Halloween in San Diego

photo by flickr user RichardBowen

By Joelle Lieb

As we enter the middle of October, we approach the favorite holiday of ghosts and ghouls everywhere, Halloween. San Diego has many local hot spots for Halloween fun.  Whether you’re looking for a huge scare or none at all, there are plenty of local activities to get you in the Halloween Spirit!

For the faint of heart, a pumpkin patch is always a safe bet.  There are three conveniently located pumpkin patches around town, at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, across the street from the polo fields, and on Manchester Avenue by Mira Costa.   Bring a few of your friends with you to play on the giant, inflatable slide and to select the perfect pumpkin to carve.  For dinner, you could enjoy a delicious dinner at Barbarella’s in La Jolla. Barbarella’s itself is in the festive mood with Halloween decorations, ranging from spider webs to spooky masks.

The opposite range of the spectrum includes Scream Zone, Haunted Trails, and the Haunted Hotel.  Scream Zone, which is held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, is open Monday-Thursday from seven p.m. to eleven p.m. and Friday and Saturday from seven p.m. to midnight.  It offers three different attractions, the Haunted Hayride, the House of Horror, and the Chamber.  The Haunted Hayride is perfect for those seeking only a minor scare, as a tractor pulls a group through a barn filled with monsters and ghosts.  The House of Horror and the Chamber requires participants to walk, or run screaming, through a series of terrifying rooms.  The Haunted Hotel at the Gaslamp is world-renown for its horrifying special effects, and has earned several awards to prove it. At the Haunted Hotel, innocent thrill seekers are invited to enter the hotel, but they must find their own way out.  Thus endures the scariest twenty minutes of their lives as they weave their way through rooms with actors frightening them along the way.    Haunted Trails at Balboa Park is much like the House of Horror or the Haunted Hotel except that it’s an outdoor, mile-long trail.  This year, the Haunted Trails is offering a new attraction, the eXperiment, which is an outdoor maze that thrill-seekers can’t leave until they find their way out.

For all CCA students, regardless of how much fear they can tolerate, the CCA Halloween Carnival is sure to be fun for all.  Because Halloween is a half day due to finals, the carnival will take place here after school.  Make sure to dress up, and come enjoy the CCA Halloween Carnival!