Alton Towers Scarefest - 2011 Review
It’s now the 5th year of Scarefest at Alton Towers and actually 10 years since Terror of the Towers first debuted in 2002. Things have moved on and attractions have come and gone over the years, but the biggest change for 2011 is the fact that the two “hotel mazes” have been moved into the park and that the Duel Live attraction has been replaced by a scare zone.
Across the park there is a whole array of family friendly events and shows, but we were more interested in the scarier side of the event!
Across the park there is a whole array of family friendly events and shows, but we were more interested in the scarier side of the event!
Terror of the Towers: What Lies Within
Terror of the Towers is back for its third year as What Lies Within and remains the strongest maze in the whole Scarefest line up. Everything about the attraction oozes with quality and atmosphere, which of course is helped by the fact that it is located within the remains of the allegedly haunted Towers themselves.
Very little has changed in the layout for 2011, but the attraction still manages to pack a real punch and surprise guests at every turn. Unlike previous years, there seemed to be more actors in the upstairs section and they were some of the liveliest cast we have ever seen in the Towers.
The big finale still scares and disorients in equal measures and most people are just happy to stumble out of there after such a short period of exposure. How the actors maintain it for a full shift, we will never know!
Terror of the Towers is included in the standard theme park admission and as such does attract very long queues. We would definitely recommend you aim to do it early in the day to ensure you don’t miss it.
Very little has changed in the layout for 2011, but the attraction still manages to pack a real punch and surprise guests at every turn. Unlike previous years, there seemed to be more actors in the upstairs section and they were some of the liveliest cast we have ever seen in the Towers.
The big finale still scares and disorients in equal measures and most people are just happy to stumble out of there after such a short period of exposure. How the actors maintain it for a full shift, we will never know!
Terror of the Towers is included in the standard theme park admission and as such does attract very long queues. We would definitely recommend you aim to do it early in the day to ensure you don’t miss it.
The Boiler House
The Boiler House is back in a brand new location, within the park itself, which causes a few issues in respect of pricing (see boxout below)
Saying that, the theme and style of the attraction fits perfectly within the disused tent that used to hold the Black Hole rollercoaster and the entrance stairs down really start to build the anticipation that you are going somewhere dark and industrial.
The main story of the attraction remains unchanged and those evil Hamble twins are still on the loose and looking to create mayhem. Interestingly, for the first time the masks are actually mentioned and made a feature of in the opening story, which helps explain why the actors all look the same through the maze.
What then follows is a quick race through the beautifully detailed sets peppered with a number of surprises from the twins and a roaming “survivor” who is desperate for us to get out. Towards the end of the attraction, the detailed scenery gives way to chain link fencing and plastic sheeting in a strobe-lit finale which just felt like it had been lifted directly from Terror of the Towers. Although the actors were able to get a good handful of scares, the ending felt quite barren compared to the lush detail of earlier scenes. It also failed to leave us running out the door.
It is believed that this may be the last year for Boiler House and as such, it's a shame that it isn’t leaving on a bang.
Saying that, the theme and style of the attraction fits perfectly within the disused tent that used to hold the Black Hole rollercoaster and the entrance stairs down really start to build the anticipation that you are going somewhere dark and industrial.
The main story of the attraction remains unchanged and those evil Hamble twins are still on the loose and looking to create mayhem. Interestingly, for the first time the masks are actually mentioned and made a feature of in the opening story, which helps explain why the actors all look the same through the maze.
What then follows is a quick race through the beautifully detailed sets peppered with a number of surprises from the twins and a roaming “survivor” who is desperate for us to get out. Towards the end of the attraction, the detailed scenery gives way to chain link fencing and plastic sheeting in a strobe-lit finale which just felt like it had been lifted directly from Terror of the Towers. Although the actors were able to get a good handful of scares, the ending felt quite barren compared to the lush detail of earlier scenes. It also failed to leave us running out the door.
It is believed that this may be the last year for Boiler House and as such, it's a shame that it isn’t leaving on a bang.
Carnival of Screams
Carnival has also been moved into the Black Hole tent and the theme and characters look slightly out of place in the grey and industrial themed X Sector.
Once inside the tent, the attraction uses many of the effects and scares from previous years and juggles them into a different order. Generally the new order works better and effects, such as the gorilla, are better placed at the start of the attraction building up to sustained multiple clown attacks at the end.
