View: Night of the Jack 2026
Updated: Oct 5
You want pumpkins? You go to Ralphs or your your local patch. You want a pumpkin party with thousands of illuminated versions? Head for the Santa Monica Mountains and look for the orange glow. You've arrived at pumpkin heaven in Calabasas.
A Halloween Scene 2026 View
Last year, Halloween Scene Los Angeles reviewed Night of the Jack in Calabasas, and you can see that full review right here. We went back again last week to take in the latest seasonal iteration of the pumpkins-on-steroids outdoor event, and there are several changes to the experience, which we’ll highlight in this update.
Rest assured, if you enjoyed last year’s Night of the Jack, you’ll have fun at this one too. Many of the favorite displays from last season are retained for 2026, and there are some fresh takes that might make a revisit worth your while this autumn.
The first and most familiar thing you’ll see in 2026 is a near duplicate main grounds area. There are the food trucks (including a couple of new ones this season), the hay maze for the kids, the cut-out standees for your many selfie photo ops, and plenty of ornately lit, two-and-three-dimensional monster artworks for viewing. The centrally located outdoor gift shop is, of course, still centrally there, and a few new vendors are in evidence. You can have your fortune read, your face caricatured, and even get a nice adult beverage at the Spookeasy bar, all within about one minute walk of each other.
All of this, naturally, is prelude to the main feature of the evening: the one-mile-long Jack's Trail that winds through King Gillette Ranch and offers all manner of themed pumpkin displays, lighting effects, artful setups, and superior music to back it all up.
Immersive Scene Los Angeles started the night with a nice meal at the Love Bird food truck, while we waited for it to get dark enough to fully enjoy the trail. It was a Thursday night and very early in the run, so the crowds were somewhat thin, unlike last season when we went on a weekend and a ton of people filled the place. But it wasn’t crowd size we were thinking about; it was what changes the trail would have for us from last October.
Once the skies grew enticingly dark, we entered the trail to find out. The first thing we realized was that they steered you through in the exact opposite direction from last year. The former exit was now the entrance and vice versa. We’d soon find out why.
The first 2026 newbies that stood out for us this year were two walk-thru, lit up archways: the first with enough spiders in its design to give you guaranteed electric arachnophobia, and the second a cleverly calibrated light show with changing visual patterns and great music. While short in length, they showed us that we could expect more updated content ahead. Nearby, there was another winning debut: a vibrant neon graveyard that punctured the dark with its vivid purple, green, and white illumination.
Right after, there was a new and hilariously darkish display of vanquished - okay, dead- out of town football players coming out of their graves, which I assume means the Rams and/or Chargers were their murderers (definitely not an NFL reality in 2026….yet, anyway).
After passing our first hundred or so lit-up plastic pumpkins (no rot or smell guaranteed, unlike with real gourds), we eyed some new and ornate artwork. Coming around a bend, we soon discovered the obvious reason for the new path order: here, near the entrance, they debuted Jack’s Carnival — a large, though (on this weeknight, anyway) nearly empty field of rides for the young ones. They've leaned toward various blow-up attractions here, but also have some scaled-down classic carnival rides, for the younger set. You must buy a wristband to partake in the rides, but it opens up a new level of entertainment options in 2026 at this family event. There was also a souvenir booth or two, and a watering hole for adults to enjoy a libation while their kids are bouncing or spinning away on the carnival rides. The whole thing is situated right near the start to get your kids’ attention - and your business too - before you potentially tire from the looping walk ahead.
But we were here for Jack’s Trail, so we soon moved on and found ourselves standing in front of a forty-foot talking skeleton who snarkily welcomed our group to his haunted graveyard area. I saw some familiar pumpkin creations from last year, though restaged nicely, and a bunch of clever gravestones: “I told you I was sick,” being my favorite.
We passed some of the popular returning displays from last year, Hollywood, Dios de la Muerte, and a wholly reimagined digital-video-mapping spectacle – always the highlight area for us – that was yet again inventively projected on the walls of a huge building. Great music/sound and all-new stellar visuals once again made a lasting impression. Before that, however, we encountered an imaginative fresh entry for 2026: a moving, swaying, and singing corn stalk with pumpkin creatures that were performing a nifty rendition of “Monster Mash.” See some video of it here.
The centrally-located grassy field, with numerous lighting effects and that impressive giant cubed digital display, were back, as was the electrified tulip garden, and, everywhere, more pumpkins than you’d find at an Iowa farm - albeit manmade versions. Other returnees like Alice in Wonderland, the pumpkin-photo booth, sports/dinosaurs/animal pumpkin-ized veterans, the undersea water display, and even a short stop at SpongeBob’s home, while fine, kept us moving, hunting for more new stuff for 2026.
Soon we came upon an incredible sight – we think it must be new for this year – a beautifully-lit and quite tall tree that simply yet beautifully lit up the sky in seasonal lights of orange and yellow. It was majestic and memorable and one of the best sights of the night. In fact, to our eyes, it appears the designers added some extra peripheral lighting of the trees in general, which created a nice mood-setting background vibe to much of the Gillette’s grounds. It’s not always big special effects and spectacle that leave their mark.
Then we wandered into a bit of winter (oh, don’t we wish) in otherwise sweltering Southern California as a surprising snowstorm fell from the sky over an alpine-themed area. As we neared the end of our trek, we spent a few minutes at a rookie display: the skeleton dance party where you too can jump on the dance floor with the bony partiers if you so choose. The dance floor was empty of living-takers on this Thursday night, but I imagine there will be a lot of people working their October moves on the weekends. "The Time Warp," anyone?
After passing by 2026’s power couple – Taylor and Travis – well, their pumpkin versions, anyway, and rocking out briefly to AC/DC in a new rock-band display, our visit was nearly complete. All in all, 2026’s Night of the Jack provided just enough new displays, and reimagined or restaged older ones, to declare it an enjoyable experience once again – all the more so for being held outdoors in the clean nighttime air of the Santa Monica Mountains.
Now, where’s that pumpkin pie?
Note: Be aware, several areas of Jack’s Trail are dimly lit and often on uneven paths, so you might want to bring a flashlight or use your phone light to guide you on those areas. Just keep the lights pointed downward out of respect for fellow guests.
at King Gillette Ranch
26800 Mulholland Hwy.
Calabasas, CA 91302
Now thru November 1
Tix: $40.00 and up
Parking fee: $16.00 and up
