Los Angeles Haunted Hayride: 2021 Review

Griffith Park, Los Angeles, CA

The haunts keep coming as we come to almost the end of September (meaning that haunt season is practically already half over!!), and today, we're stopping by Griffith Park to check out the L.A. Haunted Hayride, which has returned to its original home after a hear away in San Dimas in a "Drive-Up" format. Well, actually, it's not completely in its original home. This year, the Hayride is at a slightly new setting at the Crystal Springs picnic area, located southeast of where it used to be on the other side of Crystal Springs Drive. Guests still park at the Merry-Go-Round lots where traditional parking has been placed, but rather than continue away from the road and into the hiking area, guests now come back down the drive, crossing Crystal Springs Drive before turning southward and following the signs to the new site.

The change of scenery has done wonders for the event--now in its 13th season. The plot of land is larger than before, providing ample room to move around and to accommodate future expansion. One one half is the haunted hayride itself, with a new and more efficient layout. The other half contains the event's three mazes--Midnight Mortuary, Trick or Treat, and the new Dead End Diner debuting this year. In between is the town of Midnight Falls, where it's 1985, and every day is Halloween, and newly minted Mayor Monte Revolta brings a rocking performance to a central stage several times each evening.

When you see the pumpkin tower, you know what time its… it’s L.A. Haunted Hayride time!

Simply put, the L.A. Haunted Hayride is literally no longer squeezed like it used to be, and as a result, offers a simpler layout that's easy to navigate. In fact, the open space is almost too much--although the mazes are visible from the center of the site, guests may not readily or obviously notice them, because the walking distance to the attractions is more than in previous years.

Frankly, this is not a bad problem to have. Better to have too much space than not enough. But how did that impact the event? Well, in my opinion, it has greatly improved the flow and circulation, providing space for each attraction to breathe without being too sprawling. And the result is a quartet of haunted attractions that--combined--form the strongest line-up we've ever seen at the L.A. Haunted Hayride!

Midnight Falls

After a security check through metal detectors (we only saw a pair on our visit last Saturday; they probably need at least double or more than that come peak weekends in October), guests enter the event through a familiar themed passageway into the town of Midnight Falls. This was the new, overarching storyline setting envisioned by 13th Floor Entertainment Group Creative Director Jon Cooke, and in its third season as the organizing narrative, it has come into its own.

A souvenir and gifts shop has been enhanced with more scenic treatment on the facades--something that Cooke would like to see expanded each year to create more of an architecturally cohesive spookytown feel. It would definitely be awesome to start to see more of a "Halloween Town" come to life in the next few years, even though this would place even greater burden on the accelerated build that the Haunted Hayride crew must endure each year (they literally have to get everything set up in 2-3 weeks each September).

Meanwhile, the townsfolk introduced in 2019 are back, roaming the grounds and interacting with guests. There's a prom queen, a cheerleader, an aspiring film star, an exterminator, and a cook, to name a few. And they love chit-chatting and ingratiating themselves with their vistiing guests. Some of the conversations are jovial and charming. Other interactions aim for scares. But the startles are generally light--not at all to the intensity of a Knott's or Universal scare zone--and they reinforce the nostalgic brand of fun and spooky Halloween.

All hail the Miss Midnight Falls pageant winner!

This aspiring starlet is ravenous for fame!

A new diner has opened up in town, and this gentleman can tell you all about it.

Everyone is rah rah for Midnight Falls’ annual Halloween fair!

A central wayfinding signage post is located in the center of Midnight Falls, pointing to concessions (located to the left at the far end of the site), first aid, restrooms (near the food), the hayride, mazes, and the exit. An interesting observation... though the mazes were identified by name, because they were located so much farther away than before, some guests still had trouble realizing where to go to find the mazes. I suppose an addition to the sign categorizing "Midnight Mortuary," "Trick or Treat," and "Dead End Diner" as "MAZES" might be necessary.

Directions, directions, directions galore.

The stage where Monte Revolta performs is straight ahead (sadly, we arrived just after he was finishing a set, and the timing of our maze and hayride visits meant that we ended up missing his shows). There's also a nearby photo op--recognizable by haunt fans who attended Awaken the Spirits this year--and a big screen where guests can watch horror vignettes and play horror trivia. And the Scary-Go-Round is back too, located in a clearing eastward and amongst the three mazes.

So, um someone should help the girl in the radio station, right?

All in all, Midnight Falls' expanded footprint offers plenty of opportunity for the future and provides a nicely organized layout that will accommodate future Hayride growth. And the free-roaming characters reinforce the enchanting feel of this Halloween scene. Though there can be more sets in the future to increase the immersive feel, the L.A. Haunted Hayride has the makings of a fantastic set-up with this slight move down the hill, and we hope they are able to take advantage of it in the years ahead!

Dead End Diner

Of course, general ambiance at a haunt doesn't count for much if the scares aren't there, and that's where the mazes come in. Debuting as a new attraction this year and located on the far, southeast corner of the Crystal Springs picnic area is the Dead End Diner, an appropriately cannibalistic cafe that spills into a dingy back-alley setting, urban nightmares, and then veers into a feral farmhouse ambiance.