Carnival will always have the problem that some people are absolutely terrified of clowns while others just find them funny. To overcome this and to ensure everyone gets equal scares, the attraction uses a lot of sudden impact scares which generally get everyone, regardless of their phobia.
So despite its colourful and fun atmosphere, we actually found the Carnival consistently scarier than Boiler House next door.
Once inside the tent, the attraction uses many of the effects and scares from previous years and juggles them into a different order. Generally the new order works better and effects, such as the gorilla, are better placed at the start of the attraction building up to sustained multiple clown attacks at the end.
Carnival will always have the problem that some people are absolutely terrified of clowns while others just find them funny. To overcome this and to ensure everyone gets equal scares, the attraction uses a lot of sudden impact scares which generally get everyone, regardless of their phobia.
So despite its colourful and fun atmosphere, we actually found the Carnival consistently scarier than Boiler House next door.
One of the key things to stress about the two extra mazes is that compared to Terror of the Towers, they just aren’t value for money. Where the main attraction feels long and never ending, both of the new ones seem shorter and not as detailed. Perhaps when they were “off park” there was the perception that these attractions were worth the extra price but after doing Terror of the Towers for free it was really hard to justify spending another £12 on top of the standard entry price, however good the mazes are. It will be interesting to see how this development progresses – especially when other parks are able to provide all their mazes within the entry price.
Thirteen: After Dark
It’s probably a misnomer to call Thirteen After Dark an “attraction” as it is really just a few extra actors added to the Dark Forest area. On our visit we managed to get all through the queue and then on and off the ride before experiencing anything, only to find the characters congregating on the exit path near the gift shop. The girl was suitably menacing as she blocked the path and distracted us nicely as we turned the corner to come face to face with a wraith character.
It would seem that the actors have less direction than standard attractions and are free to roam about the whole area doing what they see fit. In fact it is this random nature of their interaction that makes Thirteen After Dark more of a scare zone than a standard maze. After Dark is never going to be as scary as the other attractions, but is a nice additional treat away from the mazes.
It would seem that the actors have less direction than standard attractions and are free to roam about the whole area doing what they see fit. In fact it is this random nature of their interaction that makes Thirteen After Dark more of a scare zone than a standard maze. After Dark is never going to be as scary as the other attractions, but is a nice additional treat away from the mazes.
Zombies! Scare ZONE
With no major changes in the three main scare attractions and the loss of a live makeover to the Haunted House ride, this year's Scarefest needed something else to really make an impact; utilising a disused path, some old vehicles, a large tent and an army of lively actors – the Zombies! Scare Zone was born. Scare Zones are virtually unheard of in this country and Alton have managed to create the nearest to a US style theme park scare zone we have ever seen (putting last year’s Thorpe Park effort to shame!)
A trip through the zone at dusk is highly entertaining as the zombies are visible and it was fun watching them pick off the easily scared. At night time though, it’s a completely different matter . With mood lighting throughout and some of the thickest smoke on the resort, every step through could bring you face to face with a zombie. Respect goes to the energetic and talented acting crew working the zone. Unlike other roles they are permanently on show and need to stay in character at all times, while putting up with the potentially unpredictable and excitable audience. Every time we went through we saw different things and different interaction with the guests, which made the whole experience feel fresh and exciting.
The Zombies! Scare Zone has been a massive critical success for the park and the creative team behind it have confirmed they are already looking for further sites for 2012!
A trip through the zone at dusk is highly entertaining as the zombies are visible and it was fun watching them pick off the easily scared. At night time though, it’s a completely different matter . With mood lighting throughout and some of the thickest smoke on the resort, every step through could bring you face to face with a zombie. Respect goes to the energetic and talented acting crew working the zone. Unlike other roles they are permanently on show and need to stay in character at all times, while putting up with the potentially unpredictable and excitable audience. Every time we went through we saw different things and different interaction with the guests, which made the whole experience feel fresh and exciting.
The Zombies! Scare Zone has been a massive critical success for the park and the creative team behind it have confirmed they are already looking for further sites for 2012!
So in summary – another good year for Alton Towers Scarefest. Although having one outstanding maze included free with your entry, while two lesser mazes are only available at extra cost, will bring a lot of questions. It will be interesting to see how the resort addresses this going forward as they expand the event through 2012 and beyond.
