Six Flags Fright Fest 2024 (Magic Mountain)

[Wesker69]

 

[Jerroddragon]

This is great for most

But also insane to see Six Flags leaving "easy" money on the table

 

[Rideguy70]

Honestly, I am not really complain that this is starting to become an industry standard. Though it would suck to be a teen that can't find a willing chaperone.

 

[Jerroddragon]

Honestly, I am not really complain that this is starting to become an industry standard. Though it would suck to be a teen that can't find a willing chaperone.

Agreed

My friends and I went...I think I was 18 or 19 when we started....so if this was the policy back then no idea if I would have ever gotten into HHN or these kinda events

No way I would have gone alone for the first times...and without friends none of my parents or friends would have had any interest in these kinda events

 

[Clive]

I get it sucks for well-behaved teenagers, but unfortunately, the park was out of control the last time I attended Fright Fest a few years back. Come park close, it became abundantly clear how many parents were using the event as a babysitter.

 

[Wesker69]

Just saw a vlogger youtube update (not worth posting), but yea.... um..

- Willoughby's Resurrected & Sewer of Souls STILL don't have their facades yet
- SZ set details are still non-existent in DC, Screampunk, & Looney Toons/Whistlestop.
- nothing on the main gate
- no changes at the "former" Aftermath backstage gate (yet)
- No updates to the SAW facade (yet)
- Trick r Treat is progressing quickly
- Devil's Triangle, Exile Hill & Nightmares have "some" SZ scenic
- no spooky set design (yet) for Full Throttle stage

....someone is getting fired or demoted

 

[Jerroddragon]

I might go night one, not to the houses but just to see the crap show this seems to be. Just insane obviously it would be almost impossible now to get everything ready but does management have like zero love for the park?

 

[Wesker69]

but does management have like zero love for the park?

Having worked there, no. Not really lol.. they're kind of "out of touch" when it comes to guest satisfaction.

Only a small percentage shows actual care & it shows when it's present

 

[Rideguy70]

Just saw a vlogger youtube update (not worth posting), but yea.... um..

- Willoughby's Resurrected & Sewer of Souls STILL don't have their facades yet
- SZ set details are still non-existent in DC, Screampunk, & Looney Toons/Whistlestop.
- nothing on the main gate
- no changes at the "former" Aftermath backstage gate (yet)
- No updates to the SAW facade (yet)
- Trick r Treat is progressing quickly
- Devil's Triangle, Exile Hill & Nightmares have "some" SZ scenic
- no spooky set design (yet) for Full Throttle stage

....someone is getting fired or demoted

That is not great news, and not entirely unexpected. However, the only leeway is that at least for most SZ, main gate, FT stage, and Willoughby's and Sewer of Souls facade, all those things can go up very quickly, probably literally in a single night. So strangely, I'm not too worried about that.

To me, the bigger worry is Trick 'r Treat and Stranger Things (does anybody know that status?). But if Trick 'r Trick is going up quickly, it's promising. As for Saw, while I thought we'd get a new facade, I'm now thinking maybe that was only for SF parks that didn't have Saw before? Honestly, I'm surprised but our current Saw facade has help up really well, so I won't mind all that much if it stayed the same.

Will it still probably have lots of uncompleted elements/mazes on opening night/week? Very likely, yes. But I also think more may get done than we expect. I think their plan may be: just open the mazes/SZ, even if they're not fully finished, and we'll just keep fine tuning them as the event goes on.

 

[Wesker69]

To me, the bigger worry is Trick 'r Treat and Stranger Things (does anybody know that status?). But if Trick 'r Trick is going up quickly, it's promising.

Trick R Treat has the solid black wall treatment. And had ripped mesh fabric hanging from the inside of a doorway (potentially the exit). A collection of jackolanterns ready to be loaded into the house. So yea, it seems to be going well.

No idea about Stranger Things. Downside of not working there, I would've casually took a peek to see. (Or like I did with Sewer of Souls when they were working on it- straight up ask if I could get a tour was able to get all kinds of pics lol)

just open the mazes/SZ, even if they're not fully finished, and we'll just keep fine tuning them as the event goes on.

Reminds me of Orlando's 2012 House of Horrors which wasn't "finished" until Weekend 3 lol

 

[MikePat]

You know, it's hard to imagine many Halloween events boasting 20 combined haunted houses and scare zones. For example, Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood has eight haunted houses and four official scare zones, totaling 13 if you include the Terror Tram since its a walkthrough. Halloween Horror Nights Orlando and Knott's Scary Farm offer ten haunted houses and five scare zones each, making 15 attractions.Those are probably the biggest juggernauts in the game, and even then, we're only seeing a maximum of 15 attractions. So, Six Flags Magic Mountain attempting to host 20 haunted attractions? LMAO.

