Fright Fest has returned to Darien Lake in 2024. The Six Flags Halloween celebration in its current form encompasses haunted houses, scare zones, and rides in the dark. This year’s haunts are Escape To Bloodstone Hollow – an industrial themed attraction with zombies and other monsters that have presumably spawned from the nuclear waste barrels strewn about, and Jack Pallet’s Scarecrow Row – an outdoor trail attraction centered around a story of scarecrows come to life after the disappearance of Farmer Jack. Also included with the price of admission are various scare zones which feature costumed actors and spooky decorations, as well as live shows throughout the park.

It’s no secret that Six Flags as a company has an immense budget, however individual parks may not all benefit equally from those deep pockets. Darien Lake being a smaller park, seemingly has less access to those funds when it comes to the number of actors they’re able to employ inside the haunted attractions. Inside each of the two attractions, there are barely enough actors to keep things interesting. Bloodstone Hollow features roughly 10 – 15 actors inside, and many of which are clearly new to the art of scare acting. While we did encounter about one actor for every two or three scenes, there were certainly a lot of dead areas with not a lot happening. When actors did appear, the scares were few. Some of the actors did not employ very much energy when playing their part, while others seemed to at least try to be loud. It was very clear to me about half-way through the attraction that there was a lack of direction for the cast. The best part of Bloodstone Hollow was the slider actor who was definitely giving 110%. This is not a sleight towards the actors themselves, as they were doing what they could with what they had. Many of the scares encountered inside Bloodstone Hollow are of the “jump” variety, although direction and coaching are key here. We did not see the level of energy that many haunt actors are expected to give.

Scarecrow Row on the other hand seems to have the benefit of either veteran actors or a knowledgeable director as the scares in this attraction are much more varied. Right at the start, guests are headed directly towards a bright light and fog which completely obscures your senses of vision and direction and out of nowhere, a good loud jump scare comes from behind the light. This is an excellent way to start an attraction, and it’s a good step in the right direction for the energy I hope to find. The number of actors seemed slightly fewer throughout the maze than in Bloodstone Hollow, but the energy, while still low for what’s supposed to be a scary walk through, was much higher. We came across various personalities and scaring techniques throughout this attraction, making it feel more full in terms of actors. The actor in the finale showcased the most amount of energy from anyone we had encountered thus far, and as far as I’m concerned, should be promoted to a director or manager role to help bring this show to a higher standard.

Costumes were sadly one of the weakest parts of the haunted houses, considering many actors did not have a costume to speak of and were given the most basic of makeup in many cases. The only actor that I recall actually having a costume and makeup of note was at the very end of the Scarecrow Row attraction. He was definitely supposed to be a zombie or something of the sort. Perhaps the ethereal projection of Farmer Jack whose grave we see in the same scene. Outside of this, we noticed many actors wearing “basic black” which is the minimum for haunt actors, and a whole lot of white sneakers. I can’t express how disappointing it is to notice such a severe lack of costuming in such a highly budgeted show.

Actors in the scare zones looked fantastic, as they rightly should. These are the people getting their photos taken all night long with guests, and they really need to look the part. I should note that a pirate actor in one of the scare zones was walking around with a large water bottle that was definitely out of character. I understand the need to stay hydrated, and actor safety is the top priority, but could we not have given this person a bottle that fits the theme a little better than a Yeti brand thermos? Other notable characters in the scare zones were the scarecrow, which, by all means, should have been inside the scarecrow attraction, the several zombies and “medical accident” sorts of characters that had syringes stuck in their necks while they strode about in bloodied lab coats.

It seems that Six Flags has completely failed when it comes to their website and mobile app regarding information about Fright Fest. The website does not include a map of scare zones, or haunted houses, nor does it include any real information other than the names of the attractions, the applicable times, and of course several links to take your money. The app is no better. While it does show a map of where attractions are located, a developer has misspelled the word “unknown” in a parameter named thrill level and it’s made the schema validator very angry. That’s fancy tech-talk to say that tapping on map pins results in an error. All of this is to say that finding information ahead of time was difficult, and could have been streamlined much better.

