Griffith Park Halloween 2026: Your Day-to-Night Event Guide

Halloween 2026 falls on a Saturday. The L.A. Zoo has also moved its Boo at the L.A. Zoo weekends one week later than last year. Together, those two facts turn Crystal Springs Drive into a relay on October 31. Trick-or-treat stations, a pumpkin-hunt train ride and marionette shows hold the park until mid-afternoon. A haunted hayride that now serves alcohol and an orchestra screening at the Greek Theatre take over after dark. Both halves pull from the same parking lots.

If you live in Los Feliz, Atwater Village, Silver Lake or along the Glendale and Burbank edge of the park, this is the stretch you drive through anyway. How you plan the next two weekends depends mostly on which half of that relay you're aiming for, and when the handoff happens.

The Zoo Moved a Week, and the Calendar Closed Up

In 2025, Boo at the L.A. Zoo ran October 18–19 and October 25–26, so it was over before Halloween weekend began. The Zoo's 2026 event page lists Saturday and Sunday, October 24/25 and October 31/November 1. A few early roundups printed the older October 17–18 and 24–25 pattern, but the Zoo's own page, updated October 8, is the schedule to go by.

That one-week shift puts the Zoo's busiest family event on the same Saturday as the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride's Halloween night and a sold-as-one-night-only show at the Greek. The Griffith Park & Southern Railroad's I-Spy Halloween Train Ride was already running every October weekend through November 1, so it overlaps with both.

Saturday, October 31, Hour by Hour

All of these sit along or just off Crystal Springs Drive and Zoo Drive on the park's east side.

1. 10 a.m. The Zoo opens Boo at the L.A. Zoo. Six trick-or-treat stations presented by MARS line the path from the Children's Zoo to Treetops Terrace, and they hand out candy from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. while supplies last. The Zoo asks families to bring their own bags or buy one at its gift shops. The event is free with paid Zoo admission or an active membership.
2. 10 a.m. At 4400 Crystal Springs Drive, the I-Spy Halloween Train Ride and Festival opens for the day. Riders hunt for hidden pumpkins along a decorated mile-long track and get a treat for riding. Tickets are $8 per person.
3. 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Bob Baker Marionette Theater performs at the Zoo's Halloween Headquarters on Treetops Terrace. Those shows run on October 31 only.
4. 3 p.m. The Zoo's candy stations close.
5. 3:30 p.m. The train's activity and games area closes. Trains keep running.
6. 5 p.m. The last Halloween train leaves.
7. 6:30 p.m. Doors open at the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride, 4730 Crystal Springs Drive. Doors also open at the Greek Theatre for "Weird Al" Yankovic: UHF Live-to-Screen with Orchestra and Live Q&A.
8. 8 p.m. The UHF screening begins at the Greek.

Between 3 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., the daytime crowd is leaving while the evening crowd is arriving. The hayride doesn't post exact closing times for each date. Its official site gives the season as "select nights" from September 18 through November 1.

The Night Half Got More Grown-Up This Year

The handoff matters more in 2026 because the hayride has changed character. KTLA reported that the event, now in its 18th year, is serving alcohol on-site for the first time, to guests 21 and older. The new haunt, Fallen Angel, is set in the condemned "Halo Theatre on the Sunset Strip," where a fictional heavy metal band died rehearsing a Halloween show. Sway poles are back for the first time since 2014.

Returning attractions include Elvira's Trick or Treat Mayhem and Hellbilly Halloween. Paid add-ons include Midnight Falls Axe Throwing, Mini Escape Games and a Zombie Splat GellyBall Experience.

The price shows which nights are the main event. The hayride's ticket calendar lists $52.52, fees included, for October 24, October 25 and October 31. November 1 drops to $44.28. The homepage advertises tickets "starting at" $34.99, but that floor doesn't apply on either Halloween-season weekend in the calendar.

The daytime side has gone the other way. The Zoo's 2026 edition adds an inflatable corn maze, a Conservation Expo on bats and condors at the Rose Garden near the flamingo habitat, a Give Kids Art session on October 24, and Los Angeles Public Library programming on October 25. The train lets children 5 and younger ride with a paying adult, and infants 18 months and younger ride free.

Same Lots, Two Crowds

The overlap is clearest in the parking. Here's what each venue tells visitors:

• Haunted Hayride: Prepaid parking is in Merry Go Round Lots 1, 2 and 3. Free parking is in the northwest corner of the L.A. Zoo lot, with a complimentary shuttle to the entrance trail near Spokes 'N Stuff. The last shuttle leaves 30 minutes after the event closes.
• L.A. Zoo: The Zoo's FAQ says all Zoo parking is free until further notice. On the Zoo's ticket page, adult general admission for ages 13 to 61 ranges from $19.66 to $27, and children 2 to 12 range from $19.66 to $22.
• Greek Theatre: The Greek sells a Pony Ride Train Lot shuttle package that includes parking and a round-trip shuttle wristband, with a ticket required for each rider. City guidance says the Greek lot is free only on nights without a show, and October 31 has one.
• Observatory area: Parking near Griffith Observatory is paid on weekends from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. The DASH Observatory shuttle runs daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. every 15 to 20 minutes and links the Metro station, Los Feliz Village, the Greek and the Observatory.

That means the Zoo lot fills with strollers in the morning and becomes hayride overflow at night. The hayride's location page also notes that Crystal Springs Drive is now one lane in each direction because of the new bike lane. It suggests entering from the park's northwest entrance and avoiding the turn from Los Feliz Boulevard onto Crystal Springs. The page shows no update date, so check it again before you go. Separately, the city's Griffith Park visitor page warns that the park's higher elevations get congested, with limited parking on weekends and holidays.

The Merry-Go-Round lots are named for a ride that won't be turning this Halloween. The Los Angeles Times reported on October 12 that the Griffith Park merry-go-round, which turned 100 this year, has been closed since the pandemic apart from a brief run in 2022. The city bought it last year for $1 million, and restoration is expected to take at least two years. Hayride guests will park beside its 66 wooden horses, which still aren't moving.

October 24–25 Carries the Same Program With Less Competition

The coming weekend runs most of the same daytime lineup without a show at the Greek. The theater's calendar lists a concert on October 23, then shows from October 26 through 30, then the October 31 screening. Nothing is listed for October 24, 25 or November 1. Griffith Observatory has no special events on October 24, 25 or 31. Its building stays open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends.

On October 24 and 25, a family can do the Zoo and the train in a morning without competing with a Greek audience for the evening lots. Hayride ticket prices are the same as on Halloween night, but the Greek isn't drawing a crowd at the same hour. Sunday, November 1 is the season's last day for the Zoo, the train and the hayride, and it has the cheapest hayride ticket on the late-October calendar.

On Saturday the 31st, plan around 3 p.m. The Zoo's candy runs out by then, the train's games area closes half an hour later, and the evening crowd starts heading up Crystal Springs not long after.

If Griffith Park is part of your fall routine, you probably know which streets back up near the Zoo and which entrance gets you in faster. That's the kind of block-by-block knowledge that matters when people ask what it's actually like to live near the park. For a conversation about homes in the neighborhoods around Griffith Park, Karean Wrightson is glad to share what she's seeing. Request a Complimentary Market Consultation.