Fright Fest is back for one last time at Mid America Adventure! Use this thread to plan your visit, ask questions, and share updates from the park.

Enchanted Parks will return with a Halloween event next year, but 2026 is the farewell season for the “Fright Fest” name and the final season of Love at First Fright.

🕛 Saturday’s Hours

Boo Fest is the park’s daytime Halloween celebration for families, featuring trick-or-treating, kid-friendly activities, live shows, seasonal treats, and family rides.

Fright Fest brings nighttime scares with haunted attractions, scare zones, live entertainment, seasonal food and drinks, and rides in the dark.

All times are Central. Check the official park calendar for changes.

🎭 Today’s Show Schedule

👻 Boo Fest & Daytime Shows

Parental guidance is suggested for Blood Bank Cabaret, including the 5 p.m. performance.

The guide lists Empire Theatre for The Smashing Lanterns, although its description mentions DC Plaza. Confirm the location with park staff.

🦇 Fright Fest Shows

Love at First Fright doors close at showtime. No late entry is allowed.

Printed maps and schedules will be available in the park. You can also view the official event guide. Showtimes and availability are subject to change.

🍬 Daytime Boo Fest Attractions

Bugs Bunny National Park rides close at 6 p.m. Candy handed out on the candy trail may contain peanut products.

🕷️ Haunted Attractions & Scare Zones

Haunted houses and mazes require a separate purchase. The guide identifies them as not intended for children under 12.

❓ Frequently Asked Questions

Will my Six Flags pass or membership work for Fright Fest?
Yes! All Six Flags passes and memberships purchased before April 6, 2026 will work for Fright Fest.

Where can I buy tickets or passes?
Visit the park’s official ticketing page for tickets and pass options.

Are haunted attractions included with admission?
No. Haunted attractions require a separate purchase. Daily haunted attraction wristbands start at $27.99 and are available inside the park or through the park’s website. Prices may vary by day and are subject to change. Season-long haunted attraction passes do not appear to be available at this time.

General passes include unlimited visits to all four haunted houses and mazes for one day. Express passes also include unlimited visits, with shorter waits, and are available while supplies last. Neither includes park admission.

Purchased online? Exchange your barcode for a wristband before entering the haunted attractions. Online barcodes are not scanned at the attractions themselves. Wristband locations are marked on the park map. Wristbands must be worn and are valid for one person and one day only.

Legacy Six Flags members with Diamond or Diamond Elite VIP memberships will continue to receive one free haunted attractions wristband each visit. As a reminder, at the conclusion of this season your Six Flags legacy membership will no longer work at this park.

How scary is it?
Before 6 p.m., expect kid-friendly entertainment and spooky daytime decorations. Freaks Unleashed at 6 p.m. kicks off the nighttime scares, with scare zones beginning at 6:15 p.m. Scare actors roam the park and may surprise guests with jump scares or loud noises. Animatronics come to life, and fog, lighting, and sound effects add to the atmosphere.

Haunted houses offer more intense scares than the roaming actors. The guide warns that haunted attractions use theatrical smoke, strobe effects, and some latex; guests sensitive to these should not participate.

No-Boo necklaces are available for purchase inside the park. When yours is turned on and worn visibly around your neck, roaming scare actors will generally avoid targeting you. They do not apply inside the haunted houses or prevent exposure to the park’s other spooky sights and sounds.

Can I leave and come back?
The guide states that guests may not reenter after 9 p.m. with the same ticket or pass. Plan accordingly if you intend to leave during your visit.

🛡️ Security Reminder

The park’s scare actors will not touch you, and you must not touch them. Taunting, touching, or yelling at performers or other guests can result in ejection without a refund. Do not harass or attempt to scare performers.

Costumes are permitted for guests 12 and under. Masks and full face paint are not allowed. Review the park’s chaperone policy and other park policies before visiting.

Please respect the people working to make Fright Fest fun for everyone.

