Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Scares Are In The Air at Great Adventure's Fright Fest


Calling all ghouls, ghosts, monsters, and freaks - the 2010 version of Six Flags Great Adventure's Fright Fest is currently underway each weekend through the end of October, and they're always looking to add to their twisted army of spooks.

As the sun begins to go down you can see changes starting all over Great Adventure, the midways are lined with creepy torch columns, and fog starts to creep out all around.  Then the fun really begins, as the park's "fright by night" slogan turns into reality.

Fright Fest is packed with a slew of live entertainment and haunted attractions, all of which have become very popular over the years.  Halloween's popularity in general continues to grow, and with that so does the popularity of events like Fright Fest.

And here's some proof of that statement.  Check out this midway during Fright Fest at Great Adventure - I mean it when I say the event is popular!  Everyone was out to get spooked, it seems.

There's an awful lot of Halloween activities that take place during the day to entertain kids - here we see Mr. Six himself hosting his Spooktacular Street Party.  There's also trick-or-treating, a Wiggles' Show, and Team Green Beach Patrol, where dolphins and sea lions join in a beach cleanup.

The darker festivities begin at 5:30 when the Awakening takes place, starting with a parade of ghouls down the midway to the stage in front of the Big Wheel.  Monsters from all over the park congregate in the parade, and they have no problem getting up close and personal.

Told you so! I think this guy was a little crazy, don't you?  Once the short parade ends the focus turns to the stage where the Awakening takes place - this is the zombie infested resurrection of Dr. Fright, who leads over the entire event.  Once he's awake and had his cup of coffee (not really) the zombies go all out - naturally this includes the Thriller dance.

The Awakening bleeds into Dead Man's Party, a perennial favorite of the shows that take place at Fright Fest.  The event's unofficial (or perhaps official?) host is pictured here, known as the Ghoulmaster.  He's developed quite the following over the last few years.

Dead Man's Party is a high energy show that features a combination of blasting music, dance, and special effects.  The songs featured are changed annually, but each year there is a solid mixture of rock, pop, and other genres.  Who knew zombies were such good dancers?

On a busy night it's advised to get to the stage early - the show is very popular.  We didn't get there quite early enough but still had a good view from afar.  Good enough to capture this explosion of special effects taking place!

Other entertainment includes the new for 2010 show "The Ghoulmaster's Ghosts," a Dead and Local Music Showcase that feature local bands, and "Hypnosteria," where a hypnotist works his magic.

Fright Fest has old fashioned scares as well, many of which are found in the extra-admission haunts: Demented Forest and Escape From The Asylum.

Many other haunted midways can be found, too, which are crawling with monsters.  Above is one of the entrances to Circus Psycho, which takes over the boardwalk area of the park.  Those carny folk are crazy, I tell you.

The Lakefront Graveyard was expanded some this year to make it a little longer.  You start off on the midway but have to travel down toward the lake, all while ghouls hover around you in the fog.  It's best to wait till dark for this one, but I wanted to get some photos!

This nice gentleman was in the Lakefront Graveyard, I think he was offering haircuts or something.

Frontier Adventures is taken over by crazed cowboys when it becomes Bone Butcher Terror-tory, and the area near the entrance to the park is filled with the undead as well.  The undead are really great about taking photos with them, too!
I'll leave you with a shot of the Blood Fountain and the crowds watching Mr. Six's dance party.  Our thanks to Great Adventure for having us out to check out the event.  If you want more information, check out Six Flags Great Adventure's website for details.


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