Journey to Hell: Freak Nights 2023
Official review coming soon
Mildly scary
Have to say as a hotelier and business owner I thought the overall experience would have been a lot better. We were issued with a booklet of tickets for only a few attractions plus only 1 large rollercoaster and 3 scare mazes need less to say that I was very disappointed. You could only ride stuff once as It was 1 ticket per person. Very few attractions were open wasn't worth the money.
Sort it out Amanda Thompson and stop money grabbing very poor overall would score out of 10 a 3.
Best part of the evening was at the end when we went into the passage de terror.
That was a much better experience.
2023 journey to Hell very poor.
Have to say as a hotelier and business owner I thought the overall experience would have been a lot better. We were issued with a booklet of tickets for only a few attractions plus only 1 large rollercoaster and 3 scare mazes need less to say that I was very disappointed. You could only ride stuff once as It was 1 ticket per person. Very few attractions were open wasn't worth the money.
Sort it out Amanda Thompson and stop money grabbing very poor overall would score out of 10 a 3.
Best part of the evening was at the end when we went into the passage de terror.
That was a much better experience.
2023 journey to Hell very poor.
Very scary
thought the event was a huge improvement over 2019. actors in rides were scary, mazes were great, and the atmosphere was eerie.
thought the event was a huge improvement over 2019. actors in rides were scary, mazes were great, and the atmosphere was eerie.
Journey to Hell: Freak Nights 2022
Journey to Hell: Freak Nights has had mixed reviews over recent years. The attraction set in a closed theme park was a hybrid mix of rides and scare mazes, all originally tied up with a Journey to Hell narrative that meant guest were led through the park in groups doing attractions in a set order.
It never really worked as a concept so this year Blackpool Pleasure Beach have gone down the more free flow scream park experience, with the three mazes and five rides available to do at any time during the night.
First up we will look at the roller coasters: Sirens of Infusion uses Infusion with an undersea pirate theme, and The Controllers have taken over The Big One. What this effectively means is a re-theme to the music in the station and a couple of roaming actors in the each queue line. Although exciting to have roller coasters included in the event, the use of The Big One could cause problematical during the winter Halloween season as the ride was only able to run half the night due to high wind.
The next two ride makeovers were far more effective by adding live actors along the route for some additional scares. In The Legend of the Cursed River Caves, we were given a lantern to hold and our boat was launched into the darkness. With the usual soundtrack turned off and odd figures just distinguishable in the gloom, the ride was suitably spooky and ominous. So at the several times a live actor screamed at us, or lunged at the boat for a scare - we genuinely jumped! This really was a great use of the existing attraction to make something scary. The same can be said for the Ghost Train which had multiple hiding places throughout. Seeing as the building is supposedly haunted in real life it must have been creepy for the actors standing in the dark waiting to pounce!
Our biggest let down of the night was HEXpress - a night time trip on the park's miniature railway. Whilst waiting to set off - we enjoyed the hilarious banter from our hosts who even managed to get some subtle digs at Cheryl Fergison (Heather from Eastenders) and referencing the strange way she was killed in the show. And then NOTHING. We mean that - absolutely nothing happened! The train left, it went round the park. there were no actors, no effects, no scares. Half way round we stopped for one of the actors to tell her story, but due to the length of the train she was generally accompanied by shouts of "speak up - we cant hear you!"
To be honest we just don't understand the logic of including this attraction in any way. There was no thrill from riding the train in in the dark and no scares or tension throughout. It just felt that the park wanted to add another ride to the line- up but didn't have a clue what to do with it. It really was a completely wasted effort.
As well as the rides - the event includes three walk through experiences. First up was The Lost - built as a Heras fencing maze inside the old Space Invader building. This maze had some detailed theming and costumes in places, which contradicted with the bare walls at times. The actors were particularly lively throughout, and we had a number of good jump scares.
Our second walk through experience was the re-purposing of the Impossible mirror maze and fun house attraction. The actors across this experience were great fun with some amusing banter and ad-libbing that left us laughing more than screaming. It was a fun attraction but probably not the scariest.