Staff members throughout the park are providing excellent customer service at every turn. Every person we encountered with the exception of two people were cheerful, professional, and helpful in every way. Of the two that were not, one was an actor dressed as a zombie wandering the park that looked at me and grunted when I asked where something was. While I admire the dedication to staying in character, at least point in the right direction or something. The other was a security guard at the very end of Bloodstone Hollow who asked if I was with The Scare Factor, and when I said that I was, he shined a flashlight in my eyes. I don’t know what prompted this person to ask that question, nor what would possess them to shine a bright light in anyone’s eyes, but it was unhelpful at best.

Finding the haunted houses inside of the park became much easier once I was able to get my hands on a physical map of the park which had Fright Fest locations on it. Again, the app should have been all I needed, but it wouldn’t display the names of anything. Another guest that I spoke with during the day mentioned that they couldn’t even get the map to load on their phone. Hopefully Six Flags can take a hint and hire a developer that will test updates before making them live.

As we previously discussed about the app and the website, there are no descriptions of the attractions, with the exception being Jack Pallet’s Scarecrow Row, which is a one sentence backstory of the attraction. The theme is that Farmer Jack has gone missing, and the scarecrows have come to life. The attraction jives with this idea, with scarecrows strewn about, and a lack of said farmer. The queue for Scarecrow Row doesn’t really set the tone, as it’s an outdoor queue amongst the midway, with little bits of corn stalks lining a fence. Heading into the attraction helps a bit more, as the bright light and fog right at the start serve as a visual way to transport guests into the story. Being that this is an outdoor attraction in a space that used to be a mini golf course, crowd noise does carry over from the pathways outside of the attraction. There’s also a roller coaster directly over your head for part of it. Coaster nerds will rejoice in this rare sight not seen for a number of years as the mini golf has been closed for some time. Parts of the theming are reminiscent of a bayou sort of vibe, and while I don’t think this is intentional, it blends oddly well with the scarecrow theme. Or maybe I just think that because of the alligator animatronic.

Bloodstone Hollow sets the tone very well from the moment guests get in line. The building that once housed an indoor roller coaster and later some live action shows, has been dressed with nuclear waste barrels outside and the indoor section of the queue gives the impression that you’re descending deep underground with rock facades along the walls. Believe it or not, that is leftover from the late 90s when the indoor roller coaster called Nightmare at Phantom Cave closed. After crossing the threshold into the show itself, guests are boarded onto a hellevator which takes them “underground” to mines? Caves? A super villain’s lair? I don’t know. I didn’t catch that part of the story. Either way, the sets and scenes are very well built, giving an industrial ore mine sort of vibe throughout.

One of the coolest things I came across was at the very beginning of Bloodstone Hollow, where guests are loaded into a hellevator which I’m fairly certain travels sideways on a track to drop them into the depths of the mine or cave or whatever the setting is supposed to be. The ambient sound playing throughout helps maintain the tone, as well as the show lighting which is very professional looking. Animatronics are scattered throughout, keeping guests on their toes as they move and make noise. A few blasts from air compressors keep the heart rate up, and the fog swamp plunges you chest-deep into a bog of eeriness. At least, it would if there were enough fog to complete the illusion. Looking down, I could clearly see the floor and far enough ahead to see that there were no actors lying in wait to deliver a big scare. The sets and scenes are very well built, adding lots of little details to almost everything.

Scarecrow row does things a little bit differently in the special effects department, pumping so much fog into scenes that I couldn’t see my own hand in front of me. While there may or may not have been an ambient soundtrack playing, it wouldn’t matter because the hiss from air compressors and the noise of people outside of the attraction kept bleeding in and reminding me of the fabricated nature of the attraction. The alligator animatronic looked really great while it snapped its jaws as we walked past, however there was a storage container clearly visible in the scene. I suspect that was a weather-proof box for a fog machine or something of the sort, but it should have been hidden much better. I realize that lighting is a challenge in outdoor environments, but the stage lighting throughout this attraction is quite well done, highlighting the parts of scenes that you’re meant to see.

