Phantom Fright Nights is a Halloween event held at Kennywood on Friday and Saturday nights during the month of October. The park typically opens at seven in the evening and closes at one in the morning. The event began in 2002, though the concept of theming an amusement park for Halloween is not new. "Phantom Fright Nights" received third place in the Golden Ticket Awards for best Halloween event in 2007.
Labor Day traditionally marked the end of the season and the park would shut down until the spring. In 2002, Kennywood decided to break the long-standing tradition and turn almost half of the park into a giant Halloween extravaganza. The park's initial trial of Phantom Fright Nights in 2002 consisted of four traditional haunted houses, with only a few rides and roller coasters in operation. Despite the relatively limited scope of the opening year, the experiment proved to be a success, and new areas of the park and rides are opened for the festivities every year. In 2004 Kennywood debuted Gory Park, a haunted zone in Lost Kennywood. The following year, 2005, the park managed to have 3/4 of the rides and attractions operable due to high demand and record-breaking crowds. The park has reported attendance greater for one Fright Night than they have on a good normal operating day.
In the spirit of Halloween season, the park itself is given a complete make-over, with costumed actors roaming the paths, spooky music filling the air, and fog blanketing the park and every light bulb in the park is changed to a different color—even the restroom windows are covered in colored films. The merry-go-round horse normally found in the fountain by the entrance is replaced by a giant Phantom-like figure with glowing red eyes hovering over bubbling red blood (dyed water). In some places sheets are hung up and classic horror movies are played, such as the original "House on Haunted Hill". Several areas of the park, including Kiddieland and Lost Kennywood, are turned into open-air haunted attractions. Other buildings, such as the Penny Arcade and the Parkside Terrace Cafe, are converted into more traditional haunted houses. Some rides are given entirely new lighting and fog effects including strobes and blacklights, or in the Exterminator's case, an absolute absence of light. In the case of the Carousel and Müsik-Express, Halloween-themed music is all that is played. Even the entrance tunnel is affected; a great amount of fog is pumped into the passageway and chainsaw wielding characters stalk unsuspecting guests as they enter. These ghouls are also found throughout the park when least expected.
Kennywood discourages children under the age of thirteen from attending the park during Phantom Fright Nights as the atmosphere may be too intense for some younger children, but letting children attend is solely at the discretion of parents or guardians. Many children go to Fright Nights anyway, even with the suggestion since Kennywood will admit attendees of any age.
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Famous quotes containing the words phantom, fright and/or nights:
“She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely apparition, sent
To be a moment’s ornament;”
—William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
“Twenty-two weeks the men were out as the strike moved into winter. It was strange to go out into the street and find the men there in the daytime. It had a feeling of fright in it. And always the mood of the men grew uglier as empty bellies and desperation began to conquer reason. Any man who was not their friend became their enemy. They knew my father had opposed the strike, and now it was they who opposed him.”
—Philip Dunne (1908–1992)
“Time flies like an arrow; the days and nights alternate as fast as a weaver’s shuttle.”
—Chinese proverb.