Fear at Avon Valley 2019
Fear has returned for its 6th year to Avon Valley Country Park near Bristol. As an event we have been visiting since it first opened, we are always amazed how far the attraction has come since its humble beginnings. In fact, in just 5 years, it was able to win the coveted best Scream Park award last year, which is no mean feat. So, with an award under their belt, some parks would just sit back and take their foot off the pedal, but not for FEAR.
This year has seen them make big additions to all their existing mazes as well as providing a brand-new maze, an even bigger fire show and more roaming characters than ever before. This is evident in the brand-new entrance façade that has been placed in front of last year’s trommel tunnel. It wasn’t strictly required, but is a great addition that just increases the visitor experience.
Once inside the rearranged event arena, the five mazes, bars, and rides are all easily accessible with the incredible fire show as the centerpiece. Our first maze was House of Clowns that has seen a big change inside with a combination of the classic curtains, fun house elements, crazy strobe rooms and more. The whole attraction was a colourful and loud assault on the senses that had us screaming and laughing in equal measure. If you weren’t scared of clowns before going in, you would soon be!
Phobia Rebirth has been at the park for several years, and so we were surprised to see so many changes in here as well. The reveal of each phobia, using In Memorium placards, was a great way to explain the upcoming scene, whilst creating a creepy horror vibe. The attraction now feels more cohesive then before but still retained the intense scares throughout.
Talking of intense scares, this really seemed to be the theme for the rest of the event. Anarchy Live, has always been one of the park’s most intense experiences, but somehow, the team have managed to ramp it up even more. The scares and shocks were some of the most startling we have experienced this year. The same for X4 – the actors and effects were all off the scale and everyone in our group had a terrifyingly fun time.
The new maze Vita Nova is an unusual one, as we have actually experienced parts of it before. The attraction used to run as the incredible Difference Engine at York Maze Hallowscream but has had a drastic makeover for its Avon Valley debut. With a back story of drug trials in a new Republic of England, the attraction is unrecognisable from its previous incarnation. Like the other mazes at the park, Vita Nova was incredibly intense and gave us multiple scares from the start.
The Republic of England story line then frames a new area that includes Vita Nova, X4 and Kill Zone - the paintball zombie experience and axe throwing . There were also multiple roaming characters to help set the scene and create a good back story.
As we have mentioned above, each maze at the park this year was incredibly intense and are easily some of the best scares we have had this year. Coupled with the fun fire show, the crazy cast of characters and the incredible atmosphere, its hard to believe that this event is only 6 years old. We can’t wait to go back and do it all again!
This year has seen them make big additions to all their existing mazes as well as providing a brand-new maze, an even bigger fire show and more roaming characters than ever before. This is evident in the brand-new entrance façade that has been placed in front of last year’s trommel tunnel. It wasn’t strictly required, but is a great addition that just increases the visitor experience.
Once inside the rearranged event arena, the five mazes, bars, and rides are all easily accessible with the incredible fire show as the centerpiece. Our first maze was House of Clowns that has seen a big change inside with a combination of the classic curtains, fun house elements, crazy strobe rooms and more. The whole attraction was a colourful and loud assault on the senses that had us screaming and laughing in equal measure. If you weren’t scared of clowns before going in, you would soon be!
Phobia Rebirth has been at the park for several years, and so we were surprised to see so many changes in here as well. The reveal of each phobia, using In Memorium placards, was a great way to explain the upcoming scene, whilst creating a creepy horror vibe. The attraction now feels more cohesive then before but still retained the intense scares throughout.
Talking of intense scares, this really seemed to be the theme for the rest of the event. Anarchy Live, has always been one of the park’s most intense experiences, but somehow, the team have managed to ramp it up even more. The scares and shocks were some of the most startling we have experienced this year. The same for X4 – the actors and effects were all off the scale and everyone in our group had a terrifyingly fun time.
The new maze Vita Nova is an unusual one, as we have actually experienced parts of it before. The attraction used to run as the incredible Difference Engine at York Maze Hallowscream but has had a drastic makeover for its Avon Valley debut. With a back story of drug trials in a new Republic of England, the attraction is unrecognisable from its previous incarnation. Like the other mazes at the park, Vita Nova was incredibly intense and gave us multiple scares from the start.
