California’s Great America, the region’s premier amusement park, opens its gates on Saturday, March 12, and have announced “four seasons of fun” that will include an expanded lineup of events and live shows, new attractions, and waterpark adventures. With this, however, is the troubling removal of adult-oriented Halloween fun in favor of more family-friendly fun. To kick off 2022 Great America is offering the colorful and immersive New Orleans festival “Carnivale at Orleans Place” debuting this summer, and the Halloween extravaganza “Tricks and Treats” taking over the park in the fall. 

Liberty Twirler

In May, California’s Great America will debut the new Liberty Twirler, just one of several upgrades to the All-American Corners section of the park. On Liberty Twirler, guests will take a spin on this dizzying scrambler ride that offers fun for all ages.

The park is also excited about the first full season of operations for South Bay Shores. The waterpark was completely transformed in 2021 with new water attractions, new and upgraded food locations, premium cabanas and shaded lounge areas – all themed to reflect the excitement of the South Bay region.

The full event lineup includes:

• Friday Nights at Great America (select Fridays, March to November): Returning for another season, guests can enjoy the best night of the week with live bands, amazing food, tasty drinks and favorite rides. Additional dates added for 2022.

• Red, White & Brews (Select Dates May 27 – June 19): Join this hometown celebration of Americana food and fun as Great America’s Hometown Square comes to life with live entertainment, gourmet food and locally sourced beer, games and activities for the whole family.

Carnivale at Orleans Place

• Carnivale at Orleans Place (July 20 – August 7): You have never experienced Great America like this! Immerse yourself in this larger-than-life New Orleans festival featuring bold Cajun flavors, fireworks, lively music and entertainment. 

Tricks and Treats

• Tricks and Treats (September 23 – October 30): Halloween celebrations at Great America are transforming in 2022 as we say goodbye to Halloween Haunt and introduce Tricks and Treats, our all-new, over-the-top, Halloween event with all fun and no fright. Guests of all ages will find ghastly great things to do as they choose their own path to follow, from exploring mazes, to dressing up for costume parties, playing game shows, dancing with spooky characters and enjoying boo-licious food and drinks. 

• WinterFest (November 25 – January 1): The Bay Area’s most immersive holiday event returns this year, sparkling brighter than ever before. WinterFest brings holiday cheer to California’s Great America as the park is magically transformed into a winter wonderland and holiday festival. 

While the lineup of events is robust and promising, the removal of Halloween Haunt begs the question; Why? We love spooky, family-friendly fun as much as we do the more intense scares so that isn’t really the problem. But why remove what has become California tradition? The event itself struggled to find the loyal audience that it has at Cedar Fair’s flagship parks and has seen its share of incidents. As sort of a hard reset, they are saying goodbye to the raucous crowds of Haunt in favor of light and spooky mischief. This isn’t the most promising decision for Great America, but it sure is scary.

Regardless, the park still has three of the most amazing coasters in California including Railblazer, Gold Striker, and Flight Deck and the other events are always a good time. We shall be keeping a close eye on the death of Haunt here.