Halloween is just around the corner, and what better way to get in the Halloween spirit than scaring the living daylights out of yourself? Luckily, Los Angeles has got you covered. With its many Halloween attractions, it’s easy to meet all of your get-scared-out-of-your-mind needs.

Naturally, one of the first Halloween attractions that probably pops into your mind is Halloween Horror Nights. What with Universal Studio’s great renown and excessive advertising how could it not? But I propose a better option: The Haunted Hayride.

But, you might ask, what could possibly be better than Horror Nights? Well for starters, the price: at $89 for general admission, Horror Nights is definitely overpriced, and the $44 for Hayride general admission is much more reasonable.

Secondly, the lines: being a well-known attraction has its downfalls, and one downfall of Horror Nights is the incredibly long wait times, which significantly limit the number of mazes that a person can go on. The Hayride on the other hand, has much shorter lines, so a person is able to visit the same number of attractions in half the time. This makes the night much less tedious and allows you to spend your time on what really matters: getting scared.

Finally, the attractions: Universal Studios has one type of attraction – lots of people walk along a marked path and actors in costumes jump out and yell at them. Okay fine, but the Hayride brings the haunted maze to the next level: it’s actually a maze. There is no marked path, only strobe lights and people lurking around corners; finding the way out depends entirely on you. Not feeling up to that? Don’t worry because even though there are fewer attractions, the Hayride has a much greater variety of activities than Horror Nights. For example, there’s the Trick or Treat maze, which consists of a series of doors. Your job is to knock on each one as if you’re trick or treating, but what comes out isn’t always pleasant. If you’re looking for something a little more mellow, the Haunted Hayride has still got you covered. The Hayride itself is an open wagon that drives its passengers into various themed sections, in which costumed actors run up to the wagon and move around the passengers. It’s perfect for people who want a little taste of Halloween without getting too many nightmares. If that’s still too much, you can even just walk around “purgatory,” which is the central area of the hayride. Purgatory has lots of food, psychic readers, reenactments of horror movies, pumpkin carving, and of course plenty of characters in scary costumes. As you can see, the Hayride has lots of different attractions with varying degrees of fright.

Overall, with its reasonable price, decent wait times, and diverse attractions, the Haunted Hayride is the perfect way to get in the Halloween spirit. Even to you die hard Horror Nights fans out there, I highly recommend that you at least try the Haunted Hayride. It’s definitely worth it, and you’ll get a very unique experience and maybe some nightmares too. Happy Halloween everyone, have fun getting terrified!