The Republic of England story line then frames a new area that includes Vita Nova, X4 and Kill Zone - the paintball zombie experience and axe throwing . There were also multiple roaming characters to help set the scene and create a good back story.
As we have mentioned above, each maze at the park this year was incredibly intense and are easily some of the best scares we have had this year. Coupled with the fun fire show, the crazy cast of characters and the incredible atmosphere, its hard to believe that this event is only 6 years old. We can’t wait to go back and do it all again!
Fear at Avon Valley 2018
It’s hard to believe that Fear at Avon Valley is only 5 years old. In that short time, the event has grown from a quaint little attraction with just two mazes and a bar, into a full-blown scream park with 5 attractions, fairground rides, an amazing street team and the hourly fire show that wouldn’t look out of place in a large US theme park.
How have they managed this? You only need to look at the teams involved to realise that they are passionate about what they do, and care about providing a great experience to all their guests. The mazes on their own would be good anywhere else, but it’s the sum of all the parts that really makes Fear such a great event.
New for this year was a spinning vortex tunnel on entry to the site. It’s completely unnecessary, but a fun addition, and creates a great “portal” from the outside world into the chaos that lies beyond. Once inside the layout has been jiggled about again and has a neater more cohesive feel, as all the attractions and facilities stem from the one central area. Strange characters roamed around this central hub interacting and scaring guests, as well as performing sketches on the stage between the hourly fire shows. it’s a great atmosphere, and when the fire cranks up, you can’t help but stand and watch it.
New for last year was X4, a mysterious biological army experiment where guests were attacked from any number of weird creatures, and the attraction has remained pretty much unchanged for 2018. Not that this is a complaint, as it is a very manic experience and we had so many jumps and shocks that we genuinely ran out of the facility to get away. We loved the simple use of ropes and netting in some scenes which allowed the actors to swing out above us and attack from different angles.
Another returning maze is Anarchy Live and this remains the pinnacle of intensity at the event. The strobes in the maze section are so confusing, and the actors were just relentless in their attacks. The fact this is a genuine maze too, creates a real sense of panic that you may not actually escape.
Phobia Reborn is supposedly an update to the original Phobia but could effectively be a whole new maze in its own right – so much of it is different to the previous version. We were blown away by the brave opening – effectively separating people and getting them to stand in pairs on individually in coffins. The anticipation whilst waiting in the dark for something to happen, was palpable, and when we were released into the maze, we were alone for at least the first third. The actors throughout were really lively as we faced many terrifying set pieces. Definitely not just an upgrade of an old attraction, but a complete metamorphosis into something new and different!
The final maze was the brand new “House of Clowns. Starting out as a child’s nightmare, the attraction soon became a real nightmare for us. With the fairly generic clown curtains so popular in other mazes we worried that this would be too samey but all the actors were on incredible form and kept us on our toes from beginning to end. Although nothing original – there were some really fun scares in this attraction and we screamed as much as we laughed.
The final experience is Killzone, a pay extra attraction which has had a bit of an upgrade making it a bit more theatrical than last year. It’s still great fun to shoot zombies in the head with “real” ammo, but the setup, lighting, sound etc all combine to make a fun show that gave us several screams as we made our way back to the event field.
We had a great time in all the mazes and the general atmosphere around the park all helps to create an entertaining night out for anyone who loves being scared. Interestingly our visit to the park was on opening night, which can often be an excuse for why something wasn’t ready or why the actors haven’t really warmed to their roles etc. But not at Fear, this opening night was as professional and polished as we would expect of any event, and to that we have to say well done to everyone involved!
How have they managed this? You only need to look at the teams involved to realise that they are passionate about what they do, and care about providing a great experience to all their guests. The mazes on their own would be good anywhere else, but it’s the sum of all the parts that really makes Fear such a great event.
New for this year was a spinning vortex tunnel on entry to the site. It’s completely unnecessary, but a fun addition, and creates a great “portal” from the outside world into the chaos that lies beyond. Once inside the layout has been jiggled about again and has a neater more cohesive feel, as all the attractions and facilities stem from the one central area. Strange characters roamed around this central hub interacting and scaring guests, as well as performing sketches on the stage between the hourly fire shows. it’s a great atmosphere, and when the fire cranks up, you can’t help but stand and watch it.
