Fright Fest 2011

[TonyMichaud]

The time has finally come! Fright Fest is here! This year Six Flags made a fantastic website that showcases all the attractions that are on the way to the park. Each page looks as though it will be updated, so check back often. From the look of the website, the time they put into giving most of the transformed rides back stories, I am already thinking 2011 will be better than most years.

http://frightfest.sixflags.com/greatamerica

Only a few more weeks until we get to see the transformed park!

[FParker185]

Any one know if Fright Fest is going to be any good this year? or are they doing it in-house again?

[BP317]

/\ Call and ask the park

call us at (666) 666-6666. Demons are standing by.

[FParker185]

Nah, I'll leave that to the rest of the children here. I'll just assume it will be done in-house

[TonyMichaud]

Any one know if Fright Fest is going to be any good this year? or are they doing it in-house again?

This is a very valid question. I can only assume most of you are skeptical. Allow me to share what I believe.

2005-2008 were all kind of the same in my eyes. A few transformed rides, some shows and other various attractions, and sprinkled actors patrolling the streets from park opening until closing. Now, let me say this, I do not work for the park so have no idea the amount of actors they had to take various shifts throughout the day, but all things considered, how long can they go trying to scare people? In the morning hours, it was kind of pointless, and thus by the time nightfall hit I bet they were burnt out - which would lead to a lot of people saying how "lame" it might be.

Back then, a few rides were transformed. Some had fog and various lights, some had music, and some merely had a basic name change with absolutely zero transforming to be seen. The scare zones were added, making the park more family friendly - which gave way to mixed reviews. Love it or hate it, I believe this will continue.

2009 brought way to Terror Twister 2. Everyone on this site should obviously know (by now) how in love with this ride I am. But, to prove my point, it showed everyone the magnitude the park could go to really "go beyond" the normal transformation of a ride. They had this going with Hellevator (Giant Drop), adding elements to the ride that truly took it beyond a typical drop tower. Unfortunately, we will probably never see that again.

2010 changed Fright Fest yet again. Outsourcing for actors and additional help with Fright Fest was done. They kept it all in-house. Now here is where I will lose probably half of the people reading this - but I can honestly say, without a doubt in my mind, that 2010 was the best Fright Fest in over 10 years. Want reasons? Sure, I can do that.

Not having to pay a company to basically "run" most of the elements of Fright Fest allowed the park to do it themselves, and add money where they felt would greatly improve the park. We saw the number of transformed rides climb as well - some pushing the envelope of the overall experience (Terror Twister 2) and some putting a new "twist" on how we normal experience the ride (Blood Bath, Swamp Thing). As I always say, Fright Fest is NOT about roller coasters, it is about the atmosphere, the haunted areas, the transformed rides, the darkness of the night engulfing you in an eerie cloud of fog.

You'll notice that the park "morphs" from a "regular season" feel to "FRIGHT FEST" around 4-5pm on the weekend (minus Friday nights). This gives the actors 4-5 hours to really scare people, in the darkness, rather than wander around all day, burning their energy for when it will be the most beneficial. This also gives families the opportunity to enjoy Fright Fest without the thought of their children being mortified by seeing a werewolf or alien, etc. Like it or hate it, Fright Fest will probably continue to welcome families as well as those craving a truly "terrifying" experience. If normal haunted houses had anything to do other than the "main event," you'd see them be open during the day as well.

I want everyone to not be skeptical... yet... I am sure no one shares the same views as me, but there are a LOT of very pessimistic posters on this site that give way to bringing down the fun factor I feel this site is intended for. I made this thread to showcase that Six Flags Great America has ALREADY begun to go beyond what they have ever done in the past few years, by giving us an interactive website that shows us what is coming to the park for FF 2011.

Before we get critical, let's experience the park on October 1, and bring out stories and thoughts to this website, inside this thread, where we can collectively discuss the likes and dislikes in an appropriate matter. I will start by saying I am more than excited to see the park in 2011, I know they will outdo anything they have done in the past 10 years (trust me, I've been to every FF they have had).

