If you’re a theme park lover like me, autumn always means one thing, and one thing only: Fright Fest.
Six Flags Great Adventure recently announced the addition of three new shows and attractions to their annual Fright Fest event. Presented by Snickers, this season will be Fright Fest’s 23rd since its inception in 1991. Every year, adventure seekers from around the world travel to the massive theme park to join in on what Six Flags brands as “thrills by day” and “fright by night.”
By day, the fest features family-friendly thrills with PG-rated scares and, at best, spooky pranks. Activities include a street dance party featuring Halloween hits, a classic who-stole-the-diamond detective adventure accompanied by furry and feathery animals, scary tales with the park’s huggable sea lions (where you can meet newborn, Kona), and a variety-filled magic show. Other sites to check out are Doc Snooker’s Halloween Time Machine, where the Doc takes you back in time to meet some of Halloween’s most notorious faces, and a casual rendezvous with cuddly small-clawed otters. There’s even trick-or-treating on a park trail where kids run into amusing characters. Once dusk hits, however, the real fun begins.
Following 6 pm, the seven-week festival shifts to zombie territory as nearly 200 of them are released into the park, free to roam and intimidate you. Crop Circles, one of the attractions making its debut, sets out to terrorize guests with a straight out of Hollywood alien scarecrow scene. Making their anticipated return this year will be familiar terror trails like Voodoo Island, Asylum, Total Darkness, Wasteland, and The Manor. “Monstertainment” will also be provided to park-goers as nighttime shows, Dead Man’s Party, Ghoulmaster’s Ghosts, The Awakening, and Circus of Thrills, take to the stage.
It all kicks off on September 20 with a Zombie Race 5K obstacle run where participants (ages nine and up) are asked to guard their health flags from blood-thirsty zombies by defeating each obstacle to hopefully make it out alive. Running through November 2, the scream park will altogether house more than 24 Halloween-themed shows and attractions. Six Flags warns that the hair-raising festival isn’t recommended for those who scare easily, to which I ask: Are they talking about you?
