VALLEJO, CA – October means Halloween is fright around the corner and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is ready to share the scare. This year, for its annual SNICKERS® Presents Fright Fest event, Discovery Kingdom has decided to forego the traditional live cockroach-eating affair.  In an effort to give cockroaches everywhere a break, the park is launching a new campaign …SAVE A COCKROACH…EAT ANOTHER CREEPY CRAWLER!   Participants will spin the popular Wheel of Fright for the chance to partake of any number of different insects – from meal worms to crickets. Those who successfully swallow and keep down these crawlers can win front-of-the-line passes to one of two haunted mazes.

“Cockroaches have really received a bad rap and they actually play an important role in our ecosystem,” said Lee Munro, park ambassador and spokesperson. “Sure there are over 4,000 different species around the world, and of course we know that one female will mate once and is pregnant for life since they store the ability to lay eggs.  And just because a female has over two million babies a year that averages about 35,000 per clutch doesn’t mean that each individual cockroach is not important in some small way.”

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is marking its 10th Fright Fest celebration in 2008. Throughout the themed areas of Land, Sea and Sky, the park has undergone a sinister transformation offering thrills by day and chills by night.  For younger children and families there’s the Dracula Kids Magic Show, trick-or-treating galore and spooktacular Halloween-themed shows featuring Shouka, the killer whale, the super spooky sea lions; and the dolphins even get in on the act in “Merlin’s Haunted Harbor.” The park is also raising the fright factor with new bone-chilling additions such as Harley Newman’s Scandalous Side Show and various scare zones throughout the Park.  

But for those who can’t get enough chills, it’s all about the Wheel of Fright and the chance to win front-of-the-line passes to spine-tingling haunted mazes.  The first, Kamp Khaos, takes unsuspecting guests through the woods of an old, abandoned camp where menacing characters lurk amongst the fog; while Tinseltown Terror, will have guests screaming to their favorite scene as terrifying creatures from classic and current horror films step off the silver screen looking to wreak havoc on those brave enough to venture into the afterlife.  A spin of the Wheel of Fright may land on such delicacies as crickets, wax worms, night crawlers, and super worms…but NO COCKROACHES!

The park’s commitment to conveying the importance of cockroaches will be at the forefront of the Wheel of Fright activity, as evidenced by the following notable facts:

 

Cockroaches are considered one of the fastest animals on land. They can run 12 feet per second, equivalent to a human doing the 100-yard dash in one second, or 200 mph.

They serve a vital purpose in their native ranges, eating all of the waste on the forest floors.

There is a plant found in French Guyana where the main pollinator is a specific cockroach species.

Oldest cockroach fossil found 350 million years old which pre-dates the dinosaurs by 150 million years, proving that cockroaches are truly invincible.

The deathhead cockroach has six brains and only one of them is in its head, the rest are in its legs.

If a cockroach’s head is cut off, it will keep living until it dies of dehydration or malnutrition through thirst and hunger (they would not have a mouth to eat or drink with).

One of their favorite foods is the glue on postage stamps

They can hold their breath for forty minutes.

“Cockroaches serve a purpose in this world and they have some really unique attributes that we should celebrate rather than denigrate,” said Munro.  “We are spearheading this campaign to give cockroaches a leg up for they do not deserve being chewed up and often spit out.”

NOTE:  The Save the Cockroach, Eat Another Creepy Crawler campaign is completely tongue-and-cheek.  Cockroaches are not endangered and can, in fact, withstand 6-7 times the radiation that can kill a human so in the event of a nuclear catastrophe, cockroaches will endure.

SNICKERS® Presents Fright Fest comes alive October 4 and runs every Saturday and Sunday through November 2 with special Fridays open on October 24 and 31. 2009 Season Passes are now available for purchase at the low price of $49.99 plus city fee for a limited time and good for this year’s Fright Fest and Holiday in the Park events. The 135-acre wildlife and theme park is located at the intersection of Hwy. 80 and Hwy. 37 in Vallejo. For more information and general admission prices, call (707) 643-6722 or visit sixflags.com/discoverykingdom.