To find out more about Alton Towers Scarefest - visit their website
To see our 2010 review - click here
To see our 10 year retrospective about Alton Towers Scarefest - click here
You Review - tell us what you thought
I went to the 2011 scarefest as a group of five staying in a scareroom so first of all I will give my feelings about the general atmosphere of alton towers during the scarefest before I review on the mazes.
The atmosphere alton towers brings during the scarefest is unrivalled, Its absolutely brilliant for kids and the adults. Its like walking into halloween town from nightmare before christmas with giant cauldrons, eerie trees and people dressed to scare and amaze. As night descends the park is lit by an amazing eerie green light with the main focus on the towers itself, aswell as hundreds of discreet speakers pumping out creepy noises that continuously turn your head.
Im only going to concentrate on the Alton towers hotel as it is the most elaborated out of the two during scarefest. As you walk through the doors of the alton towers hotel, you are immediately hit by the magic that awaits you. The amazing staircase is bound in vines which are illuminated by the same eerie lights that are shown onto the towers. The atmosphere is overwhelming and immediately the adults become the kids with the selection of haunting cocktails from the restaurant and evening entertainment which is brilliant.
The mazes are brilliant and must say they are much better than the mazes at thorpe park and well worth the ten pound. The acters are brilliant and the makeup looks a lot more convincing and terrifying. Unfortunately I was disappointed in the choice of location this year as the previous year the mazes were separated from the park and located on the field behind the hotels. The lack of lights and people around the attraction in my opinion made the experience a lot creepier and fun. Even the walk to the mazes built up anticipation as you followed the signs directing you. As you walked over the mound to the field you was met by the terrifying clown head with razor sharp teeth which acted as the entrance to the maze. I can still remember as my friend froze on top of the mound, her terrified face as she stared at the clown face. The mazes were still frightening but you could still here the sound of the rides outside and queuing up didn't of the same anticipation.
Now onto the scare room, now i have read the other review on this and i must say that i will have to disagree. First of all you are sent a weird letter about two weeks before your stay in the room which I thought was a nice touch. Also on arrival you are advised to check in at a certain time for the scare room as it will offer more to the experience, which we decided to do. You first have to check in at a separate desk where there is a actor that puts on a rather good show, he then calls on another couple of actors with quite amusing names to take you to your room. As you approach the room the actors directing you give you a run down on the story of a secret corridor that was bricked up centuries ago which has just been discovered and as you can probabaly guess thats where your room is located. As you approach the corridor you can see an artificial wall that has been broken open and which you then proceed to enter and i must say that this has been decorated brilliantly. Unfortunately as you enter the room it starts to go downhill. The room was cheaply decorated with a few cobwebs and creepy pictures, but generally not much different from the normal rooms. Also quite amusing was the cardboard cut out of an old fashioned tv which a normal tv was placed into. The bathroom also had a plastic gargoyle face which looked very cheap. The so called frights started by a phone call that told us that disturbances were reported in the corridor and advised us not to leave the room, which i must say was quite a nice touch and got us in the mood for the night to come. Once again unfortunately the night started to go downhill, the next two hours we were visited by actors on a few occasions which sizeable breaks in-between, we started to get bored waiting for them and was always anticipating something to happen within the room itself, but was disappointed when nothing did. It felt like we was being told a story which came to an abrupt end when all the actors came in our room at once and spent about two minutes bouncing around on our bed. We spoke to a few others who stayed in the rooms who felt the same as us. The biggest issue for me was that the previous year we spoke to people who were staying in the rooms who had been genuinely terrified during the night, with beds moving and woman screaming histerically and bashing on the walls around them, also they told us that there room was decorated brilliantly with bathroom covered in blood and vines wrapped round there beds. We were looking forward so much to experiencing this terrifying ordeal that we were told about, that when we did it was very disappointing. I felt that instead of employing so many actors they could have set up little things around the room that would have given us more of a fright. Things like bangs in the room and the tv having a pre recording that was timed and came on at a set time during the night would have be a brilliant touch. At the end of the weekend we spoke to the management and they assured us that they took into account all that we said and that it will be improved for next year.