New for last year was X4, a mysterious biological army experiment where guests were attacked from any number of weird creatures, and the attraction has remained pretty much unchanged for 2018. Not that this is a complaint, as it is a very manic experience and we had so many jumps and shocks that we genuinely ran out of the facility to get away. We loved the simple use of ropes and netting in some scenes which allowed the actors to swing out above us and attack from different angles.
Another returning maze is Anarchy Live and this remains the pinnacle of intensity at the event. The strobes in the maze section are so confusing, and the actors were just relentless in their attacks. The fact this is a genuine maze too, creates a real sense of panic that you may not actually escape.
Phobia Reborn is supposedly an update to the original Phobia but could effectively be a whole new maze in its own right – so much of it is different to the previous version. We were blown away by the brave opening – effectively separating people and getting them to stand in pairs on individually in coffins. The anticipation whilst waiting in the dark for something to happen, was palpable, and when we were released into the maze, we were alone for at least the first third. The actors throughout were really lively as we faced many terrifying set pieces. Definitely not just an upgrade of an old attraction, but a complete metamorphosis into something new and different!
The final maze was the brand new “House of Clowns. Starting out as a child’s nightmare, the attraction soon became a real nightmare for us. With the fairly generic clown curtains so popular in other mazes we worried that this would be too samey but all the actors were on incredible form and kept us on our toes from beginning to end. Although nothing original – there were some really fun scares in this attraction and we screamed as much as we laughed.
The final experience is Killzone, a pay extra attraction which has had a bit of an upgrade making it a bit more theatrical than last year. It’s still great fun to shoot zombies in the head with “real” ammo, but the setup, lighting, sound etc all combine to make a fun show that gave us several screams as we made our way back to the event field.
We had a great time in all the mazes and the general atmosphere around the park all helps to create an entertaining night out for anyone who loves being scared. Interestingly our visit to the park was on opening night, which can often be an excuse for why something wasn’t ready or why the actors haven’t really warmed to their roles etc. But not at Fear, this opening night was as professional and polished as we would expect of any event, and to that we have to say well done to everyone involved!
Terrifying - I absolutely loved it. It's my first maze but after reading your review, I totally believe you when you said it's the scariest! And now they have 4 mazes, so quadruple the amount of terror.
Fear at Avon Valley 2017
It is the fourth year of Fear at Avon Valley and to celebrate they have added a new attraction to their line-up. Hidden behind massive secrecy and a clever marketing campaign, the park offered to let us to be the first ever group to experience the new show. But more on that later….
First off, Fear at Avon Valley always has a massive festival type atmosphere, and this year the layout makes that even more so. Once inside the main arena space, the grass has been covered with gravel, and the mazes and catering facilities are located around the perimeter. Central to the whole event is the small stage area that is home to the massive fire and light show, which for 2017 has been expanded out into towers within the arena space as well. When the gas jets are turned on full in time with dramatic music cues, the heat can be felt from quite a distance! There are also several fairground rides in the area that help to create a lively and fun vibe.
Returning to the event this year are Phobia, Purgatory and Anarchy Live, and all three mazes were as chaotic as we previously remembered. From the strobe lights of Anarchy through to the crawling section of Purgatory – everything about these three mazes oozes class. For the park to have three such high-quality attraction is impressive - most parks can only can manage one! For more information about any of the returning attractions – check out some of our earlier reviews below.
Joining the mazes are two pay extra attractions - battle archery and paintball in the Killzone. We weren’t originally expecting that much from these attractions, but were blown away by the unique storytelling and theatrics of both. It could have been easy to present a “shoot the zombies” experience but instead, each attraction had a full story including some live scares, incredible theming and killer finales that had us running out in fear. We know it is often easy to overlook add on attractors like this, but if you are Fear at Avon Valley then we highly recommend you upgrade to include at least one of these activities.
So, that finally brings us to The Fourth. This has to have been the best-kept secret in scare attraction industry, but we can confirm that the attraction is going to be called X4. On opening night there was nothing around the site that even gave away the name. Even our tickets just listed it as #what is the fourth? Therefore, we genuinely entered the attraction knowing nothing about what to expect (check out our Facebook live feed for our first reactions)
Once inside, it was clear that we were being led into a military facility and after some basic orders and shouting from an armed guard, we were herded into a lift to start our descent. Those who have seen the video of our first run through will have seen how rough this lift is, and once down to the basement level we were ordered into a room to explain why we were there. What then followed was a classic “Fear at Avon Valley” style attraction. By that, we mean it was fast, furious, and frightening. As we tried to find our way out of the facility, we were attacked from all directions including a unique surprise that genuinely startled us. By the time we had passed out the final doors we were scared and breathless. We were so honoured to have been the first people to experience this and we couldn’t wait to go back inside and do it all again!
