Haunt of Halloween: 2021 Review
Kaleidoscope, Mission Viejo, CA
I've said this before, but I really like it when I see a new haunt in Orange County. Although Southern California has an embarrassment of riches in Halloween attractions, the bulk of them reside in Los Angeles County and the Valley, making them longer drives for this OC resident. Over the years, there have been both professional and residential OC-based haunts that have come and gone, from Motel/Mable's 6 Feet Under to Sinister Pointe, and though Orange County still has big names like Knott's Scary Farm, The 17th Door, and everything Halloween that Disneyland does, it still pales in comparison to L.A.
I know. Total first world problems, right? Right.
The Haunt of Halloween is located on the second floor (above street level) of the Kaleidoscope shopping center in Mission Viejo, on the Buffalo Wild Wings side of the mall.
That being said, there's a new OC haunt located in Mission Viejo this year called the Haunt of Halloween, and it's located in the Kaleidoscope shopping center on Crown Valley Parkway just off the I-5 freeway. Created by the folks behind the currently defunct Long Beach Zombie Fest, Haunt of Halloween is a smaller scale, multi-attraction haunt that seems more catered to local residents looking for a unique alternative to the typical haunted conga line that can plague many bigger name attractions.
The price of admission includes one trip through the Outpost 13 maze, an interactive scare zone where guests who've completed the maze can turn the tables on those going through it and startle them, a "Face Your Fears" sensory attraction, a reptile exhibit, a horror prop exhibit, photo ops, and live shows and entertainment at a side stage area. There's also an option to be transformed into a hideous monster at a make-up booth and George the Giant's Strange Museum of Oddities and Wonders available as upcharges.
Outpost 13 features a dystopian aesthetic and… um, werewolves? (Actually, he was just here for the photo op.)
The Outpost 13 is the feature attraction, and this maze includes an incentive that no one will need to wait more than thirty minutes to experience the maze. Timed ticketing helps limit capacity and space out groups so that each excursion through is more intimate and private--allowing all of the monsters within to target each group as it passes.
Unsurprisingly for a haunt that used to put on the Zombie Fest event, the theme is a post-apocalyptic wasteland with an urban aesthetic that has been overrun by zombies and other hideous, ghoulish creatures. The decor is not elaborate--don't expect top tier Knott's Scary Farm quality here--but it's not sparse either. Each general scene has enough theming to impart the general outline of the story, and even the more open, chainlink-bounded passageways utilize camo netting and partially see-through dividing elements to create more enclosed-feeling spaces.
There's also an appreciated use of subtle wayfinding in the form of small directional freeway signs ("Keep Right" / "Keep Left") and even some directional arrows on the ground that are integrated into the urban wasteland theme and fit. The maze is also helped by a compact but efficient crew of energetic and enthusiastic scareactors who time their scares well and deliver intensity and fervor.
What’s in the box??? Well, put your hand inside to find out at the Face Your Fears attraction.
The rest of the amenities help pad the value for admission, but other than the "scare zone" and the "Face Your Fears" attraction, they don't particularly offer much substance. The scare zone is definitely a unique amenity that no other haunt to my knowledge offers as part of regular admission. For a few minutes, guests can try their hand at jump scaring other guests on the other side of the maze from their location in a partially concealed encampment adjacent to the maze course. The "Face Your Fears" attraction is a mental exercise that requires guests to reach into mysterious boxes to try to figure out what's inside. Are they crawly or uncomfortable? Do they bite? It doesn't help that there's a first aid kit on the table. But I won't spoil what's actually inside. Suffice to say, though, watching guests participate in this is high entertainment. The horror props display is neat for horror fans who appreciate authentic collectibles. Otherwise, it’s kind of like a small museum exhibit.
There is live entertainment every half an hour, and they even booked Monte Revolta for some nights—though I’m not sure how that impacts his Midnight Falls shows.
Overall, the Haunt of Halloween is a nice though unspectacular offering at a haunted attraction. It's not a destination that I'd go out of the way to visit, but it would be good to pair as part of an evening series of nearby haunts--Prism and Haunted Mansion Haunt are not too far away, for example, and The Pirates Cave and Phantom Hollow are about 20-30 minutes to the north/northwest. The maze is a solid offering, and the bundling of other attractions under a ticket price that starts at $20 provides an affordable price structure for spook seekers.
The Haunt of Halloween runs Thursdays through Sundays the entire month of October on varying hours. On weekends, there is also a kid-friendly version from 2-5pm that has a no-scare maze and family-friendly entertainment. Buy tickets online and check out the web site for more information.
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