Thanks for reading - as you can probably tell, I am passionate about Fright Fest, and know a lot of you are too! So let's all get pumped for Fright Fest 2011!

~Tony

[FParker185]

I like to not count Terror Twister 2 as part of fright fest, that's barely done by the park, it's the pet project of a longtime employee/supervisor who I think barely works at the park anymore other than designing and setting up Terror Twister. It's quality is far to high and it's extremely to well done to be grouped together with everything else the park generally considers Fright Fest

[TonyMichaud]

I like to not count Terror Twister 2 as part of fright fest, that's barely done by the park, it's the pet project of a longtime employee/supervisor who I think barely works at the park anymore other than designing and setting up Terror Twister. It's quality is far to high and it's extremely to well done to be grouped together with everything else the park generally considers Fright Fest

Fair enough, and I do agree with you. I guess my point was that regardless who did it or not it pushed how both the public and I feel even Six Flags themselves saw how they could "transform" rides. So even though Six Flags has little to do with TT2, I guarantee they want their other attractions to not be overshadowed.

Oh, and this employee does more than just TT2 setup, I assure you.

[Necropolis]

Mwahahahaha YES!!!!! Frightfest 2011 is here....well almost haha. I definitely signed up for the newsletter for Frightfest from six Flags. They also have where you can enter once a day to win a pair of tickets to Frightfest!! I really really hope I win!!! WOW! The website looks so sick! Finally I was wondering why they never made a site just for Frightfest? Theres a link for everything from the haunted houses to Necropolis to just about everything! I love the warning they have how its not recommended for kids under 12. You know its good when its not recommended to kids. They changed the names of ALL the rides and ALL the areas of the park! I love how they took the time to make a story and description and history of all the places and rides of Fright Fest! Oh man they even tell you to scream is your only defense if you are scared but thats totally the opposite because the scary people target only those who are scared!! OMFG they really wanna scare us this year which is awesome!! For example:

"Start your day at attractions farthest from the exits. Your best bet for a good time is to stay as far away from the exits as possible. Bad things happen at the exits. Good thing happen in remote locations deep within the park."

Theres videos from our park as well as other parks' Fright Fest! Aside from the website, Terror Twister 2 is the best thing to ride at Fright Fest. I highly recommend you ride during the day because at night the line grows fast. TT2 can hold high capacity but the line does get long fast! I cannot wait!! Only 21 more days until Fright Fest 2011 unfolds and the zombies, monsters, ghouls, werewolves, and vampires are unleashed into the park and horror and terror await us all at every turn, corner and all directions!! I can feel this is going to be thee best Fright Fest ever!! I live for Fright Fest hence my forum name and picture! I am going to be highly active on this topic for the remainder of the season!!

Thrills by Day, Chills By Night Fright Fest is vastly approaching!!!

[Big Frank]

I'm so pumped for Fright Fest but only going once cause i work at Dream Reapers in Melrose park oh yeah btw my youtube account is SFGAM76.

[Chitown]

Looks as if they have quite a few new things lined up this year. It also states that FF itself is not recommended for children under 13. Hmmm, makes me wonder if they are going to increase the blood, gore, and scare factor.

[6Flags4Evr]

As much as it pains me to say this but Cedar Fair definitly beats Six Flags when it comes to Halloween. I have been to both Cedar Point and Kings Island for their Halloween Haunt and I have to admit, I was pretty scared at some points. They push the envolope with their haunted hauses/scarezones with the amount of blood and guts they have in some of those mazes. And those scare actors are beyond amazing at what they do. When it comes to these guys, they don't care if you have kids with you or not, they will scare the crap out of you and your children . However, they only do this at night, so if your in the park with your children at night, you best watch your back because these scare actors hold nothing back!!! Heck, who cares if parents complain, the sign are all around you NOT RECOMONDED FOR CHILDREN under whatever age!!!!!! In my opinion, Six flags should only let kids under 13 into the park from 5pm till close. This way, the park and actor staff don't have to worry about scaring kids so they can actually do their job and SCARE THE DAYLIGHTS OUT OF YOU!!!!!!!!

