Alton Towers 2007
When we first heard about The Field of 1000 Screams we were excited about the concept and the story but were concerned that such a theatrical piece would fail to deliver any real scares. How wrong we were !
Currently billed as a 3 or 4 pumpkin scare depending on the time of day, the Field has turned out to be the most terrifying thing in the resort and has been receiving favourable reviews from everyone who has survived it!
The attraction cleverly builds tension through a lot of story telling and a very slow reveal of the true horror down in Altonville. As the story reaches its conclusion, all hell breaks out (literally) and guests are subjected to a terrifying attack on the senses that is the most intense we have ever experienced. The final scene is a superbly directed piece of action that is like something from a horror film. It is loud and chaotic and guests never know what is going to happen next with most groups running and screaming out the final door! To say much more would to spoil the surprise.
It is shame that it is not publicised more within the park as The Field of a 1000 Screams is definitely the true”don’t miss” attraction of the Scarefest!
After experiencing the attraction as guests we were invited by the park to be zombies for the night. This revealed just how structured and organised that chaotic final scene really is. Look out for a full behind the screams article on our experiences soon!
When the Alton Towers Hotel unveiled Room 13 last year, we were extremely surprised as to how well it worked. Short and brutal, it provided a number of intense scares that left visitors running out to the waiting bar.
Therefore the expectations were high in 2007, and although the attraction is still quite fast and brutal, it isn’t quite as intense as its opening year.
The attraction introduces a whole new bunch of evil inhabitants who have met their fate in the room and the opening scene neatly ties these characters in with those from last year.
Once into the maze section – again – it’s a no holds barred attack on the senses with some effective scares. Unfortunately, these felt just a little less frenzied than the multiple attacks of the past.
There was one moment in the middle where a scripted performance slowed down the tempo and despite the quality of the actor we felt it held up the proceedings.
Having said that, when we got to it – the final scene had all of us screaming to get out and even made one of our party fall to the floor in shock! The maze has used the new modular system purchased this year and included some extra sensory effects, which, without giving anything away could be a nightmare for taller people!
We really enjoyed our trip through Room 13 this year, and were impressed how scared it got us at times. It was still intense and provided some very good scares, but let’s face it – the perfection of 2006 was always going to be a very hard thing to beat! It still comes very close though!
It’s Monday October 15th and The Alton Towers Scarefest is already in full swing. Reports from the weekend have indicated that there have been serious capacity issues with the mazes but this is almost to be expected.
The main problem appears to be with the script that the actors are expected to deliver. Reports have already mentioned scenes with guests waiting two or minutes looking puzzled while the actors act their hearts out.
Having spoken to the people behind the attraction we were assured today that many of the scenes had been drastically cut to increase capacity. So with great anticipation, we entered the maze.
The first corridor just seemed too long and too uneventful. We kept expecting something to jump out and unfortunately absolutely nothing happened. We seemed to be in the attraction for a few minutes before anything really exciting happened at all!
At this point it was obvious that even though the script has been drastically cut down, it is still far too long. The first actress although very impressive and fully in character, just didn’t hold the interest of the party (incidentally we were a VERY large party of 13 which was obviously another way to resolve capacity).
From then, on the attraction was a mixture of stop start moments with no real scares and nothing to really keep the party moving quickly onwards. In fact apart from the scripted actors and a few well placed air cannons there really was not much to keep the interest up.
We jumped a number of times (mainly at sound and air effects around the attraction) but experienced no real scares from any of the actors despite their detailed characterisation. We feel that the attraction would benefit from removing the scripted pieces and moving the characters into scare roles, lurking in the darkness and jumping out as people go past.
As the supposed 5 pumpkin scare of the park, the Terror of the Towers, did not contain the required scares and thrills that we expected. The effects, actors and atmosphere inside are fantastic and some of the smells are disgusting but as a complete attraction it really didn’t live up to the pre show hype.
We took a tour down the Haunted Hollow at around 7 O’Clock at night just as the sun was starting to set. In certain places, under the overhanging trees there was quite a dark, spooky atmosphere and we ventured further along the path expecting something chilling.
Instead of really frightening, what we found was a fun diversion that featured 4 actors who all interacted with the passing guests in a number of ways.
Both Doug the gravedigger and the spooky looking undertaker, were excellent character actors who really engaged their audiences while providing fun scares for all the family.
The “staring lady” was really spooky as although she didn’t say anything she would just follow people around staring at them freakily. We witnessed her sneak up on a number of people and provide some good scares!
The final member of the Hollow crew was a storytelling tarot reader who entertained guests as they passed by.
In future years, if the Hollow starts to grow over some more, the park could easily turn this into a more thrilling walkthrough, as there are plenty of places for actors to hide along the route. As it was we spent quite a lot of time in there and found it to be another great addition for Scarefest. With the fun actors and the odd smoke machine effect, we were impressed with how much fun this little walkway turned out to be.
Alton Towers Hotel: Scare Rooms
As part of their Scarefest event, the Alton Towers Hotel have rethemed five bedrooms and called them “Scare Rooms”. You know that these rooms are special as immediately on check in, guests are confronted with a long disclaimer, which they need to sign to understand what is about to happen to them. We signed ours fearfully and made our way to our room.
