Magic Mountain Fright Fest - Fun For Older Kids
Our Southern California amusement parks have delightful trick or treat events for young children, but as your kids get older, candy and gentle costumed characters start to lose their appeal. Teens are looking for bigger, scarier thrills - and the ghouls behind Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain are happy to comply.
The Santa Clarita park's 19th Fright Fest season runs each October weekend through Halloween (ticket prices vary). Magic Mountain promises visitors its biggest Halloween event yet, with four new scare zones, three new mazes and two new shows and extended hours on Fridays and Saturdays.
Hollywood makeup artists will be transforming some 400 performers into "scaractors," who will be roaming the park and its mazes as ghouls, zombies, vampires, werewolves and the like. Fright Fest fans will be pleased to note the return of Bite II, home of some of the sexiest scary werewolves in Santa Clarita, and Lecter's Slaughterhouse, where cowards make uh, tasty chicken fingers. Also back are Willoughby's Haunted Mansion, Warehouse 13 (where "work is mandatory and escape impossible" - which sounds an awful lot like holding a regular job), and Jokester's Hideout 3D.
New this year are The Aftermath, modeled on a post-apocalyptic city where dead people stalk you, Cursed, where gypsies and werewolves stalk you, and Chupacabra, where the stalker is a blood thirsty creature at a Dia De Los Muertos festival (which is a nice nod to the region's diversity).
Mazes and other spooky entertainments are located in themed "Scare Zones." The new ones include Gypsy Hollow (home of Cursed) and The Wastelands (where you can enter The Aftermath). Another new Scare Zone is titled Nightmares - A Twisted Tale. This one is a place where your favorite bedtime stories take on a new and twisted tale. The fourth new Scare Zone is Hillbilly Massacre, where "a family of demonic, backwoods folks have been hunting for new exotic skins (and of course, human is the most preferred). Other scare zones are City Under Siege, where comic-like character run amuck through the streets of DC Universe and Exile Hill (surrounding the Willoughby Haunted House).
To make things even scarier, during Fright Fest the lights will be turned off on some of Magic Mountain's already extreme roller coasters (Apocalypse, Tatsu, Viper, The Riddler's Revenge and Goliath). And the park will continue its October tradition of running its landmark wooden Colossus coaster backwards.
Hypnotists Chris Maybre and Suzy Haner will be regaling Fright Fest guests at Magic Mountain's Golden Bear Theater. Other shows include Off With Your Head, a kind of glam rock revue featuring music from artists like Bon Jovi, Rihanna and Michael Jackson, and Dr. Fright's CarnEvil, where comical freaks perform hits by the likes of Guns 'n' Roses, Britney Spears and Lady Gaga (a combination that's somewhat frightening by itself). There will also be dancing in front of DC UNIVERSE, orchestrated by DJ Demonic and gRAVE.
For Younger Children
Of course, thrills and chills are not everyone's cup of hemlock. Fright Fest is a PG-13 type of event - which means that guests who attend the events after dark should be 13 and over. But there are several Halloween-related activities during the day for your younger kids. These include the Trick or Treat trail, Kid Scayoke and Witch Hazel Halloween Crafts and photo opportunities with Halloween costume-clad Looney Tunes characters.
Fright Fest at Magic Mountain
26101 Magic Mountain Parkway
Valencia, CA 91355
(661) 255-4111
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Donna Schwartz Mills is a mother of a teen and blogs at SoCal Mom.
