Before I tell you about this amazing, nearly entirely family-friendly attraction, I have to put a small disclaimer. My family and I are huge fans of the Los Angeles Live Steamers, and have spent many wonderful days ridi
ng around their beautiful scale train layout nestled in an easy to access corner of Griffith Park. For those of you who are not familiar, this is also the location of Walt Disney’s Barn, which he used as a workshop for his Carolwood Pacific backyard miniature railroad. The barn is open the 3rd Sunday of every month, and worth a trip just for that alone if you are a Disney fan.
Now onto the Ghost Train…
This annual event (they are currently in their 15th year) is a wonderful hodge podge of spooky, creepy, and just plain weird. You board one of the 1/8th scale trains and ride past 30 different displays featuring lights, sounds, fog, and animatronics that bring to scenes to life like. Audrey II, the man eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors (and her carnivorous offspring), savage marooned pirates hunting their lost treasure, a UFO alien invasion, and an attack of evil clowns are just a few things you’ll see along the way. There are mountain folk protecting their hidden moonshine, eerie fog filled graveyards, giant creepy Halloween bugs and creatures, a Dia de Los Muertos celebration, and even a few monsters under the beds.
This is the Los Angeles Live Steamers’s annual fundraiser, and so all the donations (a very reasonable $15.00 per ride – tax deductible even!) go towards paying for the event and maintaining the 13 acre park, which is worth a trip even when it’s not haunt season. There are no actors that jump out to scare, there is no blood and gore, so about the only thing that makes this attraction limited is the 34″ or taller height requirement, and the less than 350 pound weight requirement.
The train schedule for 2015 is:
Friday, Saturday, & Sunday October 16,17,18 and 23,24,25
Thursday, Friday, Saturday, & Sunday October 29-31 and November 1
The event runs from 7-10 pm and is located at:
5202 Zoo Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90027
For additional detail please visit their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/lalsrm