The final attraction was clearly the star of the whole show. Built in the tunnels underneath the mine train and behind the river caves, this long meandering route took in an wild array of creatures including trapped miners cannibalistic hillbillies, and an aggressive Easter rabbit brandishing a dildo! Alongside the actual scares - there was a big thrill about being in the actual behind the scenes areas at the Pleasure Beach. Despite the mix of themes and stories - this was the longest attraction of the night, gave us some great scares and was clearly our highlight of the whole event.
Although we sound negative, we actually had a fun time at Journey to Hell Freak Nights , but we have to stand by our previous reviews in that it still feels just a little bit disjointed in what it wants to be. If the whole park was open and the scare experiences were additional then there definitely would have been more atmosphere around the park. As for the roller coasters - they were fun - but nothing scary in the presentation (well unless you are scared of heights!). It also felt weird walking round the theme park between attractions with nothing happening. It could have had a creepy abandoned fairground vibe with some lighting and sounds etc but it just felt like walking through a closed and lonely theme park. The only place where there was any real atmosphere was the central hub which was home to the roaming actors, the giant 8 foot werewolf, and the Stranger Things inspired fire-show.
All in - it just feels like a bit more thought needs to put into parts of this attraction as it decides what it wants to be. When it does the scares - it does it right, but there are two many extraneous elements that just water down the overall impact!
It never really worked as a concept so this year Blackpool Pleasure Beach have gone down the more free flow scream park experience, with the three mazes and five rides available to do at any time during the night.
First up we will look at the roller coasters: Sirens of Infusion uses Infusion with an undersea pirate theme, and The Controllers have taken over The Big One. What this effectively means is a re-theme to the music in the station and a couple of roaming actors in the each queue line. Although exciting to have roller coasters included in the event, the use of The Big One could cause problematical during the winter Halloween season as the ride was only able to run half the night due to high wind.
The next two ride makeovers were far more effective by adding live actors along the route for some additional scares. In The Legend of the Cursed River Caves, we were given a lantern to hold and our boat was launched into the darkness. With the usual soundtrack turned off and odd figures just distinguishable in the gloom, the ride was suitably spooky and ominous. So at the several times a live actor screamed at us, or lunged at the boat for a scare - we genuinely jumped! This really was a great use of the existing attraction to make something scary. The same can be said for the Ghost Train which had multiple hiding places throughout. Seeing as the building is supposedly haunted in real life it must have been creepy for the actors standing in the dark waiting to pounce!
Our biggest let down of the night was HEXpress - a night time trip on the park's miniature railway. Whilst waiting to set off - we enjoyed the hilarious banter from our hosts who even managed to get some subtle digs at Cheryl Fergison (Heather from Eastenders) and referencing the strange way she was killed in the show. And then NOTHING. We mean that - absolutely nothing happened! The train left, it went round the park. there were no actors, no effects, no scares. Half way round we stopped for one of the actors to tell her story, but due to the length of the train she was generally accompanied by shouts of "speak up - we cant hear you!"
To be honest we just don't understand the logic of including this attraction in any way. There was no thrill from riding the train in in the dark and no scares or tension throughout. It just felt that the park wanted to add another ride to the line- up but didn't have a clue what to do with it. It really was a completely wasted effort.
As well as the rides - the event includes three walk through experiences. First up was The Lost - built as a Heras fencing maze inside the old Space Invader building. This maze had some detailed theming and costumes in places, which contradicted with the bare walls at times. The actors were particularly lively throughout, and we had a number of good jump scares.
Our second walk through experience was the re-purposing of the Impossible mirror maze and fun house attraction. The actors across this experience were great fun with some amusing banter and ad-libbing that left us laughing more than screaming. It was a fun attraction but probably not the scariest.
The final attraction was clearly the star of the whole show. Built in the tunnels underneath the mine train and behind the river caves, this long meandering route took in an wild array of creatures including trapped miners cannibalistic hillbillies, and an aggressive Easter rabbit brandishing a dildo! Alongside the actual scares - there was a big thrill about being in the actual behind the scenes areas at the Pleasure Beach. Despite the mix of themes and stories - this was the longest attraction of the night, gave us some great scares and was clearly our highlight of the whole event.
