead Maze
I had never been to Universal Studios before this night. I experienced a lot within these 7 and a half hours. The scare-actors were fine but densely populated near the entrance and really nowhere else. The Tram tricks you so be ready for that because it’s awesome. The mazes are really high quality but the lines were simply outrageous. We went on a Friday on the second weekend it was open and I admit that those factors probably have a lot to do with our waiting in line for at least 45 minutes for a maze and at most 90 minutes. In our almost 8 hour trips, we went on Jurassic Park, the tram, and 4 mazes. That’s it. The lines were so long that we thought we wouldn’t make it to the last maze before closing. The Halloween maze (based off the classic horror film) was a pretty amazing maze but the line was insanely long. My friends and I played Head’s Up so it kept the time moving fast but that’s not worth it.
The best part was the Walking Dead Maze because it had more a story line instead of just people in costume popping out to scare you. It was one of the longest mazes I was in so that part was definitely cool and worth the wait. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes!! You will be standing and walking between lots most of the night so make sure you are comfortable and in good company.
OVERALL: 3.5 ghost emojis
DISNEYLAND AT HALLOWEEN TIME
Scare factor: 1 ghost emoji
Entertainment factor: 3 ghost emojis
Waiting in line factor: 2.5 ghost emojis
Best part: Space Mountain (obvi)
Now I know there is a specific trick-or-treat night at Disneyland where all of the villains come and all the kids can trick-or-treat. THIS WAS NOT THAT. I literally went to Disneyland when it was decorated for Halloween. It was AWESOME, partly because it’s DISNEYLAND and partly because it was slightly ghoulish. Now not too many rides change. The main differences are the Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain, which is why this has a scare factor at all. The Halloween Space Mountain is pretty creepy and the main reason for the scare factor. If your friend doesn’t like space mountain to begin with, the Halloween version will not make it better. The Haunted Mansion, on the other hand, is Nightmare before Christmas themed. They change up the entire ride to make it Halloween-y and also Christmas-y. These two are the most important rides when visiting Disneyland at Halloween time because they are the only things that really change. Waiting in lines? IT IS DISNEYLAND. Is it entertaining? IT IS DISNEYLAND.
OVERALL: 2 ghost emojis (5 mouse emojis if I can make that a thing)
Halloween is a great time of year! Make sure to celebrate right!
Fight on!