The rooms themselves are extremely well themed. From flickering light bulbs in every socket to the blood stained bathroom, the attention to detail is first class and even though a few of the props are cheap items found on the high street the overall atmosphere is very impressive. Special mention must be made to the creepy “changing portraits “ of children that materialise from innocent cherub to skeleton as you walk past, and the large imposing “electric chair” stood in the corner.
The look of the room is only the tip of the iceberg though. The real highlight is the visitors that can be expected during your stay.
Each night – some of the actors from the Field of 1000 Screams or Room 13 are contracted to “work” the scare rooms and the differences in tactics and appearance of each character dictates what sort of experience you will have.
Over the weekend we spoke to a number of different actors who have worked the scare rooms and all do different scare tricks and characters. During our stay we were treated to a small demonic child, a scary clown, a grim reaper and what can only be described as a “walking body bag!” Other nights may include the demonic bellboy, a hangman or zombie amongst many others.
As we returned to our room around 11.30, it didn’t take long for the first “attack” to happen and it left us all cowering on the bed in fright whilst laughing continuously. In fact this was the main outcome from all the visits – scary and in your face but never actually terrifying (for which we were eternally grateful!)
Our main visitor was the child like ghost singing “Ring a Roses” who seemed to spend ages perched on the end of our beds taunting us. It was at this point where we could see that for some people Scare rooms wouldn’t work. We found that it was more about having fun in a scary atmosphere as opposed to hardcore scares and we really liked this approach. Having said that though, the child was still scary as she easily had all of us screaming in shock during at least one of her visits!
To give too much more away would really ruin any surprise and would also not be indicative of what every guest would get. The actors are very clever and are quick thinking enough to react to what’s in the room and the reaction of its tenants. On one of his first visits the clown found our beer stash and started to shake it all up pretending to be a salsa dancer! Two minutes later he was back and straddling the reviewer while menacingly staring him in the eyes saying, “ Daddy has been bad”.
At one point we were left with a dead “body” in our room that had been hung from the wall lights. It then didn’t move for over 20 minutes. Trying to get ready for bed whilst stepping round a dead body was extremely disconcerting and when the body did move the three of us screamed in shock!
On top of the effects and the actors, full use is made of the telephone with characters using them to taunt us or allowing us to hear supposedly concerned receptionists chopped up by chainsaws!
So the big question after all this is – was extra money for the scare room worth it? We thought so – we had a constant stream of visitors for over two and a half hours and although scary and freaky the whole thing was just a load of fun.
Currently billed as a 3 or 4 pumpkin scare depending on the time of day, the Field has turned out to be the most terrifying thing in the resort and has been receiving favourable reviews from everyone who has survived it!
The attraction cleverly builds tension through a lot of story telling and a very slow reveal of the true horror down in Altonville. As the story reaches its conclusion, all hell breaks out (literally) and guests are subjected to a terrifying attack on the senses that is the most intense we have ever experienced. The final scene is a superbly directed piece of action that is like something from a horror film. It is loud and chaotic and guests never know what is going to happen next with most groups running and screaming out the final door! To say much more would to spoil the surprise.
It is shame that it is not publicised more within the park as The Field of a 1000 Screams is definitely the true”don’t miss” attraction of the Scarefest!
After experiencing the attraction as guests we were invited by the park to be zombies for the night. This revealed just how structured and organised that chaotic final scene really is. Look out for a full behind the screams article on our experiences soon!
When the Alton Towers Hotel unveiled Room 13 last year, we were extremely surprised as to how well it worked. Short and brutal, it provided a number of intense scares that left visitors running out to the waiting bar.
Therefore the expectations were high in 2007, and although the attraction is still quite fast and brutal, it isn’t quite as intense as its opening year.
The attraction introduces a whole new bunch of evil inhabitants who have met their fate in the room and the opening scene neatly ties these characters in with those from last year.
Once into the maze section – again – it’s a no holds barred attack on the senses with some effective scares. Unfortunately, these felt just a little less frenzied than the multiple attacks of the past.
There was one moment in the middle where a scripted performance slowed down the tempo and despite the quality of the actor we felt it held up the proceedings.
Having said that, when we got to it – the final scene had all of us screaming to get out and even made one of our party fall to the floor in shock! The maze has used the new modular system purchased this year and included some extra sensory effects, which, without giving anything away could be a nightmare for taller people!
We really enjoyed our trip through Room 13 this year, and were impressed how scared it got us at times. It was still intense and provided some very good scares, but let’s face it – the perfection of 2006 was always going to be a very hard thing to beat! It still comes very close though!
It’s Monday October 15th and The Alton Towers Scarefest is already in full swing. Reports from the weekend have indicated that there have been serious capacity issues with the mazes but this is almost to be expected.
The main problem appears to be with the script that the actors are expected to deliver. Reports have already mentioned scenes with guests waiting two or minutes looking puzzled while the actors act their hearts out.
Having spoken to the people behind the attraction we were assured today that many of the scenes had been drastically cut to increase capacity. So with great anticipation, we entered the maze.
