Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Fright Fest 2026 has kicked off with a collection of 7 walkthrough mazes and as many scare zones. It’s a pretty expansive line up and one that does a good job filling the expansive park. The event runs select nights now through November 1.
Fright Fest has always been the little theme park haunt that could before Cedar Fair acquired Six Flags. It has always featured wonderful talent and surprisingly good make up. Yet it was always living in the shadow of Scary Farm and Halloween Horror Nights. That is until now. Cedar Fair has been slowly investing money into this event and attracting better designers, better talent, and taking measured risks. The result is a theme park haunt event that finally has the breathing room to find its own identity in a crowded southern California market.
Here we will share with you our pictures, our video, and our thoughts on everything that we experienced. We will also mark the things that we think are a DO NOT MISS.
Scare Zones
Fright Fest 2026 offers not not three, not four, but a total of 7 seperate scare zones throughout the park.
City Under Siege (DC Universe) –DO NOT MISS
The most intense scare zone, City Under Siege is home to the maniacal band of psychotic clowns that have been terrorizing this section of the park for years. Sort of Magic Mountain’s answer to Ghost Town Streets at Knott’s, this is the place to go for high-energy character interaction and unexpected jolts of fear.
This is also home to the brilliant sliders of Fright Fest at Magic Mountain. This is also the place to catch the jaw-dropping slider show, Sliders of the Night: Streets of Mayhem.
Check the Six Flags app for showtimes
Devil’s Triangle (Baja Ridge)
Once located at the entry plaza of the park, Devil’s Triangle brings its maritime terrors to Baja Ridge. The move works well enough, and that is thanks to the exceptional talent here. But it seems that we’ve lost some of the coral set pieces in the move. The result is just a little less than immersive.
Exile Hill
Perched at the top of the mountain at the center of the park is Exile Hill. Anchored by the Willoughby’s Resurrected maze, this gothic fog scape is home to restless souls in search of a home. The zone still works, but it has seemed to lose some of its energy after star-player character Innocence retired to the next realm. We need another icon up here and STAT.
Nightmares: Reign of Blood: –DO NOT MISS
I will forever be in love with this section of the park and its colorful scare zone. Shrouded in a canopy of trees that hold a thick layer of fog, we encounter the Queen of Hearts and her minions in their search for blood. No notes here, it’s a solid place for photo ops and frights.
Plaza de la Muerte
Moving Plaza De La Muerte from the space near Looney Tunes Land to the plaza in front of Justice League might have come out of necessity but it serves the zone well. When we passed through the space was filled with lively music and actors that were eager to engage.
Thunderbolt Alley –DO NOT MISS
Thunderbolt Alley returns to the back of the park near West Coast Racers and Apocalypse. While years past have been fine, it seems that management has seen fit to put a little more money into this area. More lighting, more fog, and entertainment give this space a renewed after-life.
Make sure to go say hi to our beloved witch, Lorraine Lurane for a beauty treatment.
Underworlds of Oz –DO NOT MISS
On the way to Scream and Twisted Colossus Is Underworlds of Oz. Think Steampunk dystopian fantasy and you get something like this. Once again the actors here shine with seemingly endless energy.
Mazes
I have seen Fright Fest evolve and develop over a pretty sizable amount of time. The event has come along way from the cheap painted flats of the Chupacabra maze that mercifully left us almost 10 years ago. The event has moved on from silly scares on a winding path to actual IP’s and fleshed out original ideas. For this they are to be commended. That said, there are some real winners, and a few baffling decisions in the bunch this year.
Final Destination: Death’s Playground (NEW)
What I would argue is the most anticipated maze at Fright Fest 2026 also ends up being the most disappointing. The experience begins as we are invited to clock in for our shift at Presage Paper from Final Destination 5. We then wanter into an office that is straight out of those cheesy workplace safety videos where office workers are being injured by office supplies.
This is one of those walkthroughs that relies on show scenes and moments rather than jump scares around every corner. This is fine if we understand what is going on. But each new set piece presented us with kept us at a distance as we tried to solve “Who? What? When? Where? Why?”
I appreciate the ambition behind this attraction for sure, but if you are going to do high concept, really know what you are doing.
Wolves’ Blood (NEW) –DO NOT MISS
Wolves’ Blood is a campy, maze that worked surprisingly well. Set in the strange world of rock music and fandom, we wander through a town called Daylight’s End, through bars, alleys, and record stores on our way to see Wolves’ Blood at The Dungeon theater. One catch: The town is infested with heavy metal werewolves? Did I mention that the band members are also werewolves?
