It's that time of year when Fright Fest takes over Six Flags Great Adventure. Would this year prove to be a return to form after last year's lackluster event? Let's find out! I'm going to break down this blog into a couple different sections. I'm going to take a look at the decoration and theme, houses, and entertainment. This blog is not going to be nearly as long as my Halloween Horror Nights blogs as Fright Fest usually only sees minor changes from year to year so I plan on highlighting those changes here along with returning favorites. There were special food options, but I only actually had one of them, loaded buffalo tots, which were very hot, but quite good as far as Six Flags food goes. I will say I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of them. Even saturated in buffalo sauce the tots were crispy still and the legit blue cheese crumbles on top were a nice touch. In addition, my all time favorite Dippin' Dots flavor (and quite possibly the greatest Halloween frozen treat of all time) Spookies and Cream returned to the park! Anyway, onto the event itself.
Decoration and Theme
Fright Fest offered a very familiar scene in terms of decoration and theme. The central hub of the park did see a couple upgrades in the form of a crashed hearse that spewed fog and a massive skeleton replacing the revolutionary war statue. The fountain returned to being a blood fountain and it was surrounded by a sort of burial ground with bones and gravestones visible. The area around the fountain had a small fence as well. On one of my visits the scare actors were actually behind that fencing and not out and among the guests. Not really sure why, perhaps a security issue had taken place or something. It wasn't even that the park was closed as this was somewhat early in the night. Fright Fest this year boasted an all new scare zone, Curse of Blackbeard's Bounty to go with the returning Demon District, Clown Town, and Blood Fountain.
Originally I was excited for this zone as I am for most pirate themed things, but then I learned that it was replacing the Lady of the Lake Cemetery. For the past few years I thought that was the most well done zone as it stretched a large portion of the path that leads from Joker to the arcade. So I kept my hopes up, but was disappointed to see that this scare zone was very small and did not extend much past the light tunnel that is used for Holiday in the Park. I know that the cemetery scare zone had multiple incidents of scare actors being hit or inappropriately touched, so I can at least understand why the size of the zone was shrunken considering its location in the park. That said, in comparison, the new area featured only a couple pirates each time I went through it. They did a great job overall at what they had to work with with very little theming. There was also a security guard on the path both times. I really do hope they expand this zone next year as historically Six Flags has done a really good job decorating that area of the park.
Outside of the new scare zone and some enhancements to the entrance area, the park looked pretty similar to last year. The only other two exceptions to this that I noticed was Frontier Adventures apparently not having a part in the event this year and the path leading to King Da Ka having some effects. Historically there was a haunted mining town over in Frontier Adventures and a few years back there was even a small show. This year the area was largely a ghost town (no pun intended) with the only people being in the area who were looking to ride Runaway Train, Skyway, or Medusa (when it was actually running). The path that leads from the Boardwalk area of the park to King Da Ka randomly had a lot of fog. I'm not sure how much of that was from the nearby Bloodshed house or Saw X house, but there was an abundance of fog and black lighting. This was also the case during Scream Break back in the spring, but back then they had the area be an actual scare zone with actors hiding in it. Just an odd area I guess.
Houses
This year featured two new houses in the form of The Conjuring and Saw X. Right off the bat I have to say that it was great seeing some IP based houses back in the park. I really do hope that Six Flags gets back to having these more frequently as these two houses were a step above the rest. Don't get me wrong. The houses are not to the level you would expect to see from Universal's Halloween Horror Nights, but in terms of Six Flags houses, they were a good step forward. The theming in both Saw X and The Conjuring were pretty good with the Conjuring standing out a bit more overall, possibly due to it's indoor location versus Saw's outdoor. In Saw X you could look up and see the sky in many places, in The Conjuring, not do much. The scare actors in both houses were great. Many re-enacted scenes from their respective IPs and did so very well. It kind of made me wonder if Six Flags had some outside scare actor help with these two houses.
The other houses were largely the same as previous years. Reflections of the Dead felt improved in that there were far more scare actors in it than any other year I've done it. It was admittingly creepy to have a scare actor staring at me only for it to be a reflection. Really good use of the mirror maze and I hope that next year should the house return they keep the extra staff in it. It really made a big difference. The Manor was The Manor. Not much else to say on that one. Fears was Fears and I still wish they would just let Fears take over the Manor and make it into one big house. The concept of Fears is so good, but the house itself is just too small for the amount of fears that they are trying to hit. Big Top Terror was also improved. I feel like I saw more clowns in there and it looks like it got a fresh coat of 3D paint too. The scenery and makeup on the clowns was really popping out. Real good stuff there. Aftermath was Aftermath. Again, not much to say. Bloodshed had a great cast of scare actors this year including one guy telling us not to interrupt footsie wootsie time. Gross. Overall the houses were better than the last couple years which was really great to see. The way the house pass worked was one flat rate got you in all of them as opposed to buying them individually. The price ended up amounting to a little more than five dollars per house if my memory is serving me correctly.
