We once again kicked off our Halloween season back in July with a “BOO!” like no other on another trip to Midsummer Scream in Long Beach, CA! And today we’re taking a closer look at all the fun we had throughout the trip with Our Midsummer Scream 2023 Travel Journal!
Thursday, July 27
The day has finally arrived: Midsummer Scream Travel Day! In a few short hours we’ll be heading to the airport and off to Long Beach for a weekend of Halloween magic… we’re so excited! If you’re unfamiliar, Midsummer Scream is an annual, weekend-long Halloween and Horror Convention in Long Beach, CA, featuring panels, mini-haunts, exhibitors, and more. Our ghoul, Miranda from Spooky Little Halloween, wasn’t kidding when she said MSS is like Halloween Summer Camp, and we started planning for our return trip almost as soon as we got home last year. So for the day to finally be here is so surreal! And this year, we’ll be bringing you all along on our adventures with this lil travel journal so we can share our full experience with you. Now we’re off to finish packing and getting ready to go, but we’ll check in again shortly!
Hello from Long Beach! Our trip is already off to a great start as we met some first-time Midsummer Screamers on the flight in and then again at baggage claim. Spooky folks really are the best kind of folks! We’re on our way to drop our bags at the hotel, then head over to the Long Beach Convention Center to get our Gold Bat passes for the weekend. If you’re thinking about attending Midsummer Scream in the future, definitely consider the Gold Bat Pass – it’s so worth it! After we grab our passes, we’ll be meeting up with some of our friends and fellow creators from the Samhain Society before heading out to a welcome dinner. Our ghoul Chelsea from Cheers! With Chelsea and her husband Erick, the hosts of the podcast Sips & Spirits, have arranged for us all to have the secret room at The Cauldron, which looks SO cool! Ahh – we can’t believe another MSS weekend is here!!
Okay, if you ever find yourself out in the area, you have to check out The Cauldron! The drinks and food were amazing, the ambience was perfect, and the secret room was SO cool! We of course had an absolute blast catching up with everyone, too – it was like a Halloween homecoming! Tonight really was the perfect kickoff to the weekend…
So after running into (almost) everyone at the hotel, we did a quick costume change before heading right back out for our fun-filled evening! We rode with Midge Munster out to the restaurant and when the hostess walked us back to the secret room… suffice to say there was a secret passage door involved and we only lost our minds over it a little! The room itself was SO perfect for our whole crew, too, with everything from the wallpaper to the light fixtures and even the furniture itself lending to the spooky ambience. It was like we were kicking off the weekend in Chelsea and Erick’s haunted manor; several of us even took turns trying on the fabulous witch hat that Chelsea was sporting! And we couldn’t have asked for better company either, as almost our full group was able to make it out to dinner.
After an amazing round of desserts (bread pudding and chocolate espresso crème brûlée, what!!), it was time to head back to the hotel to get some sleep… or at least try to! I feel like a little kid on Christmas Eve, only it’s Midsummer Scream Eve! We’ve got a full weekend ahead of us, and a time change to try and adjust to on top of it, so we’re gonna call it a night… As Elvira always says: Unpleasant Dreams!
Friday, July 28
Good morning and Happy Friday… and Happy Midsummer Scream Day!! Before the convention kicks off this evening, though, we’ve got a fun-filled day planned with some of our best Samhain Society ghouls. Everyone should be in Long Beach – or at least en route – now, and a group of us are heading to the Queen Mary this morning to take the ghost tour. We caught a glimpse of the ship last year in an Uber, so we’re pretty excited to be heading there today for a proper tour! For now, though, we’re about to head down to breakfast at the hotel cafe where we’ll be meeting up with some of our crew that are staying here, too. It seems like such a little thing on the surface, but even just being able to grab breakfast together and chit chat to start our day is something we’ve both been very much looking forward to and we can’t wait to catch up with everyone! On that note, we’d better get going – ahhh!! Can’t believe this day is finally here!!!
If you’re not familiar with or have never heard of the Queen Mary, do yourself a favor and look it up! We had an absolute blast on the tour, getting to walk the ship and learn about its storied history. Admittedly, the only thing close to a ghostly encounter we had was when another ship outside blasted its horn during a break in our tour guide’s story and scared us all, but it was still fun to hear the stories of some of the ship’s resident spirits. That said, there were a few cold spots, but that could have been chalked up to anything from drafts to the air conditioning. There was also a really funny part toward the end when our tour guide was telling us a story about the ghost of a little girl who haunts the pool area and is seen in a sailor dress, and several people turned to give Penny curious looks since she, too, was dressed in a sailor dress that day!