As with all the attractions at the park, X4 is a masterclass in quality scare techniques, with the actors bouncing all over the walls to scare us. The new maze perfectly complements the existing 3 and helps to cement Fear at Avon Valley as a park not to be missed
So, we would just like to thank everyone at the event for making us feel so welcome and for allowing us to do a Facebook live feed of our first run through the Fourth. We had an amazing time across the whole event and probably screamed more times than we would care to admit! So, if you haven’t visited the park before then we suggest you check them out as soon as possible.
First off, Fear at Avon Valley always has a massive festival type atmosphere, and this year the layout makes that even more so. Once inside the main arena space, the grass has been covered with gravel, and the mazes and catering facilities are located around the perimeter. Central to the whole event is the small stage area that is home to the massive fire and light show, which for 2017 has been expanded out into towers within the arena space as well. When the gas jets are turned on full in time with dramatic music cues, the heat can be felt from quite a distance! There are also several fairground rides in the area that help to create a lively and fun vibe.
Returning to the event this year are Phobia, Purgatory and Anarchy Live, and all three mazes were as chaotic as we previously remembered. From the strobe lights of Anarchy through to the crawling section of Purgatory – everything about these three mazes oozes class. For the park to have three such high-quality attraction is impressive - most parks can only can manage one! For more information about any of the returning attractions – check out some of our earlier reviews below.
Joining the mazes are two pay extra attractions - battle archery and paintball in the Killzone. We weren’t originally expecting that much from these attractions, but were blown away by the unique storytelling and theatrics of both. It could have been easy to present a “shoot the zombies” experience but instead, each attraction had a full story including some live scares, incredible theming and killer finales that had us running out in fear. We know it is often easy to overlook add on attractors like this, but if you are Fear at Avon Valley then we highly recommend you upgrade to include at least one of these activities.
So, that finally brings us to The Fourth. This has to have been the best-kept secret in scare attraction industry, but we can confirm that the attraction is going to be called X4. On opening night there was nothing around the site that even gave away the name. Even our tickets just listed it as #what is the fourth? Therefore, we genuinely entered the attraction knowing nothing about what to expect (check out our Facebook live feed for our first reactions)
Once inside, it was clear that we were being led into a military facility and after some basic orders and shouting from an armed guard, we were herded into a lift to start our descent. Those who have seen the video of our first run through will have seen how rough this lift is, and once down to the basement level we were ordered into a room to explain why we were there. What then followed was a classic “Fear at Avon Valley” style attraction. By that, we mean it was fast, furious, and frightening. As we tried to find our way out of the facility, we were attacked from all directions including a unique surprise that genuinely startled us. By the time we had passed out the final doors we were scared and breathless. We were so honoured to have been the first people to experience this and we couldn’t wait to go back inside and do it all again!
As with all the attractions at the park, X4 is a masterclass in quality scare techniques, with the actors bouncing all over the walls to scare us. The new maze perfectly complements the existing 3 and helps to cement Fear at Avon Valley as a park not to be missed
So, we would just like to thank everyone at the event for making us feel so welcome and for allowing us to do a Facebook live feed of our first run through the Fourth. We had an amazing time across the whole event and probably screamed more times than we would care to admit! So, if you haven’t visited the park before then we suggest you check them out as soon as possible.
Fear at Avon Valley 2016
Fear at Avon Valley is back, and like the ever present fire effects, things are really beginning to hot up, as the event enters it's third year. On the surface, it would appear that not much has changed since last year, but all three mazes have seen some tweaks, including a fun new story for Anarchy, and the general infrastructure around the site feels more organised than before. Certainly, the event was buzzing on opening night with thousands of scare fans enjoying the mazes, the rides and the street entertainment.
