Alton Towers Scare Rooms - 2007
As part of their Scarefest event, the Alton Towers Hotel have rethemed 5 bedrooms and called them “Scare Rooms”. Immediately on check in guests are confronted with a long disclaimer, which they need to sign to understand what s about to happen them. We signed ours almost reluctantly and made our way to our room.
The rooms themselves are a design masterpiece. From flickering light bulbs in every socket to the blood-stained bathroom, the attention to detail is first class. Even though some 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 say 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 all left us cowering on the bed in fright whilst laughing continuously. In fact this was the main theme of 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 scaring people to death. And that’s not saying that the “child” wasn’t scary – she easily had all of us screaming in shock during at least one of her visits but we could see that some people might have wanted a more intense sort of fright!
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 preceded 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 the characters using them to taunt us some more! Even a concerned receptionist ended up being sliced up by a chainsaw as we listened!
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 2 and a half hours and although scary and off-putting the whole thing is just a lot of fun. The actors were thoroughly enjoying the experience and were clearly responding to our conversations in the room.
Would we do it again? Definitely! Would be scared if we didn’t get the playful child and instead were visited by more serious zombies and hangmen? Definitely! Do Alton Towers have a winner on their hands? Definitely
Stepping away from the review for a minute it is worth noting the effect the Scare Rooms have on the rest of the hotel. Built in the corridor walking towards Splash Landings the rooms are surrounded (especially above and below) by rooms filled with regular guests who may not appreciate the crashing banging and screaming coming from around them. As an experiment for this year, the Scare Rooms are brilliant – but in future years a more long term solution may be required to make sure that the sounds and effects don’t carry to the rooms around it !
The rooms themselves are a design masterpiece. From flickering light bulbs in every socket to the blood-stained bathroom, the attention to detail is first class. Even though some 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 say 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 all left us cowering on the bed in fright whilst laughing continuously. In fact this was the main theme of 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 scaring people to death. And that’s not saying that the “child” wasn’t scary – she easily had all of us screaming in shock during at least one of her visits but we could see that some people might have wanted a more intense sort of fright!
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 preceded 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 the characters using them to taunt us some more! Even a concerned receptionist ended up being sliced up by a chainsaw as we listened!
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 2 and a half hours and although scary and off-putting the whole thing is just a lot of fun. The actors were thoroughly enjoying the experience and were clearly responding to our conversations in the room.
Would we do it again? Definitely! Would be scared if we didn’t get the playful child and instead were visited by more serious zombies and hangmen? Definitely! Do Alton Towers have a winner on their hands? Definitely
Stepping away from the review for a minute it is worth noting the effect the Scare Rooms have on the rest of the hotel. Built in the corridor walking towards Splash Landings the rooms are surrounded (especially above and below) by rooms filled with regular guests who may not appreciate the crashing banging and screaming coming from around them. As an experiment for this year, the Scare Rooms are brilliant – but in future years a more long term solution may be required to make sure that the sounds and effects don’t carry to the rooms around it !
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