Last night the Freeform Halloween House made its 2019 debut at The Hollywood Athletic Club in Los Angeles. After having such a blast at last year’s event, my wife and I decided to make a weeknight trip out to Los Angeles to see what Freeform had in store for 2019, and we were not disappointed.
Moving to a new location, the event has a much larger footprint than last year packing photo ops, games, and other spooky fun into two floors of The Hollywood Athletic Club. This year’s event has many returning favorite photo ops from 2018 including Spiral Hill and Lock, Shock, & Barrel’s Bathtub from The Nightmare Before Christmas, as well as Billy’s Plot, the Human Cages, and the Movie Poster from Hocus Pocus. But Freeform has also expanded the themes to the event to include fan-favorite The Addams Family as well as “31 Nights of Halloween” newcomer Scream, so you can take a photo in the Addams Family living room or pose as Ghostface’s next victim from Scream.
As an added bonus many of the photo ops now also include costume options where you can dress up as some of your favorite movie characters for your photo. At the Scream photo op you can rock a blonde wig and pretend you’re Casey Becker, or even sport the Ghostface mask (though it winds up being a bit redundant since he shows up behind you). In the Addams Family living room, you can dress up as some of your favorite Addams’ including Gomez and Wednesday and at Spiral Hill you can now dress up as Jack or Sally. Like last year you can still dress up as Billy Butcherson at Billy’s Plot, dawn the Sanderson Sisters’ cloaks to recreate the iconic Hocus Pocus movie poster, or wear the witch, devil, or skeleton masks worn by Lock, Shock, and Barrel as you pose with their bathtub.
Other new additions to the Freeform Halloween House for 2019 include:
- Holiday Woods, where you can see and ultimately walk through the holiday trees from The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Winifred’s Window, where you can recreate the iconic “Another glorious morning, makes me sick!” scene from Hocus Pocus
- The fountain from The Nightmare Before Christmas
- The Mayor’s Car from The Nightmare Before Christmas
- Oogie Boogie’s Chute from The Nightmare Before Christmas
- The Halloween Town Scarecrow from The Nightmare Before Christmas
Beyond photo ops there is also plenty of fun to be hand in the form of games. This years event features four different games to play. In the Butterfinger Zone you can spin a wheel for a chance at prizes from Freeform, Party City, and Butterfinger and then play some “31 Nights of Halloween” themed cornhole for a chance at some fun Butterfinger prizes. Upstairs, in Oogie Boogie’s Lair, you can take a chance at the Wheel of Misfortune or try and roll a snake eyes with Oogie Boogie’s Dice.
There was a bit of an outcry when Freeform made this year’s event a paid one, but overall I think it was worth the price. This is a much larger, much more immersive experience than last year’s and if you’re a fan of Freeform’s “31 Nights of Halloween” this really is a must-attend.
Unfortunately, most dates for the event are sold out, however, there appear to be some time slots still open for Friday, October 4 as of the time of this writing. You can find more details on the event and purchase tickets at 31nightsofhalloween.com. If you’re planning to attend check out a few tips below to help improve your overall experience.
Tips
- Be sure to complete your registration before you arrive. You should get an email advising you to do so prior to attending the event. People who didn’t do this caused huge delays in event entry
- In the Scream photo op, Ghostface will appear over your right shoulder as the photo is being taken, so be mindful of this if you want to take a cooler photo.
- Many of the photo spots take multiple poses, so try to come up with at least three different pose ideas to make photo taking quicker and easier
- If lines to games are long, take advantage of the surrounding photo ops to kill some time and let the lines die down a little
To see more of the spooky fun I had at the Freeform Halloween House, be sure to check out my additional images on Instagram!
