Family-Friendly Halloween Attractions in Southern California (2026)

Family-Friendly Halloween Attractions in Southern California (2026)

Updated: October 2026

Halloween in Southern California isn’t just one night. It’s a whole season, and the region’s theme parks, zoos, gardens, and family resorts go all out to make it last. This guide rounds up the big, long-running Halloween experiences, the ones that stretch across weeks and give you plenty of chances to fit one into your family’s schedule.

Inside, you’ll find trick-or-treat trails at the theme parks, glowing pumpkin walks through botanical gardens, after-dark fun at the zoo, and spooky science at local museums. Many are gentle enough for little ones and big enough to keep older kids entertained. Most run through Halloween weekend (or close to it), and a few are included with regular park admission, so you can add some fall magic to a day you were already planning.

Pick a favorite (or a few), grab the costumes, and get ready for a very fun October!

🚨 Know Before You Go!

The Kidsguide team does their best to keep information accurate at the time of posting, but changes, cancellations, and errors can happen! Be sure to double-check details with the event organizer before heading out.

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⛳️ Fall Fest & Halloween Fair
📍 Golf N’ Stuff, Norwalk
🗓️ Saturdays in October • 2-6pm

Visit Golf N’ Stuff on Saturdays in October for free balloon art and free face painting for kids (12 years and under). Don’t miss the Halloween Fair on October 31 for costume contest, karaoke, and carved pumpkin contest.

🛍️ Halloween Boutique
📍 Roger’s Gardens, Corona del Mar
🗓️ Starts August 28, 2026
✅ FREE!

Roger’s Gardens is a unique shopping destination for creatively curated Halloween décor and one-of-a-kind Halloween artisan pieces. Every inch of the boutique features items highlighting this year’s theme of Moonlight Masquerade.

🐬 Halloween Spooktacular
📍 SeaWorld, San Diego
🗓️ September 11 – November 1, 2026

Trick-or-treat along Captain Sweet Tooth’s Candy Trail, meet Baby Shark and Pinkfong, and catch the all-new Baby Shark Halloween Show, making its California debut. Dance with Spookley the Square Pumpkin, meet mermaids, explore the Waterfront Pumpkin Patch, and enjoy character encounters and live entertainment. Included with park admission.

🦇 The Count’s Halloween Spooktacular
📍 Sesame Place, Chula Vista
🗓️ September 12 – November 1, 2026

Come in costume for silly, not-too-spooky fun as the park becomes a family-friendly Halloween haven. Kids can trick-or-treat around the park, catch Halloween shows and the Sesame Street Halloween Parade, and join the interactive Spot-The-Ghost Scavenger Hunt. Expect DJ parties, rides, games, and photo ops with Sesame Street friends dressed in costume.

👻 The Hollow Awakens
📍 Lakewood Center, Lakewood
🗓️ September 12 – November 1, 2026

Imaginarium’s first-ever Halloween experience turns nearly 100,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space into a haunted world, with nine zones of illuminated monsters, spirits, and ancient beings. Kids can trick-or-treat, join a treasure hunt, earn prizes, and catch nightly circus acts, plus play in an all-ages outdoor zone with a glowing pumpkin patch, inflatable obstacle course, ball pit, and mask-making craft area. Two higher-intensity zones with jump-scare actors are easy to skip for younger or easily spooked guests.

🧛 Vampirates
📍 Pirate’s Dinner Adventure, Buena Park
🗓️ September 14 – November 8, 2026

Feast with the undead during a Halloween dinner show filled with vampire pirates, cursed treasure, sword fights, aerial acrobatics, special effects, and interactive storytelling. Costumes are encouraged, and a three-course dinner is served during the 90-minute family-friendly adventure.

🎢 Tricks and Treats
📍 Six Flags Magic Mountain, Valencia
🗓️ September 18 – November 1, 2026

This daytime, family-friendly event features a Trick or Treat Trail for kids 13 and under, seasonal treats, Halloween entertainment, and themed activities throughout the park. Kids can decorate pumpkins at Patch’s Pumpkin Patch and join a Looney Tunes Halloween dance party, plus explore the Spellbound Harvest Trail for little thrill-seekers.

Photo: Magic of the Jack O’Lanterns

🎃 Magic of the Jack O’Lanterns
📍 South Coast Botanic Garden, Palos Verdes Peninsula
🗓️ September 18 – November 1, 2026

Follow a one-mile trail at South Coast Botanic Garden lined with more than 10,000 carved pumpkins, glowing sculptures, and themed displays. The experience combines art, light, and family fun among the garden’s scenic paths, with live entertainment, photo ops, s’mores stations, and a Fun Zone featuring slides and a bounce pad. Food and drinks are available on site.

Photo: LEGOLAND

🧱 Brick or Treat
📍 LEGOLAND, Carlsbad
🗓️ September 19 – November 1, 2026

Trick-or-treat your way through the park, meet mischievous LEGO Monsters, show off costumes, and catch spooky live shows. Venture down the all-new Brick or Treat Street with six life-sized LEGO Monster homes and a glowing interactive light trail, plus discover boo-tastic Halloween twists on select rides.