Although we sound negative, we actually had a fun time at Journey to Hell Freak Nights , but we have to stand by our previous reviews in that it still feels just a little bit disjointed in what it wants to be. If the whole park was open and the scare experiences were additional then there definitely would have been more atmosphere around the park. As for the roller coasters - they were fun - but nothing scary in the presentation (well unless you are scared of heights!). It also felt weird walking round the theme park between attractions with nothing happening. It could have had a creepy abandoned fairground vibe with some lighting and sounds etc but it just felt like walking through a closed and lonely theme park. The only place where there was any real atmosphere was the central hub which was home to the roaming actors, the giant 8 foot werewolf, and the Stranger Things inspired fire-show.
All in - it just feels like a bit more thought needs to put into parts of this attraction as it decides what it wants to be. When it does the scares - it does it right, but there are two many extraneous elements that just water down the overall impact!
Review - Journey to Hell 2021 - Blackpool
Journey to Hell is back at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, with an enhanced line up and new experiences. We were invited along to press night to see for ourselves.
If you have ever been to Blackpool Pleasure Beach on an autumn evening before, you know how incredible the park looks in the dark, and tonight was no different. Coupled with its 125-year history, the park just seemed to ooze that Halloween feel. Added details such as a burnt-out car with various flame effects, led us into a courtyard where you can buy food and drinks before the real start of your Journey to Hell.
A local news reporter came on stage and talked about the event and the park before “Breaking News” flashed up on a giant screen and interrupts everything. Talking into his earpiece, the reporter said that there has been an incident and we must evacuate. Having left his microphone on, we could hear everything he was saying which was a funny and engaging way to start the experience.
As the emergency exit gate opened, we were greeted by very glamorous looking skeletal, Day of the Dead type characters who escorted us to The Legend of the Cursed River Caves. It’s here that guests join the queue for what would be the River Caves ride during the day. We were excited to see how this had been developed for Halloween and the characters mixing with us did a fantastic job – as stunning as they looked, they never spoke, never smiled or even flinched. They just glared evilly, completely unimpressed and getting close enough to make us feel uneasy. The ride itself however, sadly felt lacking. Not to spoil it for others as to what to expect, but we just felt there wasn’t enough and there were real missed opportunities even using some simple ground fog would have made an impact. Still, a quiet ride on the River Caves in the dark is something to experience.
From here we were on a set route around the park from attraction to attraction and this is where it got interesting because the route ends up backstage, behind the rides and into places that would be off limits during the day. For example, behind the River Caves is used as Hell Tunnel, a journey through the Circles of Hell which started with a good introduction and had a couple of good actors in it along the way.
There was an incident in one scene that we have addressed separately with the Pleasure Beach team because with Covid still very present, we (and others not in our party) felt it was unsafe and unprofessional. The fact that the same prop was being passed from mouth to mouth should not have happened and we believe this has now been removed from the experience.
Out of Hell Tunnel, we found ourselves at The Pledge which was essentially a magic show in a small theatre with some really nice-looking sets, costumes and detailing. You can imagine the characters we met here being angry apparitions of their former selves when they worked at the theatre in a previous life. The actual magic trick wasn’t fantastic and unfortunately just before we entered The Pledge was where the f-bombs and the “get out!” and the “what the f*** are you looking at” lines started to get used over and over.
Next was Blind Faith, a ride on Icon but blindfolded! We do like the Icon ride at any time of day but not being able to see a thing left one of us with the cold sweats! But there was no time to sweat though because next was The Dark Abyss - a ride on the Big One which we’ve done before when the park has late opening nights but is always worth doing. The ride is a favourite and the views of Blackpool at night from high up are great! The addition of the two rides are fun, and as theme park enthusiasts we appreciated the chance to do these rides in the dark, but they add nothing to the horror element of the experience, and are just a nice fun addition.
After the rides, Scare Maze was a walk around the rerouted Hedge Maze that people get lost in during the day. Perhaps some of them never made it out because now, at night, it was filled with souls trying to get out! Once out of the maze - Carnevil Freaks was a small scare zone that we had to walk through and was home to some very lively twisted clowns in good costumes and make up.
