Six Flags Fright Fest is looking to move up in the Southern California theme park haunt business. They’re also trying to expand that haunt business to their regional parks across the nation. Their panel at Midsummer Scream 2024 showed off just how big they’re going and how that expansion means more than just adapting movies or TV shows for haunted houses. This year Fright Fest turns into Fright Fest Extreme. The Magic Mountain version of the event features Saw 20th Anniversary, The Conjuring Universe, Stranger Things, Army of the Dead, Trick ‘r Treat, Aftermath: Nocturnal Hunt, and the legacy houses Willoughby’s Resurrected, Condamned, Truth or Dare, Vault 666: Unlocked, and Sewer of Souls.
Here are some of the details that the Six Flags brass dropped about the various houses at the upcoming Halloween season event.
As for the Saw and Conjuring houses, they’re both returning from previous iterations of Fright Fest, but they’ll both be updated to increase the flow of guests and add to them. Saw is adding elements from across the series for the 20th anniversary of the first film. The Conjuring Universe is adding elements from across that franchise and they especially focused on making this one move a bit quicker as last year had wait times upward of 2 hours at Magic Mountain.
Stranger Things isn’t focused on one single season of the show but they promised new technology for a haunted house. Guests perspectives are a particular focus with the house switching between the Upside Down and Hawkins.
Army of The Dead takes over the old Aftermath house, but also splits with a new version called Aftermath: Nocturnal Hunt that features werewolves.
New scare zones coming to Six Flags Magic Mountain include Underworlds, Plaza De La Muerte, and Grimmlore Ridge. That’s in addition to legacy scare zones like City Under Siege, Exile Hill, CarnivHELL, The Deadzone, and Devil’s Triangle.
Finally, what felt like the main event of the panel was Trick ‘r Treat. They brought out writer/director Michael Dougherty to talk about the house. The new house doesn’t follow the story of the movie exactly; it features elements from the graphic novels and new ideas as well. Michael was very hands-on with the ideation and creation of the house, wanting cutting-edge technology like holograms, animatronics, and others.
Overall, Six Flags really brought the goods when it comes to Fright Fest Extreme this year. They said multiple times throughout the panel that they want to be the best of the best when it comes to Halloween haunt events. Fright Fest Extreme will have 20 houses and scare zones in addition to food, rides, and other entertainment at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
At Six Flags Magic Mountain in Los Angeles, Fright Fest Extreme will operate on select Thursdays through Sundays, from September 7 to November 3, marking the park’s largest and longest Fright Fest ever with 32 nights of fright. The expansion and investment of added horror franchises will establish Six Flags Magic Mountain as the leader in California with a record combined total of 20 haunted houses and scare zones. The park will be open for daytime operations on select calendar days from 10:30am – 5:00pm for Kids Boo Fest and Oktoberfest, with Fright Fest Extreme running from 7:00pm – 12:00am on Thursdays and Sundays, and 7:00pm – 1:00am on Fridays and Saturdays.
In New Jersey at Six Flags Great Adventure, Fright Fest Extreme will operate on 32 terror-filled nights on select Wednesdays through Sundays, from September 7 to November 3. The park will be open for daytime operations on select calendar days from 10:30am – 5:00pm for Kids Boo Fest and Oktoberfest, with Fright Fest Extreme running from 5:00pm – 11:00pm on select Wednesdays and Thursdays, 5:00pm – 12:00am on Fridays, and select Saturdays and Sundays 6pm – 1:00am.
To get more information on the various parks, tickets, or anything else, go to SixFlags.com.
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