💬 Visiting Today?

Share your questions, crowd reports, show recommendations, and tips below! If you’re reporting a closure or wait time, include the time you observed it so others know how current it is. An automatic post like this one will be posted for each day of Fright Fest.

Have fun, respect park staff and performers, and enjoy Fright Fest!

The flag is at half-mast for Dolly (RIP) but you have to admit the juxtaposition is insane

Today marks the start of the official rebrand of Six Flags St. Louis to "Mid America Adventure by Enchanted Parks," stripping the park of its original identity after 55 years. We've known a rebrand was coming ever since the sale to Enchanted Parks closed back in April, but I guess it still hasn't fully set in for me that this is actually happening.

In honor of the park's legacy under Six Flags, I wanted to write out a long-form retrospective post that gives a historical overview of where we've been as the Mid America Adventure era begins. Hope y'all enjoy reading!

Introduction

Six Flags Over Mid-America, later renamed Six Flags St. Louis, wasn't just another cog in the Six Flags machine. It wasn't just a park acquired after opening, with "Six Flags" slapped onto its park name. It was the third of the original three theme parks that Six Flags, Inc. designed and opened under founder Angus G. Wynne Jr., as well as the last before his death.

For generations, this park was a place where families would go to have a good time and take a break from the real world. Whether you were riding the Screamin' Eagle, watching a show in the Palace, or enjoying some ice cream from First Cone, Six Flags was sure to be a good time every time.

Birth of an Icon

The park opened its doors on June 5, 1971 as the first regional theme park in the St. Louis region and the second in Missouri, preceded only by Herschend's Silver Dollar City in 1960. To say that the park's opening was a big deal is an understatement; St. Louisans had been clamoring for a local theme park of their own ever since the industry-shaking opening of Disneyland in 1955. Walt Disney even had plans of his own for a park in St. Louis that ultimately never materialized.

For that reason and more, Six Flags arriving to the Midwest was a serious boon. The opening of Six Flags Over Texas in 1961 set the standard for regional parks, establishing the one-price admission model in place of Disneyland's admission + ticket book model. Six Flags Over Georgia expanded the burgeoning brand in 1967, bringing to the Atlanta region the great rides and entertainment the Texas park was known for. Six Flags Over Mid-America would prove that Six Flags' prior successes in the South weren't just flukes.

The Great Southwest Corp., then the parent company of Six Flags, purchased 502 acres of land west of Allenton Road in Eureka, Missouri, north of I-44, in the late 1960s. The plans for the park were officially announced in 1969, with an opening set for summer 1971. Angus G. Wynne, Jr. personally oversaw the project, with design duties handled by his company.

Unlike the Texas and Georgia parks, Six Flags took a different approach for Six Flags Over Mid-America. Rather than being themed after six government entities ("flags") that ruled over and influenced the state of Missouri, they widened the concept to the larger Mid-America region. The "flags" chosen to represent Mid-America were Spain, France, England, the state of Missouri, the state of Illinois, and the U.S.A.

The $55 million dollar Six Flags Over Mid-America officially opened its doors on June 5, 1971. Admission for adults was $6.50 and $5.50 for children. The adult price in 1971 is roughly equivalent to a daily ticket today when adjusted for inflation!

Excitement was abound in the six themed lands of Six Flags Over Mid-America. The River King Mine, Injun Joe's Cave, the Mississippi Adventure, the Hoo Hoo Log Flume, and the Six Flags Railroad were just a handful of the dozens of attractions available on opening day. Needless to say, the St. Louis park was a success, and plans were quickly put in place to add new attractions.

