Looking for Halloween events for all members of the family? We’ve got you covered.
Halloween in Southern California can be quite a big deal. Even if you and your family don’t trick-or-treat, there are a lot of other things to fill your October days and nights.
The theme parks know how to throw a Halloween event, packed with special and reworked attractions, Halloween-themed food and live shows.
Disneyland Resort
Halloween Time at Disneyland and California Adventure is built for broad appeal as well as a growing cultural inclusivity.
The Haunted Mansion gets a seasonal re-theme as the characters from “The Nightmare Before Christmas” take over the grounds. Colorful and comical, young kids and teens alike can find a reason to ride the Doom Buggy this fall. For adults, the change provides a breath of fresh air to a ride that has changed little since the 1960s.
“Mickey’s Trick and Treat” is a daily interactive show at the Disney Theater in Hollywood Land at California Adventure featuring Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Donald brewing up a potion. It is a seasonal replacement for “Disney Junior Dance Party!”
Also at California Adventure is the Dia de los Muertos festivities at Plaza de la Familia. Celebrating the Mexican tradition of honoring departed friends and family, the cultural experience offers guests the chance to pay tribute to them as well as live entertainment, like “The Storytellers of Plaza de la Familia Celebrate The Musical World of Coco!,” with songs from the Pixar film “Coco.”
All events are for the entire family.
Knott’s Berry (Scary) Farm (and Spooky Farm too)
While Knott’s Scary Farm is really designed for teens and adults, Spooky Farm is just for kids. The park holds the more kid-friendly event during the day, then reopens the park in the evenings for Scary Farm events.
Scary Farm’s mazes are famous for the scare factor, originality and attention to detail. Two new mazes debut this year and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark returns with a new show.
Knott’s Spooky Farm, the kid-friendly Halloween celebration includes trick-or-treating in Ghost Town, original shows, costume contests, and cookie and pumpkin decorating, as well as Spooktivities, a host of games, music and spooky storytelling with Charlie Brown, Snoopy and friends.
Kids can visit the Livery Stable to check out spiders and various bugs with the Creepy Critters of Calico and The Bob Baker Marionette Theatre Show brings their Halloween-themed puppet show to the Birdcage Theatre.
Spooky Farm is for kids younger than 12 years old, Scary Farm is for teens and adults.
The Queen Mary
Long Beach’s historic RMS Queen Mary is reopened after a long series of repairs and refurbishments and with it, is the return of the popular Halloween event, Dark Harbor. The festival is a combination of mazes, including a few aboard the allegedly haunted ship, as well as live entertainment, carnival rides, food and special experiences on board.
The Grey Ghost Project is a three-hour paranormal investigation using the latest tools of the trade to try and document evidence of the supernatural. Special tours like Haunted Encounters and the Paranormal Ship Walk also take deep dives into the dark corners of the 90-year-old ship for the whole family.
Haunted Encounters and Paranormal Ship Walk are for all ages. Dark Harbor and the early show for The Grey Ghost Project are for 13 and older.
Universal Studios Hollywood
Though tailored to teens and adults, Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights can be friendly to younger kids who love their horror movies.
This year offers eight new or revamped mazes, several based on movies, as well as scare zones, live entertainment and the Terror Tram experience that takes riders through several scenes from Blumhouse films.
Recommended for ages 13 and older.
Visit parentingoc.com for more all-ages Halloween fun.
SeaWorld
Though SeaWorld is known for being an aquatic park, their annual Howl-O-Scream event is a fully after-dark Halloween event, including mazes, themed food and live entertainment.
This year’s event includes five mazes and multiple scare zones, as well as magic shows and live DJs. Kids can also pick up a glow-in-the-dark skull with a LED light and fog-emitting effect to enhance their trip through the park, but a No Boo Necklace can spare kids from scares. The new Jack the Ripper-themed “Monster Stomp” show is a singing, dancing, stomping live performance at Nautilus Amphitheater.
Howl-O-Scream is recommended for ages 13 and over.
Legoland
Legoland has managed to build its own Halloween event at the park, brick by brick. Meet with Halloween-themed Legoland characters or laugh along with the “Great Monster Chase 4D Movie” or dance along at a Halloween dance party. Also, there is themed decor everywhere to get you into the Halloween spirit.
The event is suitable for all ages.
The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park
Downtown San Diego’s Balboa Park holds some Halloween mysteries at night. The popular and acclaimed Haunted Trail returns for its 25th year with updates to two mazes that collectively run longer than a mile.
Recommended for kids 10 years and older.
Maverick Theater’s “Night of the Living Dead”
For nearly 20 years, Fullerton’s Maverick Theater has presented its live theater version of the 1960s horror classic, “Night of the Living Dead.” It’s become a favorite of locals and an Orange County staple of the season.
Recommended for kids 10 years and older.
SCR’s “Little Shop of Horrors”
The Broadway musical version of “Little Shop of Horrors” is now at South Coast Repertory with members of its Broadway and national tour cast. Based on Roger Corman’s 1960 B-movie cult classic, this musical version is a little lighter and much more family-friendly than the original. It’s running through Sunday, Oct. 20.
Recommended for kids 13 years and older.
VamPirates
Most other nights of the year, the pirate crew at Pirates Dinner Adventure is swashbuckling their way around other storylines, but in October, the gang turns vampire for a new show with a Halloween theme.
This dinner-theater experience is for all ages.
Boney Island
Created by “The Simpsons” producer Rick Polizzi, Boney Island is a whimsical visual treat featuring an all-skeleton cast spread through the gardens of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. Pairing a visit to the museum with a trip through Boney Island is a fun and educational afternoon and evening for the family.
All ages welcome.
Haunted Carwash
If it’s time to wash the car, here is a very different way to get her clean: As you slowly motor from the street and all the way through the car wash, scare actors will be onhand to make sure your doors are locked, windows rolled up and the soap bleeds down everywhere. If not, well … we warned you. Haunted Carwash takes place at Anaheim’s Big Wave Car Wash and Lakewood’s Carwood Car Wash. Get reservations via Eventbrite.
Only bring younger kids if they are OK with scary.
Sweet Sorrow
For a different kind of artful Halloween experience, try the ballet. The Leigh Purtill Ballet Company produces their semi-annual and completely original production, “Sweet Sorrow: A Zombie Ballet.” It’s a sequel to the classic Romeo and Juliet story and features vampires, werewolves, fairies, and of course, zombies — but it’s also a great introduction to the artform for young and old.
All ages are welcome.
By Shawn Price
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