Apart from that Alton towers will always be magical to me and i will definitely be returning next year
The atmosphere alton towers brings during the scarefest is unrivalled, Its absolutely brilliant for kids and the adults. Its like walking into halloween town from nightmare before christmas with giant cauldrons, eerie trees and people dressed to scare and amaze. As night descends the park is lit by an amazing eerie green light with the main focus on the towers itself, aswell as hundreds of discreet speakers pumping out creepy noises that continuously turn your head.
Im only going to concentrate on the Alton towers hotel as it is the most elaborated out of the two during scarefest. As you walk through the doors of the alton towers hotel, you are immediately hit by the magic that awaits you. The amazing staircase is bound in vines which are illuminated by the same eerie lights that are shown onto the towers. The atmosphere is overwhelming and immediately the adults become the kids with the selection of haunting cocktails from the restaurant and evening entertainment which is brilliant.
The mazes are brilliant and must say they are much better than the mazes at thorpe park and well worth the ten pound. The acters are brilliant and the makeup looks a lot more convincing and terrifying. Unfortunately I was disappointed in the choice of location this year as the previous year the mazes were separated from the park and located on the field behind the hotels. The lack of lights and people around the attraction in my opinion made the experience a lot creepier and fun. Even the walk to the mazes built up anticipation as you followed the signs directing you. As you walked over the mound to the field you was met by the terrifying clown head with razor sharp teeth which acted as the entrance to the maze. I can still remember as my friend froze on top of the mound, her terrified face as she stared at the clown face. The mazes were still frightening but you could still here the sound of the rides outside and queuing up didn't of the same anticipation.
Now onto the scare room, now i have read the other review on this and i must say that i will have to disagree. First of all you are sent a weird letter about two weeks before your stay in the room which I thought was a nice touch. Also on arrival you are advised to check in at a certain time for the scare room as it will offer more to the experience, which we decided to do. You first have to check in at a separate desk where there is a actor that puts on a rather good show, he then calls on another couple of actors with quite amusing names to take you to your room. As you approach the room the actors directing you give you a run down on the story of a secret corridor that was bricked up centuries ago which has just been discovered and as you can probabaly guess thats where your room is located. As you approach the corridor you can see an artificial wall that has been broken open and which you then proceed to enter and i must say that this has been decorated brilliantly. Unfortunately as you enter the room it starts to go downhill. The room was cheaply decorated with a few cobwebs and creepy pictures, but generally not much different from the normal rooms. Also quite amusing was the cardboard cut out of an old fashioned tv which a normal tv was placed into. The bathroom also had a plastic gargoyle face which looked very cheap. The so called frights started by a phone call that told us that disturbances were reported in the corridor and advised us not to leave the room, which i must say was quite a nice touch and got us in the mood for the night to come. Once again unfortunately the night started to go downhill, the next two hours we were visited by actors on a few occasions which sizeable breaks in-between, we started to get bored waiting for them and was always anticipating something to happen within the room itself, but was disappointed when nothing did. It felt like we was being told a story which came to an abrupt end when all the actors came in our room at once and spent about two minutes bouncing around on our bed. We spoke to a few others who stayed in the rooms who felt the same as us. The biggest issue for me was that the previous year we spoke to people who were staying in the rooms who had been genuinely terrified during the night, with beds moving and woman screaming histerically and bashing on the walls around them, also they told us that there room was decorated brilliantly with bathroom covered in blood and vines wrapped round there beds. We were looking forward so much to experiencing this terrifying ordeal that we were told about, that when we did it was very disappointing. I felt that instead of employing so many actors they could have set up little things around the room that would have given us more of a fright. Things like bangs in the room and the tv having a pre recording that was timed and came on at a set time during the night would have be a brilliant touch. At the end of the weekend we spoke to the management and they assured us that they took into account all that we said and that it will be improved for next year.
Apart from that Alton towers will always be magical to me and i will definitely be returning next year
You Review 2
Me and my wife and our niece went to scarefest in 2011 and stayed in a scare room. The boiler house and carnival of screams we no where near as scary in X-Sector and lost the scary ambience that they had when they were next to the hotels. That said, the actors were top notch in TOTT which as always was brilliant. The scare room was very well thought out and at times quite terrifying, unfortunatley the hotel fire alarm went of during once of our scenes which runined the chracters and led to the show ending at 12 when it was advertised until 2am, most dissappointing. The themeing around the park was excellent but they could make things better by removing the bright white floodlights which are kind of out of place in the 'Dark Forest'. All together it was a fantastic weekend but not on par with 2010 due to the location of the mazes on park.