Entertainment
The four shows this year was the new Freak Show, the new Blade Drummers, Unleashed, and Dead Man's Party. All three shows were very well done and offered unique entertainment. Freak Show was a guy doing a few different magic tricks. He ate a long balloon, nailed a nail into his nasal cavity and did some neat stuff with electricity. He only had a few acts, but they were all good and certainly had people cringing!
Blade Drummers took the place of Blood Drums which had been at the park for the last few years. As much as I enjoyed Blood Drums, Blade Drummers took the drumming show up a notch. The show features a variety of metal songs that the drummers drum along to. Along with them are fire dancers and actual blade drummers that play with blades. If you've never seen blade drumming, it's pretty cool. First time I saw it was at Monster Stomp during Sea World's Howl-O-Scream event least year so I was naturally excited to see another version of that drumming here. The ending was quite impressive with flaming blades being used as drumsticks. Real good stuff here that I hope makes a return next year.
Unleashed was back and once again delivered a new show with just one returning act (that I can remember anyway). Overall I felt that this version of Unleashed was a bit less heart-pounding as previous years, but offered some really cool acts nonetheless. My favorite of these was a balancing act where the performer stacked more and more chairs and eventually did handstands and what not on them. So I may have slightly lied in saying that there was one returning act. One of the acts involved two guys where one would lay on a bench, legs elevated, and launch another into flips and what not. that act was part of last year's Frost show at Holiday in the Park. The returning act was the trampoline finale. Other acts included gymnastics, dancing, and juggling. Again, not as heart racing as previous years, but still a ton of talent on display and a show certainly worth watching more than once!
Dr. Fright was back for the annual Dead Man's Party! This year's cast simply nailed it and the show, for the first time in a few years, is my favorite of the four for the year. I am not a dancer, nor do I know a thing about choreography, but this year's show felt to me like I was watching a version of the show for the mid 2010s. I don't think it quiet hit that level, but it was close. The soundtrack certainly hit that level though as only two of the songs were originally from more recent years. This show's soundtrack felt like a love letter to Dead Man's Parties of the past, which it clearly was. I don't know if the show will ever hit the level it was at before all the internal drama caused it to take a step back a few years ago, but this was my favorite version of the show since 2017. On a side note, the Awakening featuring the cast of Dead Man's Party was also well done and Metallica's Enter Sandman was a great way to kick off the scares.
So before I wrap this blog up I want to bring special attention to something that I have been begging for for years. Six Flags Great Adventure debuted some new merchandise and even a dedicated Fright Fest store near the Wild Walkway for the event! The store was really cool as it featured some artifacts from Fright Fests of the past and offered a wide variety of horror merchandise outside of the event. Many movie franchises were represented such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and a Nightmare on Elm Street. Even bigger than that was Fright Fest merchandise that featured things from the event rather than just the usual array of generic Fright Fest hoodies and what not. This year featured merchandise for Dead Man's Party as well as Unleashed. The Conjuring house also had it's own merchandise and Saw was also well represented. I've been saying this for years, this is the kind of merchandise I would happily buy and did buy. Give me merchandise that showcases the houses and shows every year and I will be quite happy! I'd still love to add a Fright Fest shirt with all of the houses represented on it to my collection, come on Six Flags make it happen!
In closing I felt that the 30th year of Fright Fest was a step back in the right direction. Everyone likes to poke fun at the company nowadays over the premium experience comments the CEO had made, but I'll be real honest here. The enhancements to some of the houses, IP houses, unique food offerings that actually taste good, the Fright Fest store, and the addition of Blade Drummers and Freak Show made this event feel way more whole again and I really do hope that that is something for the park to build on. Yes, there is still work to be done. Getting Frontier Adventures back in the game should be one of those priorities for next year, especially with the re-debut of the log flume and Safari Off Road Adventure happening next season. Then we can debate on whether or not the Boardwalk area should also be re-introduced to the event. For now though attention on Fright Fest will fade as the park beings to get ready for Holiday in the Park which I will be sure to cover as well.
This brings my Halloween coverage to an end for the year.... Unless Universal or another park announces something that gets me really hyped in the next short period of time. I hope you all have a safe and happy Halloween!!!!
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