Anarchy Live is the most changed of the three live mazes, with a new story about the "games" being televised, whilst we as competitors, get ready to face the horde. The opening scenes set in the TV studios build up the story before we were thrown into the arena to test our survival skills. At this point, the chaos and confusion that we have experienced in Anarchy in the past, really kicked in as this section of the maze is still one of the most intense scare mazes out there, with some of the liveliest actors and blinding strobe lighting that we have experienced all season! This whole section is a sustained attack on the senses and now includes multiple routes and a chance of being separated from your group. It really is genuinely terrifying!
Purgatory is just as intense as previous years, and includes a number of fun tricks to confuse and terrify guests.The highlight being a clever separation trick that left us all crawling on our hands and knees through pitch dark tunnels on our own. The large "prison escape" finale also returns, and is as chaotic and terrifying as when we first experienced the trial version a few years ago. Everything in the final scene, from the lighting and sound effects, through to the lively actors, combines to leave everyone desperately clawing to get out the final door!
Phobia is the final maze at the event and is set in a clinic where the doctors are experimenting with cures for classic phobias. Of course the only way to properly cure a phobia is to face your fears head on, so this maze has everything - clowns, bugs, dentist drills etc. As we dove deeper into the maze, the scares became faster and more intense as we wandered from room to room . Compared to the intensity of Anarchy and Purgatory - we found Phobia a little calmer, but this could be due to the constant changing of environment (from circus to jungle to dentist etc), and as such we needed time in each room to understand what we were entering (it didn't help that it was VERY difficult to read the signs at each room so the transitions between rooms could be a little confusing) But the actors were on top form throughout and the whole maze rang with screams of guests around us!
Aside from the mazes and the fairground rides, there are roaming actors who at certain times all congregate on the stage to play an unusual game of Spin the Wheel, bringing guests up on stage to test their fate. The event also sees the return of the very impressive light and fire show, that just demands to be watched - it's the sort of display you would expect at a major theme park - not a temporary Halloween event!
It will be interesting to see where Fear at Avon Valley go from here.The event was sold out on opening night and the atmosphere was electric throughout with people enjoying all aspects of the shows. With the popularity of the whole thing, we hope that upcoming years will see even more and more mazes added. The future is bright. The future is at Avon Valley!
Anarchy Live is the most changed of the three live mazes, with a new story about the "games" being televised, whilst we as competitors, get ready to face the horde. The opening scenes set in the TV studios build up the story before we were thrown into the arena to test our survival skills. At this point, the chaos and confusion that we have experienced in Anarchy in the past, really kicked in as this section of the maze is still one of the most intense scare mazes out there, with some of the liveliest actors and blinding strobe lighting that we have experienced all season! This whole section is a sustained attack on the senses and now includes multiple routes and a chance of being separated from your group. It really is genuinely terrifying!
Purgatory is just as intense as previous years, and includes a number of fun tricks to confuse and terrify guests.The highlight being a clever separation trick that left us all crawling on our hands and knees through pitch dark tunnels on our own. The large "prison escape" finale also returns, and is as chaotic and terrifying as when we first experienced the trial version a few years ago. Everything in the final scene, from the lighting and sound effects, through to the lively actors, combines to leave everyone desperately clawing to get out the final door!
Phobia is the final maze at the event and is set in a clinic where the doctors are experimenting with cures for classic phobias. Of course the only way to properly cure a phobia is to face your fears head on, so this maze has everything - clowns, bugs, dentist drills etc. As we dove deeper into the maze, the scares became faster and more intense as we wandered from room to room . Compared to the intensity of Anarchy and Purgatory - we found Phobia a little calmer, but this could be due to the constant changing of environment (from circus to jungle to dentist etc), and as such we needed time in each room to understand what we were entering (it didn't help that it was VERY difficult to read the signs at each room so the transitions between rooms could be a little confusing) But the actors were on top form throughout and the whole maze rang with screams of guests around us!
Aside from the mazes and the fairground rides, there are roaming actors who at certain times all congregate on the stage to play an unusual game of Spin the Wheel, bringing guests up on stage to test their fate. The event also sees the return of the very impressive light and fire show, that just demands to be watched - it's the sort of display you would expect at a major theme park - not a temporary Halloween event!
It will be interesting to see where Fear at Avon Valley go from here.The event was sold out on opening night and the atmosphere was electric throughout with people enjoying all aspects of the shows. With the popularity of the whole thing, we hope that upcoming years will see even more and more mazes added. The future is bright. The future is at Avon Valley!
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