The many thrills at this annual event are what keeps them super popular. Every year they add a…read morenewer, scarier, and positive feature to the setup. When you arrive, parking can be a challenge. You must know that the road is a one way in front and alongside the venue. It runs north so don't drive down it because there are a lot of people, kids too, who are running out of the venue from actors with fake chainsaws. This year they have several scary monsters and one was even on stilts, which made him scarier. The screams from the customers inside validates the cool setup that they have. My most scariest part is the large bus. This year at the end there were food vendors and a tarot reader. The food was Los Panchos Rollys, which is the Los Panchos popup in which they only sell loaded rolled tacos. The Rollys cost $14/each order of 3. You can also find them at Lemon Grove Farmers Market on Thursdays. The event was great this year. I am excited to see what they offer next year.

My first genuine haunted trail and maze experience!! People who know me understand that I get very…read morejumpy (magugulatin), so yes! I was screaming, jumping, and running away throughout the entire experience! ‍ The props and make up are magnificent! We bought our tickets online with Good Will's $5 discount for 9:30p. Arrived 9:05p, we were welcomed by a long queue. The groupings based on time slot was not followed but still organized. Will come back for the next!!

I love supporting the arts and tiny indie shows. I just saw the worst show I have ever seen in…read moreentertainment. It was clear that the whole thing was improvised and zero preparation or effort went into it. There was no set. The puppet kept saying "uhhh what should we do?" And then they would dance. Then "uhhh what about now?" Then dance again. Then they said they were going to tell a story about two con-men on the run and they just ran in front of a looping gif for 10 minutes saying "to the left, to the right, to the left, to the right." No story. The real con-men are the people who charged for this embarrassment.

We have been coming here since we were kids and still enjoy stopping by for a weekend matinee from…read moretime to time. Very old-school/no frills vibe. Definitely geared toward small children. Great value for the small admission fee. Just a heads up: December Nights show hours are later and there are no other shows that weekend. This includes the Sunday of the same weekend. The website does not currently reflect this.

Wow, we were impressed. Super creepy in a spooky/eerie property. We compared the Balboa Trail we…read moredid earlier to Starbucks and the Sinister Trail to discovering the best artisan coffee shop during a work trip, then thinking about it all year, regretting you didn't by more bags of beans. The details are thoughtful, artsy and unnerving. Five stars because it's an awesome, accessible Halloween experience, it's designed / created by local young friends (wow! Go entrepreneurs!) the entire walk I felt amazed (and creeped out,) and the staff appeared dedicated to the experience. I wish I had gone earlier to go back again - I hope they pop up again soon... spooky Christmas? Anti-Valentine's Day? Go experience this creative masterpiece by a young locals, support their art! It's so fun!!!

We are both pretty obsessed with scary movies, haunted attractions, etc. and we found this place…read morewhile randomly looking for something scary to do. It was AWESOME. We lucked out and arrived right after a large group had just left so it was just the two of us. We were both so uncomfortable the entire time - it was great! I would one billion percent go back.

More of a "interesting historical house " than a museum, it is still worth a visit if you are…read moreinterested in learning more about the history of San Diego. Staffed by very nice people and you have a choice of an info sheet focused on the history or the paranormal. I can't imagine this would take anyone more than 30 minutes to fully explore.

My first time touring the Gaslamp Quarter. The Davis-Horton House is the oldest built in 1850 and…read morevery haunted. Staff are very nice, and the small house is decorated in period-correct wallpaper and furnishings. I ate my lunch in the shaded courtyard next to a statue of the Gaslamp mascot named "Bum" and the little dog "Greyfriars Bobby." I especially enjoyed the $20 paranormal tour that historian Sandy gives on Fridays after the museum is closed. She had all of the "ghost hunter" devices out and I got to hold real divining rods for the first time. The meters really lit up when we were in the kitchen where Sandy indicated that multiple children playing. She had some wonderful stories about encounters she has had personally from doing the tours for several years. We then walked a few blocks while she gave the history of several victorian buildings including a few stories about some pretty eccentric characters that lived or owned businesses in the Gaslamp back in the 1800s and early 1900s. highly recommend the museum and the paranormal/haunted tour.