Sorry if it sounds like I am rantting.

[Director_Guy]

^And both are overshadowed by Universal's Halloween Horror Nights on both coasts.

It's really hard for me to not feel bitter about this whole in-house character thing, but it does seem like the event has gotten better since I left in 2009. Maybe I'll take a visit out there next season.

[Big Frank]

On the website it's got the haunted houses 2 are coming back mot and studio 13 the other 2 will be interesting Primal Scream and Massacre Medical Center

[Big Frank]

Oh yeah and according to the site it looks like Area 51 and Sevensins Cemetery isn't coming back this year.

[Ilovthevu']

^I'm disappointed that the alien section isn't coming back because that was always the best section to me. Why can't they forget that Tinseltown thing, and put it in there, or let it go back to Hometown Square like it was that one year. That was completely awesome. For clowns, and zombies I don't really care about.

What is the Dying Trapeze? Is this Ragin Cajun? "Now growing bands of rodents crawl through the vents, emerging at night below the tracks of Pandemonium" Trapeze they also called before at another Six Flags (maybe Frontier City) which was a Yo-Yo, and a Yo-Yo is a swing ride.

I don't know what year it was, but the best Fright Fest for me was when the train was haunted / decorated (with Scooby, Pigman, or the monsters - not the Western year!), when the Antique cars were decorated, when Area 51 was in Hometown Square, when the guy talked in the box at the County Fair Scenic Railway station and he was in Rue Le Dodge one year, when they got those cool statue skeletons with the lanterns, and when the talking skeletons were all setup, and worked.

The thing I liked that they added more recently though are the Condor with the different cycle, and the birds theme. Whizzer is still good though, but with Whizzer they have the Predator statue already, and if they made it alien area, that would make sense. Now, it's called Biohazard. I wonder if they were going to get in trouble for having a ride based on a movie - Swamp Thing, so they changed it.

[Big Frank]

Yeah Area 51 was the best in Hometown Square and I think Dying Trapeze is King Chaos because I don't see Blood Bath listed on there.

[FParker185]

Dying Trapeze would make a lot more sense for Whirligig.

[Big Frank]

Yeah it actualy would. It's to bad Seven sins won't be back this year

[TonyMichaud]

For "The Dying Trapeze" we need to concentrate on this one remark:

Red cars are especially vulnerable.

King Chaos doesn't have "red cars" - they look purple to me, if you even consider them cars. Whirligig has red "cars" (I guess)... But something inside me is banking on the train. The way they write the background story just screams some sort of "ongoing" show while you ride involving mutated mice.

"Red cars" would fit then, as the whole train is red. They are trying to confuse us, without telling us "what" ride this is transforming. Of course, I could just be hoping, as back in the day "The Boo Line" was even more exciting than "Necropolis". (Of course I know the train probably stops running the final day of the normal season, just trying to build discussion.)

Of course, it could be "Orbit" or even "Triple Play". We'll just have to see.

Has anyone checked the "Fright Fest" website today? See anything "NEW"?? Well, look again and tell me what you see... GIANT DROP is being ONCE AGAIN transformed!!! Can we all "hope" for the same amazing transformation that was the Hellevator?? Let's hope!!

[DeathbyDinn]

The red cars line isn't specific to GRAm. They used the same descriptions for every park. We have it for Dying Trapeze, SFSTl has it for Secret Ninja Labs, SFNE has it for Twister Rodent Attack, etc..

[Ilovthevu']

Forget Ragin Cajun, I'm going with Superman Ultimate Flight

The rides that have the rats elsewhere are:
SFNE: Twister which is King Chaos basically
SFOG & SFStL: Ninja (roller coaster)
SFOT: Pandonimum (like a mouse roller coaster)
Discovery Kingdom: V2 (though the ride is painted red, and has red seats compared to our V2)
SFGAdv: They have it on Superman Ultimate Flight, and we have that ride too, and it is a Flying Coaster - Dying Trapeze!!