Hearing this odd concept I was skeptical. But compared to the Final Destination maze, Wolves’ Blood knows that its a fast paced walkthrough with a silly concept that just needs to deliver the jump scares. I would argue that this maze doesn’t even need the show scene at the beginning that tries to set things up. While I am not a big fan of the conga line way of handing crowds in a maze, this one could easily translate to pulsed walkthrough with a higher capacity.
Okay too much inside baseball. Suffice it to say that Wolves’ Blood was fun.
The Conjuring Universe –DO NOT MISS
The award for most improved maze at Fright Fest goes to The Conjuring Universe. Last year, it was… fine. It hit the notes, it had a few good scenes, but there was a lot wrong with it. I entered the tired set up of The Warren Museum and rolled my eyes at the Annabelle doll as I knew what was about to happen. Or did I.
Yes, there was an opening show scene, but from there we moved on to a series of very effective scare scenes that had me pleasantly surprised. The talent here seems much more comfortable in the attraction, their scares are more effective. The sets are a step up from last year too. However one of my favorite moments featured very little scenery at all. It was a scene where we were guided in near darkness around a collection of upright pinewood coffins with nothing but the light of a single lantern. Creepy, eerie, simple.
The Conjuring Universe maze knew how to set up a scare for a moving group and how to deliver.
Trick ‘r Treat:
If you love horror and you love Halloween then you love the film Trick R Treat. It’s that simple. For Fright Fest 2024, Six Flags nabbed the rights to this prized IP and did an adequate job giving fans something to enjoy. Last year the walkthrough was plussed with a few new fun ideas and scare moments. This year, the maze is moved to a new location, yet, it’s as if nothing has changed at all. In fact, it feels as if it was just pulled out of storage and assembled.
On our one trip through the talent seemed limited with the standouts being the Principal and two Sams. Mr Kreeg was nowhere to be found. The walkthrough was “okay” but it felt tired and certainly didn’t live up to the legacy of the film.
Carnage –DO NOT MISS
I am NO fan of clowns, but this crazy walkthrough was just enough mayhem and scares to be enjoyable. The inimitable villain, Carnage, has set up a fortress in the old circus prop shop and he is recruiting new followers. We have the usual thing with clowns jumping out from behind a corner and yelling at you to join the team, but this is a little better than just that. There is a chaotic party atmosphere in this one that is a lot of fun.
It’s nothing groundbreaking, it doesn’t even really have a final scare moment, but I didn’t hate it. That’s a lot for me to say since clowns were involved.
Vault 666:
Fright Fest really needs to consider retiring this walkthrough. What began as a vault that kept a dark secret has evolved over the years into a weird auction maze and a hopeless hodgpodge of senseless scenes. That said, the talent in this maze for 2026 rise to the occasion and made this better than it deserves to be. I found our one walkthrough to be well-timed with actors who were ready to hit at the right time with a good scare. It’s been years since I enjoyed going through this one. The cast deserves to be praised.
Willoughby’s Resurrected
While Fright Fest is probably never going to retire the Willoughby’s mansion, it could definitely use a another refresh. Willoughby’s Resurrected is a classic haunted house walkthrough that sits at the top of the mountain at the center of the park. We enter the home of the eccentric Willoughby family whose money led to unbridled interest and experimentation with the occult and their ultimate demise. Cool set up, but very little of it comes through. It’s still an enjoyable enough trip through a creepy house if you don’t mind the hike up the hill.
An interesting fact though; The original Willoughby’s maze ran from 1993-2011. Then in 2012, the entire walkthrough was updated and called Willoughby’s Resurrected. This means that it has gone five years beyond the point that management had originally determined a refresh was needed. While this is still a relatively fun maze it could certainly use another refurbishment.
Tickets
Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain continues to be the best place to sort of break the younger ones into Halloween and theme park haunts. The reason is the ticketing. Fright Fest is not a separate ticketed event. If you have admission into the theme park, you have admission to Fright Fest when it begins at 6:30pm. You can hang out and enjoy the scare zones as much as you want. If you fell like it you can buy access to the mazes starting at $25.
Assuming you know that you want to go, here is our advice. If you are a local, and already have a season pass to Magic Mountain, just grab the Fright Fest Season Pass add-on for $69 and take your time enjoying the mazes. If you REALLY feel like splurging grab the Fast Lane for $49 on a busy night. Another tip is that if you grab a 2027 Gold pass now for $139, you get the rest of this year and all of 2027 WITH PARKING.
The Verdict
Six Flags Magic Mountain’s Fright Fest is one of their best years yet. There is the occasional misfire here and there, but it is heartening to see this event so much right. It’s an event for haunt fans that love their coasters as much as their scares. If that’s you, you’ve found trick or treat paydirt.
