Take a tour of Southern California amusement parks this spooky season.
Before you go trick-or-treating, there is plenty of fun still to be had at Southern California amusement parks this fall. Families can find their own ways to enjoy an October day — or evening — at the park via good food, first-class attractions and events and still not bust the budget.
If you stick to Orange County, Knott’s Berry Farm and Disneyland Resort offer classic experiences without ever having to drive too far. If you venture to Los Angeles or San Diego counties, there is still more to explore for teens and younger kids.
Orange County
Knott’s Scary Farm / Knott’s Spooky Farm
There might not be a theme park in the country that does spooky Halloween better than Knott’s Berry Farm. Since the 1970s, Knott’s has embraced the holiday and given adults and older kids Halloween fun in the colorful mazes and spooky streets of Knott’s Scary Farm.
During the day, before things get “Scary,” Spooky Farm provides kids with Halloween-themed activities, including original shows, costume contests and pumpkin decorating. Kids can get in some daytime trick-or-treating along the streets of Ghost Town in their best costumes for the best treats, visit the Creepy Critters Corral to meet spiders and bugs in Calico, and Charlie Brown, Snoopy and their friends will host games, music and storytelling. When they’re done, the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre Show returns with a spooky puppet show at Birdcage Theatre.
At night, Scary Farm provides a thrill for the older kids ready to explore dark mazes and multiple scare zones, with the return of the popular show, “The Hanging.”
But most families can start with the food. “The best thing when you come to the park is to get the all-day dining pass,” says Wilf Seymour, food and beverage director. “We have a lot of great sharing items like pizza, the burger and fries to share. I don’t know if everybody will like bison, but it’s great. There are a lot of good items on the dining plan, so it makes it well worthwhile. If you come for a whole day, every 90 minutes you can eat. It’s the best deal. We don’t go small tasting sizes here. We like to feed proper.”
Knott’s is also keeping prices for merchandise as budget-friendly as possible.
“We’re right sizing the price on things, because we know there’s a ceiling on things,” says Karl Busche, merchandising director. “The shirts might have gone up a dollar or two. But Loungefly, not an inexpensive item, we didn’t raise the price. If I was going to spend money, I’d buy the ‘You’d Butter Run’ shirt, but the event shirt starts out at $19.99.”
Disneyland Resort
The world’s most famous theme park doesn’t dabble in the darker elements of Halloween and focuses on a wider audience for their Fall Favorites, which includes Halloween Time as well as their continuing 70th anniversary celebrations.
Families can get both “Mickey’s Trick and Treat” and celebrate Dia de los Muertos at Plaza de Familia in Disney California Adventure Park.
Between the rides and attractions, the food is designed to feed a family on a budget.
“I would recommend the fried elote corn on the cob, this is actually a big, shareable item,” says Esther Alonso, Disneyland Resort chef. “Kids love their corn on the cob. Kids also love their sweets, so the funnel cake fries you can find at the Hungry Bear inside Disneyland Park. The Bulgogi potato, it’s big, it’s hearty, you can share with the whole family. You can also get the Oogie Boogie burrito at the California Adventure Park. It’s typically families that come in and we want them to share these meals and everyone to have a little bite. The loaded chicken quesadilla — this is meant for families to share. Another is the achiote half chicken, with a big side of Spanish rice and frijoles. Another is street-style tacos, which is three tacos, Spanish rice and a side of beans. And for dessert, even the strawberry horchata churro, if you pair it with your buñuelos biónico, it’s a good shareable option. Everybody gets a bite.”
Kimberly Wilson, merchandise spokesperson, says what she loves about the Pluto skeleton T-shirt is, “We have them for kids and adults, so if you’re looking for your whole family to match, not just here at Disneyland, but if you go to holiday parties or if you’re trick-or-treating with your family, you’re gonna get more use out of it. And it glows in the dark, which adds a little extra for families trick-or-treating at night.”
Los Angeles County
Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights
Big kids love the thrill of mazes built on their favorite scary movies including this year’s mazes based on “Poltergeist,” “Fallout,” “Five Nights at Freddy’s” and “Terrifier.” The Terror Tram also returns for a dark trip through the studio’s famous backlot.
Six Flags Magic Mountain
Fright Fest provides a mix of roller-coasters and dark mazes for the older kids, but younger kids can still enjoy Tricks and Treats, where a visit to Bugs Bunny World allows a walk around Trick-or-Treat Trail for the best candy, and a meet-and-greet with Looney Tunes characters all dressed to celebrate the season with them. Kids can meet the park’s own original character Willoughby the Bat at Whistlestop Park, who is making a special visit for the season.
Big kids can get walk-through mazes based on the “Saw” and “Conjuring” movie franchises, as well as several new scare zones, slider and monster ball shows.
San Diego County
Legoland
The park’s first-ever Lego Halloween Tree for Brick-or-Treat has been built from 681,000 bricks and the 17-foot tree is Legoland’s largest brick creation to date. Featuring lights, pumpkins, cobwebs and animated eyes that follow guests as they walk by, the tree offers a fun, spooky welcome for a family-friendly Halloween celebration.
SeaWorld San Diego Howl-O-Scream
Halloween Spooktacular is a kid-friendly treat during the day at SeaWorld, but when the sun goes down, Howl-O-Scream takes over with newly revamped mazes, scare zones and pop-up performances — aka Vile Vignettes — providing suspense and laughs. The popular Monster Stomp show returns with Jack the Ripper-inspired dance routines and musical moments.
*Sesame Place San Diego has transitioned to a seasonal park and is now closed from October to April.
By Shawn Price
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