Los Angeles Haunted Hayride returns to Griffith Park unearthing the town of Midnight Falls with its perpetually undead citizens roaming the fairground. Elvira Mistress of the Dark makes official debut here for the 2025 season. Her presence includes a refresh of the Trick or Treat Maze, exclusive merchandise, voice over takeover of the Midnight Falls radio station, and a makeover of the Scary-Go-Round.
In addition, the upcoming release of horror movie “The Strangers: Chapter 2” has set up a photo booth and takes over the diner scene in the hayride itself. Both with live performers. Restrooms have been relocated to a more central, flat, and well-lit point of the fairground. A welcome upgrade from previous years of dark, cramped, and smelly corner. A new exit has emerged by the iconic pumpkin pyramid photo op. Extra charge experiences are back with axe throwing, Zombie Splat Gellyball Experience with live actors, Madame Aurora’s Seance Theatre, Mini Escape Games, and the Scary-Go-Round skeleton horses are dressed like Elvira’s dog, Gonk.
Midnight Falls Photo Gallery:
The namesake for the Halloween event has the Hayride return for the most part intact as previous years. The majority of the pumpkin monsters greet guests in the queue by the gas station. But even pass the merge point with between general admission and Fast Pass, it still took another 25 minutes before boarding. The number of operable tractors will affect efficiency. Speaking of which, operators would benefit counting bodies boarding to avoid overloading the trailers, telling people to move all the way down the bench without actually seeing if there is anywhere to go. The benches are back on the trailers which still provide a comfortable relief from lying down in hay.
The tour begins with the radio station tower falling. A great effect to start. But could have used lighting as the cause for the fall. With Elvira playing radio host, I was surprised/not surprised she has zero presence in the hayride. Not even a fake out with a costumed character. In the past, the radio DJ would build tension during blackouts thus introducing the next scene. I was hoping for the witness of Elvira’s voice. But nothing. A burning building, lakeside, alien crash site, greenhouse, and movie theater gets highlighted. Actors were thoughtfully staffed as well as animated figures and effects.
Of special note are the church scene and The Strangers at the diner. The church show scene actually had the tractor stop and able to see a character rise into the air. This felt like the hayride going back to proper form since a long time. Hope to see more of this in the future. Then the Strangers take over the old diner set. A nice synergy inclusion. But feels like a shameless promotion with posted characters on the windows and the movie title with release date coming off as more concerned as a promotion than a scare experience.
Hayride Photo Gallery:
Janelle Monae returns from last year for “Monae Manor”. A redressing of the manor that was there before hand. Unless you knew who you were looking for, most guests would have not noticed the singer’s Halloween passion on the digital screens. The music seems to reflect more of the artist.
Elvira Trick or Treat Mayhem is the latest collaboration for a scare maze. Having Elvira with her own maze attraction works well as guests briefly walk inside the house, television screens with the hostess, signature couch, movie theater, and one of the best parts, walking through Elvira’s chest via giant billboard and inflatable bags. There is a kitchen that features the monster in a pot from her movie. Would have been a great gag if the actor inside the kitchen taunted guests and opens the pot lid to reveal the monster moving around.
Should Hellbilly Halloween be next for a celebrity collaboration, who would you choose? A cannibalistic family in the backwoods of Midnight Falls invites guests for dinner. This scare maze features the most gore compared to the others.
Thankful to see some slight changes here and there to give each season a some reason to visit. It may not be enough for everyone, but for those that look at the details, it matters. The operational choice to only permit one entry per attraction may not be popular at the beginning of the season compared to a busier second half.
Scare Maze Photo Gallery:
To satisfy your hunger and grab something to eat before watching the live cover band or waiting in long queues, the Halloween event has you covered with kettle corn, cookies, burgers, hot dogs, skewers, baked potatoes, and fire pits to roast s’mores. New for the 2025 season is the hot apple cider and donut combo. This special delight is quite refreshing to put anyone in the autumn mood. An apple flavored treat actually makes a lot of sense for those overwhelmed with pumpkin flavors. A welcome debut for perhaps more tasty apple treats in the prospective future.
Food Photo Gallery:
The distinctive sight and sounds of Monte Revolta and his Band of the Living Dead always guarantee a great entertainment value to the price of admission. You really can’t go wrong with their musical tributes to horror movies. From “The Exorcist” to “Stephen King’s IT”, the devilish theatrics is a crowd pleaser in front of the stage and while waiting in line for the hayride.
As a special tribute to the film’s 50th anniversary, “JAWS” was presented complete with the Amity billboard, Monte Revolta in the mayor’s anchor print jacket, Chief Brody, Captain Quint, and the shark itself. It was unfortunate however for a Midnight Falls citizen to use a blowhorn during the tribute. Other citizens were more in character playing up the joy of listening to the live band.
Monte Revolta Photo Gallery:
The Midnight Falls General Store and pop-up store now features exclusive Elvira Merchandise. With products from Kreepsville Clothing, Elvira has already had products sold before in the past. But it’s a lot more prominent branding this year. From shirts, aprons, pins, tiki mugs, and more, there’s a little something for everyone.
Shopping Gallery:
LA Haunted Hayride seems to repeat itself taking one step forward, but two steps back. This year’s layout with entrance, additional exit, food booths, extra cost experiences, restrooms, stage, and mazes works very well. There’s a more laid back approach to the event. It’s not a party type atmosphere. A stepping stone for those new to attending scare events. Just enough thrills without being too overwhelming. Perhaps that’s due to the location being in a city park and restrictions on alcohol sales.
The apple cider debut is great direction for the rest of the food booths to take on more thematic roles. Make the food specific to Midnight Falls and not just a generic fair atmosphere seen across the country. Popcorn for the movie theater. Hot dogs for drive-in movie theater. Introduce creative flavors. Feature mocktails. There’s a lot of untapped potential that LA Haunted Hayride can’t quite cross over. Make the season pass ticket worth coming back.
Guest Services tent is now accessible from both in and out of the event space. A very practical layout. Too bad it closes with the event operations. Since the parking shuttles are scheduled to close 30 minutes after closing, guest services should do the same as patrons exit for the evening. There were many guests hunting to find an employee to speak with. I had comments to address myself regarding the operation.
But as soon as I was finished speaking, the employee’s response was to immediately just walk away leaving me with me with nothing. Don’t even bother with Emergency Services either. They were too busy scrolling on their phones to be bothered. Many, but not all, employees had a “I’m just here for a paycheck” attitude. A disappointing but regular expectation.
Does Elvira Mistress of the Dark officially partnering with LA Haunted Hayride make it worth the effort? Somewhat yes, but mostly no. More specifically, under utilized. The redressing of the Trick or Treat scare maze and Scary-Go-Round is the best part. The idea of Cassandra Peterson as the radio host is a great use of her distinctive voice while remaining retired from dressing up as her iconic character. In that case, her voice should be heard in more locations. Intro and outro of Monte Revolta. A decrepit vehicle with a working radio. The safety spiel to boarding and disembarking tractor trailers. Not even a closing announcement to wish guests “unpleasant dreams”.
Select evenings from September 19 to November 2, 2025
For dates, tickets, and additional experiences, visit https://losangeleshauntedhayride.com/
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