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The online community was invited up to Six Flags Magic Mountain on Saturday October 5 to check out the offerings for Fright Fest 2013. We got to experience the Fright Feast with the Willoughby's and go through the mazes on our own. 

The park also gave us some extra passes to hold a Twitter contest that most of the online sites had some fun with. Overall it was a great night. 


Full review of the event is below the pictures. 
Six Flags Magic Mountain/Hurricane Harbor entrance is all decked out for Fright Fest.
Parental warning that sadly many parents don't pay attention to. Saw WAY too many crying children on Saturday night.
The entire park is pretty much one big scare zone now, each area with a different theme.
The Maze Wristband station was back this year which is great. You can also purchase them at the Midway Games.
Even the Full Throttle area is decked out for Fright Fest.
Didn't catch the Hypnotist but heard it was a great show.
A new scare zone near Bugs Bunny World. Nowhere is safe.
This truck used to be in the X2 queue line but since the ride is closed it's in the new Scare Zone.
Total Darkness was the maze of the night.
Noticed some new TV's in some of the queue lines with a new video featuring Six Flags CEO James Reid-Anderson. The videos are promoting the new attractions at all Six Flags parks for 2014. I'd assume the same video is playing at all parks.
Colossus Backwards ... still great. Will be fun to get this for a few months next year.
The hearse was moved from the front fountain to near Total Darkness.
Cursed is back for another year.
The menu for Fright Feast with the Willoughby's is kind of a "best of" of the food offered in the park. The Tri Tip Pizza is not available in the park but it SHOULD BE. It was fantastic.
Fright Feast is located in the old Four Winds Steakhouse/Laughing Dragon.
Magician Michael Turco (from AGT fame) does a really fun show for the Fright Feast.
It's a small stage but a great show.
The pumpkin lights are back.
Black Widow is back for it's 2nd year.
The Wastelands Scare Zone near The Aftermath is one of the better scare zones.
Lots of fog and lights.
Aftermath was great. It may be the biggest maze in SoCal, but probably not the longest.
One thing SFMM does better than other Haunts is the crowd control. Most of the mazes have some kind of pre-show/pre-story.
A view of Aftermath. Still the only maze with fire that I can think of.
City Under Seige remains my favorite scare zone.
Weepy Hills Insanetorium was new for this year. Could have been executed better.
Maze of the night. Hands down.
The Full Throttle video had some Fright Fest elements including monsters riding coasters.
This was actually my first time seeing Full Throttle at night so I took advantage of getting some pictures.
Even the stage is decked out for Fright Fest.
Some more Full Throttle pictures with the new video.
Toyz of Terror was kind of a miss. See my review above.
The entry fountain had a new twist this year.
Fire makes everything more awesome.
Chupacabra was back. Still glad they don't make you ride Revolution at the end. That would be the scariest part of the entire event. =)
Even some of the window decorations were sporting Fright Fest.
Cool lights in the trees at the entrance/exit to the park.
The kids had a great time!!! Thanks Magic Mountain!!
Starting next year the park will be having blackout days on Saturdays during Fright Fest for the regular Season Pass (the Gold Pass will not have any blackout days). Not sure if this move is to eventually have the event be a separate ticket event like Knott's and Universal but if it is ever going to be separate the park needs to improve on a few things. Below is my review of the event and the individual mazes. 

Each year since I've been going to Fright Fest the park has taken little steps to move in a more positive direction. Two years ago it was The Aftermath and last year it was the complete re-build of Willoughby's and the introduction of Blackout. There were no leaps ahead this year technologically speaking but the extra scare zones really make the entire park feel like one complete event. 

Fright Feast with the Willoughby's
This is a great start to the event. It looked like there were two seatings and there is an included magic show. The food was great, a huge salad bar along with some "best of" menu items from the park. Definitely recommended. 

The Mazes

The Mazes were kind of a mixed back this year with a couple of highlights and sadly a couple of lowlights. 

Black Widow
This was the 2nd year for Black Widow. It's pretty much the same as last year, a good "starter" maze, the talent tries hard which is always a good thing. 

Willoughby's Haunted Mansion Resurrected
This was the breakout maze from last year technologically speaking. The maze still looks great, I noticed a couple of new things. Talent was kind of sparse when we went through but it was a great time. 

Aftermath
This has been one of my favorite mazes since the year it was introduced. Lots of space for the talent to work in and fire make this a maze to not be missed. 

Cursed
The Tidal Wave "maze" is back. The talent does the best they can with the space they have to work with. I think this maze would work better as a "treat trail" similar to what Disney does for their family themed Halloween events. The event is sponsored by Snickers. Give everybody a trick or treat bag, have 5 or 6 "stops" in the queue and everybody's happy. 

Weepy Hills Insanetarium
This maze replaced the long in the tooth "Lecter's Slaughterhouse" that overstayed it's welcome by a few years. I had high hopes after a clever preshow talking about Weepy Hills Sanitarium. Sadly the layout seemed identical to Lecter's and the maze was very dark. Even if there was stuff jumping out of us we wouldn't have seen it. This maze didn't work at all. Hopefully some adjustments are coming in the weeks ahead. 

Total Darkness
Last year "Blackout" was actually my favorite maze from any of the SoCal Halloween events. It was perfectly executed. This year the maze has moved over to the much bigger Magic Moments theater. The maze still works but the "claustrophobia" feel of the maze from last year is gone. This could easily be fixed with some black cloth over the top of the maze path because at many times you could see clear to the ceiling of the theater. Still, this was a great maze and I'm thrilled it's back. It also includes a few twists that weren't there last year. 

Toyz of Terror
New Maze replacing Jokester's hideout. The sets look fresh, some great effects but some of the things that made Jokester's stand out (the show rooms and 3D) are gone. This maze was also kind of a dud. 

Chupacabra
Like Black Widow this is a great "starter" maze. A great theme, some talent that really seems to want to get it right. 

Overall the event is great considering that if you have a Six Flags Season Pass it's basically included. Only the mazes are extra. I can't recommend the Front of the Line pass enough. At only $35 it's worth it. Especially if you have a season pass. 
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