The Haunted Hotel & Haunted Trail are a Classic San Diego Combo

San Diego isn’t just home to the biggest pop culture convention on the planet; it boasts a long-established tradition of hosting some of the best haunted attractions in the state. For years, the one-two punch of the Haunted Hotel and the Haunted Trail have sat atop that list, giving Los Angeles haunts a run for their money all the while.

The Haunted Hotel, located in the heart of San Diego’s Gaslamp Quarter, and the Haunted Trail, nestled in nearby Balboa Park, are only a few miles from each other. And while the two are operated as sister attractions, the differences between the two are vast and varied.

The Haunted Trail

The titular attraction at the heart of the Haunted Trail, for better or worse, never features a single unifying theme. Instead, it’s more akin to events like North Carolina’s Kersey Valley Spookywoods, where one outdoor path snakes through different themed attractions, one right after the other.

The spaces in between the attractions, however, keep this from devolving into “haunt stew,” as it were, the dreaded incongruous mishmash of props and decor tossed at the wall just to see what sticks. These breaks are brief moments of respite, allowing incredibly composed scenes to sit and digest with guests before the next takes its turn.

The Haunted Trail also features The Experiment, a true-to-its-name “maze” in the vein of the LA Haunted Hayride’s House of Shadows. Like the House of Shadows, it’s short and sweet, a disorienting appetizer that is light on actors or scenery, while using guests’ own confusion to stretch its duration to a reasonable length.

The Haunted Hotel

The Trail’s counterpart, the Haunted Hotel, delivers its scares in a much different fashion. The standalone maze takes guests underground, like the late Old Town Haunt of Pasadena. Guests wait in a dimly lit queue, punctuated with the occasional horror memorabilia display, before being ushered into the Hotel’s elevator.

The elevator is a fantastic effect, starting the experience off with a tremendous bang. And while it may be the last remnant of any sort of cohesive “hotel” theme, the haunt goes above and beyond to make up for it with sheer intensity. The scareactors staffing the Haunted Hotel have a single mission, and they tackle it with such dogged determination, the fear and anxiety that accompany the trip are palpable.

The architecture of the Haunted Hotel is perhaps its strongest asset. Under the busy streets of San Diego, the narrow corridors of the Hotel get hot and muggy, intensifying the claustrophobia that they induce. This intensifies each and every scare, amplifying the feeling that escape is simply too far away. This is especially evident where the Hotel’s clowns dwell; even with a cliche theme, sometimes even hackneyed, its pulled off in such a way that’s far more viscerally terrifying than where its normally used.

If there’s any drawback to the Haunted Hotel, it may be its location. The Hotel is, as it has been for some time, located in the heart of the bustling Gaslamp Quarter, buttressed by nightlife and, as such, plenty of inebriated souls. This can be distracting, even intrusive, if guests are unlucky enough for disruptive types to join their party, but luckily, security is employed in full effect.

Final Thoughts

The Haunted Trail and the Haunted Hotel are so close to each other, and yet provide such different experiences. Guests can experience short bursts of fear while enjoying a bit of fresh air at the former, and proceed to venture underground, exploring the claustrophobic terror of the latter. These two are classics for a reason, and while the 2018 may be over, they’ll surely provide all-new frights next year.

For more information on the Haunted Hotel and/or the Haunted Trail, visit www.hauntedhotel.com.