Los Angeles Haunted Hayride

This event is honestly trash, lines way too long for not that much to experience. Everything is too short with an embarrassing production value for being in LA.

I attend LA Haunted hayride every year!! It’s one of my favorite events for sentimental reasons. Reminds me of being back home in the Midwest. Monte Revolta is a rockstar!

I will be honest and say that I haven’t been here since pre-2020, but let me explain why. The Haunted Hayride seems like a huge attraction in LA - there’s signs everywhere for it + it’s at the historic Griffith park. However, the problem that I ran into, 2 years in a row, was that the tickets were outrageous for what they were charging vs the experience we got. I am fully in support of paying the actors & crew what they deserve, esp for the halloween season where there’s added dangers of being outside/scaring people. But when I went, it was like 40ish dollars for JUST the hayride, which was, to be blunt, really bad. Like so bad it was amazing, but not for that price. I actually took people that were scared of haunted houses because I knew they wouldn’t get scared, and we had a blast laughing but it simply wasn’t worth the price. The storyline made 0 sense, actors forgot their cues, & one year the power went out and we didn’t get a do over or refund or anything, so we were just riding in the dark with like occasionally people screaming or backup generators would work at random stations only. The final thing was that it also wasn’t very long - if it was at least lengthy experience I could be a little understanding, but no. The line waiting was so long compared to the ride and it was hell because they had a very limited halloween soundtrack that just kept repeating over & over. The whole event LOOKS really cool - scare actors, there’s vendors, food, tarot/palm reading, & mazes - but all of that, even the mazes, cost extra. And the price was so high to just do the hayride that a) I couldn’t justify doing more and b ) I’m not sure even if I had it would’ve been any better. I think I would be a little less harsh if ONE thing had been good - like if the sets had been really cool, or the storyline, or we’d gotten scared, or even if it had been a decent price! But sadly nothing stood out for the right reasons. I think some of the actors were probably busting their asses but you really can’t do much after a certain point. It’s either scary or it’s not. I can’t recommend - I’d say Reign of Terror/ROT Mall is a much better time & deal even if it’s further away, and that’s also been going for years. I wish Hayride would take some of its billboard budget & put it into the production value or pay people to lower the ticket prices. To be fair, maybe it’s improved, but it was so bad the last times I went that I basically resolved never again. If you feel like it’s an LA classic & you have to visit, or you really miss hayrides from back home, I hope you enjoy, but I do recommend researching it a little on YouTube or TikTok to see what you’re getting into. Also pro tip don’t wear heels it’s mostly dirt paths & you WILL be walking.