Haunt O'Ween: 2022 Review

The Promenade, Woodland Hills, CA

As our coverage of the Southern California Halloween season continues, we switch gears from the scary and demented to something much more palatable for whole families and children (as well as couples and friends) to attend. Haunt O'Ween is an immersive and lavishly photogenic Halloween attraction produced by Experiential Supply Co. Originally taking the form of a drive-thru in its inaugural, pandemic-impacted 2020 year, the event transitioned to a walk-through activity last year, when we visited for our first time.

Though we initially weren't sure how everything would play out, what we found was a fantastic, charming, spirit of the season-capturing October attraction that really embodied the spooky joy and fun of All Hallows Eve. With impressively detailed and extensive backdrops and atmospheric sets, Haunt O'Ween provided a lovely alternative to the intense scares and high energy that mark the majority of Southern California's Halloween attractions. And though it was located well west of Los Angeles, we found this quality event to be appealing enough to warrant a drive out to this nook of the San Fernando Valley to explore and experience a wonderful Halloween time!

Haunt O’Ween is fun for guests of all ages!

This year, Haunt O'Ween returns for its third overall year. Produced in partnership with Fever and with additional sponsorship by Netflix, Bang Energy drinks, Happy Dad hard seltzer, Takis chips, and Sanzo sparkling water, Haunt O'Ween features 8 themed areas and 200,000 square feet of ghoulishly spooky fun, with a mix of returning favorites and new environs providing something for both new and returning guests.

A look at the lay of the land.
(Image courtesy of Haunt O’Ween and Experiential Supply Co.)

The attraction is located at the same part of the old Promenade at Woodland Hills as last year, off Topanga Boulevard between Oxnard and Erwin Streets, in front of the old Macy's building that anchored this sector of the mall. There's plenty of parking from the Erwin Street entrance, and the event entrance is straight from the lot, from the north.

This year, the entire first half of the event has been completely revamped, with five delightful areas bringing new spooky cheer.

Funnybones Ranch greets guests with a traditional autumn farm aesthetic, with friendly pumpkin-headed scarecrows, plenty of stacks of hay bales, old fashioned buggies, and even a barn where guests can pose with skeletal livestock (which, I suppose, would make them not live) in various stances. With plenty of static characters forming whimsical scenes and a few live actors and roaming stilt walkers, this is a terrific way to set the tone and kick off the route by showing the childlike glee for Halloween and the adorable decorations that come with the holiday.

Funnybones Ranch replaces Funnybones Graveyard as this year’s entrance to Haunt O’Ween, and there are a variety of characters guests can meet.

This is an example of some of the silly and fun small details that have been poured into the event.

Guests then transition into Hidden Hollows, an eerier graveyard setting with billowing fog and elegant tombstones and even a majestic crypt. Look closer, and guests might spot a ghostly figure within a misty gazebo. In the corner, a massive skeleton arm seems to be springing out of the very earth!

The spooky graveyard of Hidden Hollows is moody and beautiful.

The ambiance is wickedly delightful at Haunt O’Ween!

A tunnel serves as a portal to the third themed area of Haunt O'Ween, Ghoul Town, which takes on the look of a cartoonish suburban village set in the backdrop of a big city, with a style sort of feels just before mid-century. This area is more of a plaza space, with several food and beverages stands plus some children's activities like face painting.

Ghoul Town brings last year’s western town up a century.

Then it's onto the Beyond the Grave Rave, which might have been our favorite neighborhood of the evening! This area is a blacklit dazzle of wild and glowing color, featuring a Gothic tropical blend of artificial foliage and large, fluorescent skeletons, and several geodesic domes that somehow managed to feel cohesive despite the disparate parts. The colorful plants are particularly photogenic, as is the gargoyle statue under a disco ball in one of the smaller domes and the tubular neon decor and furnishings all around.

The Beyond the Grave Rave is a kaleidoscope of color.

This gargoyle is the most ultraviolet and lushly set gargoyle ever.

Enjoy a dance party inside the (g)rave dome!

Rounding out the first half of Haunt O'Ween is Moonlight Magic, which extends the cool purple, blue, and green hues into a domain that is focused on witches and spells and potions. There's a witch's house that's a nice walkthrough with an incredible amount of detail inside and an interactive encounter with the witch who lives there and is looking to have guests over for dinner. Outside, a central cauldron photo op provides a great backdrop, and there are more children's activities like sand potion making and bubbling brews station. A little village of cottages also encloses this area, with purple string lights enhancing the sorceress vibe!

Moonlight Magic welcomes guests to a witching atmosphere.