The first corridor just seemed too long and too uneventful. We kept expecting something to jump out and unfortunately absolutely nothing happened. We seemed to be in the attraction for a few minutes before anything really exciting happened at all!
At this point it was obvious that even though the script has been drastically cut down, it is still far too long. The first actress although very impressive and fully in character, just didn’t hold the interest of the party (incidentally we were a VERY large party of 13 which was obviously another way to resolve capacity).
From then, on the attraction was a mixture of stop start moments with no real scares and nothing to really keep the party moving quickly onwards. In fact apart from the scripted actors and a few well placed air cannons there really was not much to keep the interest up.
We jumped a number of times (mainly at sound and air effects around the attraction) but experienced no real scares from any of the actors despite their detailed characterisation. We feel that the attraction would benefit from removing the scripted pieces and moving the characters into scare roles, lurking in the darkness and jumping out as people go past.
As the supposed 5 pumpkin scare of the park, the Terror of the Towers, did not contain the required scares and thrills that we expected. The effects, actors and atmosphere inside are fantastic and some of the smells are disgusting but as a complete attraction it really didn’t live up to the pre show hype.
We took a tour down the Haunted Hollow at around 7 O’Clock at night just as the sun was starting to set. In certain places, under the overhanging trees there was quite a dark, spooky atmosphere and we ventured further along the path expecting something chilling.
Instead of really frightening, what we found was a fun diversion that featured 4 actors who all interacted with the passing guests in a number of ways.
Both Doug the gravedigger and the spooky looking undertaker, were excellent character actors who really engaged their audiences while providing fun scares for all the family.
The “staring lady” was really spooky as although she didn’t say anything she would just follow people around staring at them freakily. We witnessed her sneak up on a number of people and provide some good scares!
The final member of the Hollow crew was a storytelling tarot reader who entertained guests as they passed by.
In future years, if the Hollow starts to grow over some more, the park could easily turn this into a more thrilling walkthrough, as there are plenty of places for actors to hide along the route. As it was we spent quite a lot of time in there and found it to be another great addition for Scarefest. With the fun actors and the odd smoke machine effect, we were impressed with how much fun this little walkway turned out to be.
Alton Towers Hotel: Scare Rooms
As part of their Scarefest event, the Alton Towers Hotel have rethemed five bedrooms and called them “Scare Rooms”. You know that these rooms are special as immediately on check in, guests are confronted with a long disclaimer, which they need to sign to understand what is about to happen to them. We signed ours fearfully and made our way to our room.
The rooms themselves are extremely well themed. From flickering light bulbs in every socket to the blood stained bathroom, the attention to detail is first class and even though a few of the props are cheap items found on the high street the overall atmosphere is very impressive. Special mention must be made to the creepy “changing portraits “ of children that materialise from innocent cherub to skeleton as you walk past, and the large imposing “electric chair” stood in the corner.
The look of the room is only the tip of the iceberg though. The real highlight is the visitors that can be expected during your stay.
Each night – some of the actors from the Field of 1000 Screams or Room 13 are contracted to “work” the scare rooms and the differences in tactics and appearance of each character dictates what sort of experience you will have.
Over the weekend we spoke to a number of different actors who have worked the scare rooms and all do different scare tricks and characters. During our stay we were treated to a small demonic child, a scary clown, a grim reaper and what can only be described as a “walking body bag!” Other nights may include the demonic bellboy, a hangman or zombie amongst many others.
As we returned to our room around 11.30, it didn’t take long for the first “attack” to happen and it left us all cowering on the bed in fright whilst laughing continuously. In fact this was the main outcome from all the visits – scary and in your face but never actually terrifying (for which we were eternally grateful!)
Our main visitor was the child like ghost singing “Ring a Roses” who seemed to spend ages perched on the end of our beds taunting us. It was at this point where we could see that for some people Scare rooms wouldn’t work. We found that it was more about having fun in a scary atmosphere as opposed to hardcore scares and we really liked this approach. Having said that though, the child was still scary as she easily had all of us screaming in shock during at least one of her visits!
To give too much more away would really ruin any surprise and would also not be indicative of what every guest would get. The actors are very clever and are quick thinking enough to react to what’s in the room and the reaction of its tenants. On one of his first visits the clown found our beer stash and started to shake it all up pretending to be a salsa dancer! Two minutes later he was back and straddling the reviewer while menacingly staring him in the eyes saying, “ Daddy has been bad”.
At one point we were left with a dead “body” in our room that had been hung from the wall lights. It then didn’t move for over 20 minutes. Trying to get ready for bed whilst stepping round a dead body was extremely disconcerting and when the body did move the three of us screamed in shock!
On top of the effects and the actors, full use is made of the telephone with characters using them to taunt us or allowing us to hear supposedly concerned receptionists chopped up by chainsaws!
So the big question after all this is – was extra money for the scare room worth it? We thought so – we had a constant stream of visitors for over two and a half hours and although scary and freaky the whole thing was just a load of fun.
This review was written by Michael Bolton and originally appeared on Haunted Attractions UK.
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