Bloomington, MN — Families looking for Halloween activities have 11 programs to choose from at Mall of America this year, and one haunted house. New this year is NICK@FRIGHT, two nights of character parades and a live DJ inside Nickelodeon Universe on October 23 and 24. Also new is Magic of Halloween, a walk through pumpkin displays, games, and photo spots with no scares, sold next to the Twin Cities Fear Fest haunted house. Crayola Experience has added themed weeks, starting with Princesses & Pirates and ending with Monsters & Magic. The season closes with Mall-O-Ween, store-to-store trick-or-treating on October 31 at 4 p.m.
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Mall of America Halloween 2026 Calendar
Eleven of the 12 programs in this table are for families or all ages, and the twelfth is a haunted house. The mall’s fall and Halloween page links to each attraction.
| When | What | Where | Tickets |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 14 to October 31 | Nickelodeon Booniverse | Nickelodeon Universe | Rides need a wristband or points |
| September 14 to October 31 | Crayola Screamin’ Green Hauntoween | Crayola Experience, Level 3 South | Included with Crayola admission |
| September 25 to October 31, Fridays to Sundays | Fright Lights show | Nickelodeon Universe, South Entrance | No ticket listed |
| September 25 to November 1, select dates | Magic of Halloween | Level 2 South | $10 a person |
| September 25 to November 1, select nights | Twin Cities Fear Fest haunted house | Level 2 South | From $19.99 a person |
| October 9, 16, 23, and 30 | Shock + Ride DJ party, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. | Nickelodeon Universe, South Entrance | No ticket listed |
| October 15 to 18 | Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF | North Atrium | No ticket listed |
| October 17 | Movies at the Star: Hocus Pocus | North lot | Ticketed, and car passes are sold out |
| October 23 and 24 | NICK@FRIGHT, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. | Nickelodeon Universe | Treat bag needs a wristband or point pass |
| October 23 and 24 | Professional pumpkin carvers | Nickelodeon Universe, South Entrance | No ticket listed |
| October 27 | Toddler Tuesdays Treat Trail, 10 a.m. to noon | Nickelodeon Universe | Toddler Tuesdays wristband required |
| October 31 | Mall-O-Ween trick-or-treating, 4 p.m. | Mall-wide | No ticket listed |
The mall’s September 29 advisory lists Booniverse through November 1 and Fright Lights from September 19 to November 2. The park’s Booniverse page says September 14 to October 31 for Booniverse and September 25 to October 31 for Fright Lights, and the table uses the park’s dates.
NICK@FRIGHT: Two Nights of Character Parades at Nickelodeon Universe
NICK@FRIGHT is a Halloween event inside Nickelodeon Universe, the 7-acre indoor theme park at Mall of America, on Friday, October 23, and Saturday, October 24, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Each night has two character parades, a dance party with a DJ, pumpkin carving, and treat bags for kids.
- Character parades: at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick Star, and Chase and Marshall from PAW Patrol walk a route through the park in Halloween costumes. The park calls it the Booniverse Halloween Character Stroll.
- Dance party: DJ Glow plays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The park calls the party Shock + Ride.
- Pumpkin carving: professional carvers turn real pumpkins into Nickelodeon characters at the South Entrance, from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
- Treat bags: kids get a Nickelodeon treat bag with an Unlimited Ride Wristband or a 6-point pass, which is $8.49.
- Shop discount: Halloween plush and apparel are 25% off at the Nickelodeon Shop during the event.
The mall calls this the first NICK@FRIGHT, and in 2024, CBS Minnesota reported, the park ran a two-night event called Glow in the Park Halloween Nights on October 25 and 26 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., with a live DJ and slime-making stations.
Magic of Halloween: A $10 Pumpkin Walk With No Scares
Magic of Halloween is a self-guided walk through illuminated pumpkins, animated characters, interactive games, and synchronized light displays, fully indoors on Level 2 South. Strollers and wheelchairs are welcome.
It costs $10 a person on every remaining date, and children 2 and under are free. There is one ticket type, sold online, and it can be bought alone or added to a Fear Fest ticket.
Magic of Halloween runs on 25 dates from September 25 to November 1. Timed entry runs every 15 minutes from 3 p.m., with the last entry at 6:15 p.m., and there’s no set route or time limit once you’re in.
Trick-or-Treating at Mall of America: Mall-O-Ween and the Toddler Treat Trail
Mall-O-Ween is Saturday, October 31, at 4 p.m. Kids trick-or-treat from store to store across the mall, and a digital map shows which stores are handing out treats. In 2024, per CBS Minnesota, Mall-O-Ween was held at the Huntington Bank Rotunda at 1 p.m.
