Although Fright Fest is by far the biggest draw of Six Flags Over Texas’ fall season, the park also offers two family-friendly daytime events: Tricks and Treats and Oktoberfest. Here we’ll dive deeper into both events for 2026, highlighting the changes—good and bad—from last year.
Tricks and Treats
Tricks and Treats returns for 2026 as the park’s day Halloween event, featuring a variety of family-friendly activities and shows. Tricks and Treats is the perfect non-scary option for families with children too young to handle Fright Fest, which, as a reminder, the park suggests for ages 13 and up.
Decor for the Tricks and Treats event
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The bulk of Tricks and Treats 2026 occurs within the France section of the park
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The adorable candy corn family as part of the Tricks and Treats 2026 event
Activities
The first activity you come across is a small hay maze in the main plaza of Bugs Bunny Boomtown. Hidden within are quirky figurines that reward a bit of exploration rather than racing to the end. Families can also grab a free mini-pumpkin to color and decorate.
The hay maze is located in the main plaza of Bugs Bunny Boomtown for Tricks and Treats 2026
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One of the figurines hiding within the hay maze during Tricks and Treats 2026
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Some of the pumpkin decorating supplies at Tricks and Treats 2026
The most popular activity, of course, was the Trick or Treat trail. Between noon and 5pm, guests can grab a free bag and go door-to-door collecting candy from the various stops.
Some of the “homes” along the Trick or Treat Trail
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Families trick or treating at Tricks and Treats 2026
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France is home to the Tricks and Treats event
Some of the friendly crew working the Tricks and Treats event to greet kids and hand out candy
Shows & Entertainment
A reinvestment in entertainment has been a major focus of this year’s 65th anniversary, and that carries over toTricks and Treats. A twice-a-day Costume Contest will have kids showing off their gear to take home the best costume prize. There are also two high-energy dance shows for kids: Skelebration Dance Party and Looney Tunes Spooktacular Dance Party, both of which had the audience participating despite the record-breaking heat during our visit.
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Skelebration Dance Party during Tricks and Treats 2026
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Looney Tunes Spooktacular during Tricks and Treats 2026
Another must-see family show for Tricks and Treats is Mike Williams Magic. This returning Dallas-area magician perfectly blends tricks with comedy that even parents can appreciate. His quick wit and improv skills had us laughing out loud whenever he responded unexpected audience reactions.
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Mike Williams Magic
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Magician Mike Williams juggling knives
Overall Take
Tricks and Treats has been fairly steady in recent years in terms of offerings. Every family we encountered seemed to be enjoying themselves between the activities, entertainment, and of course all the rides the park regularly offers. It remains a core event that offers a kid-centric Halloween event complementing Fright Fest, which we feel the need once again to emphasize is intended for 13 and up (the number of parents we saw pushing strollers with toddlers through scare zones was way too many).
Oktoberfest
Six Flags Over Texas began offering Oktoberfest in 2022. While this event started out strong (perhaps peaking in 2023), it seems to shrink in scale and offerings every year, and 2026 unfortunately continues that trend.
Food Offerings
This year’s event has the smallest food menu we can recall seeing. Just six food items were available: 3 savory and 3 sweet.
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Sweet offerings for Oktoberfest 2026
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Savory offerings for Oktoberfest 2026
We arrived at the park shortly after noon and saw not much activity at the Oktoberfest food booths. As it was the event’s first day, we gave it time and walked around the park before returning again shortly before 3pm and asking an employee on the status (they had no food and couldn’t tell us when they would have any).
Finally closer to 5:30pm we saw food being prepared and picked up a chicken schnitzel and potato latke.
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Potato latke with sour cream drizzle at Oktoberfest 2026
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Chicken schnitzel with applesauce drizzle at Oktoberfest 2026
The chicken schnitzel was freshly made and pleasantly crispy with an apparent panko breading. Unfortunately it was severely under-seasoned despite the applesauce drizzle pairing nicely and a squeeze of lemon giving it a tang to cut through the fried taste. The potato latke was also hot and crispy, though a bit heavy on a 100°F day.
Several beer options were available, though they seemed quite limited compared to past Oktoberfests.
Comparison to Past Events
Just to emphasize how much Oktoberfest has been scaled down over the years, check out the food offerings from 2023’s event:
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2023 Menu (offerings and prices may not be current)
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2023 Menu (offerings and prices may not be current)
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2023 Menu (offerings and prices may not be current)
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2023 Menu (offerings and prices may not be current)
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2023 Menu (offerings and prices may not be current)
2023’s event seemingly filled the Old South area with food booths, performances, party games, and photo ops creating an immersive atmosphere. The event’s relocation to Boomtown Bar in recent years misses that.
Entertainment Offerings
The keg-tapping ceremony Tap Zee Keg returns this year, as does Last Stein Standing, the always fun stein-holding competition. Entertainment workers do a great job announcing the Last Stein Standing and hyping the crowd, frequently mentioning the day’s record times. It would be fun for the park to have a chalkboard displaying this information and perhaps building a bit of anticipation for competitive folks to participate in the next one.
Participants test their stein-holding endurance at Oktoberfest 2026 for the glory of the win
In terms of music, a one-man band called Gutentag! performed during our visit. Switching effortlessly between guitar and accordion/drum, he entertained the crowds with a variety of classic folk tunes despite it not being the most ideal Oktoberfest crowd. We thoroughly enjoyed the live music while drinking a few brews and recommend seeing a performance.
Gutentag! one-man band during Oktoberfest
When the event press release was sent to us several weeks ago, Oktoberfest also listed a Über Oompah Band which was billed as a brass band, though the park currently makes no mention of this show, seemingly indicating a downscaling there as well.
Overall Take
We found this year’s Oktoberfest to be an overall disappointment, primarily from the food and drink offerings. Even last year’s event had numerous party games out to enjoy, including cornhole and giant Jenga, yet none were out this year. It’s entirely possible the park wasn’t done setting everything up as is often the case for the first weekend of any event at the park, but this was our honest take as we experienced it on its first advertised weekend. This scaled-down Oktoberfest seems to be a trend across the chain, which is unfortunate because it offered a different and fun vibe.
If you’re already going to be at Six Flags Over Texas and need to kill some time before Fright Fest begins, Oktoberfest is still a fun option to try different foods and enjoy the entertainment. We simply don’t recommend visiting the park specifically for Oktoberfest.
Closing Thoughts
Fright Fest is of course why people brave September and October crowds, but hopefully you’ve gained a greater understanding of the park’s fall daytime events as well. Tricks and Treats continues to be a great option with a number of ways to keep kids entertained between rides, while this year’s Oktoberfest seems like more of an afterthought.
We’ll cover this year’s Fright Fest in an upcoming post, but be sure to check out our Tricks and Treats Event Guide and Oktoberfest Event Guide for full details, showtimes, and other info.
Our video from last year is still a good representation of what you’ll find at this year’s events:
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