Park Journey
Menu

Six Flags

Six Flags Great Adventure's Fright Fest brings family fun during the day and frights by night in 2014.

10/10/2014

2 Comments

 
Picture
Trip Report and Haunt Review

This past Sunday we had the opportunity to experience GADV's annual fright fest as a family for the first time. We wanted to find out if there was truly something for every age and fright tolerance and we came off seriously impressed.

Lets take a journey into the park.

Sadly there were only mums and 0.0 mummies in this pyramid. The fountain featured festive fall flowers. 
Picture
Declining by Degrees- We were last here in August and this statue was completely clean of cobwebs. Mr. Six must be turning in his grave.
Picture
This is what happens to you if you try to drink from the delicious Hawaiian Punch fountain.
Picture
Awww.. CJ (who wants everyone to know he is a big boy now that he just turned 3) loved the Trick or Treat Trail. As parents we loved the way GADV handled it.  You get in line, walk 10 feet, and they hand you a delicious bag of quality candy that is filled to the top. You don't have to make multiple stops at different stations while your child runs around in a sugar induced stupor. Thank you Six Flags from the bottom of my heart. They also had four characters with no lines for some great photo opportunities. CJ approves this message.
Picture
If you squint long enough this naturally occurring rock formation somewhat resembles a skull.
Picture
There were a number of temporary food locations featuring seasonal delights setup. Here you could just swing on over for some Kettle Korn.
Picture
Picture
The Boardwalk is transformed into the Psycho Circus scare zone at night. 
Picture
If you aren't afraid of clowns eating you it's a great place to hangout and check out the side show acts that are exclusive to Fright Fest.
Picture
In an effort to be more environmentally sensitive, Great Adventure has replaced their LED lighting with the eternal flames of unfortunate souls.
Picture
Cucurbita pepo; Howden Pumpkin -Rich orange color with deep ridges and good, sturdy handles. Weighs 25 lbs on average. Sizes up reliably and is tolerant to Black Rot. Developed in the Berkshires of Massachusetts in the late 60's by JohnHowden, it remains the most popular pumpkin in its class among both commercial growers and home gardeners.  *The More You Know
Picture
Nothing to see here, just corn having sex with a tree.
Picture
Nobody told them you are supposed to be SCARED at Fright Fest.Of note: Lisa thinks she is a rebel because she is wearing a Disney shirt. She also threatened to cut us.
Picture
Artsy shot of Road Runner pecking the moon.
Picture
After a day of family fun which included marathoning a frog hopper, it was time for some scares. Being the amazing mother and wife that she is, Kristin took CJ to a "scare free zone" at the front of the park while Lisa and I headed to the haunts.

The evening begins with The Awakening which is a pseudo parade where all the ghouls and zombies come out and walk to their respective house or maze. It's a cool way to see the costumes and makeup in good lighting. 

Wasteland
We weren't allowed to take photos inside Wasteland, a trail located adjacent toNitro and themed to mutant botanists and SWAT teams (yeah we didn't get it either) So what follows are some photos of the scare actors taken during The Awakening. This trail has potential, but lacked in many areas. During our visit they were letting large groups in quickly which also diffused the scare factor.
3 out of 5 stars
Picture
Picture
Picture
We then headed over to the Movietown section of the park to check out Dead Man's Party. This is a high energy song and dance show featuring every single Halloween song ever recorded. In the history of time. Ever. I'm not really a show person, but it drew a huge crowd.
Picture
Picture
A few clever guests parked their cars on the lawn to get a better view of the show. 
Picture
This photo actually scares me. On May 11, 1984 eight teenagers were trapped and killed in a terrible fire inside the Haunted Castle at Great Adventure.  Some people claim they haunt the park. I took this photo with my DSLR aiming at location where the Haunted Castle once stood. This was the result.
Picture
Asylum
Our first trail of the evening was Asylum. This is staged behind the former site of The Chiller and uses the old queue. Crazed mental patients have taken over the asylum and are torturing guards, doctors, and anyone else brave enough to make their way through the doors. The maze featured great fog effects, a few good jump out surprises and some of the most dedicated scare actors. We would give this trail
4 out of 5 stars. 
Picture
The queue an hour before the trail opened. The lines can get 2 hours long very quickly (and this was a cold Sunday night). Our biggest tip of Fright Fest is to pay extra for the front of the line scare pass. It's worth the small upcharge and will allow you to experience everything in one evening.
Picture
I'm also not sure what I'm looking at. 
Picture
Tons of hot chicks were out at the park this weekend.
Picture
Crop Circles
New for 2014 was Crop Circles - This trail is located in front of the former water ski stadium area. This is a great spot for a trail as it is dark and tree covered. With an intergalactic theme mixed with traditional ghouls, we thought the maze was out of this world (I really need a better writing team). It begins with what seems like you are walking in a giant spiral of corn which is really disorientating. You are then led out into a few more open areas featuring UFOs and close encounters.
5 out of 5 stars 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
The last few mazes and trails all prohibited any photography at all (rules were different all across the park) So we'll just give you a quick rundown.