Expansion and Evolution

The rest of the 1970s continued to shape Six Flags Over Mid-America into a world-class theme park. 1973 brought the first of many changes to the park's lineup of themed areas with the introduction of Old Chicago - a 1920s-themed sub-section of the existing Illinois area which expanded the park beyond the railroad loop for the first time. Old Chicago brought with it the famed Old Glory Theater, an outdoor entertainment venue that seated thousands of people and was home to many high-profile concerts including the late Dolly Parton. The park got its first ever children's area in 1975 with the addition of Goodtime Hollow. Then, of course, the park received a record-shattering marquee attraction in 1976 with the introduction of Screamin' Eagle: the John C. Allen-designed wooden roller coaster which became the tallest, longest, and fastest coaster anywhere in the world.

Six Flags showed its commitment to thrill rides with the opening of JetScream in 1981. This was the start of a decade that would bring major change, not only to the company but the park. In 1982, just three years after Wynne's death, Six Flags was sold to casino and video game company Bally Manufacturing for $141 million. Even with new owners, the expansions didn't stop. Six Flags Over Mid-America opened the river rapids ride Thunder River in 1983, but perhaps the biggest event under Bally was Six Flags' 1984 purchase of Marriott's Great America in Gurnee, Illinois. With the purchase, Six Flags inked a deal with Warner Bros. to use the Looney Tunes characters at their other parks, including in St. Louis. This marked the start of a decades-long partnership that continues to this day.

The 1985 season brought with it the opening of Looney Tunes Town, a brand new children's area replacing the former Goodtime Hollow. At the same time, the theater in the U.S.A. section (now known as the Empire Theater) became the Looney Tunes Theater. Warner Bros. had arrived at Six Flags Over Mid-America, and they were here to stay. The last major addition under Bally was 1986's Colossus, an 180 foot tall Ferris wheel that paid homage to the one found at the 1904 World's Fair and was among the tallest permanent wheels anywhere in the world.

In 1987, Six Flags was sold to private equity firm Wesray Capital and managers of Six Flags. The St. Louis park continued to receive investment with smaller attractions like the Rush Street Flyer. Perhaps the biggest addition of this era was the introduction of Fright Nights in 1988, a Halloween "haunt" event that originated at AstroWorld two years earlier. For its first two seasons, the event was headlined by none other than Freddy Krueger of Nightmare on Elm Street fame.

The early 1990s saw several shifts in Six Flags corporate. In 1990, Time Warner (then the parent company of Warner Bros.) purchased 19.5% of stake in the company as part of a move to increase their presence within the parks. By 1991, Six Flags was hurtling towards bankruptcy due to Wesray's debt. Seeing their potential, Time Warner stepped in and saved Six Flags by purchasing 30% more of their stock, gaining a controlling stake. The Blackstone Group and Wertheim Schroder bought the other 50%, and thus a new era began.

1991 saw the addition of Tidal Wave in the Illinois section, followed in 1992 by the Castaway Kids dark ride in the Spain section. In 1993, Time Warner solidified its hold on Six Flags as they purchased the remaining 50% of the company to gain full ownership. That same year, Six Flags Over Mid-America began a series of theming changes which would continue through the 1990s: the Missouri section was renamed 1904 World's Fair, the Illinois section (minus Old Chicago) was renamed Gateway to the West, and the England section was renamed Great Britain. 1993 also saw the renaming of Fright Nights to Fright Fest.

Hollywood came to Six Flags Over Mid-America in 1994 with the addition of the Robin Hood Stunt Spectacular in the new Sherwood Forest Theater, which replaced the Aquarena. The show, loosely based on the 1991 film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, marked a further shift for the park into Warner Bros. IP. The U.S.A. section also welcomed Hollywood with the new "Movietown" area, including the newly rethemed Empire Theater and Sound Stage No. 2. The Great Britain section was renamed again to Britannia, the name which would stick for decades to follow.

DC Comics made its grand entrance to the park in 1995 with the addition of Batman: The Ride in the all-new Time Warner Studios, which replaced the U.S.A. section. The inverted roller coaster originally built at Six Flags Great America in 1992 was just the fourth of its kind, and opened less than two months before the debut of Batman Forever in theaters. The replacement of the U.S.A. section marked the first of the namesake "Six Flags over Mid-America" to be fully retired from the park. That same season, France was renamed Chouteau's Market.