Fun tour! Our guide Clara was amazing- great story telling and even incorporated low & high tech…read moreghost hunting tools to add to the experience. 10/10 would definitely recommend:)

This tour was so close to boring me to death, I was about to be the only ghost you see that night…read more We signed up for the last tour of the day in Old Town San Diego. The meeting address stated on the email sent regarding the reservation was just a general one, so we had to walk around a bit to find the tour group. After circling the park for a bit, we noticed there's no large group of people congregating anywhere, no signs, no lights, no indicators of any kind of where the starting point was. I eventually overheard the conversation of a few people talking behind us and turned back to ask about the Ghost Tour. This woman confirmed that we were in the right place. I lightheartedly commented on how I'm glad we've found them and that we were on the lookout for a sign of some sort. Clara was unnecessarily rude in her response saying "Well, yeah. This is a public park, and uh, look at what I'm wearing." Super snarky. Very catty. Totally uncalled for. It is also very important to point out that she was wearing a burgundy maxi skirt with a black blouse. Excuse my fashion senses for assuming that's perfectly normal. There's literally people in our tour group that dressed up as what most would consider to be more outlandish than what she wore and tried to pass off as a costume. I didn't want to ruin the start of our evening, so I swept this incident under the rug until my partner brought it back up in the car and stated how extremely rude our tour guide was. That interaction clearly didn't just look like that to me but to witnesses as well. Although this initial interaction was unpleasant, I was willing to give it a pass if the rest of the tour had gone well. It did not. Clara continued to be unprofessional throughout the entire evening. I can't even remember the intro because she spent a huge chunk of it complaining about the mosquitos. It's not a great way to hype up the crowd for an exciting night when you're reminding them of these literal bloodsuckers that are out to get them. If you've ever been with a tour guide for any occasion, you would know that the storytelling component is one of the biggest parts of the entire experience. Clara is either brand new to the job, incompetent, or both. She constantly mixed up the stories, told events in an ineffective chronological order, and flipped words like someone who clearly just regurgitated words from a script that they never truly digested. It was obvious that she does not understand the history and context to the extent that a tour guide should. Such a bummer because when I attempted to call the business and the voicemail picked up, whoever was on it sounded a lot more animated and fun. Where was that guy at?! But instead, we got stuck with CLARA. Aside from the most significant factor of a quality storyteller falling short, there were other parts that made the whole experience lackluster as well. For one thing, we stayed in a tiny area consisting of a handful of homes for most of the tour. To make it even worse, all of the houses are under construction, so the fence and tarp was blocking the views almost entirely. The reasons I'm not flat out giving this business a one star is because I understand that depending on who your tour guide is and how they're feeling that day, you could have a completely different experience. I also enjoyed playing with the pendulum, dowsing rod, and EMF reader. Overall, I'm willing to give a lot of grace to someone underperforming due to an off day or the fact that they're exhausted at the end of the night. But kindness and respect cost nothing, yet our guide wasn't willing to spare any. There was no warmth to her, and the passion was nonexistent during her storytelling. It was not at all an immersive experience that I was hoping for. Even with the Groupon discount, this experience was most certainly not worth it. I truly feel for the unfortunate souls who paid full price if their experience was anything like mine.

Given that it's only in its 2nd year, I would say it was a decent fair. It's small and cozy with…read morejust a few food vendors that include ramen, soba, and takoyaki. They also had a few shopping booths set up selling toys and clothes. Make sure you bring cash because most vendors did not accept card! Everyone was friendly and happy to be there. Pros: x Takoyaki booth was amazing x Wasn't crowded x Food wasn't expensive. Okonomiyaki was buy one get one Cons: x No ATM machines x Entertainment wasn't the best. I was there for the singing and it was like being at a karaoke bar. I see room for a lot of growth. I hope they come back for future years and keep the fair going. Hopefully they'll include more booths that promote cultural learning for guests! Btw, admission is $5 per person.

