 Well, it's finally here. The end of the Haunt Season. Sad Face ... As a site, this was our fifth year covering Halloween and we've had an absolute blast. Below are our site awards for 2018!! Some of these events still have some nights coming up this weekend so be sure to check them out if you haven't already. If you missed ANY of our Halloween Updates be sure to check them out. Also this year, we opened up the voting to you, our loyal Park Journey readers. So you'll not only see our staff picks, but yours as well. Best Theme Park Haunt Staff Pick - Knott's Scary Farm With the addition of new mazes and the freshening up of some previous years mazes it was another banner year for the amazing Knott's Scary Farm. Reader Pick - Knott's Scary Farm It was a clean sweep for the original Halloween Event, although Halloween Horror Nights Orlando and Six Flags Magic Mountain's Fright Fest did gather a tying second place vote. Check out our Knott's Scary Farm 2018 Review
Best Non Theme Park Haunt Staff Pick - Queen Mary's Dark Harbor This was a tough category as there were so many amazing Non Theme Park Events that could have claimed this spot. Very close second would be ... see below. Reader Pick - Tie: WB Horror Made Here and Queen Mary's Dark Harbor In just it's second year, WB's Horror Made Here managed to tie one of the best and biggest events around, and for good reason. If it weren't for the readers calling this a tie, we may well have in our Staff Pick above. Congrats to WB and Dark Harbor. We hope you continue to duke it out for years to come. =) Check out our Queen Mary's Dark Harbor 2018 Review Check out our WB Horror Made Here 2018 Review
Best Independent Halloween Event Staff Pick - Ghost Train Reader Pick - Ghost Train Another clean sweep in our Independent Haunt Category!! Congrats to the Ghost Train which manages to not only be fun for all ages, but thrilling for even the most extreme Haunt fan. Coming in second place in our Readers pick was The 17th Door, which continues to grow each year. Best Year-to-Year upgrade of a maze location Sewer of Lost Souls - Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain We thought about opening this category up for the Reader Vote, but weren't quite sure how to word it. Basically, the maze that has been in this location the past few years, let's face it, kind of sucked. But not this year!! Totally revamped, no more black walls or vines everywhere, a truly unique and innovative maze was to be found. Best Family Friendly Halloween Event Staff Pick - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom Reader Pick - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party at Magic Kingdom It's really hard to top Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, and for good reason. Unlike most family events, Magic Kingdom gets to use their park at night for their Family Halloween event vs having nights reserved for scary stuff. Check out our Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party 2018 Review  Best Home Haunt Staff Pick - Beware The Dark Realm This was our second year visiting this haunt near Magic Mountain, and it won't be our last. Truly ambitious and thrilling, the team at this Haunt puts on a great event, for a great cause. Reader Pick - Backwoods So let's say you go to some imaginary "Haunt Graveyard" and get animatronics and sets that basically tells the history of Southern California Scary Events and put them all in your house. And then it all works in an amazing way. That's what Backwoods is and it's amazing. It's no wonder our Reader's picked this as their winner.
Best Maze Staff Pick - Universal Monsters at Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights Truly the toughest category we had to figure out, this could have gone to any number of 5 or 6 mazes at 4 or 6 different events. But for thrills, fun, effects and talent, none was better than Universal Monsters Reader Pick - Stranger Things at Universal Studios Hollywood Halloween Horror Nights This was easily the most popular maze at two different parks 2500 miles away. Stranger Things is truly epic in every way and it's not hard to see why fans loved this maze. Best New Maze Tie: The Depths at Knott's Scary Farm and Sewer of Lost Souls at Six Flags Magic Mountain's Fright Fest We typically exclude Halloween Horror Nights from this category as they don't tend to repeat mazes, but that's not to take away anything from these two amazing mazes. One (The Depths) a fantastic idea with a mix of great talent, technology and fun and the other (Sewer of Lost Souls) a true upgrade for Six Flags Magic Mountain's Fright Fest. Best Talent Staff Pick - Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain The staff at Fright Fest has been together for years, has the freedom to hone their craft and create their own characters. And it shows. Despite some truly busy nights at the park this year, the staff was on top of their game all season. Reader Pick - Knott's Scary Farm Ghost Town, Carnevil, The Hollows ... names synonymous with amazing scares. Throw in the all new Forsaken Lake and 9 mazes and it's not hard to see why the talent of this event always gets high marks.
Best Scare Zone Vamp 85 at Halloween Horror Nights Orlando We all agreed, this was the scare zone to beat this year, and it's not very hard to see why. Great talent, great atmosphere and a killer soundtrack. Special Runner Up to Holidayz in Hell at Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood, which we hope comes back as a fully realized maze in 2019. Especially the Thanksgiving part. Check out our Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando 2018 Review  Best Year to Year upgrade of an existing maze Staff Pick - Paranormal Inc at Knott's Scary Farm Reader Pick - Paranormal Inc at Knott's Scary Farm This one wasn't even close, almost a clean sweep for Paranormal Inc. The new ending breathed new life into the maze and it's better than ever. Even with huge upgrades to some other mazes, none came close to having the impact of Paranormal Inc. Related Videos:
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 Today we're back with another holiday update, this time from the Zoo Lights at the Los Angeles Zoo. In it's 4th year they've made a few changes to the event and the holiday cheer is evident all around. Written by Gregg Condon Welcome to the Zoo Lights!!  Monkeys are awesome!!   Some of the new lights for 2017  Yay, Reindeer!!  Aww, they were tired. =)  More new lights  Two Swans a-sleeping ...   For some reason this looked like celery to us  The Tunnel of Lights!! Always a highlight     These are new, snowflakes with different animals
Flaming O's!! 
Disco Christmas!!  The Flaming-O Musical notes. Not new, but in a new location. The water show was back, check out a video and slideshow of it below. It's a lot of fun Overall it was another great year for the Zoo Lights. It's a great family evening in Griffith Park. We will say though, it's probably time for them to change some things up next year. 4 years and most of the lights were the same as year 1. We'd love to see them expand this deeper into the zoo as well as it can get quite crowded. But overall a really fun family event that we look forward to every year. Related Updates:  Today we have an update for those of you with kids on the younger side as we had Adam, Shawnda and Lucia head out to check out the Reindeer Romp at the Los Angeles Zoo a couple of weeks ago. See what it's like to experience this great holiday event with a 2 year old in tow. For more info on Reindeer Romp click here. Written by Adam Sizemore We had such a great time at the Reindeer Romp. There was so much to do along with the regular attractions, that we almost didn’t get to see everything!
Most parents know the value of a nice long walk at the zoo to tucker out your little one. That’s why the zoo is the perfect place to take your child to learn, observe and explore.  Our daughter Lucia is the perfect combination of curious, genius and insane? Well, she is two after all. The Reindeer Romp included a meet and greet with the lovable, fuzzy delivery guys themselves. That’s right. The reindeer made an appearance out of their busy schedules to say hello the kids!  There was a crafty make your own antlers station.... which I’m not sure who enjoyed more..... the kids or the adults. There were plenty of festive decorations celebrating Christmas, Quanza, Channukah as well as festive musical entertainment performed by the Andrew Sisters...ish Beverly Belles!     There was a puppet show, and other holiday activities as well. All of that along with the Zoo’s furry, featherly, scaly cast of characters we already know and love!  Last but, not least we got to see the big guy himself...Santa Claus! Luckily we were able to get a couple photos in before Lucia burst into tears! Good times folks and highly recommended!  -Adam Sizemore (Shawnda & Lucia too!) Related Updates: |
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