The replacement of an original area, perhaps, is why Six Flags made the decision to change the park's name to Six Flags St. Louis during the 1996 season. That same year, Warner Bros. Backlot replaced the short-lived Time Warner Studios and the Spain section closed with the end of the season. 1997 continued the era of change as Spain was replaced by DC Comics Plaza. The launch coaster Mr. Freeze was scheduled to open that year as the marquee for the new area, but ended up getting pushed to 1998 due to technical issues with the linear induction motors (LIMs).

1998 was an interesting year for Six Flags on a corporate level as Time Warner sold the company to Premier Parks for nearly $2 billion. The next year, the park introduced the Hurricane Harbor water park, taking over part of the former parking lot. 2000 saw Premier's first major "dry park" addition with the opening of The Boss, a massive wooden roller coaster in the Britannia section manufactured by Custom Coasters International. This was followed in 2002 by Scooby-Doo! Ghostblasters: The Mystery of the Scary Swamp, a Sally Corp. dark ride which replaced the former Castaway Kids.

Downturn and Stagnation

Notably, Scooby-Doo! Ghostblasters was the last ground-up attraction that the park would receive for many years. Xcalibur, which opened in 2003, was shipped from Six Flags Great Adventure. The park still received new additions on a frequent basis, including the Tony Hawk and Evel Knievel roller coasters in 2007 and 2008, but both of these were simply installations of existing designs, as were Boomerang in 2013 (a hand-me-down from Six Flags Over Texas) and Rookie Racer in 2023. Even the new for 2015 Justice League: Battle for Metropolis dark ride, replacing Scooby-Doo, was a shared design with Over Texas and replicated many times over at other Six Flags parks.

The lack of new and original attractions marked a significant shift that occurred sometime in the 2000s as Six Flags moved its focus towards the company's larger and better-performing properties. This trend continued through Six Flags' bankruptcy in 2010 and up until the merger with Cedar Fair in 2024. Not only was St. Louis no longer getting big investments, but the park itself was becoming increasingly stagnant and visibly aging.

The inconsistencies with the park's theming (or lack thereof) also started to become a real issue by the mid-2010s. There was already precedent for it starting in 2007 with Tony Hawk/Pandemonium in the Britannia section, and themed area music had already been eliminated for years in favor of a park-wide pop playlist. Six Flags St. Louis was primed to become an amusement park first and foremost, despite Wynne's original intentions. And that's exactly what happened.

By 2018, all mentions of themed areas were removed from official park maps. Two years earlier, the park had added Fireball to the Illinois section as a replacement for the Rush Street Flyer, but had no official explanation for why it belonged there. Spinsanity was added to "Chouteau's Market" in 2017 despite sitting right next to Sound Stage No. 2 in the Studio Backlot section. It was becoming clear that the local park management, corporate or both simply decided that theming didn't matter anymore.

Adding insult to injury, the Britannia section became the go-to dumping ground for new attractions beginning with the addition of Supergirl Sky Flyer in 2019, and followed by Rookie Racer in 2023 and The Joker: Carnival of Chaos in 2024. Formerly one of the most immersive (and wooded) areas of the park and one of the six originals, now reduced to a concrete expanse of disparate themes.

To put it plainly, it didn't feel like the park was in a great place. From a financial perspective, Six Flags St. Louis was almost solely being propped up by the ever-popular Fright Fest. The 2024 merger of Six Flags and Cedar Fair, albeit very messy, did bring hope to some that the park would at least see some TLC to improve its existing attractions and restore a level of theming that had mostly been lost to time.

