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Five thousand wooden pallets, large foam blocks and an abundance of creepy creatures are just some of the ingredients that went into creating Hawaii Haunts, a new Halloween attraction in Kapolei which opened Friday.
Tania Mahoni and her family put together the outdoor scare zone on a 7-acre lot near Kalaeloa Airport. It includes a Fun Zone with a glow-in-the-dark maze and eye-catching 3-D effects, and a Haunted Forest featuring a 2,000-foot-long “Walk of Terror” with nine themed areas inhabited by witches, zombies, clowns, snakes, spiders and other fear-inducing characters. The Ohana Scare Festival offers carnival games, rides, arts and crafts, retail booths and food trucks.
The 25-night Hawaii Haunts event is being presented by Millwood Ohana Productions, an event planning company involved in putting on Waikiki block parties and community and cultural festivals. For the Halloween festival, Millwood enlisted the Mahoni family, who worked on the Haunted Lagoon attraction at the Polynesian Cultural Center from 2008 to 2013.
“We are just a weird and crazy family,” said Mahoni as her 14-year-old son, Kamakana, nodded in agreement while being transformed into a zombie for a photo shoot.
Mahoni and her husband, William, their six children and family friends have been building sets and creating props at their home in Laie since May. “My kids are all handling two areas in the Haunted Forest. They plan the themes, handle the costuming and the props. We have a lot of fun.” she said.
“We are always coming up with more ideas. There’s a million things that we’d like to do, but we could never get to them all.”
About 15 to 20 people will be allowed into the Haunted Forest at a time for a 30-minute experience, give or take. Seventy actors were hired for the run of the festival, with
40 actors haunting the attraction each night, Mahoni said.
David Millwood, owner of Millwood Ohana Productions, said he decided to create the festival out of his own love for Halloween and a desire to provide a family-friendly Halloween attraction. But he warned that the Haunted Forest is not for the faint of heart.
“The pallets cast shadows, so everything seems alive. It’s an eerie effect,” he said. “People can expect gruesome scenes, horrifying sights, gory details, special effects and startling scares.”
The Haunted Forest: Walk of Terror admission is $25 ($20 if purchased online); 3-D Fun Zone is $12 ($10 online); Fast Pass tickets available for additional $10. Ticket prices increase by $5 starting Oct. 21. Hawaii Haunts is open 5 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until midnight Friday and Saturday, through Oct. 31. Haunted Forest tours start at 7 p.m.; Fun Zone opens at 6 p.m. Buy tickets and reserve specific time slots at HawaiiHaunts.com, or call 533-9016 for information.
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