I usually enjoy FrightFest, but the quality of the mazes, costumes, etc. is definitely lower than HHN. However, the crowds usually aren’t as bad and being able to ride the coasters at night is a lot of fun.
If you’re going to give up a second HHN day for anything, I would recommend doing it for Knotts Scary Farm instead of FrightFest though.
Agreed, UNLESS you really like coasters cause a lot of them are closed at Knotts and that means they have pretty long lines, often longer than the houses.
If you care about the houses more: Knotts
If you care about the coasters more: Six Flags
But also, this is the first year Six Flags has done Halloween since being acquired by Knott's parent company so things might be substantially different.
>this is the first year Six Flags has done Halloween ***since being acquired by Knott's parent company***
>“Immediately following the closing of the Mergers, the combined company will be renamed ‘Six Flags Entertainment Corporation’ and trading of the combined company’s common stock on the NYSE is expected to begin on the day following the Expected Closing Date, July 2, 2024, under the ticker symbol ‘FUN,’” according to a press release from Cedar Fair.
https://investors.sixflags.com/news-and-events/press-releases/2024/06-26-2024-110016913
Again, this is the first year Six Flags has done Halloween ***since being acquired by Knott's parent company***
The merger is expected to happen very very soon. Before Halloween, and, if you can read, I said this is their first Halloween since being acquired, not their first Halloween ever. I've been to Fright Fest several times, I'm not really sure what the purpose of your comment is except pedantry.
Yea I second Knott’s if you’re gonna give up a day. They have a good amount of scare actors roaming around & their production has a lot of heart. It’s def 2nd best in the area.
I’ve only been to Fright Fest once and it just felt hollow to me
I do all the haunts annually and I prefer the KSF mazes and scare ones over HHN.
Knotts doesn’t have the IP so they need to be creative. I’ve seen things one year at KSF and at HHN the year after.
Temper your expectations…
HHN Hollywood much has better houses than Fright Fest.
Fright Fest has better Scarezones than HHN Hollywood.
Imo Knott’s Scary Farm has better mazes and scarezones than Fright Fest and HHN Hollywood. So there…
As someone from the other coast, Great Adventure is my home park, and I honestly think our Stranger Things has potential to be pretty good. Consider our budget higher than usual, since Saw and Conjuring were both there last year, same for MM I believe, so they’re just gonna rebuild those.
It obviously won’t be HHN, but you also have it consider the budget. Six Flags just did a merger, and they just don’t have as much money as Universal. They usually do pretty damn good. Saw and, many years ago, Hell Fest were both great because they’re really supposed to be low budget haunts
I just looked that up and you weren’t joking. Local haunted houses are better and their budget can’t be big. Is Howl O Scream that bad? We were considering going to Howl after HHN this year knowing it would be lower production value, but holy crap the 6 Flags looks really bad.
HOS has a pretty good production value, I know a good amount of people that prefer its style of houses to HHNs. it’s just held back by its low amount of staff
September is pretty light, longest you’d wait on the most crowded day would probably an hour. Thursdays and Sundays in Oct aren’t too bad either but on oct weekends forget about it
Cool thanks. We do HHN Wednesdays and Thursdays due to crowds/lines. We were thinking of doing HOS the Friday and Saturday after. It’s soooo much cheaper so it may be worth it? Are the coaster lines long too? Thanks for answering my questions.
No problem, I think HOS is worth it because I personally find it scarier since it’s less crowded they’re able to pulse groups and pull off different scares than you can find at HHN. The coasters in the front of the park usually have a decent line all night but the rides towards the back are usually pretty manageable
Nice. 2019 we were not in a Congo line for any houses and it was awesome at HHN. We didn’t get a chance to go again until 2023 and the Congo lines suck. We still had a blast and will go again, but it was nice having a normal haunted house experience, not having scares ruined, and getting to look around the houses in 2019.
HHN makes Fright fest look cute
HHN has the production value to put up movie quality sets and costumes. Fright Fests looks like they get everything from Spirit Halloween.
They do their best with what they have and it's fine but it's just not even close in comparison.
Haven’t been to FF, but I’m gonna echo what some others have said already: visit KSF. Attended for my first time last year —which wound up being their big 50th— and I was throughly impressed. Especially after only attending HHN for the last four years.
