As summer comes to an end, fans of the spooky season are ready to celebrate their favorite holiday: Halloween. This date, whose festivities used to begin at the end of September, has now been brought forward to the beginning of September in many of the Southern California theme parks. As soon as this week, celebrations of ghosts, witches and other scary beings begin at parks like Universal Studios and Magic Mountain.
Here’s a list of what visitors can expect at the region’s most popular theme parks. Like every year, these sites strive to present the newest and most terrifying haunted houses and labyrinths, as well as the most horrendous and repulsive monsters. But not everything is for adults; Parks like Disneyland, Magic Mountain, and Legoland offer friendlier, family-friendly versions of Halloween. That is to say, there is something for all tastes and all ages.
Halloween in the happiest place on earth
The October celebrations at the most popular theme park in the world, Disneyland, have already begun. Halloween Time and Plaza de la Familia, at Disneyland and Disney California Adventure, respectively, include not only entertainment and decorations exclusive to this season, but also food, drinks and souvenirs that are only available on these dates. Among the visitors’ favorites, the presence of Mickey and his friends cannot be missed, who will be debuting a new look for this party.
The unmissable Halloween Time is a celebration for all ages. The Haunted Mansion Holiday returns, with its classic gingerbread house and its nightly Halloween Screams projection show. Meanwhile at Disney California Adventure, in Radiator Screams, the inhabitants of Cars Land will be decked out in gruesome finery. For its part, at the Avengers Campus, Guardians of the Galaxy–Mission: BREAKOUT! transforms at night into Guardians of the Galaxy–Monsters After Dark.
In Plaza de la Familia, for its part, you can live one of the most significant cultural experiences of these parks. The festivities are inspired by the Day of the Dead, and there are craft activities for children, mariachi music and A Musical Celebration of Coco, a musical show inspired by the Pixar film, Coco. Additionally, at Disney California Adventure itself, the new San Fransokyo Square attraction has already opened its doors, where Baymax and Hiro await visitors.
Halloween Time ends October 31; Plaza de la Familia on November 2. Disneyland.disney.go.com reports.
50 years of Scary Farm
Knott’s Berry Farm Park is celebrating the half-century of its wildly popular Scary Farm, which began in 1973 as a three-day event titled Halloween Haunt. Currently, his legion of followers is one of the most faithful of this terrifying celebration.
To celebrate, the park added three spooky mazes, for a total of ten; It also has five scare zones and four shows that make your skin crawl. New this year are the Cinema Slasher mazes, The Chilling Chambers and Room 13. One of the scare zones is The Gauntlet and Dr. Cleaver Returns is one of the premiere shows. And to the delight of fans, and as part of the celebrations, the show The Hanging: Uncancelled returns this year, which for years was a classic of this season in the park. The streets of Ghost Town, like every year, will be filled with crazy clowns, horrendous monsters and bleeding zombies.
From September 21 to October 31. knottsscaryfarm.com reports.
Horror at SeaWorld
The SeaWorld water park in San Diego celebrates three years of Howl-O-Scream, which this time includes a haunted house with three-dimensional effects and three more frighteningly redesigned ones. There are also five scare zones distributed throughout the park, such as a rancid meat market, a haunted cemetery and mermaids that steal souls. Attractions such as Emperor, Electric Eel and Arctic Rescue will be operating.
One of the new features this year is the Circus of the Damned, an immersive experience with three-dimensional elements that is seen through special glasses to see in 3D. In the scare zones, visitors can expect encounters with creepy dolls and sinister stuffed animals at Deadly Toys, living demons at The Graveyard, murderous butchers at Simon’s Meat Market, and deranged walkers at the Carnival of Chaos.
From September 29 to October 31. Reports seaworld.com/san-diego.
Scary bricks at Legoland
As you read this note, most likely the ghouls and goblins are getting their not-so-scary outfits ready for Brick-or-Treat! from Legoland, in Carlsbad. In just a few days, the theme park will be transformed into a place filled with candy stations, some new shows, music and a never-before-seen character.
The Monster Party begins from the moment guests set foot in the park. Lego monster characters will be there to welcome you, including Spider Lady, who is new to this party. From there continue six party zones, including Monster Party Zone, Happy Harvest and Wicked Street Way. Some of what’s new is the comedy Once Upon a Brick-The Tale of the Wolf Guy and Wacky Witch Trail, an experience with a haunted path with witches and lots of candy. Other classics like the show Zombie Cheer Crew and the movie The Great Monster Chase 4D continue. The party includes live music shows and manual activities.
Starting September 16; continues on select days through October 29. Legoland.com reports.
Movie scare at Universal Studios
No theme park has put as much effort into highlighting Latin American horror legends and characters as Universal Studios does at Horror Nights. After the success of La Llorona in past years, the park is betting on more of these monsters to use as the theme of its terrifying mazes. In this edition the Tlahuelpuchi returns, a creature with indigenous roots popular in Tlaxcala, Mexico, which can be found in The Monsters of Latin America haunted house. Right there you can see the Owl and the Silbón, who make their debut in this event.
John Murphy (pictured), creative director and executive producer of Horror Nights, is the genius behind it all. He explained to this newspaper that Tlahuelpuchi is a vampire witch who lives off the blood of her victims, while the Owl is a creature that turns into a bird and with its voice that pretends to be a child, captures its victims. The third is Silbón, a monster from Colombia and Venezuela who murdered his father and now carries a sack of her bones on his back. The labyrinth is a pulquería, a kind of Mexican cantina. And of course, with them will be the monsters that inhabit eight mazes inspired by horror movies, including the new Evil Dead Rise and The Exorcist: Believer.
On select days from September 7 to October 31. universalstudioshollywood.com reports.
30 years of horror at Magic Mountain
Another park that also has long tablecloths is Six Flags Magic Mountain, celebrating three decades of Fright Fest with two new haunted houses, new horror characters and the expansion of one of the park’s most popular scare areas. And as is tradition at the park, some of the roller coasters will operate with the lights off.
One of the most relevant features of the celebration will be The Conjuring, a house inspired by the film of the same name; Saw X, a game inspired by the upcoming release of the film Saw Condemned House Party, a returning haunted house based on the Scream Break event, and City Under Siege, a city where clowns take over one of the scariest areas of the park. And for little kids Kids Boo Fest offers a variety of family-friendly activities throughout the day, including trick-or-treating, two small mazes with goblin elves around each corner, and a spooky train ride.
On select days from September 8 to October 31. sixflags.com reports.