Last stop on the journey was the ghost train, now the Day of the Dead Ghost Train. Three characters danced around outside to music inspired by the festival and tease guests in to ride the train. Granted it would potentially be a Health & Safety nightmare but actors actually inside the ghost train would have been great. As it was - the experience was no different to the standard Pleasure Beach Ghost Train.
All in. Journey to Hell is a long event that takes you in and around the park with plenty of places to eat and drink, before and after. Using the rides again this year is an added bonus for anyone attending but not an essential part of the horror experience. It is also interesting that this year doesn't include a tour through Pasaje del Terror like previously - which was a great way to end the event on a high.
It seems that the team have learned from some of the mistakes from 2019 (see review below) but there still seems to be a way to go before this can be classified as a "must do event" We really enjoyed our night out and really liked particular parts though we felt there was a lack of impact in some of the scenes and far too much reliance on repeating the same phrases and sayings throughout.
If you have ever been to Blackpool Pleasure Beach on an autumn evening before, you know how incredible the park looks in the dark, and tonight was no different. Coupled with its 125-year history, the park just seemed to ooze that Halloween feel. Added details such as a burnt-out car with various flame effects, led us into a courtyard where you can buy food and drinks before the real start of your Journey to Hell.
A local news reporter came on stage and talked about the event and the park before “Breaking News” flashed up on a giant screen and interrupts everything. Talking into his earpiece, the reporter said that there has been an incident and we must evacuate. Having left his microphone on, we could hear everything he was saying which was a funny and engaging way to start the experience.
As the emergency exit gate opened, we were greeted by very glamorous looking skeletal, Day of the Dead type characters who escorted us to The Legend of the Cursed River Caves. It’s here that guests join the queue for what would be the River Caves ride during the day. We were excited to see how this had been developed for Halloween and the characters mixing with us did a fantastic job – as stunning as they looked, they never spoke, never smiled or even flinched. They just glared evilly, completely unimpressed and getting close enough to make us feel uneasy. The ride itself however, sadly felt lacking. Not to spoil it for others as to what to expect, but we just felt there wasn’t enough and there were real missed opportunities even using some simple ground fog would have made an impact. Still, a quiet ride on the River Caves in the dark is something to experience.
From here we were on a set route around the park from attraction to attraction and this is where it got interesting because the route ends up backstage, behind the rides and into places that would be off limits during the day. For example, behind the River Caves is used as Hell Tunnel, a journey through the Circles of Hell which started with a good introduction and had a couple of good actors in it along the way.
There was an incident in one scene that we have addressed separately with the Pleasure Beach team because with Covid still very present, we (and others not in our party) felt it was unsafe and unprofessional. The fact that the same prop was being passed from mouth to mouth should not have happened and we believe this has now been removed from the experience.
Out of Hell Tunnel, we found ourselves at The Pledge which was essentially a magic show in a small theatre with some really nice-looking sets, costumes and detailing. You can imagine the characters we met here being angry apparitions of their former selves when they worked at the theatre in a previous life. The actual magic trick wasn’t fantastic and unfortunately just before we entered The Pledge was where the f-bombs and the “get out!” and the “what the f*** are you looking at” lines started to get used over and over.
Next was Blind Faith, a ride on Icon but blindfolded! We do like the Icon ride at any time of day but not being able to see a thing left one of us with the cold sweats! But there was no time to sweat though because next was The Dark Abyss - a ride on the Big One which we’ve done before when the park has late opening nights but is always worth doing. The ride is a favourite and the views of Blackpool at night from high up are great! The addition of the two rides are fun, and as theme park enthusiasts we appreciated the chance to do these rides in the dark, but they add nothing to the horror element of the experience, and are just a nice fun addition.
After the rides, Scare Maze was a walk around the rerouted Hedge Maze that people get lost in during the day. Perhaps some of them never made it out because now, at night, it was filled with souls trying to get out! Once out of the maze - Carnevil Freaks was a small scare zone that we had to walk through and was home to some very lively twisted clowns in good costumes and make up.