Came here with my friend who is Japanese. I wanted to try some foods, and she made the perfect…read moreexpert. I tried the Takoyaki which I understand to be octopus centered in a doughy-like dumpling with a teriyaki like sauce and mayo on top. This was good and I also enjoyed watching it be prepared. It's an art! I also tried the Okonmiyaki (Japanese pancake) with corn, also topped with sauce (mayo on the side), this is savory and just okay...pretty bland and we didn't finish. I can do without the mayo. The batter is similar to the Takoyaki. Ingredients are cabbage, egg, and other veggies. Some topped theirs with cheese, but I guess that's more Americanized. My friend had ramen (w/pork broth) which she thought was okay. I would have gotten gyoza but we were advised that they weren't fresh, but frozen and we can easily buy our own and make them at home if that's the case. The tempura wasn't prepared by Japanese, so we passed on that too. There was also an Indo Mie booth which my friend found funny since it's Indonesian, but whatever, ha. Not much was happening on the stage when we arrived, but I heard 2 pretty famous Japanese singers performed which is cool. There was a vendor with fancy massage chairs that should have been at an expo at the Del Mar Fair. They didn't get the memo and instead got stuck at the fair giving "rides". Their target clients are doctors/chiropractors. We tried the chairs and oh my gosh they work so well, but let me tell you...the bottom of my feet were seriously in pain and sore days later. Too rough! I don't have fat feet or anything so my bones had enough. Couldn't get out though, because the chair locks you in until it's over. My goodness! Anyway, this $5 fair wasn't too bad for year 2, but it can certainly be improved. I was hoping to enjoy it longer, but it got old quickly.

I'm a band geek. I love watching parades because of the marching bands. Texas Longhorns and…read moreBerkeley Cal marching bands were the best :) Overall, the parade was great! Lots of activities/booths, balloons, groups, and music :) Also, I love getting free stuff from the booths! Parking was a b*tch for those who came but luckily my sister works at Seaport Village so we got perfect FREE parking. For those of you planning on going next year, make sure to go early to grab some parking spots or reduce the carbon footprint by taking the trolley! :)

Today in San Diego was gorgeous!…read more Holiday Bowl Balloon Parade: I highly recommend this event in Downtown San Diego. My girls (4 & 2) and I had a great time. We took the trolley right downtown, a mother's treat was the Starbucks right when we exited the trolley. I took both kiddos with no stroller and just my backpack. It was 47 degrees when we left the house so we were really bundled up and 72 degrees when we got home. The family festival runs from 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.; so you can go play with the kiddos; most of it is all free! I recommend staking out a spot with your folding chair if you bring one or a blanket at least. When the parade started we had about 6 rows of people behind us. It was super busy, but probably one of the better parades I've seen. The college bands were great and everyone enjoyed their energy, and while I found the balloons too spaced out for my liking it was still good; the parade was over by say 11:30 and then the battle of the bands was exciting for my kiddos too.

Opening weekend of Star Wars: The Force Awakens - and how better to celebrate than with an epic…read morelightsaber battle in the Embarcadero? Newmindspace is an organization dedicated to all-ages fun around North America - about a year ago, they were responsible for setting up the huge pillow fight near Horton Plaza. This year, seeing how it was the release of the newest Star Wars movie, they wanted to set a record for the largest lightsaber group battle across several cities - Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego. For $10, you got a color changing lightsaber (although it was a bit cheap looking and wasn't an "official" lightsaber) - and if you had your own, you got in for free. Having seen the footage from the LA lightsaber fight the night before, Kathy and I were looking forward to this past Saturday's battle in the Embarcadero; from what I gleaned from the website, we were to be split into two groups (Jedi and Sith) once we got our blades, then go for broke. Well - that wasn't exactly what happened. We got there a bit late due to our Yelp Elite dinner event at Blue Point, but we were a bit surprised to see people leaving the event grounds with their swords. Once we got our lightsabers - which was an easy process - I could kinda see why. Instead of being placed in Jedi vs. Sith battles, it looked like everyone was in small groups dueling their friends... not exactly what we were picturing. From what I saw from pics taken from earlier in the event that were posted on social media, the lit-up sabers against the evening background made for great pics, and the earlier group battles did look like fun, so perhaps we should have arrived earlier. However, Kathy and I did have fun using our sabers against each other, and I did find a discarded saber that just needed extra batteries... so it was still a great evening of fun that just needed a bit more organization. Hopefully Newmindspace will return back to San Diego for another lightsaber battle. May the Force be with you!