Vancouver Halloween Events

Halloween activities take place in Vancouver in October including haunted houses, trick-or-treating, costume parties, tours and other events.

There are activities appropriate for children of all ages, and other events just for adults. There are also amazing autumn-themed events, like Harvest Glow which is new indoor, extremely popular and family-friendly attraction in Langley.

FIREWORKS ON HALLOWEEN NIGHT

Looking for Halloween fireworks and family-friendly fun on October 31st? Then check out the Halloween Fireworks in Richmond!

Halloween in Vancouver

Halloween highlights in the Lower Mainland include especially frightening things like the PNE’s Fright Nights, but also other great fun stuff like dressing up at work and trick-or-treating with children around the neighbourhood.

This article includes a list of the following types of Halloween and autumn-themed events:

Click any of the above links to jump to a specific kind of event, or continue reading to learn all about the Lower Mainland’s various Halloween-themed events and attractions.

Halloween happenings that take place in Metro Vancouver most years include the following:

Ongoing Haunted and Autumn-themed Attractions

Metro Vancouver is home to numerous Halloween and autumn-themed attractions that run for multiple days leading up to Halloween. Below are some of the main ones.

Harvest Glow – an exciting new attraction with pumpkins, glowing illuminations and autumn-themed things to see and do at Milner Village Garden Centre at 6690 216th Street in Langley. It’s not so much a “Halloween” event, or at all scary, but it is a wonderful new and family-friendly seasonal attraction. (Last year it took place from September 27 to October 31. 2019 details are to be confirmed, meaning that it may or not be happening again, and if it does, then very likely not at the same location).
Burnaby’s Haunted Village – although free in the summer, admission at Burnaby Village during this family-friendly event is about $14 for adults, seniors and youth, and $9 for children ages 2 to 12. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, live entertainment and free carousel rides (which normally cost a couple of dollars). Open on the last few days of October between 6:00 and 9:00 pm.
Fright Nights – Playland’s annual Halloween celebrations take place at the PNE grounds at 2901 East Hastings Street and feature half a dozen haunted houses and over a dozen rides. Tickets in recent years have ranged from about $25 to $45 for general admission at the gate depending on the date, or slightly cheaper if purchased online or at 7-11 stores. Admission with Rapid Pass, which helps you skip the main lineups, likely costs between around $65 and $105. In 2018 Fright Nights was open at 7 pm most days from October 5th to 31st. 2019 will be similar.

Fright Nights Evening Scene — Fright Nights at the PNE

FlyOver Canada at Halloween – the popular multi-dimensional theatre attraction at Canada Place gets decorated and its shows have a Halloween theme from mid-October until Halloween.
Potter’s House of Horrors – two exceptional haunted houses in Surrey run for most of October. Potter’s House of Horror’s was open every day in October last year beginning on October 5th (except for the Thanksgiving Monday). 2019 will be similar.
Halloween Spooktacular – Halloween activities at Britannia Mine between West Vancouver and Squamish on the last weekend or two in October. 2019 dates are the Saturdays and Sundays of October 19-20 and 26-27).
VanDusen Glow in the Garden – lit-up carved pumpkins and Halloween activities at VanDusen Garden at night during the last week of October. Last year the event had a Hänsel and Gretel theme and ran from October 19th until the 31st. 2019 dates will be similar, but there will be a different theme.

Britannia Mine Halloween Skeleton — Halloween at Britannia Mine

Halloween Walking Tours

An interesting and entertaining way to enjoy the Halloween season is by taking a guided tour. There are some great walking tours to choose from, including the following:

Forbidden Vancouver Walking Tours – a selection of exceptional and highly recommended guided tours each led by a professional actor. Perfect ones for Halloween include the Lost Souls of Gastown, Forbidden Tour and Secrets of Stanley Park. See below for details about each.
- The Lost Souls of Gastown tours are about 1 km in length and include stories about smallpox, fire and murder. They run every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, and daily at the same time from October 16th until the 31st. The tours start at Cathedral Square (at the corner of Richards and Dunsmuir) and end at Maple Tree Square in Gastown.
- The Forbidden Tours go through Victory Square, Chinatown and Gastown, and they involve tales about opium dens, crime, bootlegging and corruption from days long ago. These tours take place at 7 o’clock every night in October and they are also about 1 km in length.
- The Secrets of Stanley Park tours explore world-famous Stanley Park, including its seawall and paths through the forest. They take place on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday afternoons at 2:00 pm and involve stories about Deadman’s Island, cemeteries and crime scenes.
Grave Tales at Fort Langley – two and three-hour Halloween walking tours in Fort Langley.

