Six Flags Fright Fest

Fright Fest (formerly known as Fright Nights) is a Halloween-oriented haunt event held annually at Six Flags theme parks in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.[1] It mainly features haunted attractions, themed areas named Scare Zones, and live entertainment.

Six Flags Fright Fest
General statistics
SeasonHalloween (September – October)
Fright Fest
Six Flags St. Louis
NameFright Nights
StatusOperating
Opening dateOctober 19, 1988 (October 19, 1988)
Fright Fest
Six Flags Over Georgia
StatusOperating
Opening dateOctober 21, 1988 (October 21, 1988)
Fright Fest
Six Flags Over Texas
StatusOperating
Opening dateOctober 13, 1989 (October 13, 1989)
Fright Fest
Six Flags Great America
StatusOperating
Opening dateOctober 19, 1991 (October 19, 1991)
Fright Fest
Six Flags Great Adventure
StatusOperating
Opening dateOctober 17, 1992 (October 17, 1992)
Fright Fest
Six Flags Magic Mountain
StatusOperating
Opening dateOctober 16, 1993 (October 16, 1993)
Fright Fest
Six Flags New England
StatusOperating
Opening dateOctober 6, 2000 (October 6, 2000)
Festival Del Terror
Six Flags Mexico
StatusOperating
Opening date2012 (2012)
Fright Fest
Six Flags Darien Lake
StatusOperating
Opening date2018 (2018)
Fright Fest
Frontier City
StatusOperating
Opening dateOctober 7,1989 (October 7,1989)
Fright Fest
Six Flags Fiesta Texas
StatusOperating
Opening date1996 (1996)
Fright Fest
Six Flags America
StatusOperating
Opening date1999 (1999)
Fright Fest
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
StatusOperating
Opening date2000 (2000)
Fright Fest
Great Escape (amusement park)
StatusOperating
Opening date1999 (1999)
Fright Fest
La Ronde (amusement park)
StatusOperating
Opening date2002 (2002)
Fright Fest
Six Flags AstroWorld
StatusClosed
Opening date1986 (1986)
Closing dateOctober 30, 2005
Fright Fest
Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom
StatusClosed
Opening date1999 (1999)
Closing date2009
Fright Fest
Six Flags Elitch Gardens
StatusClosed
Opening date1999 (1999)
Closing date2007 (2007)

History

Fright Nights era (1986-1993)

After testing various Halloween-based seasonal events throughout the 1970s to mid-1980s, Six Flags, then owned by Bally Manufacturing, created an all-new Halloween event for AstroWorld in 1986 that they named Six Flags Fright Nights.[2][3]

In 1987, the event began to be expanded to Six Flags' other properties. Six Flags Over Georgia was the second park to introduce the event.

Six Flags Over Mid-America was the third park to introduce Fright Nights in 1988 with Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street as the event's "entertainment chairman". The all-new Fright Nights featured House of the Living Dead, a walk-through inside of the ride building for the Time Tunnel dark ride, as well as the "Terror Train", a horror train show on the Tommy G. Robertson Railroad.

In 1989, Fright Nights debuted at Six Flags Over Texas.[4] Like the parks in Texas and Missouri, Freddy Krueger was the central figure of the event. It featured haunted houses, a trick or treat trail for kids, and more.

Fright Fest era (1993-Present)

In 1999, Six Flags licensed and opened Alice Cooper's Brutal Planet haunted houses at some parks, featuring music from the album and using similar elements in each house. 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 mazes and scare zones, including the Saw films[5] and DC Comics's Suicide Squad.[6]

In 2018, Fright Fest returned to Frontier City and Darien Lake, two former Six Flags parks re-acquired by the company on May 22, 2018.

General information

Six Flags parks are heavily decorated for Fright Fest, and mainly feature haunted attractions at an extra charge, as well as live entertainment and scare zones.[7] Halloween-based shows are also performed, most notably "Love at First Fright" at Six Flags St Louis and Six Flags Great America,[8] as well as opening ceremonies and closing finales such as "Freaks Unleashed" and "Final Freakout" at Six Flags St Louis which brings all the actors into the park for a first and last scare. The parks also feature themed "Scare Zones" in designated areas of the park where costumed actors are allowed to scare guests, though these parks also typically include areas where the actors are not allowed, thus allowing a "safe" area for families with small children or otherwise not wanting to be scared.

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 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, "Awakening" at Six Flags Great Adventure and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, "The Uprising" at Six Flags Over Georgia, Six Flags America, Six Flags Great America, "The Arrival" at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, and "Unleashed!" at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Locations

As of 2018, Six Flags Fright Fest events are held at the following parks:

"Fright Fest" was previously also held at former Six Flags park Elitch Gardens.[24] The park was sold to PARC Management in 2007,[25] and PARC Management originally replaced Fright Fest with "Fall Family Fun Fest" after purchasing the park, adding family oriented areas such as hay mazes and pumpkin painting. The event was rebranded again as "FrightFest" from 2008 onward, avoiding the space between the words Fright and Fest as Fright Fest is a registered trademark of Six Flags. This continued in the years 2011-2014 when Herschend Family Entertainment managed the property. Elitch Gardens is currently managed by Premier Parks, LLC, and FrightFest remains.

Awards

Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain has won USA Today's Reader's Choice Award for Best Theme Park Halloween Event twice, in 2016 and 2017.

See also

References
  1. "Six Flags Fright Fest". sixflags.com. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  2. "Fright Fest at AstroWorld scared and amused a generation of Houstonians". mysanantonio.com. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  3. "Astroworld Timeline". facebook.com. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  4. "Fright Fest". SFOT Source. 2016. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  5. "New haunted house at Great America's Fright Fest -- Daily Herald". dailyherald.com. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  6. "Six Flags Scares Up Suicide Squad Zone - License! Global". licensingexpo.com. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  7. "Fright Fest". SFOT Source. 2016. Retrieved September 20, 2012.
  8. "Fright by Night". Six Flags St Louis. 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  9. "Six Flags Over Texas Fright Fest 2016". dallas.culturemap.com. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  10. "Great America Fright Fest 2016". www.coaster101.com. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
  11. "Fright Fest 2016". sixflags.com/stlouis. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  12. "Magic Mountain Fright Fest 2016". www.latimes.com/. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  13. "Fright Fest 2016". sixflags.com/newengland. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
  14. "Fright Fest 2016". sixflags.com/overgeorgia. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  15. "Fright Fest 2016". jerseyfamilyfun.com. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  16. "Fright Fest 2016". sixflags.com. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  17. "Fright Fest 2016". sixflags.com. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  18. "Fright Fest Stumbles at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom". micechat.com. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  19. "Fright Fest Returns To Darien Lake". darienlake.com. Retrieved 24 September 2018.}
  20. "Festival del Terror - Six Flags Mexíco". sixflags.com. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  21. "What's New for Fright Fest 2016 - The Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom". sixflags.com. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  22. "What's New for Fright Fest 2016 - La Ronde". sixflags.com. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  23. "Fright Fest - Frontier City". frontiercity.com. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
  24. "News - Elitch Gardens Theme and Water Park". elitchgardens.com. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  25. "Six Flags sells seven parks - Park World". archive.org. 13 December 2007. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 31 March 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
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