After the tour, we stayed on board to explore a bit before we all had lunch at Chelsea Chowder Bar, which was a lot of fun! It’s always so great to be able to spend time with our Halloween friends, especially the “downtime” moments like meals where we can just sit and exist around each other instead of running from one thing to the next, like we’ll be doing from pretty much here on out the rest of the weekend. Which, speaking of… ‘tis about that time!! We’re dressed and ready to head out to the opening night of Midsummer Scream with everyone. So we’ll catch you ghouls on the other side!
Ahhhhh it’s so great to be back at Midsummer Scream!! Seriously, walking onto the show floor was such a jolt of Halloween serotonin that just… it was magical. We spent a good chunk of tonight on the floor, checking out shops and catching up with some of our friends from last year, like Kat and Jazz from Girl, That’s Scary! There were a few things we’d had our eyes on last year that sold out by the end of the weekend, so this year we decided to just go ahead and get things as we found them. And don’t worry, we’ll be doing a haul before we wrap this all up!
But the big thing that happened tonight, as you may have noticed in the pictures, is that we met Kimberly J. Brown (Marnie from Halloweentown, in case you didn’t know)!! My sister texted when we were at the airport yesterday when she found out KJB was going to be there and asked us to get an autograph if there was any way for us to get one. And when we walked onto the show floor and saw there was no line yet at KJB and Daniel Kountz’s table, we knew the time was right! We chatted for a few minutes about Halloween and our love for the holiday, she complimented my hair (which I’ve put a little lilac into for the weekend!), and then she signed a picture for my sister and took a picture with us. Talk about starting the weekend with a bang!! It reminded me of last year when we randomly happened upon Christine McConnell in our first fifteen-ish minutes inside the con (which, if you haven’t heard that story, check out last year’s Midsummer Scream post!). Another really cool thing that happened tonight was Devin getting to meet and get an autograph from Maggie Robertson, famous for playing Lady Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village! They got to chat a bit and she even threw a few zingers his way, which was hilarious! Again – ahhhh it’s so great to be back here!!
Alright, we’re off to dinner with the crew at The 4th Horseman, a Halloween- and horror-themed pizza place! We’ll catch up tomorrow!
Saturday, July 29
Oh my gourd, what a whirlwind today was!! I mean, I knew it would be – the Saturday of MSS last year went by in a flash and this year was no different! I jotted down a few notes throughout the day so that I could try to remember it all…
We started our day by heading out to Rad Coffee with Miranda, Midge, and James from That Halloween Bro, which was awesome! If you’ve never been, Rad has all sorts of spooky drinks on the menu, so it was right up our alley. After that, it was time for Midsummer Scream! The day was a blur of shopping, attending a few panels, and checking out the haunts in the Hall of Shadows. The Night of the Living Drag Show was a huge hit last year, and we were so glad to see it back this year – and on the main stage! All of the haunts in the Hall of Shadows this year were excellent, too. The Winchester Mystery House haunt was excellent and totally got us all when we were going through it; we also really liked The Twilight Zone one which put you in various scenes from the show and was all in grayscale. Of course, we also shopped and wandered the show floor throughout the day, making a trip or two back to the hotel to drop off packages and just recharge a bit.
After an ordered-in dinner in the hotel lobby with a few of our Samhain Society pals (shout out to Penny Snark, the queen of looks but also the queen of organizing the group DoorDash order!), we got dressed and went back out for the Midsummer Scream After Party! Just like last year, we had an absolute blast at the after party, just dancing and hanging out with everyone. It’s almost like a Halloween Community Prom! A lot of people really went all out for their costumes this year, and it was just awesome to be a part of it all.
Once the vibe shifted from “party time” to “chill time”, we had some of our friends, including Matt from Hallowwoods, Lori from Ghoul at Heart and her husband, Jose, and Bianca from Spooky Melanin Magic, over to hang out. Midge had brought Scream: The Game, so we took the opportunity to see how we’d fare against Ghostface, and the answer is… well, ol’ Ghostface made pretty quick work of our crew! Post-game, we all hung out for a bit, sharing stories from the day and just laughing and having a great time together. As these things go, though, it got to be pretty late so everyone peeled off and once again, I’m trying to will myself to sleep so we can do it all again tomorrow! We’re seriously having the best time out there, and I’m so grateful for every part of this weekend!
Sunday, July 30
Y’know… if time could slow down a bit that weekend, that would be grrreat… seriously though, we’re having the best time, even though we’ve hit that point in the trip where the farewells are starting with Bianca leaving this morning to head home. Le sigh… it’s the worst part, but it comes with the territory.
