Ghost Trains, Boats, Tours, and Haunted Rides

So you've already been to the pumpkin patches, and you're ready to take Halloween to the next level - you're ready, in fact, to put it in motion. Well, we know six different ways to take this haunt on the road - with everything from an old-fashioned train ride through fields of pumpkins to a terror-filled hayride through fields of zombies. Whatever Halloween means to your family, you can make it a ride at one (or more) of these annual haunts.

​Ghost Train
Weekends October 13-31, 2012
Griffith Park
5202 Zoo Drive
LA, CA 90027
323.661.8958
Families with young kids looking for spooky rides through Griffith Park line up annually to ooh, aah, and eek on the Los Angeles Live Steamers' Ghost Train. The unique, seven and a half gauge ride-on train gets a big dose of witches and goblins for the season, as well as flashing lights, creepy skeletons, and eery tableaux. Kids must be at least 34" tall to ride; brave kids of three, uncynical kids of ten, and grown-up parents of everyone in between squeal with glee as the train spirits them away.

Headless Horseman Dinner Train
Select dates October 13-28, 2012
Adults $47; Children (ages 4-12) $32; (ages 2-3) $24; Infants free
351 Santa Clara Street
Fillmore, CA 93015
800.773.8724
Slightly off the haunt-beaten path, Fillmore & Western Railway invites families to creep aboard a vintage train for a spooktacular adventure that includes dinner, storytelling, and a search through a remote pumpkin patch for the Headless Horseman. Costumes are encouraged, and advance reservations are required.

Pumpkinliner
Every Sat & Sun in October
Adults $20; Children (ages 4-12) $12; (ages 2-3) $10; Infants in lap free
Another offering by Fillmore and Western each October is the Pumpkinliner, a daytime family ride on a vintage train to the railway's own pumpkin patch. There's nothing spooky about this ride at all - just a wholesome family outing on a Halloween-themed train to a pumpkin patch that feels wonderfully far from town.

Irvine Park Railroad Pumpkin Patch
Daily September 22 - October 31, 2012
Admission free; Each activity $4
1 Irvine Park Road
Irvine, CA 92862
714.997.3968
This train isn't haunted, but it spends 12 minutes meandering autumnally among the pumpkins. In addition to the Pumpkin Train, kids can jump in a moon bounce, go on a hay ride, play carnival games, get their faces painted, and pick pumpkins at Irvine Park Railroad (most activities $4). Be sure to check the coupon page before heading over.

The Pumpkin Patch is located just behind the train station, and admission is free, but the County of Orange charges a gate entrance fee ($5) to drive into Irvine Regional Park.

Los Angeles Haunted Hayride
$25-$50
Thu-Sun (+ some Wed) October 5-31
Griffith Park (Old Zoo)
4730 Crystal Springs Ave.
LA, CA 90027
​310.993.8289
This is not your mama's hayride. The Haunted Hayride, a vehicular source of thrills and chills not for the faint of heart, causes adult screams through Griffith Park each year. This is an event best shared with teens and no one younger - but boy will your teens think you're cool.

​Queen Mary's Dark Harbor
Weekends throughout October
$24-$39
1126 Queens Hwy
Long Beach, CA 90802
562.435.3511
The motion here is only side to side - but there is no young kids' version of this haunt. The historic, purportedly haunted Queen Mary creates its annual Halloween Terrorfest on board in port in Long Beach, featuring five spooky mazes that wind their way through the hull of the ship. Costumes are not permitted, and Dark Harbor is not recommended for anyone under the age of 14.