Valencia, CA — Fright Fest presented by SNICKERS returns to Six Flags Magic Mountain for its 33rd year on select nights from September 18 through November 1, 2026. The full 2026 maze, scare zone, show, and pricing lineup has not been announced. Based on Six Flags Magic Mountain’s reveal pattern the last three years, the 2026 lineup is expected at Midsummer Scream on August 7 through 9, 2026 in Long Beach, likely paired with a press release in the days beforehand. This guide will be updated as details drop.
Franchise coverage: See HAN’s Fright Fest 2026 guide to all Six Flags parks for confirmed dates at other Six Flags properties, ticket structure, and the corporate context for how Fright Fest fits into Six Flags’ post-merger strategy.
What is confirmed for 2026
- Dates: Select nights, September 18 through November 1, 2026, per the official Six Flags Magic Mountain events calendar.
- Presenting sponsor: SNICKERS returns as the overall event sponsor.
- Concurrent daytime events: Tricks and Treats (family) and Oktoberfest (adult) both run Fridays through Sundays, September 25 through November 1, 2026.
- Anniversary: 33rd year of Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain. The event debuted in 1993 with the original Willoughby’s Haunted Mansion.
What Six Flags Magic Mountain has not yet announced for 2026
- The 2026 maze lineup and whether any 2025 mazes are retiring.
- The 2026 scare zone lineup.
- The 2026 shows and live entertainment.
- Ticket pricing across single-day admission, the Haunted Attractions Pass, the Express Pass, and season-long maze passes.
- The nights-of-week breakdown, total number of event nights, and event hours.
- The Six Flags Magic Mountain panel slot at Midsummer Scream 2026, which the convention has confirmed is on the schedule but has not yet publicly time-slotted.
Six Flags Magic Mountain also made a mid-season schedule change in 2025, quietly removing Thursdays from the Fright Fest calendar in late August before reinstating them after guest response. Similar late adjustments are possible in 2026.
Watch a walkthrough (2024 Scream Break)
Here is a walkthrough from Six Flags Magic Mountain’s 2024 Scream Break, the spring haunt event that reuses several Fright Fest mazes. It is not a Fright Fest walkthrough, but it shows some of the maze content that carried into Fright Fest 2024 and 2025.
The 2025 baseline: 8 mazes, 9 scare zones, 26 nights
Everything in this section is 2025 content. Nothing in the 2025 lineup has been confirmed to return for 2026. This section functions as a baseline for what returning guests can expect the 2026 event to be built from.
Mazes (2025):
- Carnage presented by M&M’S (debuted 2025). An origin story for the evil clown Carnage, staged inside a “chaotic fortress” in a city under siege. Paired with the City Under Siege scare zone.
- SAW: Legacy of Terror (debuted 2024). Survival run through Jigsaw’s Gideon Meat Packing traps, with recreations of the reverse bear trap, the shotgun collar, Billy the puppet, and the first film’s bathroom finale.
- The Conjuring Universe (debuted 2023, enhanced 2025). The Warrens’ occult museum with Annabelle, The Nun, and a Perron farmhouse walkthrough.
- Trick ‘r Treat (debuted 2024, enhanced 2025). Sam enforces the rules of Halloween across a suburb and a cornfield mirror maze.
- Condemned: Forever Damned. A dilapidated condemned house, sub-presented by SNICKERS.
- Truth or Dare presented by SKITTLES. A deadly game-show contestant experience.
- Vault 666 Unlocked. A vault of cursed artifacts and possessed relics.
- Willoughby’s Resurrected. The park’s longest-running maze, descended from the original 1993 Willoughby’s Haunted Mansion.
At the 2025 Midsummer Scream panel, Six Flags Magic Mountain Head of Entertainment Mike Ostrom hinted that some 2025 attractions may not return. Willoughby’s Resurrected was the widely read subject of that comment, though the park has not confirmed a retirement.
Scare zones (2025):
- Thunderbolt Alley (new in 2025). 1950s rockabilly undead greasers with an “ice scream” shop.
- Nightmares: Reign of Blood (revamped in 2025 to an Alice in Wonderland and Queen of Hearts theme).
- CarnivHELL. Sinister circus, previously located in the Looney Tunes Lodge kids’ area.
- City Under Siege. Carnage’s evil clown disciples, in the DC Universe area.
- Devil’s Triangle. Bermuda Triangle demon pirates.
- Exile Hill. Cursed Willoughby family spirits.
- Grimmlore Ridge. Edgar Allan Poe forest.
- Plaza de La Muerte. Día de los Muertos characters.
- Underworlds of Oz. Twisted Wizard of Oz with flying monkeys and munchkin skeletons.
The 2026 opening of Looney Tunes Land, the rethemed former Bugs Bunny World area that opened June 6, 2026, may reshape the scare zone footprint. CarnivHELL sat inside the kids’ area in 2025, so the 2026 map is a fair question mark until the reveal.
Shows (2025):
- Margo Rita’s Monster Ball (new in 2025). A 20-minute drag-style song-and-dance revue hosted by Margo Rita and Tequila Sunrise, with the audience voting to crown a winner.
