| Six Flags Fright Fest |
|---|
 |
| General statistics |
|---|
| Season |
Halloween (September – October) |
|---|
| FrightFest |
|---|
|
|
| Darien Lake |
|---|
| Status |
Closed |
|---|
| Closing date |
2015 |
|---|
| Replaced by |
Harvest Festival |
|---|
|
|
| General statistics |
|---|
| Note |
Park not owned by Six Flags as of 2007 |
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Six Flags Fright Fest is a Halloween-oriented haunt event held at Six Flags theme parks[1] which offers up various haunted attractions, themed 'Scare Zones', and live entertainment.
History
Six Flags created Fright Fest after testing Halloween-based events through the 1970s at some of its parks. In particular, Six Flags AstroWorld, acquired in 1974, was running Fright Nights from at least 1986 on. Renamed Fright Fest in 1993, it continued until the park closed in 2005.[2][3] In 1989 Fright Fest was born at Six Flags Over Texas and expanded to all of its parks soon after. The events featured haunted houses, a trick or treat trail for kids, and more. In 1999, Six Flags licensed and opened Alice Cooper's Brutal Planet haunted houses at some park, featuring music from the album and using similar elements in each house, although the next year it became just simply "Brutal Planet" and dropped the Alice Cooper theme. Since then, Six Flags has licensed other intellectual properties for makes, including the Saw films[4] and DC Comics's Suicide Squad.[5]
The parks are generally redecorated heavily for the event, while also featuring attractions built for the event along the lines of haunted houses, and sometimes multiple outdoor walk-throughs that are not in the form of an indoor maze. Halloween based shows often replace the normal summer shows, most notably the beloved 'Love at First Fright' at Six Flags St Louis and Six Flags Great America, and usually an opening ceremony or an end of the night finale, started by 'Freaks Unleashed' and 'Final Freakout' at Six Flags St Louis that brings all the actors into the park for a first and last scare. Parks may also feature "Scare Zones" in designated areas of the park where costumed actors are allowed to scare guests, though these parks also typically include "Non-Scare Zones" where the actors are not allowed, thus allowing a "safe" area for families with small children or otherwise not wanting to be scared. As well some parks feature promotions where guests can compete for prizes, such as exit passes for eating a live cockroach.
Many of the parks have similar shows and share names and ideas, like 'Dead Man's Party', which is at Six Flags St Louis, Six Flags New England, Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags Great Adventure, Six Flags Over Texas, and Six Flags Great America. Another show, "Love at First Fright" is only shown at Six Flags St Louis, and Six Flags Great America. But it was also shown at Six Flags Over Georgia for a while.
Most also have a specific show that unleashes the monsters into the parks, including "Freaks Unleashed" at Six Flags St Louis, "The Awakening" at Six Flags Over Texas, Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, "The Uprising" at Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags America, Six Flags Great America, and "Unleashed!" at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Locations
As of 2017, Six Flags Fright Fest events are held at the following parks:
"Fright Fest" events were previously also held at former Six Flags parks Darien Lake[19] and Elitch Gardens.[20] These parks were sold to PARC Management in 2007,[21] and PARC Management parks originally rebranded their Fright Fest events as "Fall Family Fun Fest", adding family oriented areas such as hay mazes and pumpkin painting. The events were then rebranded again as "FrightFest" from 2008 onward, including the years 2011-2014 with Herschend Family Entertainment managing the properties. Darien Lake and Elitch Gardens are currently managed by Premier Parks, LLC, and while FrightFest ended at Darien Lake in 2015, replaced by Harvest Festival,[22][19] as of 2017, it continues at Elitch Gardens as "Fright Fest".[23]
See also
References
External links