The show stopping Pumpkin Tunnel marks the transition from new content to returning favorites, as it provides an orange, moving light portal that is perfect for that iconic Instagram shot or TikTok video and turns guests around the far end of the Haunt O'Ween premises to guide them in the direction that will take them back toward the entrance.

The big Pumpkin Tunnel, recognizable from all the promotional material for Haunt O’Ween.

Last year, the Pumpkin Tunnel led to a towering and magnificent Addams Family house facade, which tied into the sequel movie that had just been released. This year, with no tie-in, the path flows directly into the Town of Hauntoween, which has been redesigned and laid out differently than last year. This year's iteration seems cozier and more linear, with a winding lane passing by houses that are lined up more rigidly than last year's free-flowing town square arrangement. This seems to act more as a funnel to keep guests moving instead of exploring around, and it seems a little simpler. However, the trick-or-treating activities in the Town of Hauntoween remain, and there are plenty of friendly citizens who are around to pass out candy and wish guests a happy Halloween!

The Town of Hauntoween is reconfigured this year.

But guests can still get plenty of candy!

Finally, guests find themselves in the last thematic environment, the Fangtastic Fair. This is an expanded version of the Pumpkin Patch finale last year. There are several travelling fair rides, an inflatable bounce zone, some large format party and traditional carnival games, a pumpkin patch, and even the hay bale pyramid (though it's noticeably shorter than last year, perhaps to mitigate safety concerns). This is also where the largest concentration of food offerings is located, with a combination of food trucks and food stands off to the side. If guests haven't been able to enjoy any refreshments or snacks along the way, they can certainly finish their trip through Haunt O'Ween with some sustenance here and rest their legs a little.

There are some carnival rides and games added this year.

Aside from a slight dip in the ambiance of the last two areas, this year's Haunt O'Ween seems to have made several largely logistical improvements form last year that have improved the guest experience. Beverage bars (full of sponsored products) and smaller food stands have been spread out more across the entirety of the walkthrough, as opposed to being all clustered at the end. This helps spread out crowds and avoids clustering people all at one general location and increasing wait times for food and drink.

There also seems to be a lot more children-centric activities, giving kids something to do at every stop. Whereas last year seemed more focused on the social media selfie crowd, this year seems to make a bigger reach toward the family activity range. We really appreciate both enhancements, which have definitely improved the event overall. In fact, just about the only issue we did have—other than a long line to enter that was probably more related to media and VIP preview check in operations—was figuring out how to exit the event without completely retracing our steps and walking all the way back to the beginning. The signage denoting the regular exit seemed a little lacking in this regard, though we ultimately used our knowledge of the general layout and last year's experience to find our way out just off the Town of Hauntoween transition to the Fangtastic Fair, which leads to a corridor in the middle of the U-shaped Haunt O’Ween layout back to the parking lot.

Food and drink are spread out much better this year.

And there are more kids’ activities this year.

The 3rd Annual Haunt O'Ween is a phenomenal and engaging success, with a great breadth of activities and sights and interactions that are perfect for a family outing or a date night. Experiential Supply Co. has put together a really remarkable celebration of Halloween, and the new enhancements and features this year certainly make Haunt O'Ween worth visiting even for guests who many have come last year. The remote site relative to metropolitan Los Angeles and Orange County may be a deterrence for some, but we think this event has the quality and the enchanting allure to attract a drive over--even with the current gas price spike putting an understandable and tangible challenge to getting around for non-essential transport.

(For any readers out in on the upper East Coast, there’s a Haunt O’Ween out in Holmdel, New Jersey, not too far from New York City, this year too!)

Don’t let this slip back into the afterlife. Go visit Haunt O’Ween this weekend!

Haunt O'Ween is located at 6100 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91367 and runs most days the entire month of October, from 4:00 to 10:00 pm (last entry at 9:00). Tickets can be purchased on site or in advance online. They start at $36.00 plus fees on quieter nights for general admission (children 2 and under are free) and range to $70.00 plus fees for VIP on peak nights. The VIP admission includes:

Express entry to the experience
Ride and face-painting pass (Skip the Line)
Branded trick-or-treat bucket
Popcorn & candy apple voucher

Guests are encouraged to come in costume, and all transactions are cashless. There's also a "Daniel Spellbound" hidden experience that guests can find within the Haunt O'Ween adventure. We did not have time to discover this, but it just adds to the bountiful amount of amenities and activities at Haunt O'Ween! Kudos again to the team involved. This really is just a lovely and captivating Halloween spectacle!