Fright Fest flyer

Fright Fest flyer

By Dakota Smith, The Whetstone

Fear filled Holly Steward as she approached the gates to Six Flags for Fright Fest, the annual Wesley College celebration of all things Halloween. As the sophomore moved her way through the park, she became more excited by the sight of ghouls and a water fountain spewing red, surrounded by fog.

Steward likes being afraid – but only so much. When it comes to at least one ride, she’s too afraid.

“I ride all the roller coasters except Kingda Ka, which is too scary,” she said.

But she loved going to the park.

“It was a lot of fun because I got to hang out with friends and celebrate Halloween,” she said. “I rode Nitro, Green Lantern, Bizzaro, The Dark Knight coaster and Superman. The scariest was Nitro because it had a lot of steep drops and we went on it when it was dark so we couldn’t see where the drops were.”

Sophomore Jake Bradner said he had a good time, too.

“I was dizzy a few times, but, other than that, great. I went on Bizzaro, I went on the Green Lantern, and I went on Nitro. That ride really messed me up.”

Bradner said he expected just one loop and one drop.

“But there was like dozens of loops,” he said. “So it really messed me up.”

Nathan Bryant, a Dover local and student at Del-Tech, said going to Six Flags – which he did the day before the Wesley trip – is all about the fear.

“It’s the idea of being scared and going through attractions specifically meant to try and frighten me that draws me in,” he said.

Wesley’s Halloween trip has been going on for years, and will continue, said Cheyenne Lazarus, head of the Student Activities Board.

“It is an annual trip and we will continue to do it as long as people are asking us to,” Lazarus said. “Last year we had 150 tickets and it sold out. This year since we had more money. We decided to get 300.”

The SAB almost took them to Frightland, north of Smyrna, instead of New Jersey’s Six Flags Fright Fest.

“You could only buy the tickets online and we are required to have a contract when we do it, which they wouldn’t give us,” Lazarus said. “So that just ended up not working out.”

“A lot of students ask for it (the trip), its something they love,” said Rose Bondoe, who assisted Lazarus at the SAB’s sign up table for the trip.