Best Halloween Park

[Joshua H]

Which Parks have the best Halloween Festivals?

Last year, I went to the "Howl-O-Scream!" at Bush Gardens Williamsburg, and it was REALLY great! The Haunted House under Escape from Pompeii was so good...Scared me silly! The whole park was themed really well, and we really enjoyed ourselves...The ONLY negativity was that it was SO crowded. I still hope to make it again this year....

Are there other parks that have awesome Halloween festivals? Anybody else have thoughts on the BGW Howl-o-Scream?

[pat28]

During Christmas, Disneyland turns the Haunted Mansion into the Haunted Mansion Holiday, which is the regualr mansion with Nightmare before Christmas theming.

[Xzentrificenceo]

Well I have not been to Halloween at a park in many many years. This year though I will hit SFMM and Sea World(they have a great haunted house). I also will try to get to KBF but I have heard that it is not the safest during Fright Fest, so that one may not happen until they make it safer for the guests.

[Joshua H]

At Disneyland, do they change the interior theming on Haunted Mansion, or only the exterior? I've seen pictures...but only of the outside....seems cool, but what changes are inside the mansion?

[pat28]

Haunted Mansion Holiday http://www.etixland.com/halloween/HMH/HMH01.htm#

[Joshua H]

:D VERY NICE SITE, Pat! THANKS!

[Squid2]

Joshua, my wife and I were hoping to go to Howl O Scream at BGW this year. We've never been up ther for Halloween, and we're wondering what it's like. Do they do a good job, or what? And what did you mean about the haunted house being under Escape from Pompeii? Isn't that where the machinery is for EFP?

Squid2

[iAMpaste001]

Cedar Point has HalloWeekends mid-September until the park closes at the end of October. They have a few Haunted Houses, halloween-themed entertainment, the Frontier Trail is themed like a spooky walk through a haunted forest and they have "scary" characters walking around and some of them are really creative and cool. (According to the brochure, "Chose your level of scares: simply fun, slightly shivery or extreme terror") I was there on the last weekend in October last year. We got to the park right as it opened and PASTE and my friend jumped right on Wicked Twister but I, being too afraid at that point (and tired from getting up so early!) just laid down on a bench and closed my eyes. I opened my eyes a few minutes later to find "Frankenstein" sitting next to me petting my hair and a whole cast of "frightening" characters standing there looking at me. It freaked me out for a second but then it was really funny. ANYWAY, they do a good job with HalloWeekends and if you get a chance, go. Not only because of the atmoshphere but because there's a lot fewer people that time of year...practically everything was a walk-on when we went.

[RCT2fan08]

SF Great America has Fright Fest during all of Oct. They actually do a very good job decorating the entire park. With an OK Haunted House, and Haunted Train ride, it will scare younger kids, but older teens and adults might not be. They also dye the water on some of the rides and the fountain blood red, very cool looking. And the Halloween characters/actors put their regular staff to shame, with their guest interaction, freaking everyone that is in their path. The funniest thing they have is this nasty, mud caked port-o-potty in the picnic area. When u open the door, it'll spray water all over you, hilarious!!! It almost makes up for the so-so service you get throughout the summer. lol :rolleyes:

[Perfectchris]

Knotts Scary Farm is by far the best for halloweem, just too crowded... Im too drunk to explain more, someone else say something about it

[kbendiksen]

SFNE has a good fright fest in october but i don't go there instead I go to spooky world in foxboro, Ma it's the best place to goto for halloween. They put on a real good production it's like your put damn smack in the middle of a horror movie. they have 6 to 7 haunted houses set up that range from funny scary to scary scary
http://www.spookyworld.com/

[Perfectchris]

That cant come close to Knotts Berry Farm. They have over 10 different Haunted Houses. They also Haunt there rides like the log ride and the have a slow mine train ride thats very scary..... You can't beat Knotts when it comes to Halloween.

[kbendiksen]

i'm sure there is better out there but i don't live anywhere close to knotts berry farm,but spooky world is about the best in the state of Ma.

[Joshua H]

Squid,
Howl-O-Scream at BGW is really kinda cool...each area of the park is decorated in a different spookey theme for the holiday, for example, one section might be all spiders, another ghosts or bats...I liked the circus gone mad.....

The Park is run like normal until (I think) 5:00pm and then they go into Halloween mode...they close some rides for an hour to prepare for the haunted stuff, Escape from Pompeii is one of them. The Rapids ride was another. Then, they open several haunted mazes, houses, and other spokey events. In the Map, they list each of these haunted attractions from 1-5 in intensity. The whole park is VERY creepy after dark, and you are pretty scared just walking around, because you never knew what was going to jump out at you. There were lots of costumed characters around, and BGW does a good job making you feel very uncomfortable.

The best haunted house was in the mechanical room under Escape from Pompeii. It used the same cuelines as EFP, but right at the end, you went behind the attraction and into this large warehouse looking room. Basically, you were rushing through a twisting hall with spookey things happening all around. I remember sceaming many times! The only comfort that you had was that they told you again and again that the ghosts wouldn't touch you if you didn't touch them.

Let me know what you think of it! Hopefully they crowds will stay away the day you go!