The Haunted Trail of Balboa Park — Attraction in San Diego

Date of visit: 10/6/2016

I'm not a huge fan of haunted houses or trails or anything else where people are hired to scare you. Even though I logically know it's all fake, my mind still goes into defensive, scream for your life mode. I know there is a huge following of people who love this sort of thing - Monica and my mom included, so I wanted to go along (plus Issac begged with me to go so he wouldn't be the only scaredy-cat). We ended up being a group of 8 and had a bit of adrenaline infused fun in the end.

If you go to Wendy's, you can get a $5 off general admission ticket, so each of us paid $20. However, for and additional $10-$15 (depending on the night), you get to skip the line before the maze, which would have been worth it in my mind. We ended up waiting in the first line for about an hour and the second line for about 20 minutes. It was a pretty long wait considering I had to go to work the next day, but the rest of our group didn't really feel like paying.

The maze was pretty interesting - the goal is to get through the maze, but unless you get lucky, you'll be going in circles for a bit. There are a lot of strobe lights and fog to make it disorienting as well. The actors were pretty good, but if you don't act scared, they'll leave you along. I also think they got a little annoyed with our group because they eventually scared us into the correct direction.

Groups are separated into ~12 people, so there were 4 other people walking around with us. They do ask that you stay together so that the actors have time to reset for the next group. Sometimes you can see them resetting, so it helps to keep your eyes forward if you don't want to get too scared. The scariest parts for our group were the areas that you absolutely couldn't see what was coming (but I always let someone else go first to take that risk). I have some great memories of my brother being absolutely surprised and terrified.

Overall, if you're a fan of these types of haunted activities, then this is worth a shot. I can't give a great representation of the quality since this is the only haunted activity I've ever done, but Cam said it was good (and he's done these in the past). Some people in our group mentioned that an actual house would be more scary since the park set up is more open, so you feel like it might be...

Looking for something fun to do in San Diego? Check out the Haunted Trail in Balboa Park. Time slots sell out quickly do make sure to ourchase your tickets ahead of time. I purchased the VIP option for my husband and I (about $15 more per ticket) and my son and his friends had timed tickets for 9:30pm. Being a weekend and so close to Halloween if the extra cost does not bother you I highly recommend getting the VIP. We were able to walk right up and into the first experience. My son and his friends waited roughly 45 minutes in the timed line. If your with a group of friends waiting is not so bad (gives you time to chat or play Heads Up).

The first walk through experience was dark, scareators throughout and fun. Minimal strobe and ither lighting (I really try to avoid as it triggers my migraines) but it wasnt excessive like other mazes we've been through. There was also a few scenes throughout to point you in the right direction to exit.

Once you are out there is a short line to get to the start of the maze. The VIP didn't necessarily help us here but got us further ahead than the timed groups on the first maze. While you wait you may or may not meet some new scary friends (and I am not talking about the folks your waiting in line with).

The trail itself is pretty awesome, lots of scares from some familiar horror franchises. There is no shortage of scares. The entries are timed perfect and ensure small groups are walking the trail and each person has an opportunity for a scare. One of our favorites was the scene from the Nun. Don't want to give anything away but it was pretty cool and different.

The whole experience was very interactive and when you think you are "safe" you find yourself letting out a little scream. Plenty of scareators and filled with fun. I felt this was the best experience out of the three experiences here in San Diego (including Haunted Hotel and Screamzone). From beginning to end the whole experience took us under an hour total and VIP roughly $50/ticket. Check out their site for times...

I gave it three stars because I think that it was better in 2017 when I went for the first time. It was a lot more creative than this year.

SPOILERS Recap of my experience: You buy your ticket (cash is accepted & better because if you pay with a card you get charged a fee). They sells snacks there too. A boring horror movie was playing in a projector as you wait in line, which made the 30mins in line better. They send a group of about 12 people at a time, but once inside you mostly get separated because it's very chaotic (in a good way) with everyone trying to find their way out of the maze. The strangers things room was much better in 2017 & so was the jeepers creepers room. I felt the ending was blah, they should have had another maze at the end because I felt like it needed a big ending. The people inside should actually be dressed in a costume not just regular clothes. I think it needed to be scarier & a little less predictable.

Will I go again next year? Probably just to see what changed. Is it worth the price? Yeah, not bad Will I recommend? Sure, I guess the best is your first time since you don't know...