Risk takers can test their limits by spending 24 hours in a coffin to kick off Wild Waves Theme and Water Park’s Fright Fest 2024.
For the first time, Wild Waves is offering six volunteers the opportunity to see if they can withstand the 24-Hour Crypt Keeper Challenge with haunted houses and rides mixed into the 24 hours. Wild Waves Marketing Director Pam Bugbee said the challenge will begin at 8 p.m. Oct. 4 and conclude 24 hours later.
“In a nutshell, we are randomly selecting six participants to lay in a custom-built coffin by our carpenters here at Wild Waves based on an applicant’s reason for wanting to participate,” Bugbee said. “And they will have to endure a full 24 hours of laying down, [and] some daring challenges that we’ll offer, kind of like, in a ‘fear factor style’ of challenges through the night.”
In just the first five minutes of accepting entry applications, Bugbee said they had already received over 150 applications. Bugbee said participants must be 18, not have any medical conditions that would prevent them from lying down for long periods of time, stay inside the coffin unless otherwise directed by Wild Waves staff, eat meals inside the coffin, and not use their cellphones when not on approved break times. Bugbee said they will have their first aid team on the property the entire time to ensure safety.
“One person from Everett says he wants to face his biggest fear of being buried alive. Another from Seattle says he’s a thrill seeker who is always looking to test his limits,” Bugbee said. “Another said ‘a Crypt Keeper needs to have nerves of steel and enough awareness even inside a coffin to detect when the living are invading one’s tomb. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to see if I truly have Crypt Keeper grit!’”
Bugbee said the challenges will include creepy crawly bugs, coaster rides in the dark, solo walks through the Chamber of Souls maze, and their haunted houses. If anyone does not want to complete a challenge or leaves the coffin before they’re allowed to do so, they would be disqualified. Bugbee clarified that participants will not ride the roller coasters in the coffin or be in the coffin during the maze walk-throughs, those will be one of the few approved out-of-coffin times.
Bugbee said the winner or multiple winners, if there is more than one survivor, will take home two Wild Waves 2025 season passes that will also gain them access to Fright Fest 2024 and Fright Fest 2025. Winners will also receive an all-season dining plan they can use all next year, which includes a full combination meal or a snack every day they go to Wild Waves, free parking, and two VIP passes to get to the front of the line for all haunted attractions and to the front of four rides.
