Six Flags

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This past weekend we headed out to Six Flags Magic Mountain for the opening night of their all new Scream Break event. I'll be honest, we hadn't planned on going on opening weekend but they opened it up to a limited amount of passholders each night so we figured we'd go check it out. And we are glad we did! 

I headed up with Gabe from Theme Park Duo to check out the event, but not before doing some update stuff first. 

I also have some thoughts on how they can incorporate some of the amazing operational things they did for Scream Break into this years Fright Fest event. I outlined them in the video below, but if you "don't have time to watch a video" (actual comment from somebody who had been spending hours looking for info on the event) I'll share my thoughts here as well. You can see that at the bottom of this update. 

​Enjoy! 
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Looks like they're doing something out on the back parking lot. If I had to guess it's for some kind of commercial shoot in the parking lot. Something that has happened many, many times before.

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Looks like they're also doing some work on some of the Hurricane Harbor slides.

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It was AVID day, not the video editing thing, apparently for smart kids or something. Obviously not me. =)

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Our first stop was to get our Event Wristband. Kind of a slow process, but it was the first night so hopefully they improve this a bit.

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The glass shop has been moved up to Rapids Camp replacing some of the games. Still looks like it's getting set up, but this is not a terrible location for this.

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Lots of little improvements like this going on throughout the park which is always nice to see.

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We wanted tacos. They had no tacos.

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Hmm, where have I seen this before?

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Oh, that's where!! In New Jersey! We really do love you Six Flags. Don't ever change. =)

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Alright, let's get into Scream Break. Which is like Spring Break but with Monsters!

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The event officially opens at 9:00pm, but they open up the area with the two mazes and one of the scare zones at 8:00.

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The idea is pretty much to keep you in this area from 8:00 to 9:00 so they can clear the park. A great idea, even if it wasn't totally clear to everybody. But it was the first night.

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Be. Aggressive. B.E. Aggressive.

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This area consists of 2 mazes, Vault 666 Initiation and Condemned House Party. One (Vault) was pretty much the same as Fright Fest, the other was SO much better.

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We said this on social media, I mentioned it in the above video, but I'll say it again. They NEED to keep this party theme for Fright Fest!

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It's basically a college house party in a haunted maze. And it's super fun!

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Lots of talent and lots of photo ops in this area!

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Even the demons are all decked out for Spring Break!

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Make sure to take a drink from the huge Solo Cup!

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The event also stretches back to DC Universe! Some Vampire Prom thing we think!

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Superman has got some balls! Disco Balls that is!

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Awesome DJ in front of DC Universe!

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They also brought over some props and neon from the Scare Zone that's usually in The Underground.

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Did we mention there were rides too? This was the wait for Twisted Colossus!

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Goliath was scheduled to be open, but was not. We do think it opened last night though.

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MORE OF THIS PLEASE! Not just for Halloween stuff, but all the time! It adds so much to the park at night.

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Even the Golden Bear Theater got some lights and fog!

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We had an absolutely fantastic time and we hope the word of mouth spreads for this fantastic event!

So, how would I incorporate operational changes from scream break to fright fest? 

Anybody who's visited Fright Fest knows that at least on a Saturday night the event can get overwhelmingly busy with families and teenagers with no supervision. I'll be honest, I've never encountered any major problems at the event other than annoying people who seem hell-bent on ruining everybody else's time with the shenanigans. But I know the talent, blackouts and security have a tough go of it some nights. 

With Scream Break, they kind of did what I think is a test for the future of Fright Fest. And it worked!!

There were essentially three categories of guests at the event. 
  1. Guests who paid $40 for a ticket for the event (definitely worth $40)
  2. Guests who paid $160 for a Scream Break Pass (good for all 14 nights)
  3. Guests with a Season Pass/Membership who got one of the wristbands, which are limited and available on a first-come, first serve basis (rumor is only about 1,000 of these are available each night)

Basically, if you want to go with your Pass/Membership you need to get there early, but we don't think were all gone the night we went. 

And this is what they need to do with Fright Fest. You need to have those three groups, and limit the event to a smaller number while doing a "soft closure" of the park. 

So how do they do this? 
  • Offer the same three categories outlined above
    • Guests with a Fright Fest ticket
    • Sell a "Fright Fest Pass"
    • Make wristbands available to a finite number of Season Passholders/Members each night 
  • "Close" the park at 7:00pm each night for day guests
  • Keep those with a Fright Fest wristband in the Full Throttle maze area while they cycle the park to clear out day guests
    • ​Offer Spirits with Spirits for an up-charge
  • Fright Fest is 8:00pm - Midnight (8:00pm - 1:00am on Saturday). 4-5 hours is probably enough including the 7:00 - 8:00 hour for the 3 mazes near Full Throttle. 

Doing this gives you a smaller crowd, likely gives you more people buying a Fright Fest Ticket/Fright Fest pass than you have now, and makes the event that much more enjoyable. 

In addition, as we've been saying for years, Fright Fest should have a similar footprint to what they had for Scream Break. Six Flags Magic Mountain is simply too big a park to have scare zones and monsters in every corner. It's just not possible to fill out your mazes and scare zones. 

Fright Fest should be: 
  • Full Throttle Nights
  • Backstage maze area: 
    • Vault 666 (gutted and all new Willoughby's Haunted Mansion)
      • ​Included is Innocence and the Willoughby's from the Samurai Summit Scare Zone
    • Condemned House Party
    • New Maze 
  • Scare Zone on main path from Full Throttle to Goliath (Carnivhell not inside BBW)
  • City Under Siege 
  • Metropolis Scare Zone (move Nightmares here)
  • Underground Scare Zone (move Devils Triangle here) and rethemed Aftermath

And THAT IS IT! 4 mazes is enough for the event. 

So what do you think? 
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