The problem is that it just seems so random. SFGAm has a Huss Top Spin, the park has a mouse, and SFGAm has Superman. Though the name is Dying Trapeze, the real thing it's based off of is Flying Trapeze, and Ragin Cajun doesn't fly. The other two though could fit the bill compared to Ragin Cajun.

[Cryptkeeper]

Pardon me if this was mentioned before, but it appears that the freak show/sideshow is returning this year!

http://frightfest.sixflags.com/greatame ... me-circus/ ....just w/ a different name.

Hopefully they get some good freaks this year.

ETA: At least I HOPE this is what it is.."song and dance" + "Sideshow" = ??? Plus, the description about people standing on glass is a sideshow staple so...we'll see, I guess!

[Tip Top Club]

Fantome will be more like Dead Man's Party, just taking place at a Circus.

From what I've been told Biohazard will pretty much be the same thing as Swamp Thing, just tweaked to fit in with the Sector 7 theme.

The Dying Trapeze is Chaos again renamed to fit the Carnival Theme.

Did any of you see the Area 51 section last year....it was kind of embarassing, I'm glad they aren't bringing it back, and I hope they are able to find a good use for the flying saucer elsewhere (the various government vehicles could easily be reused for Sector 7 if that's the feel they are going for.

They are really attempting a system-wide refresh of Fright Fest, again from what I've been told, and are leaning toward taking it down a larger and darker path over the next few years. And based on what I saw last year and what has been announced for this year, it seems like they are heading in a direction that I will personally enjoy!

[ttd rox]

I don't understand Biohazard. I think the name is cool and will be interesting to see how Whizzer looks since The Swamp Thing was a figure with a potato bag over its head. When they "toxic dump" behind Superman, are they referring to that lake/pond outside the park or are they saying that Whizzer's swamp water is the toxic dump? I'm a bit confused on that story.

[Necropolis]

Yeah Area 51 really wan't that interesting. A crashed saucer here, some lights there, a few actors who weren't even aliens or related to the theme were there. Meh, that area definitely could of been better. The website claims this is going the be the biggest Fright Fest to date! Hope they stick to that!! I am glad SAW Live Haunted House isn't returning...the park figured it wasn't successful enough to bring it back. Either that or it was a one time thing? A friend of mine went to it and he said it really wasn't worth it. From my experience of Haunted Houses, Six Flags isn't the place to experience one. You have to pay extra to go inside and if memory serves me correct, the cheapest one was $15. Then the rest were more than that. I know that before 5pm either one, or some, or all of the haunted houses were 50% off so you could go in for $7 I believe. They need to make it clear because my group was gonna go into one of the houses when we saw signs for half price but the girl at the register said it's before 5pm. At that point the house was $15 But again, Like I said I HIGHLY do not recommend the haunted houses at Six Flags. I would also like to see them switch it up a bit in Necropolis. After about 2 times of going in there, the scare actors are hiding out in the same places so its real hard to get scared. That port a potty that squirts out water when you open the door is old. They need something new there. I also loved that moniter where you had to stare at it for a minute. I don't want to spoil it for those who don't know what I'm talking about.

My favorite thing about the new website is the intro vid they have. Its almost epic. I really wonder if the new re-named areas will be themed like the website and if the scare actors in that specific area will fit together. I kind of feel like they just themed and named the areas on the website but when I go to the park I won't find any signs that say the name of the area or even scare actors. A part of me says its just something they put on the site to lure people and make it all exciting but then become disappointed at the park. I think its funny how Condor is re-named to "Birds of the Bayou" and make it look all creepy when they really don't do anything to it except maybe hang a few spider webs, some random body parts laying near the queue and stick a few crows on the fence. Im also pretty positive they will randomize Giant Drop's car drop pattern like they did last year.

I hope people post pictures of the enormous spider clinging to Black Widow and the ape atop of STT. Thats just another sign of Fright Fest around the corner!!!