Today was a lot of the same MSS experiences from yesterday, as we worked our way through the rest of the show floor and the Hall of Shadows to hit the booths/haunts we hadn’t yet. We even went through the Winchester Mystery House haunt again, because it was so much fun yesterday! Another highlight from today was that we got the chance to meet Bob Gurr, the Disney Legend Imagineer who designed a lot of the ride vehicles for the Disneyland attractions, including The Haunted Mansion. We of course had to take a picture, and even got autographed Haunted Mansion ride posters from him, one for us and one for my sister to go with her KJB autograph. Later on, we also got to meet Ed Douglas from Midnight Syndicate with Miranda, who we’ve featured on every Atmosfearic Soundscapes playlist, which was so cool!
As the convention started winding down, we reconvened with the Samhain Society crew for some hang out time before more folks started heading out. Fortunately, there was a spot at the hotel where we could all unwind for a bit, take some family photos, etc. Again, time just goes so fast at these things, and before we knew it, Mike (from All Hallows Geek) and Misty were on their way home while the rest of us headed out into Long Beach for a farewell dinner.
It was kind of funny, the weather has been mostly overcast and somewhat cooler this weekend, but on the way to dinner (we walked to a restaurant across the street), the clouds had cleared up, the sun was shining – and the heat returned with a vengeance! It really felt like the weekend’s Halloween spirit was dissipating as more folks were leaving to go home; not going away necessarily, but just that everyone was taking parts of it with them. Dinner was fun and full of laughs and good times. At one point, Chelsea ordered this bottle of sparkling wine and I’ll never forget our waiter staring bewildered at this “bottle” as the bartender delivered it and saying “What is that?!” because we’d all thought it would be a standard-sized bottle; Chelsea had even asked for extra glasses so she could share!
After dinner, we sat around in the hotel lobby for a bit, chit chatting until it was late in the evening and everyone was starting to get super tired. We had a few more farewells, as James left earlier in the evening, and we won’t be seeing Chelsea and her family or Matt in the morning, and while they never get easier, it’s good to know that we’ll all keep in touch throughout the year. When we got back to the room, we did a little bit of packing, and now it’s time for bed. I can’t believe we’re already flying home tomorrow… but on the bright side, I am excited to see Wizard when we get there!
Monday, July 31
Good morning from our last day of the trip… thanks, I hate it. Haha no really though, this has been an awesome, awesome weekend, but you know what they say about all good things. I was really glad that we were able to have breakfast this morning with Miranda, Midge, and Penny before the rest of our crew went our separate ways. Now that I’m thinking about it, the real MVP of this trip was the hotel café coming in clutch for breakfasts, lunches, and coffee breaks throughout the last few days! Having that available was seriously a huge benefit this time around. Before we knew it, we were saying “see you later” to our Midwest ghouls, which, being that we’re all in the same region of the country, didn’t feel quite as rough as some of the others, since we don’t live that far from each other. And now we’re pulling back up to the airport which is wild, like… weren’t we just here?! I digress… alright, time to go get checked in.
So we’re sitting at the Long Beach airport now, and waiting to board in a little bit. So no time like the present for….. A SPEED HAUL!!!! Sort of… in a “we’re going to take a picture of everything we get home” kind of way. Suffice to say that we shopped until we dropped this weekend, and met so many incredible creators and business owners along the way! You can see a lot of our purchases and swag we picked up throughout the weekend below, and we even snapped a few pictures with some of our favorite vendors. Shopping the show floor has become one of the things we look most forward to at Midsummer Scream, and we’re very fortunate to be able to support so many small businesses.
Alright, spooky friends, we’re due to start boarding any minute, so I’m going to wrap this travel journal up. I really hope you’ve enjoyed tagging along with us over the last few days! My goal was to capture sort of ‘real time’, ‘in the moment’ updates for our Midsummer Scream post this year, so hopefully that was a success and gave you a good look at our experience because we’ve seriously had the most amazing time this weekend. When we first launched Your Best Halloween Ever, gosh, almost five years ago now, we never in our wildest dreams thought it would lead to any of this. Flying across the country to meet up and make memories with some of the best friends we’ve ever had while attending something akin to a Halloween summer camp or family reunion is just… It’s awesome, in the absolutely best way imaginable, and I’ll be forever grateful for everything that we’ve been able to do this for two years now. Thanks for coming along with us, and we’ll see you on the other side!
Your Best Halloween Ever 
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