You Review 3
Carnival of Screams- this maze was Alton's humor maze - unless you are serously scared of clowns that is. The opening scene was very well thought out and made good use of the ape from last year. The maze again was full of light and didnt really seem to have too many actors and far too many bare scenes and corners. The new carricter in the maze (the living ventrilaquist doll) looked fantastic but didnt really scare people as much as I would have hoped. There were a lot of false doors though and the rubber doors really felt very heavy which are nice additions. Overall, the whole maze just was just like one big 5 minuite joke and created alot of laughter but not much scare. Great for a first time maze and lot of fun but not very scarey but fun anyway and worth a visit
Terror of the Towers - was almost the same as last year but they have mixed up some of the twistsd and turns inside the maze and improved the opening video and pre show. The maze room order is the same as last year starting with the caos of the ruins and a low tunnel with airguns. The boxes no longer move or bang. areas of the maze felt more claustrophbic than before. On saturday the strobs in the finale werent quite in sequene and were dark for too long so you could see the actors movements before the scare but on the sunday this was fixed and they were bouncing around all over the place. Overall this maze really stole the show from the rest and will be improved over the course of scarefest and has really improved from last year. it does need somthing new but it still is a great theme and it does work as a fantastic scaremaze and had the very high qulity I expect from it
The Boiler House - There was an overall improvemnet in some places but the whole thing felt quite a bit shorter than before. The scares started as soon as the briefing was over and the introduction story was fantastic. The only problem was it didnt feel like you was escapeing like the year before. it felt like you was just being pushed through the gates of hell so to speak. The scares were alot better than last year and some of the scenes were swapped about plus some noticable efects from Terror of the Towers were added - nice to see them used in a diffrent light. The ending was fantastic again offering some great scares and alot of places for the actors to jump out.
Scare Rooms at the Alton Towers Hotel - the scare rooms were extramly frightening and very enjoyable at the same time. There were many different types of scares with ghost storys, phycological scares, parts of the night just leaving you wondering what the hell is going on and big very intimate scares from chefs, hotel staff and men in black cloaks. The night started with a phone call telling you to stay in your room then get scenes from the 2 main story lines which you are then told about by the conciege when he comes to see you. he also tells you of 1 evil man which they dont know anything about. I dont want to give much away about the night but belive me that we had to clean our room 3 times, huge amouts of screams and laughter at times, some very very very personal space intrusive scares and very odd goings on with everyone from every room being dragged out (literaly) into the hall for the big final scare.
Terror of the Towers - was almost the same as last year but they have mixed up some of the twistsd and turns inside the maze and improved the opening video and pre show. The maze room order is the same as last year starting with the caos of the ruins and a low tunnel with airguns. The boxes no longer move or bang. areas of the maze felt more claustrophbic than before. On saturday the strobs in the finale werent quite in sequene and were dark for too long so you could see the actors movements before the scare but on the sunday this was fixed and they were bouncing around all over the place. Overall this maze really stole the show from the rest and will be improved over the course of scarefest and has really improved from last year. it does need somthing new but it still is a great theme and it does work as a fantastic scaremaze and had the very high qulity I expect from it
The Boiler House - There was an overall improvemnet in some places but the whole thing felt quite a bit shorter than before. The scares started as soon as the briefing was over and the introduction story was fantastic. The only problem was it didnt feel like you was escapeing like the year before. it felt like you was just being pushed through the gates of hell so to speak. The scares were alot better than last year and some of the scenes were swapped about plus some noticable efects from Terror of the Towers were added - nice to see them used in a diffrent light. The ending was fantastic again offering some great scares and alot of places for the actors to jump out.
Scare Rooms at the Alton Towers Hotel - the scare rooms were extramly frightening and very enjoyable at the same time. There were many different types of scares with ghost storys, phycological scares, parts of the night just leaving you wondering what the hell is going on and big very intimate scares from chefs, hotel staff and men in black cloaks. The night started with a phone call telling you to stay in your room then get scenes from the 2 main story lines which you are then told about by the conciege when he comes to see you. he also tells you of 1 evil man which they dont know anything about. I dont want to give much away about the night but belive me that we had to clean our room 3 times, huge amouts of screams and laughter at times, some very very very personal space intrusive scares and very odd goings on with everyone from every room being dragged out (literaly) into the hall for the big final scare.
