If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
photo credit: unfoldedorigami
Halloween is always a creepy time of year, as friends outdo themselves trying to scare other friends and the mood is set to expect frightening monsters around every corner. Of course, there are no witches flying on broomsticks, goblins creeping around corners, ghouls rising from the dead, or skeletons becoming animated, but it is always fun for friends and families to decorate the house in a spooky spirit and to do their best to encapsulate the Halloween spirit. Trick-or-treating is the time-honored tradition that is most often associated with children during Halloween time, as groups of kids dressed in costumes go throughout the neighborhood collecting candy and toys from their neighbors. There is plenty of fun to be had on Halloween, though, that does not necessarily involve trick-or-treating at all: many theme parks throughout the country go all out to celebrate Halloween, culminating in spooky Halloween parties and fun-filled events that are sure to go over well with the whole family. If you and the family would rather do something different this Halloween, there is no better option than going to a theme park that hosts a Halloween party that will rival even the most elaborate neighborhood get-together.
photo credit: Brad & Kristine
Not every Halloween party needs to be focused on fright, and that is exactly what they believe at Disney World. Instead of a fearful extravaganza, Disney World hosts Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, making it the perfect place for a family with younger children to go to in order to enjoy the holiday in a way that won’t scare the living daylights out of any member of the family. The event takes place after-hours on selected nights throughout the month of October, so if the family cannot make it on the actual day of Halloween, there are plenty of other nights to attend the festivities. Advance tickets cost $43 making them a great deal, especially considering that general admission runs upward of $70, so do your family and your budget a favor and get your tickets ahead of time. Everyone is invited to attend and dress up to their heart’s content. All the rides are open, so if you intend to ride any of the bigger rides, make sure your costume can stay together in one piece.
Of course, trick-or-treating is encouraged at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, so the event will not be anything to drastically different to a family that is used to scouring the neighborhood for treats. One of the highlights of the experience is Mickey’s Boo to You Halloween Parade, which kicks off with a ride by the Headless Horseman. Other ghoulish residents of the Haunted Mansion make their way through the parade route, eventually getting the chance to recreate the famous dining room scene from the attraction at Main Street USA. Another highlight of the evening is the Happy HalloWishes fireworks presentation, which sets the fireworks against the backdrop of some of the creepiest music in Disney’s films, setting the stage for an experience that is both exciting and unnerving. All in all, Disney World is a great theme park to visit during Halloween if your family is not so keen on getting scared but still loves to have some fun during the creepy holiday.
Before Knott’s Berry Farm tricked out the premises for Halloween in 1972, no theme parks even thought of going all out for Halloween, but now, such a thing is taken for granted. Because Knott’s has been doing in the longest, it stands as one of the finest – and scariest – theme parks to visit on Halloween. Come October 31, innocent little Knott’s Berry Farm becomes Knott’s Scary Farm Haunt. Admission to Knott’s Scary Farm Haunt is separate, so expect to pay for admission in addition to standard admission to get into the park, but for the amount of chilling thrills that you can expect, the cost is well worth it. Advance tickets are available, saving you plenty of hassle should you choose to visit Knott’s Scary Farm Haunt in advance. If you want to be scared out of your wits by creepy monsters lurking around each and every corner, Knott’s Scary Farm Haunt is the place for you to be.
Three scare zones, CarnEVIL, The Gauntlet, and Ghost Town, set the stage for a fright night that you will remember for the rest of your life. Other things to see include the 13 mazes that are planned to be unveiled, and nothing is scarier than being lost in a maze while besieged by all sorts of creepy characters. Returning classics, such as the Killer Clown College and The Doll Factory, stand alongside the new Alien Annihilation and Club Blood as some of the most frightening places to be on Halloween. If you want to be entertained rather than scared out of your mind, there are seven stage shows to see, all of which promising an appropriate take on the holiday. Many of Knott’s regular rides are also open, allowing you to get a different kind of adrenaline rush in between all of the scaring. Those that do not want to expose younger children to gore and gross-out tactics of scaring are well-advised to leave them at home, because part of the Knott’s Scary Farm Haunt experience is a gory form of fright. Otherwise, expect to have one of the creepiest times of your life.
Where Knott’s Scary Farm Haunt invented the concept of a Halloween theme park event, Universal Orlando has perfected it with the Halloween Horror Nights. Although the event started humbly with only one haunted house, Halloween Horror Nights has become one of the biggest events of its kind, merging the Universal Monsters with some of the most popular horror figures, due to a deal with New Line Cinema. This year’s Halloween Horror Nights will be based upon the frightening and legendary story of Bloody Mary, putting it in a modern setting by casting Bloody Mary as a psychiatrist that eventually became deranged. This theme will be reflected in Reflections of Fear, Bloody Mary’s own haunted house where guests step through the mirror and into her own world. Other haunted houses include Interstellar Terror, where guests go aboard a ghostly spaceship, and Doomsday, where guests must survive a post-apocalyptic Scotland ravaged with a mysterious various.
Scare zones exist to provide a sense of constant fear and dread among the visitors, among these the Asylum in Wonderland, an evil version of the world that Alice visits, and The Skoolhouse, where Bloody Mary has taken over all of the students and turned them into deranged killers. Obviously, there is plenty of violence and gore to be witnessed at Halloween Horror Nights, so young children should be left at home to partake in other Halloween activities. For the adults that can handle the scares, Halloween Horror Nights provides a once-in-a-lifetime experience to truly feel what it is like to be scared out of one’s wits, as fears that we have never even thought about before come surging forth. Halloween is a time that can be shared with family and friends with innocent pranks on a small scale, but theme parks are the perfect places to go if the family wants something a bit bigger.