From the start, I've found that statistic both insane and hilarious. Staffing is a major challenge at every haunt event, especially for operations staff and scare actors. People demand more attractions at their favorite Halloween events without considering the workforce needed to support them. How does Six Flags Magic Mountain expect to pull this off?

To their credit, they aren’t creating as many new haunted houses and scare zones as Halloween Horror Nights. Multiple parks and independent haunts may claim a certain number of haunted attractions, but many of those are often repeated. Magic Mountain's lineup, on paper, includes repeats and some new additions. However, hearing @Wesker69 and others mention significant delays and missing elements in set designs and facades reflects, to me, poor quality and a lack of attention to detail in the event's preparation.

I feel bad for the creative team, but I just don't think Six Flags Magic Mountain is the right place to attempt such an ambitious event. On paper, it sounds great—Saw, The Conjuring, Stranger Things, Trick 'r Treat—IPs that connect with a lot of people, alongside a big batch of originals. But what the paper doesn't show is the quality of the final product. I hope I'm wrong, and maybe other Six Flags parks will succeed with this new phase for Fright Fest, but I currently have no hope for Magic Mountain.

 

[Wesker69]

So, Six Flags Magic Mountain attempting to host 20 haunted houses? LMAO.

11 houses (6-7 being existing repeats), not 20. SZs are not houses & there's 9 of them. Combining that total as if they're the same is foolish. Is this year's event ambitious? Yes.

However, hearing about significant delays and missing elements in set designs and facades reflects, to me, poor quality and a lack of attention to detail in the event's preparation.

To be fair, 6 of the houses don't lack detail or preparation as they stay up year round. As the lack of facades on two of them, it's just surprising with the event starting in a week, but keep in mind, those facades are in guest areas & can go up over night.

The real head-scratching pressure is the "new" SZs & houses being ready in time. Since they are dealing with IPs, some of which happening at more than one park, it could be a delay out of their control (which happens).

 

[MikePat]

11 houses (6-7 being existing repeats), not 20. SZs are not houses & there's 9 of them. Combining that total as if they're the same is foolish.

Sorry, meant to type in Haunted Attractions. Foolish spelling mistakes on my end. Thanks for noticing that.

 

[Rideguy70]

Yeah, I'm curious how staffing will go. I'm not expecting it to be great.

I do think there's a bit of a trade off here. Will the mazes be super high quality? Likely not. Will there be a lot of dead space without scareactors? Probably.

But (especially in light of the new chaperone policy), I really think lines will be overall pretty manageable. Like Knott's, when you have so many mazes, you can really spread out the lines. I've noticed last year that most of the lines at Knott's never got much more than 30-45 minutes for most of the night... and as the night progresses, many mazes become walk-ons. I suspect the same will happen here.

So is it better to be waiting in 1-2 (or 3 hour) lines for some very high quality mazes? Or 30 mins or less for many, lower quality mazes? If I were a full paying one time guest, I'd rather have the latter. But obviously individual impressions will vary.

 

[Wesker69]

As I've said before- Expect the worst, hope the best!

 

[Rideguy70]

Indeed. I have found that if I go in thinking it'll be absolute crap, I will usually come out surprised. Having very, very, very low expectations makes even a mediocre maze pretty good

I think the lowest for me was when they first opened up Truth or Dare. It was literally unthemed blank walls (lit up in colors), a filing cabinet, and maybe two scareactors. That was one time my low expectations were met. But, to give them credit, the new updated version is much better.

And while we're at it, I did think the opening portion of The Conjuring last year was pretty good! It just lagged in the middle and end. Hopefully, that'll be be fixed this year

 

[Jerroddragon]

I mean good you guys have faith....I kinda think this is going to just be disappointing for many

Like if its your first haunt it will be a good first one but I doubt if they can't even staff to paint and get the houses ready in time they will be staffed very well....I also hope I'm wrong but per Wesker the management don't have any pride in the park unlike Knotts, Disney and USH.

 

[Wesker69]

The top upper level people have good intentions (for the most part), it's the park/department management/supervisors is where things tend to derail.

Going from "guest" to "employee" is tough, because you'll find you care more about the quality of the park than those put in charge (and mostly hide in their A/C filled office 75% of the time).

If the event doesn't have Fanta show up, I'll be disappointed

 

[viking_wizard_eyes]

I feel like the IPs have tricked people into thinking this event was taking a step forward, but everyone knows that old saying about lipstick and pigs.

No idea why Discovery doesn't cut out the Six Flags middleman and just do their own event on the WB lot again.

 

[Rideguy70]

I recently took the WB tour, and asked an employee about that. While obviously hearsay, they essentially said they didn't make enough money off the event to make it worthwhile (especially when accounting for all the lost backlot filming time monies)