Fright Nights 2026: Ticket Prices, Hours & Tips

Fright Nights 2026 at a glance

Fright Nights is Playland's Halloween takeover of the PNE grounds in East Vancouver: seven haunted houses, the park's rides after dark, live shows and scare actors working the midway. The 2026 run opens on Wednesday 7 October and ends on Saturday 31 October — 19 nights, Wednesday to Sunday, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. Every ticket is for one specific night, and the price depends on which night you pick. For the rest of the season, see our Vancouver Halloween 2026 guide and what's on in October.

• Dates19 nights, 7–31 October 2026, Wednesday to Sunday
• Hours6pm–11pm Wed, Thu, Sun · 6pm–midnight Fri, Sat and Thu 22 Oct
• Tickets$39, $49 or $59 in advance; $45, $59 or $69 on the day
• Rapid Pass$56 add-on in advance, $58 on the day
• Included7 haunted houses, 15+ rides, shows and roaming scare actors
• AgeRecommended for 13 and older
• EntranceHastings Street at Windermere Street
• BagsNothing bigger than 8.5 × 11 in; bag check $10 per item

Ticket prices by night

Pricing follows the calendar, not the day of the week. The Wednesdays of the first three weeks are the cheap nights; everything from Friday 23 October is peak, including the last Wednesday and Thursday. Admission covers all seven haunted houses and the rides — there is no separate ride wristband — and buying online before the day saves $6 to $10 a ticket.

Nights sell out. The PNE warns that Fridays and Saturdays can sell out, and Rapid Passes are sold in limited numbers, so for 23, 24, 30 and 31 October book as soon as your plans are fixed. Tickets are sold through TicketLeader, the PNE's ticketing partner (604-252-3700 for problems with an order). All prices are in Canadian dollars.

Is the Rapid Pass worth $56?

The Rapid Pass is an add-on to admission, not a ticket on its own: $56 bought online in advance, $58 on the day or at the gate, and only while supplies last. It takes you through the express entrance once at each of the seven haunted houses and once on five rides — AtmosFear, The Beast, BreakDance, Sea-to-Sky Swinger and Skybender — and only on the night printed on it.

Whether it pays off depends on the night. By the PNE's own figures, ride and house lines can pass an hour and a half as the evening goes on, and the entrance line alone can top 60 minutes on busy nights. On one of the $39 Wednesdays, arriving at opening, most people reach the houses they care about without it. On a Friday or Saturday, and on anything from 23 October, it is the difference between three houses and all seven. A peak Saturday with a Rapid Pass is $115 a person in advance; a Wednesday without one is $39.

The seven haunted houses in 2026

• The Void — you go in as rangers sent into the Howling Caves to bring back people who went missing there.
• The Bloodshed — a backwoods cabin that very few leave in one piece.
• Carn-Evil — the clown house. If clowns are the one thing you cannot face, this is the one to skip.
• Darkness — what happens to people who try to bargain with the Angel of Death.
• Haunted Mansion — the Van Horn family manor, and the descendants still stalking its rooms.
• Keepers Doll Factory — porcelain faces, scarred giants and missing limbs.
• Materia Medica — a laboratory taken over by escaped mutants.

The Void and Carn-Evil use scent effects, and the PNE flags both for anyone sensitive or allergic to scents. Inside every house there is no food or drink, no filming or flash photography, no flashlights, and no touching the actors or the props — breaking house rules can get you removed without a refund. Between houses, catch the Opening Scaremony that starts the night, the Salem witch-trial show Trials of the Night, and the Fizz Death Circuit photo stop.

How to see all seven: admission does not guarantee you get through every house, and the lines only grow as the night goes on. Go to your must-sees first, then work towards whichever house has the shortest line.

Rides included with admission

Fright Nights lists 19 Playland rides as included: AtmosFear, The Beast, Balloon Explorers, BreakDance, Dizzy Drop, Enterprise, Gladiator, Hellevator, Kettle Creek Mine Coaster, Merry Go Round, Pirate Ship, Rock-n-Cars, Scrambler, Sea-to-Sky Swinger, Skybender, Tea Cups, ThunderVolt, WestCoast Wheel and The Wooden Roller Coaster. The Flume does not run during Fright Nights, and every ride has its own height requirement.