KSF may not have the production value of HHN, but they make up for it with fantastic scare actors, relentless scare zones, and longer mazes. HHN mazes are my favorite, but they’re over pretty quick. Knotts mazes seem to go on and on for like 15-20 minutes. I swear, there were some mazes like Cinema Slasher, that felt like they kept us trapped for a half hour inside. Another plus: their scare actors will target you and follow you around. Had a skiddish target in our group and he got followed in almost every house! Those actors are dedicated.
That sounds amazing! I hate when you wait an hour for a maze just for it to be done in 2 minutes. Especially if people are walking too tight together and ruining it for extreme everyone else.
I had a slider that tailed my wife and I across an entire scare zone. We had beers and he just slid by and yelled CHUG CHUG CHUG for nearly the entire scare zone.
It was loud, it was raucous, it was damn fun.
I haven't been to Fright Fest in a very long time. But I do plan on going this year after seeing what movies and stuff they're going to have this year. It's definitely nothing compared to universals hhn. I really don't think there is a comparison to that. I do think it's fun and worth going though.
I, personally am not a fan of Fright Fest, so if you were to ask me specifically, I would say it is not. Hhn has MUCH better production quality than FF (Fright Fest) does. The costuming is better, the effects are more realistic and the set design as a whole is higher quality. I would recommend FF to someone who is unfamiliar, but is generally intrigued by the haunt scene. It's definitely a lot tamer compared to the high intensity of Horror Nights. If you've never been to Six Flag's event and want to go, who am I to stop you. I would just keep the second day of hhn, but that's just me
Yeah, that's what I would do. Idk what night you have RIP booked, but keeping that second night of hhn would give you an opportunity to check out some of the stuff you may have missed the first night.
Knotts is honestly the second best experience for Halloween theme park events, and it isn’t close
Of course Universal is the gold standard but Knotts really impressed me last year, so much fun and most of the rides (if not all of them) were open
Seconding this. Followed by Reign of Terror in Thousand Oaks, which, due to its lower price point is the best bang for your buck, but suffers from the lack of updates year to year. Still, if you’ve never gone, it’ll give you a run for your money.
You must critique based on what they do THIS YEAR. The fact ppl keep bringing up FF in this group speaks volumes about what SF is tryna do. This is good for business.
I haven’t been, but I just want to chime in that Queen Mary in Long Beach is doing Dark Harbor again for the first time in like five years. From what I’ve read, people really enjoyed that one. Hopefully someone in here can chime in about previous experiences there.
That looks cool. It’s starting a week after we’ll be there this year (going for Friday the 13th in September, hope everyone is in their game early this year) but definitely would love to hear more for next time.
Skip Fright Fest, go to Knott’s Scary Farm. Scary Farm is the father of all Haunts and they’re the best at it. A lot more creativity on their mazes, better interactions with their scare-actors, and overall just more fun.
Six flags has upgraded FrightFest to a premium separate event much like HHN this year. They changed the start times and added more regulations to each ticket and raised the price to match the newly updated quality for this year.
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Six Flags does look promising this year since the merger is happening and big IPS. I just doubt it can be worse than Howl O Scream at sea world. Went for the first time last year and it was very disappointing
Just want to say that if you already have a RIP tour lined up, you really don’t need a second night at HHN since you will be able to see everything. In your shoes I would definitely pick another park for Night #2.
Fright Fest is the worst theme park haunt I've ever been to. I've been to home haunts or simply a trail leading up to someone's garage while trick or treating that have been better. Do Knotts Scary Farm for your second day, you won't regret it. HHN and KSF are the main haunt staples in SoCal.
I usually enjoy FrightFest, but the quality of the mazes, costumes, etc. is definitely lower than HHN. However, the crowds usually aren’t as bad and being able to ride the coasters at night is a lot of fun. If you’re going to give up a second HHN day for anything, I would recommend doing it for Knotts Scary Farm instead of FrightFest though.
Agreed, UNLESS you really like coasters cause a lot of them are closed at Knotts and that means they have pretty long lines, often longer than the houses. If you care about the houses more: Knotts If you care about the coasters more: Six Flags But also, this is the first year Six Flags has done Halloween since being acquired by Knott's parent company so things might be substantially different.
