LA Haunted Hayride 2022 Review

The Los Angeles Haunted Hayride, presented by Thirteenth Floor Entertainment, is a quintessential spooky event that offers an immersive and thrilling experience for Angelenos. Taking place annually, it draws visitors into a world of eerie attractions and spine-chilling encounters. We went for the very first time in 2022 where we delved into the haunted hayride's offerings, revealing a blend of fun campy elements, atmospheric sets, and scare actors that sent shivers down our spines. For a concise overview of our experience, read on or jump to TLDR.

Did you even attend the LA Haunted Hayride if you didn’t get a photo in front of the pumpkin wall!?

If we want to get technical, we actually experienced Midnight Falls (the fictional location that situates all of the LA Haunted Hayride) during the Covid years as a drive-thru haunt experience. I was so desperate for haunts that I went multiple times, and honestly, for the rules and restrictions and safety precautions we had to follow, I thought they did a wonderful job. With that experience in mind, we knew we wanted to check out the proper LA Haunted Hayride as soon as we were able.

We got there early (not yet dark outside) so we just enjoyed the Town Square area and watched a few scare actors do what they do best. There was a fun merch store close to the entrance which we took a look through, they have quite a bit of unique options with characters they have created specific to LA Haunted Hayride, and they also carried some Halloween/spooky options from clothing brands in LA which I thought was very cool.

I really appreciated that there are more houses than just the official hayride portion, and we started with those first. I’ll be honest, it has been a whole year since we visited Midnight Falls, and our memories are rusty when it comes to the specifics of those houses (spoiler: we will be returning to the hayride in just a few weeks and can give more specific updates then!). I didn’t feel like many people were trying to go through these houses at once (in comparison to some of the larger haunt productions), so the jump scares were able to land their full effect for the most part but I don’t remember getting jump scared more than a couple of times in these houses. There was a very spooky carousel in the midpoint of these with fog pumping out, which added to the creepy atmosphere but overall it was very mild on the thrill aspect.

We breaked to find some vegan food and there were some options! They had a food court with various food truck offerings for you to choose from along with traditional carnival type foods. The vegan options were not very impressive, but they existed, and we didn’t expect much to begin with. I would encourage fellow vegans to eat beforehand and just grab a snack here if you need to. I will also note that I don’t remember there being any alcohol sales, and the only bathroom option is a porta potty.

Once it was dark, we queued up for the namesake attraction and the wait wasn’t bad at all, maybe 30 minutes. I wore that cute but short dress, so don’t make that mistake if you go! We were at Thirteenth Floor’s Midsummer Scream panel where they did reveal that the wagons will be larger in 2023 with the option to sit on a hay bale, so maybe it will be a bit easier. Boarding was fairly seamless, however, and we were quickly on our way. The sets were cool but the scares were minimal. I really wish they would have put more actors into the hayride to give that thrill factor. This is Los Angeles so this hayride will never be the same as a hayride in New England or Midwest, but they do a good job with what they have to work with; the vibes are still there.

When we exited, the Town Square performance was starting. They have a couple of showtimes per night starring Monte Revolta, one of the fan favorite characters of the LA Haunted Hayride. If you aren’t familiar, he is like a spin off of Beetlejuice, same crass/chaotic vibe and very fun! The show was about 30 minutes in length full of original songs and overall good campy vibes.

We left a bit earlier than most of the crowd and the parking was easy enough when we arrived; we walked down to the attraction itself, no shuttle needed. However, when we attempted to exit, we realized we were double parked by some special folks who did not want to park in an actual spot. Other attendees were in the same boat and had already gotten the attention of staff. This was one of the very last nights of the haunt (October 30th), otherwise the staff would have welcomed us back as a way of apologizing. They were very apologetic and kind but it was very chaotic, so bank yourself enough time to navigate that as the location is in Griffith Park.

Overall, we had a good time, and we will be back. This is a great haunt to attend with friends, family, or even kids. It's affordable, not super busy, and we finished doing everything we wanted to in a fairly short amount of time. It wasn’t overly scary, and the commitment to storytelling, set design, atmosphere and the recurring Midnight Falls characters make it worth attending!

TLDR

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TLDR 〰️

Killer K8’s Review:
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 3
Atmosphere Rating: 4
Vegan Food Rating: 2
Costume & Makeup Rating: 3.5
Scare Actor/Cast Rating: 4 (just wish there were more)
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 4
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 1.5
Value for Money Rating: 3.5

*Scores are out of a possibly perfect 5

Boo’s Review:
Overall Haunted Attraction Rating: 3
Atmosphere Rating: 4
Vegan Food Rating: 2
Costume & Makeup Rating: 4
Scare Actor/Cast Rating: 4
Set Design & Special Effects Rating: 4
Scare/Intensity Factor Rating: 2
Value for Money Rating: 3.5