29yrswithaGApass Posted October 18, 2007 Report Share Posted October 18, 2007 Click here to see the whole Spotlight! Comments and discussions welcomed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarioSonic94 Posted November 9, 2007 Report Share Posted November 9, 2007 (edited) I got 2 questions 1. Was Dino Island shown in the 1997 and 1998 Fright Fest 2. Was Elvira shown in the 2004 Fright Fest or was it just Spongebob 3D Luis L. Edited November 9, 2007 by Luis L Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted November 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2007 I got 2 questions 1. Was Dino Island shown in the 1997 and 1998 Fright Fest 2. Was Elvira shown in the 2004 Fright Fest or was it just Spongebob 3D Luis L. Dino Island was shown during Fright Fest from 1996 to 1998. SpongeBob was shown during FF 2004 as it was being promoted as the "new" attraction for that year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddyChrist Posted November 9, 2007 Report Share Posted November 9, 2007 (edited) I remember going to the Halloween events of the 90s and compared to today, I think they were MUCH better compared to those of the past few years. I still remember one year on the hayride where the guy with a chainsaw ran out of his hut and made me jump at least 3 feet into the air! I think this was the hut that I remember! This was a great Spotlight, I love it since I love the park most around Halloween! Edited November 9, 2007 by BuddyChrist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted November 9, 2007 Author Report Share Posted November 9, 2007 Does anyone remember the hayride not to long ago when the hay wagon would "break down" and you had get off and walk out of the woods? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddyChrist Posted November 9, 2007 Report Share Posted November 9, 2007 Actually last year the wagon stopped when I was on it with my family and they told us we'd have to get off and get another wagon. For a second I thought it was supposed to happen and we'd get ambushed by characters, but in fact the driver got lost and went down the access road towards Skull Mountain! It took him about 10 minutes but he finally maneuvered it around and we went down the right road! Because they messed up, they took us around again and even though we know where people were hiding, people still jumped when it happened! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Adventurer Posted November 19, 2007 Report Share Posted November 19, 2007 I love the events they host during the Fright Fest, but they lead to some very long lines. The Terror Trails now also have lines and are not a walk through type of thing anymore due to an incident where a Fright Fest ghoul scared a girl, and her boyfriend and his friends ganged up on the ghoul and sent him to the hospital. Terrible business when someone ruins things for everyone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted December 28, 2007 Report Share Posted December 28, 2007 I love the events they host during the Fright Fest, but they lead to some very long lines. The Terror Trails now also have lines and are not a walk through type of thing anymore due to an incident where a Fright Fest ghoul scared a girl, and her boyfriend and his friends ganged up on the ghoul and sent him to the hospital. Terrible business when someone ruins things for everyone. When did this incident you are talking about happen. I was at Fright Fest during one of the last weekends it ran this year (pardon my lapse in memory at the moment I normally remember dates like this) and we managed to get through the Terror Trail early. When we were walking around later in the evening waiting to attend the arena of Doom, the Terror Trail was closed and we could see some management inside the Terror Trail with the ghouls holding some sort of meeting. We never found out what happened and I thought maybe the event you were referencing could be what we saw the tail end of. On a side note I also agree that I love the Fright Fest events, but the lines do tend to be quite long. I believe in 2006 my girlfriend and I stood online for the hayride for about 3.5 hours and then another 2 hours (when we were told it would be 4) for the Terror Trail back by the arena, and that was all we managed to do besides seeing a show or two in passing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted December 31, 2007 Author Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 A very brief video clip of the Carnival of Clowns - 3D Funhouse from the 2004 Fright Fest event has been added to the GAH Spotlight Extras gallery. It's hard to believe that this building was once part of the park's main entrance and later a "Lost Parents" and baby care facility! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 I am very dissapointed that I did not get to see that. I missed the 2004 Fright Fest (was supposed to go but plans got screwed up) and in 2005 didn't know to look for it. I think my favorite attraction to not be around was probably the one called Nightmare in the 2005 season. I believe it was set up by the Castle Arcade and was a short walkthrough with ghouls and other characters inside. I ended up being put through with my girlfriend and about five other girls. When they began actually freaking out and hiding behind me I made sure I walked as slow as I could to get to them. By the time we reached the exit door I think I had 6 girls literally pushing me out the door with the force of and NFL Offensive line haha. I wish they would have kept that a part of Fright Fest as it offered a fun little creepy attraction that let those who did not want to wait hours for the Terror Trails or Hayride. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted December 31, 2007 Report Share Posted December 31, 2007 A very brief video clip of the Carnival of Clowns - 3D Funhouse from the 2004 Fright Fest event has been added to the GAH Spotlight Extras gallery. It's hard to believe that this building was once part of the park's main entrance and later a "Lost Parents" and baby care facility! Not only that...that was once the overflow (if you'll pardon the term) bathrooms! Both of those bathrooms had secondary areas that could be opened on crowded days (the doors are still there at the far end of them). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Great Adventurer Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 Great spotlight, I like the added music! Also introduced in (I think it was) late October, I think about a week before the park's closing, people had to wait in queue lines for the haunted walk attractions, as someone had injured a ghoul and put him in the hospital a day before this was enforced. The day after this occured, around 50 of the ghouls did not show up for fear of their safety. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted January 2, 2008 Report Share Posted January 2, 2008 I hope the issues at the end of the season this year won't lead to any major steps backwards for the 2008 Fright Fest season. The walk-throughs have become very popular attractions, that also have the fortune of being customizable on a yearly basis in so many ways. I really hope to see them come back again next year as well as possibly a newly recreated hayride . