Starting tonight (Oct. 6) Playland gets in the Halloween spirit with the 2023 edition of Fright Nights, on select nights in October.
This is the 20th anniversary of the East Vancouver attraction, which this year features eight haunted houses, 15-plus rides, creepy décor, roaming monsters and live performances.
New is “one of the scariest haunted houses in Fright Nights history,” The Void, where monstrous beasts stalk thick forests of the Pacific Northwest. “Within the lush and beautiful forest are the Howling Caves. It’s coincidence, many will say, how frequently people go missing along the trails and near the caves.”
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^^ Creatures outside new The Void haunt at Fright Nights, Playland. #Vancouver #Halloween @LBMG_Van https://t.co/a2loE3Nm8m pic.twitter.com/imoFkiHrXE
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) October 8, 2023
Another haunted house at Playland is Carn-Evil. “If you hate clowns, beware of this house because the clowns of Fright Nights are evil. In this haunted house the clowns are humanoid creatures who live right under our feet in the sewers below where they multiply and grow when they encounter radioactive toxic waste.
The Fright Nights food is spooky, too, with Zombie Fingers, Vampire Cookies, skeleton-like apples and hot dogs that look like fingers.
Now that's "finger food" — the kind found at Fright Nights at @PNE_Playland starting Friday. The menu includes Zombie Fingers, Vampire Cookies & more.
Would you eat mini hot dogs that look like this?
($12 at Coaster Dogs)Menu: https://t.co/TH9ElgGRRl#Halloween #Vancouver pic.twitter.com/6gYsX7tFGl
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) October 5, 2023
Creepy scenes at Playland’s annual Fright Nights attraction. (Photo: facebook.com/PNE.Playland)
During a nightly opening Scaremony, the characters Venom and Coco welcome Fright Nights guests “as our creepy cast members emerge from the fog in a completely unique immersive performance,” 6 p.m. at the park entrance.
Due to demand, Fright Nights is putting a cap on the number of tickets sold per day, and must be purchased for a specific date. Event nights have limited availability and may sell out. Admission includes unlimited access to all eight haunted houses, shows and rides. For details visit www.frightnights.ca.
• Meantime, Surrey’s “House of Horrors” attraction has a new Halloween haunt that has ticket-buyers blindfolded and holding a rope as they navigate a darkened maze where “actors bring on horrific tactile scares.”
The new Sinneraria “blackout” haunt in Newton requires an add-on ticket during Cougar Creek’s House of Horrors, which started Friday, Sept. 29.
This year the live-theatre horror attraction is open on 24 days, ending with two “Whisper Nights” Nov. 3-4 when “victims” will use flashlights in a maze filled with “quiet sounds, lower lights and lurking monsters.”
For kids 12 and under, the calendar includes six daytime Horrors Jr. Haunt sessions with no actors and softer sounds, from 2 to 5 p.m. weekends starting Oct. 14.
The three haunted houses this year are called Echoes of Abbath, New Year’s Evil and Zycho Zerkus. There’s also an escape room, The XMAS Escape From Incineration, where guests solve puzzles and search for clues.
Haunt details are posted on cougarcreekhouseofhorrors.com, where tickets are sold.
Located on 72 Avenue, the attraction partners with Surrey Food Bank to collect donations at the gate. Partial proceeds from ticket sales are also donated to the charity.
• RELATED: Creepy clowns haunt new ‘Zycho Zerkus’ house and comic at Surrey Halloween attraction, from 2022.
After a COVID-caused cancellation in 2020, the House of Horrors returned to Newton in 2021 with a new name and ownership, after longtime Potter’s employees Chris Pershick and Scott Pasternak bought the garden centre and re-branded. The year off in 2020 marked the first time since 2003 that the haunted houses didn’t operate.