You Review 4
I thought Terror of The Towers is still the stand out attraction but this year it felt very stale with same old layout and ending, it works very well but needs a big change soon.
Carnival for me was the weaker out of the three, exactly the same as last year but in a different order. The gags just dint seem to work, I was at the front of the group and missed all of them as by the time I was out of the door into the next room they pulled the gag which I missed every time.
Boiler House was very good this year, the atmosphere was amazing in the black hole tent but yet again is getting stale, year in year out its the same for the past 3 years. The actors didn't seem to have any presence but they think that just staring at you does enough when it doesn't, we need to be jumped at not just stand there with a knife.
Zombie scarezone was very good, theming was amazing and the actors really knew how to work the area. Got a few scares out of us :)
Overall a average event for such a massive theme park who have so many resources at their disposal. Shame they drag the mazes out for a few years
You Review 5
On Monday 24th October we set out to the self proclaimed UK’s No. 1 theme park to attend for the first time, Alton Towers’ Halloween event, Scarefest. Overall I thought this was a really good day out, however had the typical pitfalls of what comprises a visit to Alton Towers – terrible queues, not much value for money and so forth. But as someone who has been visiting for years, that is exactly what you come to expect of the place.
Being a Halloween enthusiast, I decided to go in costume this year. This is something I absolutely would not recommend during the day before Halloween itself, as there was very little presence of people in costume during the daytime, and being in costume garnered a lot of unwanted attention. There seems to be a more relaxed atmosphere at night time, but unless you are with a group of friends in costume at the very least - don’t do it.
With that out of the way, Scarefest this year offered 3 scare mazes, a new ‘scare zone’ themed around zombies, some spooky stage shows during the day, scare rooms at the hotel (which I didn’t do this year, as prices were too steep) and the ability to stay in the park up until 9pm. It was an experience indeed to ride the rollercoasters in the dark for the first time!
Terror of the Towers was the first maze we visited, upon arrival of the park. This is the only ‘free’ scare maze at Scarefest, yet is undoubtedly the best of the event. My only irk with this is how Alton Towers allow guests to queue jump at the expense of an extra £5, after each and every one of us have probably spent in excess of £40 already just for entry! That aside, this was the longest of all mazes, & the most actor populated, with very lively actors at that, who seemed to be improvising most of their lines meaning no visit was quite like another. They also seemed to scare the group extremely well, regardless of where you were situated! The towers themselves are a very atmospheric setting, & some of the scenes during the maze were truly frightening indeed (especially the body bag room at night!).
Carnival of Screams was more disorientating and well, weird, than anything. I didn’t think it was a bad maze, but it could have used more actors in certain places (such as the dotted room). There was a feature in this maze, which in the London Tombs is referred to as the ‘Big Squeeze’, and the reason this sticks out in my mind was the fact it was horrifically tight & you had to really push to get through it. With me being at the front I found myself wondering if I had gone the right way! I think this maze would be better suited back in its original location outside the park near the hotels, as the setting underneath the Black Hole seemed more like a gym of some description, which worked better for the Boiler House.
Coming to the Boiler House - a lot of people were not impressed with this maze, and Alton Towers have confirmed that it will not be returning next year. Yet honestly, I thought it was quite good! Being at the front our group was picked on almost the entire way through. On reflection, though, there were only two actors with the exception of one woman who made an appearance about half way through, and actors did seem to focus more on the front of the group rather than giving more distributed scares. Next to Terror of the Towers, I thought the set for this maze was second best, albeit unusual in places, but this setting seemed to fit the theme of the maze better than the Carnival of Screams.
Zombies was not terrifying (unless you have a personal fear of zombies in which case it could well be), but I thought it was great fun and a really interesting addition to the event. Alton Towers should definitely bring this back, and possibly add some more about the park at Scarefest. The actors were enthusiastic, and it provided a nice in between attraction that was inkeeping with the Scarefest atmosphere, & never was the experience the same each time you went through! Because of its walk-through at your own pace nature people could just mill in and out as they pleased, and as many times as they liked. It was also very small which had the pros and cons of, that it couldn’t get too congested with queues but it was over in probably a minute or so, depending on how busy it was.