The Toddler Tuesdays Treat Trail is Tuesday, October 27, from 10 a.m. to noon inside Nickelodeon Universe, where kids come in costume and pick up a treat bag at the Nickelodeon Shop. It requires a Toddler Tuesdays wristband, which is $15.99 plus tax, sold on-site only and on Tuesdays only, and good for 5 hours on select junior and family rides.
Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF takes over the North Atrium from October 15 to 18 with crafts, games, themed photo ops, and Nickelodeon character meet and greets. Kids can pick up UNICEF’s orange collection box there.
Nickelodeon Booniverse: The Fog Chute, Fright Lights, and Ride Tickets
Booniverse is the park’s Halloween overlay, running September 14 to October 31, with a pumpkin weighing over 1,000 pounds and Nickelodeon characters in Halloween costumes for photos.
- Fog Chute: the Log Chute ride gets a haunted overlay with jack-o’-lanterns lighting the way, October 4 to 31.
- Fright Lights: a light and music show at the South Entrance on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays through October 31. The mall says it starts 15 minutes before the park closes.
- Shock + Ride: a Friday night dance party with a live DJ on October 9, 16, 23, and 30, from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. It ends with the Fright Lights show.
An Unlimited Ride Wristband is $52.49 plus tax at the regular price and $41.99 plus tax on Deal Days, and online purchases carry a 5% processing fee. Point passes start at $4.25 for 3 points. Fever also sells the regular Unlimited Ride Wristband, listed at $58.80 with no booking fees, so compare the checkout totals before you buy.
Crayola Experience, Hocus Pocus on the Lawn, and Spirit Halloween
Crayola Screamin’ Green Hauntoween runs September 14 to October 31 at Crayola Experience on Level 3 South, with a themed scavenger hunt, Halloween crafts, and photo ops. The themed weeks are new this year:
- Princesses & Pirates: September 19 to October 4
- Superheroes: October 5 to 19
- Monsters & Magic: October 20 to November 1
It’s all included with general admission, which is $30.99. Online it’s $28.99, which comes to $30.49 after the online processing fee. Ages 2 and under do not need a ticket.
Movies at the Star shows Hocus Pocus on Saturday, October 17, in the mall’s north lot. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the movie starts at 8 p.m., with lawn games, photo ops, and food trucks before it. Car passes are sold out, and the mall said on September 29 that a limited number of lawn tickets were still available. If weather cancels it, the film shows the following evening at the same time.
Spirit Halloween has a store on Level 2 South through October 31.
The Haunted House: Twin Cities Fear Fest and Jason Voorhees
Twin Cities Fear Fest is the one haunted house on the calendar, running 25 select nights from September 25 to November 1 on Level 2 South. It’s recommended for ages 12 and older. General admission covers all the haunted house attractions and starts at $19.99 on the cheapest nights and $26.99 on Fridays and Saturdays from October 9.
Its attractions include Jason Universe: Survive the Night, an officially licensed walkthrough built around Jason Voorhees, which Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group has at haunts in nine cities this season. Fear Fest also has a zombie attraction and three add-ons:
- Jason Universe: Director’s Cut: new for 2026. Your group picks how Jason attacks next from four buttons labeled Panic, Slash, Strike, and Stalk.
- Deadshot Alley: a GellyBall range with live actor zombies.
- The Sanctum: a secret bar for guests 21 and older.
In 2024 the haunted house on Level 2 South was Onionhead’s Revenge, from American Monsters.
Thirteenth Floor Runs Both the Haunted House and the Family Walk at Level 2 South
Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group runs Twin Cities Fear Fest and Magic of Halloween at the same address, so the company behind the calendar’s one haunted house also sells one of its 11 family programs. Magic of Halloween’s entries run from 3 p.m. to 6:15 p.m., and on Saturday, October 17, Fear Fest’s entry times start at 6 p.m. Fear Fest’s site says Magic of Halloween “expands Twin Cities Fear Fest beyond the traditional haunted experience and offers families a playful, scare-free way to celebrate Halloween.”
Four of the six Enchanted Parks properties running Halloween this fall also pair a family event by day with a haunt after dark. One is Valleyfair in Shakopee, Minnesota, where the family event Tricks and Treats closes at 5:30 p.m. on Saturdays before ValleyScare opens. At Kennywood, Mark Pauls, now the chief operating officer of Six Flags, replaced a nighttime-only haunt with a hybrid day and night fall festival that added roughly 15 operating days.
In Hershey’s Halloween survey, 41 percent of parents expected to be more involved in Halloween this year, against 27 percent of all adults, and 69 percent of parents planned to take their kids trunk-or-treating. Families are one of the three groups still spending on attractions.
For haunted house dates in other cities, my opening-date tracker lists them by week.
