Nicole Knight
Staff Writer
Halloween as a young child means one thing: trick or treating. However, college students have a wide variety of options for the haunted night. Ranging from dressed-up amusement parks with scary intentions to fraternity parties in frightful costumes, University of La Verne students plan to live up this eerie night.
The Halloween-themed makeover of Southern California’s amusement parks offers big thrills and even bigger scares.
Knott’s Scary Farm, more widely known as Knott’s Berry Farm, has been a famous hot spot for big kids to experience the ecstasy of Oct. 31. The entire park is altered into their “Halloween Haunt” with heart-stopping thrill rides, morbid mazes and frightful shows. Throughout the park, monsters lurk in the fog to scare unsuspecting victims.
A night at the “Halloween Haunt” does not come cheap with admission at $46 and parking at $9. However, thrill seekers can save a few dollars by purchasing presale tickets for $41 through the park’s website, TicketMaster locations and at Knott’s Guest Relations.
“I want to go to Knott’s Scary Farm, but it’s kind of expensive,” ULV sophomore art major Ruthie Snyder said. “I’ve heard it’s really fun though.”
Six Flags Magic Mountain is another amusement park converting into a Halloween nightmare. Transforming into “Fright Fest,” the park offers extreme thrill rides in the dark, roaming zombies, spooky shows and terrifying mazes. Admission to Six Flags costs $46.99, which includes all “Fright Fest” attractions.
A unique Halloween transformation takes place on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Calif., as the gigantic ocean liner becomes “Shipwreck.” The terror fest offers frightful mazes, the Boiler Room Club featuring live bands and a huge three-level dance party. Slightly cheaper than the amusement parks, admission to the Queen Mary’s “Shipwreck” costs $29 per mortal.
For more scaled down spooks on Halloween night, a wide variety of haunted houses are available throughout the Inland Empire.
“The Haunted Vineyard,” located on Guasti Road in Ontario, is a fully themed, indoor/outdoor walk through attraction with movie quality environments created by special effects. To add to the Halloween thrills, the 100 year old vineyard is rumored to be haunted. Tickets for “The Haunted Vineyard” cost $12.
The majority of college students usually plan a night out on the town for Halloween.
Whether they are going to local street fairs or fraternity parties, students crave excitement for the spookiest evening of the year.
Amanda Burchill, freshman criminology major, plans to walk the decorated street fair at UC Santa Barbara with friends on Halloween. The group has coordinated matching sailor outfits for the occasion.
“I’m excited about dressing up,” Burchill said.
Other students plan to enjoy the spirit of Halloween from the comfort of their own homes. Instead of trick or treating from door to door, college students intend to switch the role from receiver to giver.
“My boyfriend and I plan to spend all day decorating his house, carving pumpkins and handing out candy to neighborhood kids,” Snyder said.
“My entire neighborhood is planning to get together to give out candy to the kids,” ULV sophomore English major Derek Chacon said. “It should be a lot of fun; I plan to dress up like Spiderman,” he said.
Having the perfect costume on Halloween can define the night’s experience and make or break the last night of October.
According to A. Harlequin Costume in Rancho Cucamonga, college students have been devising unique attire for Sunday. The shop offers a wide variety of costumes for sale or rent, make-up kits, wigs and masks.
“Most of our customers come in with their own ideas, we just help them create it,” said Olga Blind, staff member at A. Harlequin Costume.
The shop has assembled many creative costumes for the haunted night including the flamboyant garments of Siegfried and Roy, the personalities of Snap, Crackle, Pop from Rice Krispies cereal and the widely known Martha Stewart, complete with ball and chain.
Nicole Knight can be reached at stareknight17@charter.net.
