Taking the Kids -- and taking full advantage of Halloween season

Maybe the teens and tweens will even let you come along. Here are eight new and expanded options to get you started:

Terror Behind the Walls. Guests at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia become part of the experience with enhanced interactive experiences, and six new secret rooms where visitors will be challenged to step further into the story, to become part of the action, and ultimately, to escape the massive haunted prison.

Wisconsin Fear Grounds in Waukesha, Wisconsin, adds to the scares with Twisted, a 20,000 square-foot haunted house, and a new Oct. 8 overnight outdoor event "Night Terrors" that will allow guests to experience 13 hours of fear.

"Fortress of Nightmares in Newport, Rhode Island, provides 3-D glasses to visitors as they walk through the South Wall of historic Fort Adams for a fear that will travel through dimensions.

Brick-or-Treat Party Nights at LEGOLAND® California Resort, and LEGOLAND Florida Resort is back and bigger than ever. On weekends all through October, LEGOLAND California features a new Ghost Cruise adventure, a new pop-badge challenge through Fun Town, a new theater show in Castle Hill, a fall festival complete with a LEGO® pumpkin patch building activity and roaming candy carts have plenty for trick-or-treaters!

SeaWorld’s Spooktacular, in Orlando and San Diego provides special Halloween shows and the chance for your younger kids to show off their costumes while dancing with life-sized, but not-too-scary, sea creatures. In San Diego, there's a new themed area celebrating Dia de Los Muertos designed to help guests learn about and take part in the festivities of this traditional Mexican holiday It's all in the regular admission price (with one kid free per paying adult).

Weekend nights from September 30 through October 30, Howl-O-Scream transforms three Busch Gardens theme parks -- Tampa Bay, Williamsburg and SeaWorld San Antonio -- into the ultimate scare adult zone (not suitable for children under 13). There are spooky haunted houses (new ones at Tampa Bay), terrifying scare zones and elaborate themed shows. During the day, the parks host a costumed array of very family-friendly fare.

Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights delivers ever more sophisticated and scary Halloween frights based on the FX anthology-horror series "American Horror Story," "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre," "The Exorcist" and other horror movies featuring fantastic special effects, monsters and very scary haunted houses. Not recommended for anyone under 13, and maybe not even then.

The 18 Six Flags parks put on a Fright Fest "Family by Day, Fright by Night!" During the day, the younger kids will enjoy the Spooky Kooky Magic Show and the Monster Maze. After dark, send your teens (13 and older) to the ghoulish scare zones, wander through haunted mazes and ride the Voodoo Drop. Fright weekends run through Oct. 31.

I've got my witch's hat and special pillowcase. They make the best trick-or-treat bags!

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(For more Taking the Kids, visit www.takingthekids.com and also follow "taking the kids" on www.twitter.com, where Eileen Ogintz welcomes your questions and comments.)