Photo: Natural History Museum

🕷️ Spider Pavilion
📍 Natural History Museum, Los Angeles
🗓️ September 20 – December 6, 2026

Walk through an open-air pavilion to see hundreds of orb weavers and their magnificent webs, then step into the spider den to peer into habitats housing species from tarantulas to wolf spiders. Museum Educators share stories and answer arachnid questions along the way. Special exhibition tickets are an additional charge and require the purchase of general admission tickets to the museum.

🐺 Howl-o-ween Festival
📍 Great Wolf Lodge, Garden Grove
🗓️ September 24 – October 31, 2026

Great Wolf Lodge adds Halloween activities throughout the resort, including a trick-or-treat trail, Monster Bash dance party, crafts, Boo Bingo, trivia, and themed games. Howl-O-Ween activities are included with an overnight stay.

Photo: Knott’s Spooky Farm

🌽 Knott’s Spooky Farm
📍 Knott’s Berry Farm, Buena Park
🗓️ September 24 – October 31, 2026

Trick-or-treat through Ghost Town, meet creepy critters, and join Snoopy and the Peanuts gang for games, music, spooky stories, and a costume party. Catch Bob Baker marionettes, live entertainment, and more throughout the park. Included with park admission; select activities cost extra.

Photo: Nights of the Jack

🎃 Nights of the Jack
📍 King Gillette Ranch, Calabasas
🗓️ September 25 – November 1, 2026

Walk a reimagined one-mile trail filled with glowing pumpkins, large-scale jack-o’-lantern installations, immersive displays, lights, and interactive experiences. The event also features food trucks, seasonal drinks, the Spookeasy, and new photo opportunities along the trail.

🔮 Enchanted Halloween
📍 Discovery Cube LA, Sylmar
🗓️ September 26 – November 8, 2026

Explore a mix of science and magic with hands-on activities throughout the center, including an Illusion Lab, haybale maze, and corn maze. This experience combines Halloween themes with interactive discovery and play.

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Photo: Camelot Golfland

⛳️ Spooky Mini Golf
📍 Camelot Golfland, Anaheim
🗓️ October 1 – November 1, 2026

Camelot Golfland’s mini golf course undergoes a spooky transformation for Halloween! Play 18 haunted holes filled with family-friendly frights all october. Included with standard admission.

🦁 HalGLOWeen
📍 San Diego Zoo
🗓️ October 1-31, 2026

Stay late for glowing Halloween fun with live music, acrobatic performances, spooky wildlife encounters, games, character meet-and-greets, and neon surprises throughout the zoo. See reptiles after dark, meet scarecrow stilt-walkers, and catch the singing Glow-Go’s pumpkins. Kids get in free throughout October.

🌿 Carved
📍 Descanso Gardens, La Cañada Flintridge
🗓️ October 2 – November 1, 2026

Stroll through the gardens after dark among glowing jack-o’-lanterns, giant hand-carved pumpkins, illuminated railroad displays, whimsical wood spirits, and immersive art installations. Go Halloween night for trick-or-treating throughout the experience.

🍁 Pumpkin Palooza Festival
📍 Discovery Cube OC, Santa Ana
🗓️ October 3 – November 1, 2026

Celebrate Halloween with a dance party, trick-or-treating, an interactive pumpkin maze, bumper cars, mini tractor rides, midway games, and hands-on spooky science. Kids can explore Pumpkinology 101, launch pumpkins into compost bins, and learn about sustainability through festive activities. A sensory-friendly dance party is offered October 18.

🦉 Boo at the Zoo
📍 Santa Ana Zoo
🗓️ October 17-25, 2026

Halloween family festival with trick-or-treating, lights & decorations, nocturnal animal presentations, scavenger hunt and rides.

👻 Ghost Haunt
📍 Calico Ghost Town, Yermo
🗓️ October 23-25 & October 30 – November 1, 2026

Every year, Calico Ghost Town celebrates Halloween with the Annual Ghost Haunt. The event includes trick-or-treating, costume contests, pumpkin carving, kids’ carnival tent, campfire and ghost stories, games, live entertainment stage shows, haunted attractions and more. During evening Scare Hours, costumed creatures descend on Main Street for scares and photo ops.

Photo: L.A. Zoo

🐘 Boo at the Zoo
📍 LA Zoo, Los Angeles
🗓️ October 24 – November 1, 2026

Trick-or-treat through the zoo, hear special keeper talks, enjoy animal pumpkin enrichment sessions, live performances, and more.

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♻️ Organics Recycling Doesn’t Have to be Scary!

This Halloween, the only scary thing should be your decorations. Before you toss that jack-o’-lantern or clean up after trick-or-treating, remember: pumpkins and other food scraps belong in the organics bin, but plastic decorations and candy wrappers don’t! Visit ggcity.org/organics to learn more about what belongs in the organics bin.

Plus, Garden Grove residents receive free access to the Scrapp App, a mobile and web app that identifies exactly where a household item belongs. All you have to do is scan or search your Halloween items, and Scrapp will tell you where each one belongs.

Make this Halloween a happy one for our community and our planet. Thank you, Garden Grove, for doing your part!

Brought to you by the City of Garden Grove Organics Recycling Program. Funded by CalRecycle.

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