Voodoo Island
Located adjacent to the log flume, this trail was themed to voodoo and the sacrificing of children. Of course on paper, this sounds like a great idea.I mean who wouldn't want to be cursed for eternity while watching innocent children be killed? But it's execution (see what I did there?), left us wishing we hadn't sacrificed our time to walk the trail. We aren't sure what happened here. Our working lead is that half of the scare actors were out sick with Ebola that evening, but there were huge parts of this trail with no scare actors, or effects, or really anything at all. Maybe we just caught them on a bad night.
1 out of 5 stars
Picture
Total Darkness
If you aren't familiar with this indoor maze, it's held in near total darkness where groups of 5 hold onto a rope containing a glow stick and are supposed to use that light to find their way through the maze. The scare actors all dress in black and most screams are of the jump out variety.  Many people love this maze, but I like my steak rare and marinated for at least 24 hours in theming so Total Darkness is totally lame to me.
? out of 5 stars

The Manor
The other indoor maze is The Manor. While the theme here is basically generic haunted house, each room is different with its own set of scares and characters. The Manor also features the best effects and highest production value of any of the mazes or trails. Pro tip: You can do either of the indoor mazes starting at 2:00pm. Check them out early to avoid long lines later at night. You might even want to walk through The Manor twice.
5 out of 5 Stars

We had an amazing day (and night) at Six Flags and found that going as a family with a young child totally works (as long as your significant other doesn't mind hanging out in a scare free zone once the zombies attack). There was truly something for everyone to do throughout the day and all parties involved left our park journey smiling with a great set of memories and probably a new cavity or two.

There are also a number of open scare zones I didn't cover this report so I'll leave you with my favorite; The fountain area at night.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
P.S. Great Adventure is now offering one of the best deals it offers all year on Season Passes: $61.99 gets you in for the rest of Fright Fest 2014 plus all of 2015. You also get upgraded to a Gold Pass which allows for free parking and admission to all Six Flags theme parks (normally $94.99). That's a killer deal. 


If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter. 

If you have any comments, please share them below. 
2 Comments
Mike
10/15/2014 01:25:20 pm

You should come back and go in to voodoo again it so much better.

Reply
Eric
10/20/2014 05:21:06 am

The haunted castle the burned down and killed 8 kids was actually across from the music express where the auto bahn bumper cars now sit ( now defunt too ).

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    2014 Attractions
    2015 Attractions
    2016 Attractions
    2017 Attractions
    2018 Attractions
    2019 Attractions
    2020 Attractions
    2021 Attractions
    2022 Attractions
    2023 Attractions
    2024 Attractions
    Apocalypse
    Batman The Ride
    Battle For Metropolis
    Bugs Bunny World
    Colossus
    CraZanity
    DC Universe
    Dr. Diabolical's CliffHanger
    Drop Of Doom
    Festival Del Terror
    Fright Fest
    Goliath
    Great Escape
    Holiday In The Park
    Jersey Devil
    July 4th Fest
    Justice League
    La Ronde
    Maxx Force
    Mountain Madness
    Revolution
    Samsung VR
    Scream Break
    Six Flags
    Six Flags Discovery Kingdom
    Six Flags Fiesta Texas
    Six Flags Great Adventure
    Six Flags Great America
    Six Flags Hurricane Harbor
    Six Flags Magic Mountain
    Six Flags Mexico
    Six Flags New England
    Six Flags Over Georgia
    Six Flags Over Texas
    Six Flags St Louis
    Six Flags Whitewater
    The Joker
    The New Revolution
    Total Mayhem
    Twisted Colossus
    Ultra Surf
    VR Coasters
    West Coast Racers
    Wonder Woman Flight Of Courage

    Archives

    November 2023
    October 2023
    August 2023
    May 2023
    March 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    September 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013

    RSS Feed

  • Home
  • Six Flags
  • Universal Studios
  • Disney Parks
  • Cedar Fair
  • SeaWorld Parks
  • The Other Side of the Tracks
  • Other Parks
  • Beyond The Parks
  • Industry News
  • Cruise Journey
  • Theme Park Art
  • Past Updates
    • 2021 Updates
    • 2020 Updates
    • 2019 Updates
    • 2018 Updates
    • 2017 Updates
    • 2016 Updates
    • 2015 Updates
    • 2013 and 2014 Updates
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Six Flags
  • Universal Studios
  • Disney Parks
  • Cedar Fair
  • SeaWorld Parks
  • The Other Side of the Tracks
  • Other Parks
  • Beyond The Parks
  • Industry News
  • Cruise Journey
  • Theme Park Art
  • Past Updates
    • 2021 Updates
    • 2020 Updates
    • 2019 Updates
    • 2018 Updates
    • 2017 Updates
    • 2016 Updates
    • 2015 Updates
    • 2013 and 2014 Updates
  • Contact Us