Rides run weather permitting. High winds, rain or lightning nearby can close individual rides or the whole park, and Fright Nights does not give rain cheques or refunds when that happens — check the forecast before you buy a same-day ticket.

Opening hours and the best night to go

Gates open at 6pm every night. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays close at 11pm; Fridays and Saturdays run to midnight, and so does Thursday 22 October, which makes it a weekend night in everything but name.

The PNE's advice is blunt: weekends, holidays and school professional-development days are the busiest, lines grow as the night goes on, and the best time to arrive is before the gates open. Our order of preference:

1. A $39 Wednesday (7, 14 or 21 October). The cheapest ticket and the thinnest crowd. Be at the gate by 5:45pm and you are in the first wave through the houses.
2. A Thursday or Sunday before the peak (8, 15 or 18 October). $49, well short of weekend crowds, though the 11pm close leaves less time. Sunday 11 October falls on Thanksgiving weekend, so expect it to run busier.
3. Friday, Saturday or the final week. The full atmosphere and the longest lines. Budget for the Rapid Pass.

Getting there: transit, parking and the gate

The Fright Nights entrance is on Hastings Street at Windermere Street, on the PNE grounds at Hastings Park, 2901 East Hastings Street.

Transit. The R5 RapidBus runs straight along Hastings Street from downtown and stops at the grounds; the 14 covers the same street with more stops. From the Millennium Line, Renfrew Station is about 2 km from the gate, so use TransLink's Trip Planner for a connecting bus rather than walking it in the dark. A trip within Vancouver is one zone: $2.85 on a Compass Card, $3.50 by contactless card or cash. See our transit guide for visitors.

Driving. The PNE lots are run by EasyPark, and the $20 Playland event rate starts two hours before opening. Pay at a meter (cards only, no coins) or with the ZipBy, Passport, Honk or ParkMobile app. Enforcement is by licence-plate recognition, and the PNE says about half of its parking tickets come from a plate typed wrong — check yours before you pay. Everyone leaves at closing, so expect a slow exit from the lots.

Cycling. Bike racks stand outside the main gate and at the corner of Hastings and Renfrew.

The rules that stop people at the gate

• Bags: nothing larger than 8.5 × 11 inches — a sheet of letter paper. Anything bigger goes to the mandatory bag check outside the entrance at $10 per item, so leave backpacks in the car or at the hotel.
• Costumes: themed shirts, hats and onesies are fine. Masks and face-concealing make-up are not, and neither is anything that looks like a Fright Nights character (clowns, ghouls, undead dolls) or like a weapon, police gear included. Costumes must fit through the metal detectors: 25 inches wide and 80 inches high at most.
• Payment: Playland is cashless. Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Interac are accepted for admission, food and games; the gift-card booth east of Guest Services turns cash into a card.
• No re-entry: there are no in-and-outs. Once you leave, you are out for the night.
• Food: no outside food or drink.
• Cameras: phones and small cameras are fine in open areas, but not on rides or inside houses; selfie sticks and cameras with detachable lenses are not allowed.
• Groups: there is no in-park paging, so agree on a meeting point before the first house. Smoking is allowed only in the designated area across from the Hellevator.

What a night actually costs

Food inside is extra and card-only. To keep the night on budget, eat first on Commercial Drive, a short ride west along Hastings. Most hotels are downtown, a straight R5 ride from the gate.

Coming from the US

Every adult needs a passport, passport card or NEXUS card to cross. Children under 16 can use a birth certificate, and a child travelling with only one parent should carry a signed consent letter from the other. Check CBSA wait times for Peace Arch and Pacific Highway before you leave; Friday evenings are the slow crossing. Our border crossing guide has the details.

Is Fright Nights worth it?

For anyone 13 and over who likes being scared, yes — and it is worth far more on a $39 Wednesday than on a $59 Saturday without a Rapid Pass, when much of the night goes on queues. Families with younger children, and anyone who hates jump scares and dark, cramped corridors, will have a better time at a daytime pumpkin patch or one of the family events in our Halloween 2026 guide.

Prices, dates, hours, houses, rides and rules are from the official Fright Nights admission, attractions and guest-services pages and the PNE parking FAQ, checked 27 September 2026. Details can change during the season; check frightnights.ca before you go.