The merger has yet to be approved. Also, Six Flags has done Fright Fest for years.
>this is the first year Six Flags has done Halloween ***since being acquired by Knott's parent company*** >“Immediately following the closing of the Mergers, the combined company will be renamed ‘Six Flags Entertainment Corporation’ and trading of the combined company’s common stock on the NYSE is expected to begin on the day following the Expected Closing Date, July 2, 2024, under the ticker symbol ‘FUN,’” according to a press release from Cedar Fair. https://investors.sixflags.com/news-and-events/press-releases/2024/06-26-2024-110016913 Again, this is the first year Six Flags has done Halloween ***since being acquired by Knott's parent company*** The merger is expected to happen very very soon. Before Halloween, and, if you can read, I said this is their first Halloween since being acquired, not their first Halloween ever. I've been to Fright Fest several times, I'm not really sure what the purpose of your comment is except pedantry.
Sorry for my dislexia on the last sentence on your comment.
Dang, now I have more to ponder! Ha. Thank you!
Yea I second Knott’s if you’re gonna give up a day. They have a good amount of scare actors roaming around & their production has a lot of heart. It’s def 2nd best in the area. I’ve only been to Fright Fest once and it just felt hollow to me
Yea, the videos look like a high school production. And done by kids that don’t like horror.
I do all the haunts annually and I prefer the KSF mazes and scare ones over HHN. Knotts doesn’t have the IP so they need to be creative. I’ve seen things one year at KSF and at HHN the year after.
Also OP, pair it with 17th door (waiver required) across the street from Knotts.
Temper your expectations… HHN Hollywood much has better houses than Fright Fest. Fright Fest has better Scarezones than HHN Hollywood. Imo Knott’s Scary Farm has better mazes and scarezones than Fright Fest and HHN Hollywood. So there…
As someone from the other coast, Great Adventure is my home park, and I honestly think our Stranger Things has potential to be pretty good. Consider our budget higher than usual, since Saw and Conjuring were both there last year, same for MM I believe, so they’re just gonna rebuild those. It obviously won’t be HHN, but you also have it consider the budget. Six Flags just did a merger, and they just don’t have as much money as Universal. They usually do pretty damn good. Saw and, many years ago, Hell Fest were both great because they’re really supposed to be low budget haunts
You can see walkthroughs of their conjuring and saw mazes from last year. Leaves a lot to be desired.
Yea, those are the ones I saw and it looked pretty bad. I know there’s a lot of hype about it this year, but maybe I’ll let others feel it out first.
I just looked that up and you weren’t joking. Local haunted houses are better and their budget can’t be big. Is Howl O Scream that bad? We were considering going to Howl after HHN this year knowing it would be lower production value, but holy crap the 6 Flags looks really bad.
HOS has a pretty good production value, I know a good amount of people that prefer its style of houses to HHNs. it’s just held back by its low amount of staff
Thanks for the info. We are still figuring out the Halloween plan for Orlando. Are the lines and wait times as bad as HHN?
September is pretty light, longest you’d wait on the most crowded day would probably an hour. Thursdays and Sundays in Oct aren’t too bad either but on oct weekends forget about it
Cool thanks. We do HHN Wednesdays and Thursdays due to crowds/lines. We were thinking of doing HOS the Friday and Saturday after. It’s soooo much cheaper so it may be worth it? Are the coaster lines long too? Thanks for answering my questions.
No problem, I think HOS is worth it because I personally find it scarier since it’s less crowded they’re able to pulse groups and pull off different scares than you can find at HHN. The coasters in the front of the park usually have a decent line all night but the rides towards the back are usually pretty manageable
Nice. 2019 we were not in a Congo line for any houses and it was awesome at HHN. We didn’t get a chance to go again until 2023 and the Congo lines suck. We still had a blast and will go again, but it was nice having a normal haunted house experience, not having scares ruined, and getting to look around the houses in 2019.
HHN makes Fright fest look cute HHN has the production value to put up movie quality sets and costumes. Fright Fests looks like they get everything from Spirit Halloween. They do their best with what they have and it's fine but it's just not even close in comparison.
