Haunted Jailhouse and Festival

I have heard about the Sheriff Station's Hunted Jailhouse; but never had gone; but decided to this year. They charged $1 admission and had various game booths, fire trucks, police cars, the maze, etc. We went to check out the maze; but when we got there they said they just closed for about an hour to let the volunteers have lunch. I didn't want to pay their prices for the games or bounce house. We decided to leave and go to a Halloween event at the Granada Hills Community Center. We went last year and the girls have fun.

The Community Center had a bounce house with free admission and low budget games that are very inexpensive to play. The kids get candy and win tickets to get cheap prizes. They also have face paint and a craft. After a couple hours, we headed back to Santa Clarita so we could go into the haunted jailhouse. We go there just in time because they had closed it off right after we got in line. The girls got a plastic ax to defeat a dragon and save the princess. It wasn't really worth going back to do that; but now we know for next year.

Later that night, the girls went trick or treating for a couple hours. My oldest wanted to re-used her Sleeping Beauty costume from the year before and my youngest re-used one of my other daughter's old Care Bear costume.

Halloween Event and Scaryface at IHOP

I came across a local Halloween event at the community center and decided to check it out. We were greeted with a free pumpkins to decorate. Inside they had tables of scraps the kids could use to decorate their pumpkin and enter them in a contest. They provided free hotdogs, chips and drinks. They had a costume parade a magic show and a haunted maze. My oldest was getting bored from waiting for the magic show to start and apprently was not interested in watching it; and my youngest woke up cranky from a nap. We were going to check out the maze; but the line was about 45min. long and we were not going to stand in the cold for that; so we left.

I had read a promotion where IHOP was giving away Scaryface pancakes to kids; so we took them to IHOP for dinner to eat their Scaryface pancake. I thought they got the ingredients to decorate themselves; but it came already decorated. The girls didn't care. They were just happy to eat it!

Sky City Bounce

My 1st grader had a day off from school today. We decided to take them to McDonalds for breakfast. They used some of their gift certificates that were given to them as gifts; so thier breakfast was free! After breakfast, we met up with a friend from school at the park where they played for a couple hours and then off to play at Sky City Bounce. I had promised I would take them there; so off we went. They had a special admission price of $5 on Fridays instead of the normal $10; so I took advantage. It kept them occupied for a couple hours on a cool day outside.

Fright Fest -Magic Mountain

Magic Mountain gave free friend passes when you buy a season pass. I gave my friend pass to my husband so we could all go and check out Magic Mountain for halloween. We went with the girls during the late afternoon and just stayed in Bugs Bunny World where they had some halloween themed crafts to make such as masks, and jewerly. Then, at a certain time the kids can go trick or treating around the rides in that area. After about 5 min. the candy is gone and you can resume with your day.

Free Disneyland Tickets - or Not

My husband and I participated in the Give a Day, Get a Day program to get free Disneyland tickets. I volunteered to make tie blankets and my husband volunteered to speak at a career day for a school. We decided to go for my youngest daughter's birthday. We bought one of my daughter's ticket on e-bay and my 2 year old (turns 3 tomorrow) gets in free. So, off we go to the happiest place on earth; until, guest services cannot locate my name or address that I participated in the Disneyland program. She gave a number to call to find out how to get my ticket. I call the number and they are closed on Sundays. I go back in line and they make me buy a ticket. I was soooo upset, it was hard to enjoy the first part of the day. When we were about to leave, I went to guest relations and stood in that line for 30 min. to see if I could get a refund; but no, they couldn't find me in the system either.

I called the number they gave to me on Monday and said they could give me a refund because they looked me up with a phone number and found me :) They said we just need your receipt and a copy of the ticket. Great! Later, that day I ask my husband for the items. He found the receipt but no ticket. We are looking everywhere for the ticket and cannot find it. Of course, I'm soooo upset again! The next day I look some more and finally found it buried in CD's in the car. I finally got my refund and am a happy camper!
Thank you Disneyland for the opportunity to get rewarded for helping others; but No thanks for the hassle of getting the ticket!