Going to the Left Coast in October!

[Octobers Fade]

Knott's and HHN do not do any behind the scenes ticketed tours. In my opinion, even though HHN is better in Orlando, SoCal is the haunt capitol of the world. Some MUST DOs:

Queen Mary Dark Harbor (how did you miss this??) It's basically HHN with 6 mazes and scare zones and a 4D shooter, minus the theme park but they do have carnival rides, it's totally worth it as long as you get there early.
LA Haunted Hayride
17th Door (be prepared to sign a waiver)
Delusion (not a haunt, but an interactive play through a series of rooms, it's breathtaking)
Motel 6 Feet Under
Sinister Point
Creep LA

These are just my personal favorites.

I will check the dates on those and see if it is doable! thanks for the heads up!

 

[Octobers Fade]

I really like the San Diego Zoo, but you might also want to consider the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Its enclosures are much more vast and open. You can take a tram around a really large field exhibit that some of the African wildlife inhabit together. Note that it is a separately ticketed, separately located attraction.

If you want a more up-close view of the Hollywood sign, there are a few trails in Griffith Park where you can hike very close to it.

As noted, USH is much smaller than UO and thus you'll need a lot less time there. A day for the attractions would be plenty. A big chunk of time will just be spent taking the escalators up and down the upper and lower lots! The same would be true for HHN there. I would definitely use crowd calendars as a guide, but I attended there in 2014 and bought express passes. We walked every house in a few hours. Although I do think it has gotten more popular with the opening of Potter, and that has possibly translated to HHN. On the plus side, it's cheaper!

Good info, thank you, I saw the Safari Park, have to see if we can fit it in.