Vancouver Gastown Walking Tour — Lost Souls of Gastown Tour at Halloween

Halloween Trains

The Lower Mainland is home to a couple of miniature train attractions that go all out at Halloween. Both offer fairly tame tours for little kids in the afternoons and early evenings, but then really ramp things up for youth and young adults at night.

Stanley Park Ghost Train – family-friendly miniature train rides with a Halloween theme. Last year the train ran every day from October 11th until Halloween. 2019 dates will be similar.
Bear Creek Halloween Trains – child-friendly Halloween Pumpkin Express miniature train rides in Surrey are from 10 am until 4:30 pm from around the second weekend in October until the 31st. The cost is about $11. The Haunted Forest Scream Train is at the same place, costs about $2 more, runs from 6:30 to 10 pm (but starting a week or so later than the Pumpkin Express) and includes additional frightening stuff.

Special Halloween Events

Metro Vancouver is home to numerous attractions, like miniature trains and haunted houses, that run for either most of the month or at least the last few days of October. In addition to the “attractions” though, there are also a number of special one-day events, including the following:

Drive-in Halloween Movies – River District Vancouver hosts two free drive-in movies on each of the last two Saturdays before Halloween each year. Last year’s films were Hotel Transylvania and Strangers on one evening and Frankenweenie and IT on another. The shows are free, but you need to reserve your spot in advance.
Thrill the World Vancouver – a short zombie dance event in Vancouver’s Olympic Village most years on the last Saturday afternoon in October, although it didn’t take place in 2018. Instead, that year, there was a similar event on Friday, October 27th, at Surrey’s City Hall Atrium. Click Thrill the World Surrey for details about that event. Details about Thrill the World Vancouver in 2019 are to be confirmed.
Parade of Lost Souls – an annual grassroots parade event where the location isn’t revealed until midnight on the Friday before Halloween (although one can assume it’ll be somewhere in the Commercial Drive neighbourhood). The parade takes place on the last Saturday of the month from around 7 to 10 pm. Donations of $5 are encouraged to help support the event. A Lost Souls After-Party also takes place from around 9 pm to 2 am for which ticket prices range from about $20 to $30 depending on when you get them.
Night for All Souls – free Halloween-type activities in the evening at Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery on the last Saturday in October most years.
Halloween Fireworks – music, kids’ activities, fire juggling, a magic show and fireworks at Minoru Park at 7191 Granville Avenue in Richmond on October 31st in the evening (Free).
Celebrate the Night – an evening of family-friendly activities and fireworks at Memorial Peace Park in Maple Ridge on the last Sunday of October most years.
Vancouver Halloween Parade – a fun family-friendly parade between Drake and Smithe, along Howe Street and Granville on a Sunday in early or mid-October starting at 11 am. Last year the parade was on Sunday, October 7th. It will likely take place on around the same date in 2019.
For more special events click Halloween Weekend or Halloween for Adults.

Vancouver Halloween Parade on Granville — Vancouver Halloween Parade

Other Haunted Venues

In addition to the above-mentioned attractions, the Lower Mainland has numerous other wonderfully scary haunted houses.

Click Vancouver Haunted Houses for a list of more spooky places in the Lower Mainland. Some of the best haunted houses include North Shore venues like the Haunt of Edgemont and Dovercourt Crypt, the Nightmare Haunted House in Mission, Brinkworth Dungeon in Langley, Anmore Manor just north of Port Moody, Reapers in Chilliwack and the list goes on and on!

In addition to the above list, there is also a wide variety of other events and activities for people of different age groups, both on the big day of October 31st, as well as throughout the entire second half of the month.

Halloween Activities for Children

Check out Vancouver Children’s Halloween Activities for a list of other family-friendly and only-moderately-spooky fun. Attractions with kid-friendly activities include Glow Harvest, FlyOver Canada, VanDusen Garden, the Gulf of Georgia Cannery and other places of interest.

Halloween Activities for Adults

Click Adult Halloween Activities for a list of Halloween events for people age 19+, or click Lower Mainland Haunted Houses for a list of haunted attractions suitable for adults and older youth.