The worst part of this event was Th13teen After Dark, stipulated on the map to be an event similar in nature to the Zombies scare zone, where the queue of Th13teen would have actors milling about, interacting with guests. Our group was in the queue for Th13teen from 5pm until 6pm, in which absolutely nothing appeared except some green lights, and a fog machine that failed miserably due to high winds. There apparently had been some incidents with members of the public attacking actors which is a real shame; however I find it grating that this is still being advertised as an attraction when nothing is taking place.
Overall though, despite what criticisms I’ve made I thought this was a fantastic event and I really enjoyed being there. With this being an Alton Towers’ event I wasn’t expecting much from it besides queuing, yet it more than surpassed my expectations. So, I definitely would make a return visit.
Being a Halloween enthusiast, I decided to go in costume this year. This is something I absolutely would not recommend during the day before Halloween itself, as there was very little presence of people in costume during the daytime, and being in costume garnered a lot of unwanted attention. There seems to be a more relaxed atmosphere at night time, but unless you are with a group of friends in costume at the very least - don’t do it.
With that out of the way, Scarefest this year offered 3 scare mazes, a new ‘scare zone’ themed around zombies, some spooky stage shows during the day, scare rooms at the hotel (which I didn’t do this year, as prices were too steep) and the ability to stay in the park up until 9pm. It was an experience indeed to ride the rollercoasters in the dark for the first time!
Terror of the Towers was the first maze we visited, upon arrival of the park. This is the only ‘free’ scare maze at Scarefest, yet is undoubtedly the best of the event. My only irk with this is how Alton Towers allow guests to queue jump at the expense of an extra £5, after each and every one of us have probably spent in excess of £40 already just for entry! That aside, this was the longest of all mazes, & the most actor populated, with very lively actors at that, who seemed to be improvising most of their lines meaning no visit was quite like another. They also seemed to scare the group extremely well, regardless of where you were situated! The towers themselves are a very atmospheric setting, & some of the scenes during the maze were truly frightening indeed (especially the body bag room at night!).
Carnival of Screams was more disorientating and well, weird, than anything. I didn’t think it was a bad maze, but it could have used more actors in certain places (such as the dotted room). There was a feature in this maze, which in the London Tombs is referred to as the ‘Big Squeeze’, and the reason this sticks out in my mind was the fact it was horrifically tight & you had to really push to get through it. With me being at the front I found myself wondering if I had gone the right way! I think this maze would be better suited back in its original location outside the park near the hotels, as the setting underneath the Black Hole seemed more like a gym of some description, which worked better for the Boiler House.
Coming to the Boiler House - a lot of people were not impressed with this maze, and Alton Towers have confirmed that it will not be returning next year. Yet honestly, I thought it was quite good! Being at the front our group was picked on almost the entire way through. On reflection, though, there were only two actors with the exception of one woman who made an appearance about half way through, and actors did seem to focus more on the front of the group rather than giving more distributed scares. Next to Terror of the Towers, I thought the set for this maze was second best, albeit unusual in places, but this setting seemed to fit the theme of the maze better than the Carnival of Screams.
Zombies was not terrifying (unless you have a personal fear of zombies in which case it could well be), but I thought it was great fun and a really interesting addition to the event. Alton Towers should definitely bring this back, and possibly add some more about the park at Scarefest. The actors were enthusiastic, and it provided a nice in between attraction that was inkeeping with the Scarefest atmosphere, & never was the experience the same each time you went through! Because of its walk-through at your own pace nature people could just mill in and out as they pleased, and as many times as they liked. It was also very small which had the pros and cons of, that it couldn’t get too congested with queues but it was over in probably a minute or so, depending on how busy it was.
The worst part of this event was Th13teen After Dark, stipulated on the map to be an event similar in nature to the Zombies scare zone, where the queue of Th13teen would have actors milling about, interacting with guests. Our group was in the queue for Th13teen from 5pm until 6pm, in which absolutely nothing appeared except some green lights, and a fog machine that failed miserably due to high winds. There apparently had been some incidents with members of the public attacking actors which is a real shame; however I find it grating that this is still being advertised as an attraction when nothing is taking place.
Overall though, despite what criticisms I’ve made I thought this was a fantastic event and I really enjoyed being there. With this being an Alton Towers’ event I wasn’t expecting much from it besides queuing, yet it more than surpassed my expectations. So, I definitely would make a return visit.
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