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 (edited) I hope they bring back the hayride, I really missed it this year and I do think the FFs from the 90s are better than recent FFs. People can get really rowdy during these events. Last year at Universal I was inline for a haunted house and this drunk guy infront of me was smoking. A guard tells the guy to put it out and gets in a fight with the guard. After all that they still let him in the haunted house where he stops in the middle and trys to block the line in the inside the haunted house! Some people. Edited January 7, 2008 by The Master Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Some of these Halloween events do seem to attract some more unwanted patrons than the rest of the season for sure. I don't know what it is about them, but it's like they come out of the woodwork for this one month of open season each year. The 90's Fright Fests were awesome for sure, especially compared to what we have had for the last few years. Not that the current FF is terrible, just doesn't seem to work as well as the older ones did. I also think the main reason I would like to see the hayride return, is not as much that I always ride it, but a Halloween hayride seems like it just belongs. For a few years the hayride seemed to be a staple at FF and everyone I knew going wanted to get on it before the night was through. It just seems like a void not to have it somewhere in the park, even if it's not as good as it once was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 The problem is Fright Fest is a victim of its own success. As the event ramped up and developed a reputation as being great, it drew larger and larger crowds and worse and worse crowds. That started to drive the families away from the event, which had made it progressively less safe. It's better that they have cut back and made it more family friendly if it means people can feel safer at the park.They need to strike a balance. Busch does an AMAZING job with their event at BGW, and it gets more popular every year. They are smarter about it in limiting the number of guests they allow into the park, and controlling and directing crowds better. They are better prepared for the long lines and create attractions with enough capacity to handle the crowds, plus they place them on the edges of the park, and utilize existing ride queues to handle the lines. GA could do the exact same thing, but it takes more planning ahead of the events. Maybe now that they have a more stable management team in place, we'll see better planning for Fright Fest in the coming seasons. At some point I'll get around to posting what I would do if I ran Fright Fest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on it as your ideas definately are well thought through in that area. I do think you are 100% right with it being a victim of its own success. I think it hit its peak sometime in the 90's in terms of its balance between being family friendly and having enough to go around in the park itself. I also think part of the problem with the crowds being worse and worse, is the fact that you find more and more groups of kids who are left to wander throughout the park by themselves, with no real restrictions. I know in the past two seasons I was there, I twice saw a park performer who had a guest lay their hands on them. Both times it was by a young person in a group who thought it would be funny to do something to the "ghoul" and their friends seemingly thought the same thing until park security or management get involved. I do think that Great Adventure has the means to spread more attractions around Fright Fest, and in their defense I thought this year's event was much more orderly and enjoyable for the most part than even in 2006 (new managements first or second year with the park). The new management has certainly made some real progress overall in the park in terms of it being cleaned up, down time being much lower than past years, and park staff being friendlier. These are all really important and in fairness were a bit more important in terms of the park's overall wellbeing than some of the planning for Fright Fest, and so I am more than willing to see what they come up with now that they have another year under their belts. Should get very interesting to say the least, as I get the sense these people have the park headed in the right direction. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 I hope they will also be open all of the Friday nights in Oct. Only got to FF once last year because they where open only for the last 2 Friday nights. Normally I get there for at least 3 if not all 4 Friday nights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 The schedule has them open for 4 Fridays in October (including Halloween night). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted January 7, 2008 Report Share Posted January 7, 2008 Now that certainly sounds like some fun on Halloween night. And i think it could be even better because most younger kids want to be out trick-or-treating so that crowd will likely be non-existant for the night. I always felt like Fright Fest should always take place on Halloween no matter what day of the week, but this would be the next best thing. Maybe they could open up for Halloween when it is a weekday for Season Pass holders only in the future. It would certainly be a nice little perk for people who have one, and if they continue to push the next season's pass to include the current season's Fright Fest it could add to that appeal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JetsDevs4Lyf Posted February 26, 2008 Report Share Posted February 26, 2008 I was looking at a picture that was recently added to the galleries and came up with an interesting idea: What if the park doesn't begin to do any major rehabbing or re-theming during the season and instead waits until the season is over to work on Old Country? If that is the case, the park could use the now emtpyand semi-abandoned Old Country setting as the new area for this coming season's Terror Trail. I think they would be able to make the area look pretty damn cool with the fog and lighting effects as well as the usual terro trail type Fright Fest decorations with the backdrop of the old world European looking buildings. The old stands and ride areas could be used to house many ghouls, and with the length of the walk through the area the Terror trail could really be built up into something great. Heck, if they wanted to and had not used them for anything yet they could even somehow incorporate the old observatory and Chiller Loading station somehow for a dark indoor part of the Terror Trail. Just a thought but I think it would look pretty cool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted March 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 5, 2008 Those are great ideas. I am up for anything that takes the Terror Trail out of the center of the park where traffic was jammed. They could open the Musik Express for Fright Fest - play horror music, add stobes, and use the red set of miniature lights on the ride. The area has plenty of potential especially if it is intact next fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarioSonic94 Posted April 19, 2008 Report Share Posted April 19, 2008 In the 1996 Fright Fest Hayride, one of the props was the Joker. Where was it from? Luis L. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted April 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 19, 2008 In the 1996 Fright Fest Hayride, one of the props was the Joker. Where was it from? The Joker face was originally mounted on an ATV used in an early versions of the Batman Stunt Spectacular. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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