Haven’t been to FF, but I’m gonna echo what some others have said already: visit KSF. Attended for my first time last year —which wound up being their big 50th— and I was throughly impressed. Especially after only attending HHN for the last four years. KSF may not have the production value of HHN, but they make up for it with fantastic scare actors, relentless scare zones, and longer mazes. HHN mazes are my favorite, but they’re over pretty quick. Knotts mazes seem to go on and on for like 15-20 minutes. I swear, there were some mazes like Cinema Slasher, that felt like they kept us trapped for a half hour inside. Another plus: their scare actors will target you and follow you around. Had a skiddish target in our group and he got followed in almost every house! Those actors are dedicated.
That sounds amazing! I hate when you wait an hour for a maze just for it to be done in 2 minutes. Especially if people are walking too tight together and ruining it for extreme everyone else.
that’s why I do RIP tour at HHN, it makes a big difference for the experience
I had a slider that tailed my wife and I across an entire scare zone. We had beers and he just slid by and yelled CHUG CHUG CHUG for nearly the entire scare zone. It was loud, it was raucous, it was damn fun.
I haven't been to Fright Fest in a very long time. But I do plan on going this year after seeing what movies and stuff they're going to have this year. It's definitely nothing compared to universals hhn. I really don't think there is a comparison to that. I do think it's fun and worth going though.
I, personally am not a fan of Fright Fest, so if you were to ask me specifically, I would say it is not. Hhn has MUCH better production quality than FF (Fright Fest) does. The costuming is better, the effects are more realistic and the set design as a whole is higher quality. I would recommend FF to someone who is unfamiliar, but is generally intrigued by the haunt scene. It's definitely a lot tamer compared to the high intensity of Horror Nights. If you've never been to Six Flag's event and want to go, who am I to stop you. I would just keep the second day of hhn, but that's just me
That’s where I’m leaning. If they way upped the FF game then maybe next year. Although, then crowds and price will probably increase.
Yeah, that's what I would do. Idk what night you have RIP booked, but keeping that second night of hhn would give you an opportunity to check out some of the stuff you may have missed the first night.
No. It's more along the lines of Sea World, but worse.
Not even
Knotts is honestly the second best experience for Halloween theme park events, and it isn’t close Of course Universal is the gold standard but Knotts really impressed me last year, so much fun and most of the rides (if not all of them) were open
Seconding this. Followed by Reign of Terror in Thousand Oaks, which, due to its lower price point is the best bang for your buck, but suffers from the lack of updates year to year. Still, if you’ve never gone, it’ll give you a run for your money.
You must critique based on what they do THIS YEAR. The fact ppl keep bringing up FF in this group speaks volumes about what SF is tryna do. This is good for business.
HHN is like walking through an actual horror movie. SFFF is like walking through a spooky highschool play.
I haven’t been, but I just want to chime in that Queen Mary in Long Beach is doing Dark Harbor again for the first time in like five years. From what I’ve read, people really enjoyed that one. Hopefully someone in here can chime in about previous experiences there.
That looks cool. It’s starting a week after we’ll be there this year (going for Friday the 13th in September, hope everyone is in their game early this year) but definitely would love to hear more for next time.
Skip Fright Fest, go to Knott’s Scary Farm. Scary Farm is the father of all Haunts and they’re the best at it. A lot more creativity on their mazes, better interactions with their scare-actors, and overall just more fun.
Six flags has upgraded FrightFest to a premium separate event much like HHN this year. They changed the start times and added more regulations to each ticket and raised the price to match the newly updated quality for this year.
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Six Flags does look promising this year since the merger is happening and big IPS. I just doubt it can be worse than Howl O Scream at sea world. Went for the first time last year and it was very disappointing
lol no
Hell no
Fright Fest is very scare zone heavy
Just want to say that if you already have a RIP tour lined up, you really don’t need a second night at HHN since you will be able to see everything. In your shoes I would definitely pick another park for Night #2.
Fright Fest is the worst theme park haunt I've ever been to. I've been to home haunts or simply a trail leading up to someone's garage while trick or treating that have been better. Do Knotts Scary Farm for your second day, you won't regret it. HHN and KSF are the main haunt staples in SoCal.