A New Chapter

Rumors began to swirl in January 2026 when an unknown company by the name of Enchanted Parks filed a series of trademarks, including "Enchanted Parks St. Louis." Was the park about to be sold? Was this third party simply taking over water park operations? For months, nobody including the park's own management knew the real answer. Then in March, an announcement rocked the industry: Six Flags would be selling six of its properties, including Six Flags St. Louis, to EPR Properties, with operations at five of these to be handled by Enchanted Parks.

The sale to EPR was finalized on April 6. After more than half a century, Six Flags St. Louis was no longer owned and operated by Six Flags. Under the terms of the sale, Enchanted was to operate the park under the Six Flags St. Louis name through 2026, with all associated IP including DC and Looney Tunes included. Enchanted Parks was successful in taking over operations and opening on time over a period of just a few weeks, and thus a new chapter began.

Though Enchanted was operating the park under the Six Flags banner, the company's refusal to honor the Six Flags dining plans caught the ire of many, starting a months-long saga where guests sought to receive refunds for their purchases prior to the Enchanted Parks takeover. This, coupled with a large fight on opening day and ride issues, led to a spring and summer season with lower attendance than the park had seen in many years, if not ever.

Now, we arrive in the present day. Enchanted Parks has opted to rebrand the park to "Mid America Adventure" before the 2027 season, as was originally planned. Despite my reservations about Enchanted as a company, I genuinely wish them and the local management the best in forging a new path forwards. I hope that whatever comes next truly honors the legacy of the park as well as the many people who are responsible for its existence, including Mr. Wynne.

Thank you, Six Flags, for giving us such an amazing park and creating so many memories for not only myself and my family, but the millions and millions of others who have stepped through the front gate since 1971.

To Enchanted Parks: Here's to the future, but let us not forget the past.

[Image Credits: Eureka Historical Society, Six Flags St. Louis]

Per ACE on Instagram

Wait a second...

I've had this footage sitting on my hard drive for years, but it's never seen the light of day (again) until now!

I edited this from some longer B-roll that was sent out to press back in 2014 for Fright Fest at Six Flags Over Georgia. Oh, monolithic Six Flags marketing... how I loathe you.

If you've been going to the event for a while, you'll probably recognize some of the footage here is from the old Blind Fury and Insanity Alley mazes, both of which are now long defunct.

Especially cool to me is hearing some of the soundscape in Insanity Alley, and getting to relive those vibes. You can find brief clips of it elsewhere, but it'll never be enough for me. They really did such a great job with the atmosphere back then.

Based on my personal archive I believe the Insanity Alley footage is from 2011, Blind Fury from 2012, and Freaks Unleashed from 2013. So a three year span of some of the event's greatest years.

More historical tidbits to come hopefully!

Making an AI-generated logo for your maze that was new last year is one thing, but going back and "updating" (ew) the logos for old mazes that were perfectly fine as-is? Good grief...

(Credit: Six Flags Magic Mountain on X)

Six Flags, what are we even doing anymore 😭

(Images via Five Fires on YouTube)

Granted this was a couple months ago, but some mad lad actually leaked and uploaded the pre-show video for Battle for Metropolis in its entirety.

https://youtu.be/iaHx4FV4rbM?is=8hxFSPt8nfCqbsDW

This appears to be the "2.0" version due to the sequence showing the blasters being used, but otherwise it's the exact same as the "1.0" version currently at Six Flags St. Louis and Six Flags Over Texas.

Featuring the voices of:

- Bumper Robinson as Cyborg

- Troy Baker as Joker

- Fred Tatasciore as Lex Luthor

- Tim Daly as Superman

- Kevin Conroy (RIP) as Batman

Enjoy!

1970s park management clearly had some humor!

https://ebay.io/m/R4l9ga

Ignore the "EnchantedParks.com/Jobs" link provided by listings on any sites like Indeed, they will just take you to a 404. Go to this site instead:

https://mid-americaparks.enchantedparks.com/jobs/

Someone clearly just did a "find and replace" that replaced all mentions of Six Flags with Enchanted Parks, and didn't bother changing the link to the proper one.