More Six Flags Minutiae
One day in September, after I’d dropped off Q at Six Flags (which was closed at the time) in order to manage some pre- or post-employment necessity before the commencement of Fright Fest, I drove past the water park on the way out. Hawks or some other bird of prey were perched on the Bahama Blast.
Last year, one of the four haunted houses was called “Toxic Fallout,” and was nestled outdoors in a gap between two buildings. There was a very similar attraction at this year’s Fright Fest, except that it was larger and indoors - they closed the bumper car ride and used that building for “Aftermath.” (Last year the bumper cars had continued to operate during Fright Fest, but with fog machines, strobe lights, lasers, and loud music added; this year, they only did that to the teacup ride instead of to both of them.) Only one of the four haunted attractions last year was under a roof; this year, four of the five were. This reflects the larger budget they had this year, and also meant that they weren’t hampered by rain. (The only one still outdoors was, of course, the haunted path through the woods.)
Speaking of “haunted paths,” I’m not sure if I’ve ever posted a picture of this easily-overlooked path (employees only) behind the big swinging pirate ship, which appears to be the back door to a couple of the nearby buildings.
Earlier this year, Q spotted a fenced-in unused area which had obviously held a ride at some point in the past, but we had no idea what or when. That area was used for the Spider Outbreak haunted attraction, the first time we’ve seen it used for anything. Maybe if we can just steal a few more rides from Six Flags Great America near Chicago…
I still haven’t seen this kiosk used for anything. It’s near one of the walkways, on the way to Spider Outbreak.
This is another closed-off area that used to hold a ride (several years ago). In previous years, it was only used during Fright Fest to hold the haunted hay maze for children. This year, the haunted hay maze was located elsewhere; my best guess is that this area remained closed because it’s near where construction work is going on to prepare for the new Ragin’ Cajun roller coaster. My friend’s son was immediately disgruntled when he saw that the hay maze had been moved since last year.
The backs of a couple of other buildings. The first is the Looney Tunes Prop Warehouse, a building filled with plastic balls and various devices to suck them in or shoot them out in all different directions, along with an upper lever kids climb up to and slides that go back down (one of which goes out and back into the building). The second picture is the side of one of the food vendors, taken from the exit to the big swinging pirate ship.
These two pictures were taken from the Penguin Blizzard River ride, and show a couple of views of the area behind it. The paved path pictured leads up past the Flash Pass entrance to the Penguin ride and around behind the Sky Coaster, through the woods and toward the picnic area in the back of the park (which is not open to normal patrons, only to groups that rent it).
I posted pictures here of the inside of the seldom-used Gotham Arena. This picture was taken behind the Arena (on the way to the haunted path in the woods, in which photography is not allowed) and shows the backstage area.
Here is the new location of the hay maze, within the Looney Tunes area (note Granny’s face peeking out from behind the pumpkin). Note the grass growing from the top of the bails of hay: that’s happening to the hay bales all around the park, as a result of all the rain we got last week.
I took this picture on the last day of Fright Fest (27 October 2013) before the park closed for the year. It’s a gate that leads into the Sky Coaster area (but not the one used by employees and riders, which opens on a paved path). I rode the Sky Coaster three times on the park’s last day of operation.
Here’s a list of links to previous LJ posts in this series: