Countdown to Halloween - Monster Minigolf

Welcome to the AEIOU and Sometimes Why Countdown to Halloween 2012!!

Take a moment to say hi to our Halloween mascots up there in the banner: Hellcat, Batty and Punkinhead. They've been with me since last Halloween and are very excited to be greeting you all this year. I've also put up some new wallpaper courtesy of Disney's Haunted Mansion.

Last year, I had "theme weeks" such as Vincent Price or Disney's Haunted Mansion. This year I'll be mostly featuring things from my Halloween collection along with the occasional audio treat and probably a contest or two.

Be sure to follow me on Pinterest and/or Tumblr as I'll be posting Halloween-y images all month on those platforms as well that won't be here.

If you haven't yet, check out the Great Pumpkin Gift Exchange that I'm organizing. 

It's sort of like an online Secret Santa for Halloween fans. 

Deadline for signing up in this Saturday, October 6th.

 I had a birthday over the weekend and since the weather was going to be questionable, I decided to do something inside: Monster Minigolf! We've been here a few times before. It's always a good time and a fun way to start the Halloween season a little early.

This guy welcomes you when you open the door

Monster Minigolf is an indoor 18 hole minigolf course with a cartoony monster theme. The entire thing is lit with blacklight and the props and artwork are done with fluorescent paint.

Entrance to the course

 Probably the most entertaining thing about our visit was a boy around 8 who was going to a party inside. The kid had been there before but did not want to go in, even though he had a gift for his friend having a party inside. We waited outside for our friends for about 20 minutes and the kid still wasn't going in, despite the mom trying everything she could think of (and a few suggestions from us) to get him in. He did make it at some point as I saw him after we finished our play through.

You can do birthday parties here and they have a couple of party rooms that would look at home in any haunted house. They were full so I couldn't get any pictures. Darn kids!

The course has a few animated props that activate every so often, like the pics above and below. Frank lifts forward from his slab while electrical noises play. The skeletal demon is about 8' tall and makes monstrous noises while his head and arms move.

There's a DJ booth where occasionally a live person will make birthday announcements or call an impromptu "dance contest" for participating kids to win prize tickets. They mostly play '80s music and TV/cartoon themes. If you rent the place out for a private party, you can hook your iPod up.

WIRD radio

The creepiest part is the 18th hole where you have to shoot your ball into a giant clown head.

Say ahhh!

The mascots of Monster Minigolf are Stella Skellerella and her dog Jawbone.
They make a few appearances around the place.

After our round of minigolf (I was 3rd out of 5) we went to dinner and finished things off with some cake. My wife asked for Nightmare Before Christmas but because it wasn't one of the licensed things the bakery could do, so they did their own take on it. One of the cool things about having a birthday at the end of September is getting Halloween themes cakes.

Head on over to Flickr to see more photos from Monster Minigolf and check out the cool art.

Be sure to visit the other bloggers that have their porch lights on. 

They're waiting for you!