Of the three mazes, we thought this was the weakest--but only in comparison. After a terrific beginning with a great diner set giving way to a horrific kitchen setting, guests are dumped outdoors through an urban area that features ghastly ghouls and biker vampires and strange creatures of all sorts. This area gives way to a chainlink portion that appears to have come together late, but the talent within make the segment work. Helping them are a few actual dead ends in the maze, which are fortunately located relatively close to the main pathway and are not conducive to traffic jams and backups.

The back half takes on a farmland horror scene.

As guest continue their journey, the setting changes from urban to rural, as everyone approaches a sinister-looking farmhouse with shades of the previous third maze, Roadkill Ranch, from 2019. Inside, chainsaw fiends and wild farm beasts have taken over (along with a large amount of strobes). It all ends with a grand finale relocated from 2019’s Midnight Mortuary Maze that borrows from Sinister Pointe's playbook and has guests ambushed by hideous, giant farm animals who burst out with a jump scare, controlled by puppeteers in the background. What a high intensity and slightly goofy (in a great way) manner to end the maze!

Dead End Diner was only hurt by a somewhat unfinished-looking midsection, which is what put it under its two maze partners. Besides that, the cast was fantastic throughout, with great energy, wonderful timing, and intimidating auras. And at least on the opening weekend, it seemed to be the most popular maze, according to L.A. Haunted Hayride exit polling.

Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat has been a fan favorite and our favorite Haunted Hayride maze for years. And how could it not with its concept? Guests go trick-or-treating in a residential neighborhood in Midnight Falls, and the residents of each home they ring is a monster or creature that bounds out with a trick, then awards with a treat! Over the years, the general layout and flow of the maze hasn’t changed much, nor has it had to (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it), and this year provides much of the same.

Located in between the Dead End Diner and Midnight Mortuary mazes, Trick or Treat starts with a jaunt into an innocent, regular house. We come upon a family watching TV, but upon closer inspection, realize that there is a rotted over pumpkin on top of the television, and the viewers appear to have been viciously slaughtered and gutted. Who could do such a thing? Well, that is promptly answered by a jump scare from an out-of-site closet by a crazed, skeletal fiend. Welp, no sense in staying. Lets explore the neighborhood further!

The remainder of the maze takes place outside, much like it has in past years, and visits the home of generic versions of classic horror monsters and Halloween ghouls. All of them are wonderful, charismatic characters, with passion and energy and entertaining gestures. They don’t speak, but they do snarl or growl or roar or make indistinct creature noises, pantomiming emotion and expressing their unique personalities. About the only thing they didn’t have, surprisingly, was candy. We visited later in the night, so perhaps they had run out, but the noticeable lack of treats was perhaps the only disappointing part of the maze.

We loved this hokey and horrific werewolf creature!

Otherwise, engaging with the various monsters was a hoot. Our favorites included Frankenstein, who caricatured his frightened, new creation to the world personality more than his scary monster personality; a rocking werewolf who bounded out of his house with a bevy of energy (helped by some sparkers crackling from within the house) and a ferocious pounce, then switched to a dancing rockabilly movement; and the drunk but excited sorority girl who was upset at how dead her party was… because she had killed everyone. We also caught a literal baby shark on our second time through, who was literally delightful.

Be careful what comes out when you ring the doorbells at Trick or Treat!

Overall, Trick or Treat is a fun trek that reinforces the tone that the revamped L.A. Haunted Hayride carries—that balance of scaring but with a sense of fun and frivolity mixed within. It’s not meant to be overly serious—just a good fright that helps bolster an entertaining night.

Midnight Mortuary

Midnight Mortuary was introduced in 2019 as the headlining new maze featured as part of the Jon Cooke revamp of the event. This maze was actually a collaboration with Sinister Pointe, and the gritty, dark feel was clearly evident through the maze. Taking place at Midnight Falls’ funeral home, Midnight Mortuary guides guests along a horror show of the macabre, as visitors discover that the way the deceased are being treated is less than civil.

Where you have a mortuary, you have to have a cemetery.

This year, Midnight Mortuary has been expanded and given a bit of a polishing glaze. The mortuary parts remain dark and brooding, but the maze leads out into the Midnight Falls Cemetery—recognizable as the same set that guests exiting the haunted hayride in 2019 walked through. Like that iteration, there are creatures lurking in the dark and the mist. The undead roam the cemetery, passing from tombstone to tombstone, and ominous, hanging bat-like creatures can also be found suspended inside crypts and even in the trees above. They’re not all sinister—one of them seems to be a hard rock fan with his devil horn gestures and falsetto screeches. And that’s pretty awesome, because it brings the maze more in line with the overall Midnight Falls vibe. The cemetery also houses some fun Plague Production Easter eggs on the gravestones, giving fans a little bit of a treat.