So, how scary is it you ask? Not terribly, but the effort is being made. Of the two attractions, Scarecrow Row kept us on our toes a little better, but Bloodstone Hollow has a much better creep factor that’s hard to quantify. It helps that Bloodstone Hollow is an indoor attraction, and lighting can be controlled much more easily in each scene. While Scarecrow Row is an outdoor attraction, the placement of actors and animatronics helped to provide scares in areas where you don’t expect them as much. There were several dark corners where actors hid before delivering jump scares, a nicely detailed kitchen scene in which an actor seemingly apparated from thin air to tell us “get out of my kitchen!”, and the coup-de-gras right at the beginning of Scarecrow Row when I said out loud “I really hope there’s a good scare from behind that light where I can’t see anything.” While Skele-mini and myself had made an effort to become our own group of two in both attractions, we tended to receive scares at the same time. We did notice that a group very close to us in Bloodstone Hollow was getting hit primarily from the middle, indicating that there’s at least some effort to scare the group as a whole rather than focusing on individuals.

The types of scares we found in each attraction were mostly of the jump variety. Bloodstone hollow featured an intimidation scare as we headed into the fog swamp, and a slider as we rounded a corner. Interestingly, sliders are not often found in haunts around upstate NY. I’m not sure why that is, but it was nice to see one. Scarecrow Row featured more jump scares for the most part, leading up to the finale where an actor stalked us for a moment before I asked if he was Farmer Jack. He only replied by yelling for Jack, making us feel rather unwelcome. Was he Jack’s ghost? The scarecrow that killed Jack? I don’t know, but I need answers! Speaking of finale scenes, Bloodstone Hollow didn’t really have one. Could it have been the slider scare? Maybe. I’m not 100% sure to be honest, but the attraction did end rather suddenly.

Additional entertainment is really where amusement park haunts shine the brightest, and Darien Lake is no exception. At the time of writing, a combo ticket which not only gets you into the park, but also gets you access to the haunted houses costs $55 USD. That’s not counting parking which is another $30, bringing us up to $85 at the cheapest to get you inside the park with the haunted houses add-on. You read that correctly, the haunted houses are not included with the standard park admission. That $85 gets you 10 hours of roller coasters, flat rides, games, haunted houses, and a laser light show at the end of the night. Granted, two of their roller coasters were closed during my visit, but at least Ride of Steel was open, which is the coaster most people care about anyway.

The spooky festivities kick off with a live show at the Gazebo Stage, and as the website would have you believe, this show is to get you in the mood to be scared. It turns out that it was a performance by a local dance school which was very cute, but by no means scary. Those kids worked hard, and put on a great performance, but again, definitely not scary. The other show mentioned on the website is called The Witching Hour and the description says it’s the monsters’ last chance to terrorize you. It turns out this isn’t really a show as much as it is actors from scare zones heading towards the front of the park doing their best to scare guests on their way out. The night is capped with the laser light show which features solid state lasers and projections set to popular music. The show is slightly modified in the autumn to feature more Halloween themed music and visuals such as Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” which projected the King of Pop on a water screen, The Addam’s Family theme song, and other such music.

If only Six Flags would invest the same amount of time and money into their haunted houses as they did the laser show, this event would be the best in the business. The $30 value of the haunted house add-on is just barely inexpensive enough to be considered worth the money. Both of the attractions took about 10 minutes each leading us to an abysmal 0.36 minutes per dollar based on the combo price of $55. If we adjust for the price of the add-on by itself, we come to 0.67 MPD. Still low, but not the worst. As most amusement parks of similar size will cost approximately $30-50 for a day pass, I think the price is fairly appropriate. For what it’s worth, almost all of the guests in the park were in the GA line, leaving the fast pass queue wide open. If skipping a long wait is worth the extra money for you, it’ll run you another $30.

Overall, if you’re in western New York and you’re looking for spooky fun, this isn’t the worst option out there. While the haunts border on family friendly in the fact that there aren’t any mature themes or overly grotesque scenes, they exist in a sort of middle ground that’s really great for families that want some scares, but perhaps aren’t ready for the biggest and baddest out there.