- Slider of the Night. Undead “slide-or-die” pavement competition.
- Unleashed. Opening scaremony with Carnage releasing the monsters into the park.
The chaperone policy
Guests 15 and younger must be accompanied by a chaperone at least 21 to enter or remain in the park after 4 p.m. during Fright Fest, through park close. Chaperones must present valid government-issued photo ID with date of birth at entry, are limited to one per 10 minors, and must remain in-park and reachable by phone. Six Flags Magic Mountain introduced the policy in 2024 and stepped up enforcement in 2025 with additional security and ID checks at the gate. It is expected to continue for 2026.
The Six Flags Magic Mountain ticket model
Six Flags Magic Mountain is the only major Southern California Halloween event that runs mazes as a paid add-on rather than as part of the main ticket. Regular daytime park admission (or a season pass) covers evening entry, all scare zones, all shows, and rides in the dark. Mazes require a separate Haunted Attractions Pass on top of that.
Product structure carried into 2025:
- Single-Day Admission grants Fright Fest entry, all scare zones, all shows, and rides. Mazes are not included.
- Haunted Attractions Pass. Required for maze access on a single visit.
- Haunted Attractions Express Pass. Priority maze entry on a single visit.
- All-Season Haunted Attractions Pass (new for 2025). Season-long maze access, an add-on for season passholders. This aligned Six Flags Magic Mountain with the Cedar Fair maze-pass model post-merger.
- All-Season Haunted Attractions Express Pass. Season-long priority maze access.
- Haunted Attractions Bundle. Admission plus a maze pass, offered for non-passholders.
- V.I.SCREAM VIP Tour. Private guided tour with unlimited priority maze access, priority rides, VIP parking, and exclusive food and beverage. Bookings must be made at least 48 hours in advance.
Pricing note. Six Flags Magic Mountain uses date-based dynamic pricing loaded inside its purchase widget. Exact 2025 dollar figures were not published editorially, and 2026 prices have not been released. The industry-wide reference range for Haunted Attractions Passes across the Six Flags chain in 2025 was $10 to $30, though Six Flags Magic Mountain typically prices above that. This guide will be updated with 2026 pricing when it is posted.
What to watch: Midsummer Scream 2026, August 7 through 9
Six Flags Magic Mountain has revealed or expanded its Fright Fest lineup at Midsummer Scream every year from 2023 through 2025, pairing a pre-convention press release with a Saturday panel. Midsummer Scream 2026 has confirmed that Fright Fest is among the events presenting a panel this year, alongside Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights, Knott’s Scary Farm, and Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group.
Historical reveal pattern:
- 2023 (30th anniversary): Revealed at Midsummer Scream on July 29, 2023. The Conjuring and SAW X mazes announced during the panel.
- 2024 (“Fright Fest Extreme”): Initial press release June 25, 2024. Full presentation at Midsummer Scream July 26 through 28, 2024. Lineup included Stranger Things, Army of the Dead, The Conjuring, Trick ‘r Treat, SAW, and DCeased.
- 2025: Initial lineup press release around August 11, 2025. Fuller detail at the Midsummer Scream Saturday panel on August 16, 2025, led by Head of Entertainment Mike Ostrom and Senior Creative Supervisor Mark Wing.
Expect the 2026 reveal in the window around Midsummer Scream, which runs August 7 through 9, 2026 at the Long Beach Convention Center. HAN will update this guide with the confirmed 2026 lineup within hours of the reveal.
Where Fright Fest fits in the Southern California Halloween market
Fright Fest positions itself as the value and thrill hybrid in the Southern California Halloween market. It is the only one of the three major regional haunts that keeps world-class coasters running in the dark, and it is the only one that includes scare zones, shows, and rides with regular daytime admission. The mazes get monetized separately as an add-on. That structure typically undercuts Knott’s Scary Farm and Halloween Horror Nights Hollywood on total cost of entry, while running below both on raw maze count (8 in 2025 versus Knott’s 10 and Universal Hollywood’s ~8 plus a Terror Tram).
Geographically, Six Flags Magic Mountain is the northernmost of the three, in Valencia and Santa Clarita in northern Los Angeles County, roughly 35 miles north of the Anaheim and Hollywood haunt cluster. That geographic separation makes it the natural anchor for guests coming down the I-5 corridor from the north.
Fright Fest at Six Flags Magic Mountain has won USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Best Theme Park Halloween Event twice, in 2016 and 2017.
Event details
- Event: Fright Fest 2026 at Six Flags Magic Mountain, 33rd year
- Location: Six Flags Magic Mountain, 26101 Magic Mountain Parkway, Valencia, CA 91355
- Dates: Select nights, September 18 through November 1, 2026
- Presenting sponsor: SNICKERS
- Age recommendation: Not recommended for children 12 and under. Chaperone required for guests 15 and under after 4 p.m.
- Tickets: sixflags.com/magicmountain/events/fright-fest
- Full lineup reveal expected: On or around Midsummer Scream, August 7 through 9, 2026
