Haunt O'Ween: 2021 Review
The Promenade, Woodland Hills, CA
So regular readers will know that during Halloween season, we focus the bulk of our event coverage on spooky and scary haunted attractions. We originally started with Knott's Scary Farm, added Halloween Horror Nights, and have branched out to a variety of professional, independent, and home haunts over the years. Quite frankly, we love the frights that come this time of year. But here and there, we'll also cover something that's fit for all ages, and that's our focus in this update, which features a kid-friendly Halloween immersive experience that's tailor made for the Instagram age but also offers a great time for the entire family!
Haunt O'Ween is second year Halloween attraction produced by Experiential Supply Co that began as a drive-through experience last year during the first fall of the Coronavirus pandemic. Although COVID is still a risk this year, the danger and risk factor have subsided for those who are vaccinated, and the event has transitioned to its originally-intended walk-through format for 2021.
Haunt O’Ween is a whimsical and enchanting Halloween immersive experience.
Located at The Promenade in Woodland Hills, just south of the Westfield Topanga mall, this attraction is a one-way pedestrian path through six different themed areas, with plenty of photo opportunities available, a beer garden for thirsty guests, and trick-or-treating for younger (or older, sweet tooth-indulging) folks. Visitors can come dressed in costume, and there are also assorted arts and crafts and games spread out through the grounds, along with a couple of carnival rides in the middle of the course.
Guests can enter the Promenade on the north side, off of Erwin Street before turning right and parking in the mall lot along the northwest corner of the property. As The Promenade is essentially a dead mall, there are plenty of spaces available. The entrance is located next to the former anchor on the west side of the mall, and the footprint of Haunt O'Ween winds around the southwest corner along the Topanga Canyon Blvd and Oxnard Street sides.
Pay attention to the gravestones at the Funnybones Graveyard. They reference various movie and horror show characters.
Guests first enter the Funnybones Graveyard, where an elaborate series of skeleton displays awaits. Aside from a couple of 12 ft tall Home Depot skellies greeting guests, there's also a spinning dancing pair that seems to be celebrating a wedding and a fancy banquet happening. There are also a lot of gravestones around the turn, with names of people who have died shockingly young. I thought this was rather morbid until a friend pointed out that these were actually characters from horror movies or TV shows, or creators of said movies or shows. That turned it from a mystery about dying youths to a great Easter egg.
A brief transition through the Illumination Realm--the first of several light displays catered toward selfies--and guests come upon the first food and drink area, catered by food-tech platform C3 and sponsored by Malibu Wines (and if you weren't sure, the bountiful branding wouldn't let you forget) and Happy Dad hard seltzer. This area feels like a nice western town with some great facades as a backdrop and some seating areas and a spidery photo op to pause and enjoy the ambiance.
The Forgotten Carnival is full of lights and life and games and animated spirits.
Next up comes the Forgotten Carnival, a colorful, bright, and lively outdoor circus with jugglers, stilt walkers, clowns, and a variety of attractions for guests to try their time. A 40 foot wide carousel anchors the center of this zone, and a row of games borders one corner. The different travelling carnival vehicles and set-up create some nice photogenic accompaniments.
The bright lights dim slightly as Haunt O'Ween transitions to a hay bale maze, complete with scarecrows standing perfectly still, only go shift movement for a very soft startle scare. There are a few colorful arch-light-lined lanes that guide those who skip the labyrinth portion to the big pumpkin tunnel, one of the grand photo op locations that has been the feature of the Haunt O'Ween media and marketing blitz. This passageway of lit-up jack-o-lanterns sends a bright pattern of light down the tunnel and also features pumpkin crafting and decorating tables to help provide more activities. The bright environment is also great for portraits or selfies, if any guest hasn't gotten the hint already.
The pumpkin tunnel is one of four themed tunnels at this installation and by far the most photogenic.
The Pumpkin Tunnel also does a great job of framing the most spectacular set of the entire experience, a towering Addams Family house facade and set that ties into the new sequen movie that was just released. Guests approach along a wide boulevard path, with a nice buggy stationed in front and to the right. Inside the house, there's also a little photo op with a cutout of the animated characters of the film franchise, before a turn and exit brings guests to the second to last area.
The Addams Family house is pretty spectacular.
This is the Town of Haunt O'Ween, and much like its Tim Burton inspiration, the winding village lane is a charming and lovely black-lit series of spooky homes fronted by hosts ready to hand out candy. This is where kids can trick-or-treat, and it's a lot of fun. There weren't bags being handed out on our media night preview, and I'm not sure if this was just an oversight or symbolic of how the event will run, but I'd recommend that anyone planning on asking for candy bring at least a small bag to place it all in when they visit. There were also oversized haunted house kits by learning system and sponsor KiwiCo being handed out.
The town features a host of friendly characters who aren't themed to any particular franchise or characters in particular, but just function as citizens who are celebrating the wonderful autumn holiday. There's a roller skater who spins around with slick and smooth moves on wheels, and several photo ops here as well, including each house.
The town of Haunt O’Ween is an absolute joy to behold and stroll through, and it offers candy for guests young and old (but mostly young)!
Finally, guests come upon the grand Pumpkin Patch, which has literally thousands of pumpkins littered around a large square anchored by a hay bale mountain that guests can climb up. This structure has one of my only serious complaints about the event, and it's safety minded. Although hay is soft and not painful upon impact, the hay bales are stacked in a manner that leaves gaps--sometimes large ones--in between. This is an arrangement that can easily allow a person to slip and twist an ankle or, worst case, fall and plunge a leg into the crevice, potentially causing significant injury. Hopefully, this hazard has already been identified over opening weekend and fixed, but it's worth pointing out.
Aside from that, the Pumpkin Patch offers more arts and crafts opportunities, some more photo ops (including a ghost that has clearly seen a lot of sh!t in his life/deadtime, and more beer garden stations and sitting areas that allow guests to relax and just take in the atmosphere. The lighting here is the most drab of all the areas of Haunt O'Ween, which makes this finally a bit of a damper from a scenic and visual perspective, but it doesn't drag the experience down overall.
This is a photo op at the Pumpkin Patch, featuring a ghost that has seen some serious sh!t in his past!
Once guests are done, they can exit through gates adjacent to the Pumpkin Patch entrance after Haunt O'Ween town and follow the asphalt parking lot walkway back to the Grand Entrance area, where they can make their way back to their vehicles.
Haunt O'Ween is a quality and well-put-together Halloween event that is sure to be a hit for parents with children or couples looking for a non-scary way to spend a Halloween season evening. Kudos to Experiential Supply Co. for a quality-produced event that’s sure to be a hit. Its location in Woodland Hills may seem a bit far for many Southern Californians, but it's really on the closer side of the Valley and not much farther than many of the Burbank-adjacent haunts that we've covered over the years, or than a trek to the Simi or Santa Clarita Valleys.
For a fright-free alternative, Haunt O'Ween is definitely a great option to consider. The event runs Wednesdays through Sundays for this entire month from 5:00pm - 11:30pm (last entry one hour before closing). There is no time limit. Parking is free. Book your tickets in advance online, and enjoy a fun and only slightly spooky experience!
Architect. Photographer. Disney nerd. Haunt enthusiast. Travel bugged. Concert fiend. Asian.
