Two Six Flags parks will not run Fright Fest this year. Six Flags Darien Lake, in Corfu, New York, has confirmed it is dropping the Halloween event for 2026, and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, in the San Francisco Bay Area, has left Fright Fest off its 2026 calendar as well. Both parks are putting family-friendly Halloween programming in its place.
Darien Lake confirmed it
Six Flags Darien Lake will not hold Fright Fest in 2026. A park spokesperson told the Rochester ABC station 13WHAM that the event will not be held this year, saying the park has instead expanded other seasonal offerings. The report did not name the spokesperson.
The park’s events calendar backs that up. It lists an expanded Oktoberfest running weekends from August 8 through September 20, a Laser Light Spectacular, and a Kids Boo Fest on weekends from September 19 through October 11. There is no Fright Fest anywhere on it. Per 13WHAM, the Oktoberfest has grown to four weekends and the Kids Boo Fest is aimed at younger guests, while the park’s rides and attractions stay open through the fall. The station also noted that 2027 Gold Pass holders can use their passes at Halloween Haunt at Canada’s Wonderland and HalloWeekends at Cedar Point, both now part of the same company.
Discovery Kingdom left it off the calendar
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, in Vallejo, California, has also dropped Fright Fest from its 2026 calendar, though the park has not made an announcement. Its events page lists Tricks and Treats, a daytime Halloween event, on weekends from September 19 through November 1, along with an Oktoberfest presented by Cash App and a WinterFest that starts in late November. Fright Fest is not on the schedule.
An old Fright Fest page still sits on the park’s website, but it still shows last year’s 2025 dates. Until the park says otherwise, the only evidence is the calendar, so this is Fright Fest being absent from the lineup rather than a cancellation the park has confirmed.
Two parks, the same shift
The two moves point the same way: away from the scarier Fright Fest and toward gentler, family-first Halloween. Darien Lake is swapping in Kids Boo Fest, Discovery Kingdom is running Tricks and Treats, and both are pairing the change with an Oktoberfest. It is the kind of event housekeeping Six Flags has signaled since its 2024 merger with Cedar Fair, which folded both chains into one company that now runs 20 amusement parks. Six Flags has not issued a company-wide statement about Fright Fest, and Fright Fest is still running at the rest of the portfolio this fall, from Magic Mountain to St. Louis to Six Flags Mexico.
One housekeeping note on our end: our Fright Fest 2026 all-locations guide had listed five Darien Lake event nights for this year, which are not happening. We have corrected that entry. For every park that is still running Fright Fest in 2026, with dates and the maze lineups, that guide is the place to check.
Last updated: September 4, 2026.
