Taking the Kids: Celebrating Halloween for more than a month

Hope you have your witch’s hat and broomstick ready!

These days, whether you want to experience spooky rides, haunted houses or stay in a haunted hotel, Halloween events in many places have already started.

Just be mindful not to insist kids do anything they’re not ready for. That certainly includes Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood and Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay and Williamsburg, Virginia. Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights started the end of August and will run through Nov. 3

This year, Universal Monsters mavens are on the hunt as Saskia Van Helsing and the Bride of Frankenstein go up against Dracula’s daughter and her monstrous mavens. Ghostbusters can keep you from getting iced in another haunted house. The recommended age is 13 and over.

That’s a good rule of thumb for Howl-O-Scream and Knott’s Scary Farm in Buena Park, California, the longest running Halloween theme park event in Southern California where the entire park is transformed with haunted mazes, scary shows and more than 1,000 terrifying creatures hiding throughout the park. For younger kids, there’s Knott’s Spooky Farm (Thursdays through Sundays until Oct. 31 and Monday, Oct. 14) with trick-or-treating and kid-friendly Halloween activities. Busch Gardens features a Halloween Spooktacular (weekends until Oct. 29) with “Sesame Street” characters, a new trick-or-treat trail, Halloween show and more.

Younger kids will love the clever Brick or Treat trails at the LEGOLAND New York, LEGOLAND Florida and LEGOLAND California, as well as the Count’s Halloween Spooktacular at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania.

Also popular with younger families, Boo at the Zoo events occur everywhere from the Denver Zoo to the San Diego Zoo, Philadelphia Zoo, San Antonio Zoo, Little Rock Zoo, the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island, and the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, North Carolina, among others. Search for a zoo or aquarium near you with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums website. Like museums and theme parks, check online if you have to book reservations in advance.

And we can’t forget Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party at Disney World, and while tickets to the Ooogie Boogie Bash are sold out already at Disneyland, there’s plenty of Halloween fun to be had with the Haunted Mansion Holiday, Mater’s Graveyard JamBOOree at Cars Land, characters dressed for the holiday, an interactive Mickey’s Trick and Treat stage show, hundreds of hand-carved pumpkins, and more. There is also a Happiest Haunts Guided tour, including preferred viewing for Halloween Screams, the nighttime spectacular. ($120 per guest; there is also an extra charge for Mickey’s Not- So-Scary Halloween Party, ($119 to$199), complete with Mickey’s Boo-To-You Halloween Parade, a Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular, special tunes, attractions like Space Mountain with a Halloween vibe and plenty of special eats. (How about a Tombstone Tart?)

Orlando, by the way, boasts more than 90 days of Halloween fun, including haunted botanical gardens, an all-new Halloween drone show and a Beetlejuice-themed brunch. Besides the theme parks, there is a pirates’ dinner adventure show suitable for all ages, a Screamin’ Green Hauntoween at Crayola Experience, Gatorland’s Gators, Ghosts and Goblins (Oct. 12 to 27 and for adults, the Scream n’ Stream Drive-Thru Halloween Experience (weekends from Oct. 6 to 29, complete with seven horrify zones, music and special effects.

All October, Salem, Massachusetts, a.k.a. Witch City, celebrates its haunted happenings with costume parties, magic shows, movie nights, ghost tours and a Zombie Walk on Oct. 5 for all ages. Over in Boston, guests can book the Salem in a Day from Boston: The Legacy of Witches tour. Learn about the history of the Salem Witch Trials, as well as numerous pop culture moments and movies set in Salem.

Sleepy Hollow country in New York’s Hudson Valley is where The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze includes more than 7,000 illuminated, hand-carved pumpkins, a Tarrytown Halloween Parade, Music Hall Ghost tours, a haunted hayride and a dramatic presentation of Washington Irving’s classic “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

In Salt Lake City, come to the Grand America Hotel in costume for the Witches Tea Experience at The Grand (from Sept. 27 to Oct. 31) which gives a spooky twist to the hotel’s traditional high tea, complete with chilling live entertainment.

Enjoy leaf peeping along with some theme park thrills at Coeur d’Alene Resort in Idaho where nearby Silverwood theme park is made over with Scary Wood (ages 12 and over).

From California to Rome, City Experiences offers numerous spooky and fun-filled tours, perfect for Halloween travel across the globe. Out on the West Coast, book the Alcatraz Night Tour or in Rome, explore the Crypts, Bones & Catacombs: An Underground Tour of Rome.

You’ve got your pick of more than 1,200 haunted houses, according to America Haunts. Did you know Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday in the country?

You’ve got your pick of haunted hotels, too. Among the most famous is The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado. This after all is the place that inspired Stephen King to write “The Shining” and “Pet Cemetery”. Take the ghost tour or attend a seance. You will find haunted hotels around the country from the Malaga Inn in Mobile, Alabama, (look for the apparition in white on the balcony of room 7), the Menger Hotel in San Antonio, Texas, haunted by a murdered chambermaid, U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt and Captain Richard King, the founder of the King Ranch, who died in his suite here, or the Queen Mary, the repurposed ocean liner in Long Beach, California, where guests can take the Haunted Encounters Tour to see what ghosts call the ship home. Historic Hotels of America lists many haunted hotels across the country.

Just remember your witch hat!

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow TakingTheKids on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments. The fourth edition of The Kid’s Guide to New York City and the third edition of The Kid’s Guide to Washington D.C. are the latest in a series of 14 books for kid travelers published by Eileen.)