Last stop on the journey was the ghost train, now the Day of the Dead Ghost Train. Three characters danced around outside to music inspired by the festival and tease guests in to ride the train. Granted it would potentially be a Health & Safety nightmare but actors actually inside the ghost train would have been great. As it was - the experience was no different to the standard Pleasure Beach Ghost Train.
All in. Journey to Hell is a long event that takes you in and around the park with plenty of places to eat and drink, before and after. Using the rides again this year is an added bonus for anyone attending but not an essential part of the horror experience. It is also interesting that this year doesn't include a tour through Pasaje del Terror like previously - which was a great way to end the event on a high.
It seems that the team have learned from some of the mistakes from 2019 (see review below) but there still seems to be a way to go before this can be classified as a "must do event" We really enjoyed our night out and really liked particular parts though we felt there was a lack of impact in some of the scenes and far too much reliance on repeating the same phrases and sayings throughout.
Review - Journey to Hell 2019 - Blackpool
This year, Blackpool Pleasure Beach promised to take us on a terrifying ‘Journey to Hell’ with their brand new Halloween offering. But did it deliver?
The evening began with us being batched into 5 large groups, each consisting of around 30-40 people. We were then led, group by group, into the park where our journey would begin.
First up was a decontamination phase. Here the security officer explained that officials had been working to prevent various creatures spawning from hell-portals that had opened up within the Pleasure Beach. We were deemed a risk to this effort and needed to be cleansed. This involved large quantities of water being sprayed at us on a rather cold evening - just what we needed when we were about to spend 2 hours outside on a cold night in Blackpool!
We were then led to the fountain area of the park and entertained with some witty team building exercises while the other groups were led in behind us after their decontamination treatment. As the first group to enter and with another 120-160 people behind, there was quite a lot of waiting around at this point.
Finally, with everyone safely into the park, the experience could properly begin and the story unfolded. Within the fountain square we were welcomed again with a speech from the mayor. Sadly for him, we were ambushed and he met his untimely demise. Blackpool Pleasure Beach had again been overrun by the creatures they had been working to prevent. With more soldiers suddenly onsite, we were told to get to the floor as they tackled the creatures and then split back into our earlier groups.
From here, each group was led in different directions through the park on different missions under the instruction of the soldiers who assumed leadership of the groups. Unfortunately, this is where the experience completely lost its way. There were a total of 6 separate experiences within the park; the Experiment Lab, the Plague Doctors including a very unique ride, a clown maze using the park’s Chinese puzzle maze, the underground tunnels, the S&M arena and finally a run through Pasaje Del Terror.
With no clear narrative linking these experiences together, we found it really hard to keep track of any storyline and it felt as though the event lacked overall cohesion. The soldiers did attempt to yell instruction at times but with the group being so large and noisy, much of this was lost on us.
We also feel we should call out the ‘S&M arena'. Rather than make use of one of the large show spaces the park possesses, we were actually lead into the park’s admissions corridor where we were greeted by four women clutching sex toys, posing for photos - not quite the grandeur that the image of an ‘arena’ conjures! Maybe this wasn’t what that park originally had in mind either for this part of the experience either.
We were also surprised by some of evening’s rules which we felt impacted our enjoyment of the event. At the very beginning of the evening, we were advised there were only 3 rules:
1. Smoking was permitted throughout, not limited to designated areas. As non-smokers, being surrounded by large groups of people ‘lighting up’ made us really uncomfortable. We also noticed some of our group discarding their cigarette butts in inappropriate places. We were also quite shocked to see the actor leading our group accept the offer of a cigarette, and later light this whilst still leading our group through the experience!
2. Use of cameras was permitted anywhere as long as no photos/videos were taken of the hell creatures - this seemed to become an open invite for people to pull out mobile phones with the camera flash and torch light often interfering with the experience.
3. Toilet breaks could be taken whenever we were near a loo - whilst we completed understand the need for people to take a break to answer to the call of nature, it became tiresome to have to stop at every loo we saw and meant that the whole group had to wait until others were finished.
