With Halloween just around the corner, many people in the Bay Area look for a little fright at the Halloween Haunt at Great America.

Halloween Haunt is a renowned festivity that occurs every year during the month of October. The event includes a collection of haunted houses, different shows, and Halloween decor. People are thrilled from these haunted houses and actors that wander the park looking to scare those caught off-guard.

However, due to the shutdown of the park for one long year and the slow return of all festivities, the haunt has limited its celebrations. Because of COVID-19, a number of haunted houses did not return to the park this year. During a normal year, countless actors wander the park dressed as an assortment of terrifying characters, however, this year Great America limited the number to only two spots in the park to allow this. There are also only five haunted houses in the park rather than seven or eight.

While the limited number of haunted houses and actors has put a small damper on the celebration, that did not stop a large collection of Bay Area residents from attending the yearly bash. The lines extended to a near two hours for some haunted houses and the ride lines were around 45 minutes to one hour. Because of this, the “Fright Lane” was utilized by many. A $75 ticket per person for the Fright Lane allows the buyer to skip the long lines and use the fast lane to board the ride faster.

People may only attend Halloween Haunt if a reservation was purchased prior to the arrival. This allows the park to limit the number of attendants and monitor the number of people filtering in and out of the haunted houses. Due to COVID-19, Great America has had to limit their hours to weekends only, and reservations help monitor the hours as well. For Halloween Haunt, hours range from 7 P.M. to midnight, allowing for five frightful hours of fun.