Los Angeles Haunted Hayride finds itself being one of the more unique offerings in the “traditional” haunt landscape. Nestled in the forested Griffith Park area of Los Angeles, LAHH has the location that many other haunts would dream of…but does it use it to it’s full advantage?
Back in 2019, LAHH got a much needed refresh to it’s overall theme with the introduction of Midnight Falls. The town that is perpetually stuck on Halloween Night in the 1980’s. We adore all the citizens of Midnight Falls and the overall “rock and roll” vibe. Each and every character helps create a much larger world than what’s seen within the gates of LAHH. I think this is where LAHH stands out from the rest and succeeds the most! With that being said, Midnight Falls might need a bit of a refresh in it’s overall scope. The characters don’t need to change but the overall experience could be adjusted or upgraded. It’s been 6 years (Covid Years Included) and we think the citizens deserve more to play with when guests first venture into LAHH. A much bigger and grander entrance into the town would start off the experience with a bang!
This year, LAHH is offering 4 different haunted attractions and The Monte Revolta Show. For an up-charge, you can also experience: Madame Aurora’s Seance Theatre, The Scary Go Round, Escape Rooms, Axe Throwing, Zombie Paintball, and more! There are a myriad of ticket options for LAHH, so you can choose what you think works best for you. If you’re not interested in the haunted houses, you can just purchase a ticket for the Hayride itself! Or buy a General Admission to experience all 4 haunted experiences. The versatility of LAHH ticket options is somewhat nice.
In terms of the haunted attractions at this years LAHH, it’s probably the strongest and most consistent it’s been in years. All of the experiences offer a variety of scares, themes, and environments which encourages visitors to experience them all. New for 2024, Monáe Manor features Halloween icon Janelle Monáe! Here guests step into the Monáe Manor where it’s Halloween every night and things aren’t quite what they seem. Where the walls talk and the music blares. You may have more than one ghostly encounter at this twisted soiree and it may even be from your host! This is a reworking of the former Midnight Mortuary. If you’re familiar with it’s predecessor, you’ll recognize a lot, but not to it’s detriment. Monáe Manor brings a much needed zany and upbeat experience to LAHH to round out the other much more sinister experiences. To be honest, I was left smiling from ear to ear with the great talent and just absurd visuals.
Coming back this year is: Trick or Treat, Hellbilly Halloween, and the titular Haunted Hayride. Hellbilly Halloween is as strong as it was last year. With some phenomenal sets, dark shadows, and amazing talent; there is so much to love about this haunted house. Dare I even say there are some cinematic visuals here as well!? That’s not even mentioning how long it feels, it feels like it never ends! This was hands down our favorite last year and it continues to be our favorite this year as well.
The Hayride is also fantastic this year, offering a plethora of different environments from the town of Midnight Falls and some very fun scenes. While we don’t find it particularly scary in the slightest (keep in mind we are dead in inside) we did find it charming. We also really loved the seating arrangement so people don’t find themselves sitting on the floor anymore. Additionally, in prior years we’ve had issues with staffing. This year, it felt like the Hayride was staffed well, so the experience felt cohesive. The only issue that I felt was pacing. There were some longer gaps between large sets, which I’m sure is purposefully done to reset moments. If this is the case, there needs to be more monsters in-between the larger moments to help keep guests on the edge of their seats. They can’t be given time to relax between scenes or else the whole experience feels like it lacks energy.
The only outlier for us in this whole experience, is Trick or Treat. Back when this premiered, it was a game changer. It was unique, fun, scary, and so different than anything we’d ever done. It also continued to push forward the concept of Midnight Falls. Now that LAHH has somewhat moved away from overtly expanding the Midnight Falls story, it’s become a shadow of its former self. Yes, the previous incarnation wasn’t sustainable. The lines got long quickly because each group got to ring the doorbells of the different houses and…go trick or treating! Now it’s become a mishmash of random sets and environments while clinging for dear life to its former creative direction. The talent in this haunted house are doing great with what they’re given, but the environments aren’t conducive to good scares or a cohesive story. For those who don’t know the former version, probably wouldn’t be bothered and will enjoy all the monster mayhem. But for us, knowing how good it can be and how well executed it was, it’s difficult to see this anything more than less than. We’d love to see LAHH address some of these issues or build something new and exciting for 2025.
Overall, Los Angeles Haunted Hayride is outrageous, fun, and at times pretty scary. We return every year because we love the overall theme of Midnight Falls and miss the characters that we’ve come to know and love. I think LAHH can easily get overshadowed by much larger haunted attractions in the LA area, but by no means does it make it any less than, in our opinion. Each and every haunt provides unique experiences. But generally speaking, the rock and roll approach to Halloween night works for us immensely. If you want to experience good scares, fun characters, and something as unique as a hayride in the middle of LA during spooky season; look no further than LA Haunted Hayride.
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