Frightening Fun: The Haunts of 2011 - 3

California's Great America really likes to get into the Halloween season, when The Haunt takes over the park.  This year watch out for Slaughterhouse: Annihilation and also Dead Man's Cove: The Forsaken, both brand new attractions.

Slaughterhouse features the gruesome and gory place where humans are being turned into everyone's favorite snack.  The walking undead from the captain's ship are angry, so make sure to try to avoid them in Dead Man's Cove.

The park also features Zombies Gone Viral, a live music show and Blood Drums, which greets guests as they enter the park with a pounding beat.

Lake Compounce amusement park is once again featuring the diabolical Haunted Graveyard attraction this Fall.

Located just next to the park, you can get a ticket for both, or just the haunted maze.  Each year part of the proceeds from the event go to juvenile diabetes research, so this is a scare with a good cause!

The actual maze is enormous, and can take up to a half hour to complete.  It has rooms themed to about every creature you can think of, but also things like the Bat Room, Hell Holler, and The Vortex.  Needless to say some folks actually need a rest as they travel through just to shake off the scares!

Back again and bigger than ever before, Cedar Point's HalloWeekends features several new attractions for 2011.  This year there are 10 different mazes and scare zones, the most in the event's history.

Blood on the Bayou, which takes place on the island underneath Iron Dragon, takes a twisted look at a rather demented area where the dead still walk.  Another newly transformed area is Maniacal Mechanical Screamworks, a science fiction themed area that takes a look at a warped Victorian era that never was.

Cedar Point's Red Garter Saloon will be showing the Edge of Madness, while family friendly fun can still be found in the Magical House on Boo Hill and the Monster Midway Invasion parade.

Darien Lake has changed from advertising their Halloween event as just Fright Fest to a more timid Family Fright Fest.  The park still has plenty of scares, but seems to be focusing on the family aspect this year.

New for the kids is Old McDonald's Haymazing Adventure, a labyrinth of hay that kids can work to get out of.  There is also trick or treating, pumpkin painting, and even a magic show to entertain.

When night falls, the park offers a few haunts, such as Nightmare Acres - a haunted farmhouse.  There's also the Fright Night Field Trip, complete with a terrifying bus trip down "the highway to yell!"

You can check out all of the offerings that Family Fright Fest at Darien Lake offers direct from the park.

The Great Escape does not officially carry the Six Flags name, but that doesn't mean it has been left out of Fright Fest!  This year the event returns to the park, filled with scary attractions and shows, bigger and better than ever.

Two mazes are located at Fright Fest, Malice in Wonderland and Skull Manor.  A fitting theme for a park originally based on famous fairy tales, Malice in Wonderland shows what happens when Alice falls down the hole and things don't end well.

Skull Manor used to be a nice place, until a grizzly murder forced the place to be condemned.  The mansion is back open again, and tours are being given - but is that such a good idea?

The park also hosts the Awakening and Dead Man's Party, both elaborate stage shows that feature Dr. Fright as the host, along with plenty of dancing zombies.

Busch Gardens Williamsburg is playing on their beautiful landscape for Halloween this year, naming their event the Dark Side of the Gardens.

And dark it is.  The normally beautiful park become something quite nasty during the event, with terrifying attractions taking over the normally peaceful setting.

There are outdoor scare zones with names such as Widow Makers, Unleashed, Scavengers, and Stitchin' Time.  Indoor haunted houses are also plentiful, such as 13: Your Number's Up which takes a look at 13 of people's worst phobia's and forces guests to face them head on.

If the weather is nice, just make sure to get to the park early - this one regularly closes the gates due to capacity limitations... it is just that popular.