Fright Fest (also known as Festival Del Terror at Six Flags México) is a

Halloween Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration geography of Halloween, observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christianity, Western Christian f ...

-oriented haunt event held annually at

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It was formed on July 2, 2024, following a merger between longtime rivals Cedar Fair and the former Six Flags ...

theme parks An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, and events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central theme, often fea ...

in the

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, and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. It mainly features haunted attractions, themed areas named ''Scare Zones'', and live entertainment. It opened as Fright Nights at Six Flags AstroWorld in 1986. In 2020, Fright Fest was reimagined to Hallowfest, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

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 Bally Manufacturing, later renamed Bally Entertainment, was an American company that began as a pinball and slot machine manufacturer, and later expanded into casinos, video games, health clubs, and theme parks. It was acquired by Hilton Hotels ...

, created an all-new Halloween event for AstroWorld in 1986 that they named ''Six Flags Fright Nights''. 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 Freddy Krueger () is a fictional character and the antagonist of the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' horror film franchise. Created by Wes Craven, he made his debut in Craven's '' A Nightmare on Elm Street'' (1984) as the malevolent spirit of a ...

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 "Six flags over Texas" is the slogan used to describe the six sovereign countries that have had control over some or all of the current territory of the U.S. state of Texas: Spain (1519–1685; 1690–1821), France (1685–1690), Mexico (1821� ...

. 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 (1993-2023)

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 Vincent Damon Furnier (born February 4, 1948), known by his stage name Alice Cooper, is an American rock singer and songwriter whose career spans sixty years. With a raspy voice and a stage show that features numerous props and stage illusion ...

theme. Since then, Six Flags has licensed other intellectual properties for mazes and scare zones, including the ''

Saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, Wire saw, wire, or Chainsaw, chain with a hard toothed edge used to cut through material. Various terms are used to describe toothed and abrasive saws. Saws began as serrated materials, and when man ...

'' films and

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

's ''

Suicide Squad The Suicide Squad is an antihero/supervillain team appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The first version of the Suicide Squad debuted in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #25 (September 1959) and the second and modern version, cre ...

''. In 2018, Fright Fest returned to Frontier City and Darien Lake (later renamed as Six Flags Darien Lake since May 4, 2019), two former Six Flags parks re-acquired by the company on May 22, 2018. To comply with the new health and safety protocols implemented by Six Flags due to the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020, the company announced that their Halloween event would be rebranded to Hallowfest. The change from Fright Fest to Hallowfest included no haunted houses or indoor shows. Six Flags Discovery Kingdom held a different event called Boo 2020! for the 2020 season, as the park operated as a zoo for the season to act in accordance with

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

guidelines with the state. In 2022, Six Flags introduced another Halloween event alongside Fright Fest, called Kids Boo Fest, a kids-oriented Halloween event with

trick-or-treat Trick-or-treating is a traditional Halloween custom for children and adults in some countries. During the evening of Halloween, on October 31, people in Halloween costume, costumes travel from house to house, asking for treats with the phrase " ...

trails along with in-park entertainment, that is held in mornings. On October 7, 2022, all Six Flags amusement parks implemented a new policy in which it limited the size of

bag A bag, also known regionally as a sack, is a common tool in the form of a floppy container, typically made of cloth, leather, bamboo, paper, or plastic. The use of bags predates recorded history, with the earliest bags being lengths of animal s ...

s and subjected all bags to

X-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

screening. While a reason for the change was not stated by the parks, an editor from the ''Theme Park Tribune'' said the new policies could be related to recent guest altercations, including

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

s, at Kennywood and

Six Flags Great America Six Flags Great America is a amusement park, theme park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the northern Chicago metropolitan area. The theme park originally opened as Marriott's Great America on May 29, 1976, as one of two theme parks built ...

Fright Fest Extreme era (2024-present)

On June 25, 2024, Six Flags announced in a press release that the event was rebranded as Fright Fest Extreme. This enhanced version of their annual Halloween event featured haunted attractions inspired by well-known horror franchises, namely ''Saw'', ''

Stranger Things ''Stranger Things'' is an American television series created by the Duffer brothers, Duffer Brothers for Netflix. Produced by Monkey Massacre Productions and 21 Laps Entertainment, the Stranger Things season 1, first season was released on N ...

'', '' Army of the Dead,'' ''

The Conjuring Universe ''The Conjuring'' Universe is an American horror franchise and shared universe centered on a series of supernatural horror films. The franchise is produced by New Line Cinema, Atomic Monster, and the Safran Company, and distributed by Warner ...

'', '' Trick ‘r Treat'', '' Texas Chainsaw Massacre'', and '' DCeased.''

Attractions and shows

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. Halloween-based shows are also performed, most notably "Love at First Fright" at

, Six Flags St. Louis and

, 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 New England, formerly known as Gallup's Grove (1870–1886), Riverside Grove (1887–1911), Riverside Park (1912–1995) and Riverside: The Great Escape (1996–1999), is an amusement park located in Agawam, Massachusetts. Opening in ...

, Six Flags Over Georgia,

Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags Great Adventure is an amusement park located approximately southeast of Trenton, New Jersey, Trenton in Jackson Township, New Jersey. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park complex is situated between New York City and Philadelph ...

and Six Flags Over Texas. "The Ringmaster's Cabaret" is another show, but is exclusively shown at Six Flags Great America. 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 Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (formerly known as Six Flags Marine World, Marine World, The New Marine World Theme Park, and Marine World Africa USA) is a 135-acre (55 ha) animal theme park located in Vallejo, California, off of Interstate 80 i ...

, "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 Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newha ...

. Some parks also have their own respective characters that lead Fright Fest at their park, such as Dr. Diabolical at Six Flags Fiesta Texas and Nox at Six Flags Great America.

Locations

Awards

Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain has won

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

's Reader's Choice Award for ''Best Theme Park Halloween Event'' twice, in 2016 and 2017. Additionally, Fright Fest for all parks has also been nominated for the same category in 2022, placing second place, behind

Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Six Flags, the park was built by Taft Broadcasting and opened in 1972. It was part of a larger effort to move and expand Coney Islan ...

’s Halloween Haunt.

Notes

References

External links

Six Flags official Fright Fest website
{{Halloween events Halloween events in the United States Six Flags Frontier City La Ronde (amusement park) Six Flags America Six Flags AstroWorld Six Flags Darien Lake Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Elitch Gardens Theme Park Six Flags Fiesta Texas Six Flags Great Adventure Six Flags Great America Kentucky Kingdom Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags México Six Flags New England Six Flags Over Georgia Six Flags Over Texas Six Flags St. Louis The Great Escape and Hurricane Harbor