Night at Horror Nights

Me and a group of friends decided that there is no better way to start off October than doing something spooky in honor of Halloween. So what did we do? We decided to make a trip to Universal Studios on a Wednesday night for Horror Nights! 

The park opened their doors at 7 p.m. Because we left on Wednesday, some of us had classes that ended a little late. We ended up arriving to Universal at 8 p.m. As soon as we passed through security and scanned our tickets, the jump scares began. We walked through the scare zone where my friends were frightened, screaming, and all jittery. That only means that the night has begun.

We first completed two mazes, A Quiet Place and The Nightmares of Latin America. Personally, I did not seem too fond of these mazes. They were not scary at all, especially A Quiet Place. We then proceeded to hit the Terror Tram, Ghostbusters and Universal Monsters. Those three were not that bad. 

We first completed two mazes, A Quiet Place and The Nightmares of Latin America. Personally, I did not seem too fond of these mazes. They were not scary at all, especially A Quiet Place. We then proceeded to hit the Terror Tram, Ghostbusters and Universal Monsters. Those three were not that bad. 

After going on a round of mazes, our group decided to have some fun on rides. We rode on both Harry Potter rides, Jurassic Park and Revenge of the Mummy. A couple of my friends had never been to Universal Studios, so we made it our goal to try and complete everything at the park. Because we went on a Wednesday, this was very possible due to the longest line at the park being a 35 minute wait. Majority of us agreed that Revenge of the Mummy was the best ride. 

After a short food break, we finished the night off by doing the rest of the mazes. Some of our favorites were Insidious, Death Valley and Texas Chainsaw.

A night that started at around 6:30 p.m., the time we left to the park ended with us leaving at 2 a.m. We were able to accomplish our goal of doing everything that Horror Nights had to offer. It was a really fun time that brought a close group even closer. I would definitely recommend for everyone to try and go this season. 

Zombies, Monsters and Mickey Mouse

Halloween is about a month and a half away but its celebrations are just around the corner. Candy and costume companies are not the only ones who cash in on Halloween festivities; theme parks have also noticed this cash cow. The biggest attractions locally have been Knott’s Scary Farm: Halloween Haunts, Universal Studios Hollywood: Halloween Horror Nights, and Six Flags Magic Mountain: Fright Fest. A fairly new comer to the A-list attractions is Disneyland Resorts Mickey’s Halloween Party. Each of these event tickets do cost a decent amount of money (average of 50 dollars) so the challenge is finding which is the best for you?

Fright Fest, Halloween Haunt, and Halloween Horrors Nights are all fairly similar but Mickey’s Halloween Party has found a target niche audience that have been only marketed to by candy companies. Mickey’s Halloween Party is a place for families to go and feel their children will be safe while they celebrate Halloween and trick-or-treat. There are candy stations around the park, a Halloween parade, and the Halloween Screams fireworks show. It is also a great place for Disney fans or anymore who prefers not to be scared out of their mind when Halloween comes around. The party will kick off September 30^th.

For people who love the thrill of a scare the other Halloween themed events aim to be that place. Knott’s Scary Farm will have a total of 13 mazes, seven shows and three scare zones this year. The three new mazes include Delirium, a play on the mind, Invasion Beneath, part of the Calico Mine ride, and End Games: Warriors of the Apocalypse, an end of the world experience. According to LATimes.com Knott’s Scary Farm accounts for more than half of the theme parks profits for the year. Knott’s Berry Farm was the original place for Halloween scares so they do have history on their side as a reason to choose them for your Halloween celebrations.

Universal Studios Hollywood is advertising more mazes than ever before and opens this Friday along with Knott’s Scary Farm. Halloween Horror Nights has only six mazes but have pop culture relevance. Four out of the six mazes premise around movies and one is themed around rocker Alice Cooper. A new maze this year is The Thing: Assimilation, based on the new horror flick coming out this October. Expectations are usually high for Horror Nights because it is created by a theme park based on Hollywood movie magic.

Lastly, is perhaps the most inferior of A-list events for Halloween, Six Flags Fright Fest. It is open significantly less compared to the other events and does not start until October 7. Fright Fest has a lot of special offers and have tried to put a new twist on their rides. Several rides will have the lights turned off, like Tatsu, and the popular X2 becomes X2: Area 19, an alien adventure. It has a good variety of attractions but probably falls short because Knott’s and Universal Studios put on a better event for about the same price.

Personally I fit into the scare demographics. My pick this year will probably be Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios. I like the relevance of the attractions and the realistic costumes and makeup. Which event will you be at for the Halloween season?