There are plenty of disturbing creatures at the Midnight Mortuary.

Once back inside, the gore show really starts, as guests encounter the actual morgue itself and some desecrated bodies. There are a plethora of scares within this final third of the maze and some nice prop scares that take advantage of strobe lighting to disorient guests walking through. Our favorite monster of the maze was a little person who continuously nailed her jump scares, catching guests unawares because they were looking over her, or even in cases where she and the guest locked eyes, startling them anyway with a startle after lulling them into a false sense of security. That energy from the monsters went a long way toward making this our favorite maze of the evening.

Everyone is just dying to meet you. Or dying to kill you.

A big kudos to the talent at Midnight Mortuary (and really, all of the mazes) for their great performances through each of the times we went through. We know that a maze experience can sometimes be hit or miss because of the luck of timing, but during the time we spent through all of the mazes, the overall scare actor performances were on point and pretty fantastic. That hasn’t always been the case in prior years, and we left the maze area pretty impressed with what we saw!

The Haunted Hayride

Finally, our last stop of the night was the haunted hayride itself. The longstanding feature attraction of this whole event, the hayride frequently commands the longest lines, so strategically, guests without any of the front of line passes should either hit this up first thing in the night or wait until the end of the night and ride it as their last attraction. The line is kept open until event closing time, so that can help extend the length of one's effective visit if anyone is pressed for time after arriving later.

This year's haunted hayride occupies the northern half of the Crystal Springs picnic area and has a shorter overall route compared to past iterations. Guests can get in line to the right of the Monte Revolta stage, somewhat adjacent to the Midnight Mortuary maze. Once again, the auto shop facade from 2019 serves as the loading zone for the hayride wagons, offering a staggered organization to help try to speed up the loading.

There’s an expanded variety of scares at this year’s Haunted Hayride itself.

Although this year's hayride is shorter, we actually enjoyed it quite a bit. Similar to the effect with Halloween Horror Night's Terror Tram, where a more efficient layout "trimmed the fat" and kept the course focused and pretty action packed, the L.A. Haunted Hayride leaves the station and simply goes through a series of Halloween and horror themed scenes and dioramas featuring monsters and animatronics and lighting and theatrical effects.

Midnight Lake has gotten some enhancements compared to last year.

Thematically, there isn't any particular storyline that appears to tie everything together. But this somehow feels okay, because the "Halloween festival" premise of Midnight Falls embraces the hodgepodge of horror tropes from cinema and creature features alike. Guests who visited last year's Drive-Up experience will recognize some of the scenes--like Camp Midnight Lake taken over by sea creatures or Club Blood and its vampiric rockers--enhanced and overlaid with more detail this year. We also appreciated some of the scare tactics, including overhead intrusions and extra tall puppeteered creatures lunging around the wagons.

The unique creativity of some of the scenes is also a hoot. One room features Monte Revolta and his minions luring hayriders to their apparent doom. Another features the best band name we've ever seen at a haunt--The Crust Punx--rocking out like a demented Chuck-E-Cheese show.

Alien cage dancers? Why not. It’s an extraterrestrial party!

Of course, there are classic haunted hayride fiends too, like sadistic, chainsaw-wielding clowns and laser-shooting aliens (and dancing aliens), titanic, ambushing spiders. Keeping the course compact means less lulls between scenes, which establishes a pretty nice pacing throughout the attraction. I've always found it challenging to operate a haunted hayride, because the balance between intimate scares and safety around moving vehicles needs to be weighed against each other, but this year's cast does a great job lingering at times and drawing out scares after some guests thought the initial startle is over in order to give variety to the experience.

We left this year’s Los Angeles Haunted Hayride pleasantly thrilled at the overall fun and enjoyable time we spent. I won’t be afraid to say that in the past, there have been times when the Hayride has left us disappointed at the lack of fulfillment of the attraction’s great potential, but this year, every attraction seemed to be firing on all cylinders. The one feature we were unable to see was the Monte Revolta show, unfortunately. But the bit of the finale from one of his sets that we did see looked action packed and enjoyable to the crowd.

If this was how the Hayride was performing on opening weekend, when a haunts kinks are usually still being worked out, then we have high hopes and anticipation that Midnight Falls can be just as good or even better as the season progresses. Though there may be some confusion with guests unfamiliar with the new venue and entrance logistics as crowds increase in October, the new location sets up the Haunted Hayride for greater success than its former site, and the continued improving quality of all three mazes and the hayride itself has boosted the Hayride into contention with the big theme park haunts--even though quantity-wise, the Hayride is still a half-evening attraction.

In this case, however, it isn't a matter of quantity, it's quality. And in year three under Jon Cookes and Ted Dougherty's creative supervision, the L.A. Haunted Hayride seems to be hitting its stride. A job well done to the entire massive team, from the 13th Floor folks to the behind the scenes workers to the scareactors and crew on site. We had such a smooth and enjoyable time that I'm almost reticent to be so effusive, but a job well done deserves recognition, and this year's Hayride is a job very well done!