**Attention Yelp robots: this is NOT a review of Playland**
Playland, an amusement park located at Hastings Park in Vancouver, is home to the popular Halloween attraction Fright Nights during the month of October. In addition to the amusement park rides, there are half a dozen or so haunted houses.
I'm not a fan of amusement parks, so despite beginning in 2003, according to Wikipedia, it wasn't until 2017 that I went for the first time. I went because a group of my friends were going to see one of our friends who was working there as one of the "scarers", so I thought it would be fun to check it out.
While I enjoyed hanging out with my friends, it wasn't my cup of tea, as expected. In addition to the crowds of assholes (one douche started smoking a cigarette in one of the haunted house line ups!), the line ups for the haunted houses and rides were ridiculously long, and just getting through the front gates was horrible -- they frisk you and search your bags, and because I am perceived to have a vagina (the staff have no way of actually knowing whether I do or not -- they just make assumptions based on physical appearances), they tried to separate me from my penis-bearing friends and make me go in the vagina line, which was waaaay longer than the penis line, but I made a big stink, including making some very good points about the rights of transgender people, so that in the end they let me go through the line of my choice (also, on the website, it says you can go through which ever line you're most comfortable with, and I am most comfortable with the shorter line). Also, in one of the haunted houses, there was a malfunction with some of the equipment, and I got sprayed with water, so that one leg of my jeans was soaking wet and plastered to my leg, which was extremely unpleasant in the freezing cold end-of-October-late-night weather.
I did enjoy the haunted houses (although we didn't get to see all of them) and spending time with my friends, but it was certainly not worth the nearly $40 price tag. (Tickets range from $35 to over $100 depending on the night and type, and we got a small discount due to our friend working there.) However, when I got an invitation to go to Fright Nights this past Saturday, I decided to go, and due to it being opening weekend, the price was a much more affordable $25.
This time I had a better experience, although despite being there for four hours, 7pm to 11pm, their opening and closing hours on opening weekend, we only managed to see four out of the eight haunted houses, and we waited AN HOUR (no exaggeration), to get into the last one, which wasn't even THAT great.
I enjoyed spending time with my friends, but this is probably the last time I go to Fright Nights, at least for a long time. It's just not my thing, and it's too expensive and the line ups are too long.
[Yelp collections: Being a tourist in my own city] read more