Despite this, there were some aspects we enjoyed along the way. The quality of acting within the experiment lab and tunnel maze was good, with some really great individual performances, sets and theming within them. A late night ride on Icon, with an added touch we won't spoil, was also a really fun experience for those coaster fans among us. Our run through Pasaje Del Terror also packed its usual high-quality punch, although we had no idea how it fitted into the main story.
Overall, it’s a shame that the care and attention that Blackpool Pleasure Beach usually upholds seems to have not quite been executed this time. We really hope that should Journey to Hell return, the park take steps to address the issues of this first year and make it an event to remember next year.
The evening began with us being batched into 5 large groups, each consisting of around 30-40 people. We were then led, group by group, into the park where our journey would begin.
First up was a decontamination phase. Here the security officer explained that officials had been working to prevent various creatures spawning from hell-portals that had opened up within the Pleasure Beach. We were deemed a risk to this effort and needed to be cleansed. This involved large quantities of water being sprayed at us on a rather cold evening - just what we needed when we were about to spend 2 hours outside on a cold night in Blackpool!
We were then led to the fountain area of the park and entertained with some witty team building exercises while the other groups were led in behind us after their decontamination treatment. As the first group to enter and with another 120-160 people behind, there was quite a lot of waiting around at this point.
Finally, with everyone safely into the park, the experience could properly begin and the story unfolded. Within the fountain square we were welcomed again with a speech from the mayor. Sadly for him, we were ambushed and he met his untimely demise. Blackpool Pleasure Beach had again been overrun by the creatures they had been working to prevent. With more soldiers suddenly onsite, we were told to get to the floor as they tackled the creatures and then split back into our earlier groups.
From here, each group was led in different directions through the park on different missions under the instruction of the soldiers who assumed leadership of the groups. Unfortunately, this is where the experience completely lost its way. There were a total of 6 separate experiences within the park; the Experiment Lab, the Plague Doctors including a very unique ride, a clown maze using the park’s Chinese puzzle maze, the underground tunnels, the S&M arena and finally a run through Pasaje Del Terror.
With no clear narrative linking these experiences together, we found it really hard to keep track of any storyline and it felt as though the event lacked overall cohesion. The soldiers did attempt to yell instruction at times but with the group being so large and noisy, much of this was lost on us.
We also feel we should call out the ‘S&M arena'. Rather than make use of one of the large show spaces the park possesses, we were actually lead into the park’s admissions corridor where we were greeted by four women clutching sex toys, posing for photos - not quite the grandeur that the image of an ‘arena’ conjures! Maybe this wasn’t what that park originally had in mind either for this part of the experience either.
We were also surprised by some of evening’s rules which we felt impacted our enjoyment of the event. At the very beginning of the evening, we were advised there were only 3 rules:
1. Smoking was permitted throughout, not limited to designated areas. As non-smokers, being surrounded by large groups of people ‘lighting up’ made us really uncomfortable. We also noticed some of our group discarding their cigarette butts in inappropriate places. We were also quite shocked to see the actor leading our group accept the offer of a cigarette, and later light this whilst still leading our group through the experience!
2. Use of cameras was permitted anywhere as long as no photos/videos were taken of the hell creatures - this seemed to become an open invite for people to pull out mobile phones with the camera flash and torch light often interfering with the experience.
3. Toilet breaks could be taken whenever we were near a loo - whilst we completed understand the need for people to take a break to answer to the call of nature, it became tiresome to have to stop at every loo we saw and meant that the whole group had to wait until others were finished.
Despite this, there were some aspects we enjoyed along the way. The quality of acting within the experiment lab and tunnel maze was good, with some really great individual performances, sets and theming within them. A late night ride on Icon, with an added touch we won't spoil, was also a really fun experience for those coaster fans among us. Our run through Pasaje Del Terror also packed its usual high-quality punch, although we had no idea how it fitted into the main story.
Overall, it’s a shame that the care and attention that Blackpool Pleasure Beach usually upholds seems to have not quite been executed this time. We really hope that should Journey to Hell return, the park take steps to address the issues of this first year and make it an event to remember next year.
Links:
Blackpool Pleasure Beach website
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