Southern California theme parks have turned Halloween from a one-night event into a two-month marathon of blood, guts, gore and screams that stretches throughout September and October.
Universal, Disney, Six Flags, Knott’s, SeaWorld and Legoland all offer differing takes on the Halloween season from spine-chilling scares designed to make you jump out of your skin to family fun that’s focused more on sugar highs than blood-curdling screams.
Universal’s Horror Nights is definitely an R-rated evening of terrifying scares. Knott’s Scary Farm, Magic Mountain’s Fright Fest and SeaWorld’s Howl-O-Scream fall into the PG-13 category — with the fear factor and quality levels also falling in that order. Disney’s Oogie Boogie Bash is a PG affair that focuses on the spooky while Legoland’s Brick or Treat G-rated event is about as family-friendly as Halloween can get.
