Halloween at Liseberg
This year’s Halloween at Liseberg (Gothenburg, Sweden) event spans 16 days between October 11th and November 3rd, offering five scare mazes, two scare zones, and live entertainment. Almost every corner of the park is decorated, and together with the autumn colours of the trees, looks fantastic. And with late night opening, you have plenty of time to enjoy the illuminated, magical park.
Spökhotellet Gasten (Gasten Ghost Hotel) is a permanent scare maze, usually open whenever the park is. For Halloween, the hotel has been infected by a nasty disease, which has affected staff and guests alike. Walking through the intricately themed maze, the actors sneeze and cough as they scare, showering us with unpleasantness! It’s a rather grotesque but comic twist. But don’t be distracted from enjoying the incredible sights, smells and sounds inside this most beautiful of haunted hotels.
What happens when an office building become infested with zombies? Well, you get Zombie, a maze returning for its fifth season. The sets are realistic and detailed, and the zombies are hungry! The early rooms mimic a “typical” office environment with computers, desks and photocopiers. Posters marketing Liseberg’s attractions add authenticity, together with great touches such as employee’s family and holiday photos. As we move deeper into the maze, the sets become more impressive, including a devastated kitchen, and flooded toilet block. The actors are full of energy, and the whole maze packs a punch!
The Zombie maze can be found within the District Z scare zone, where a crashed bus crawls with zombies, surrounded by fog. The great makeup of the actors can be appreciated from up-close and personal. But don’t pose with the walking dead for too long! It’s a very entertaining spot to watch people being stalked and shocked.
The Experiment is Liseberg’s gory offering, housed within the parks Atmosfear drop-tower station building. The constraints of housing a maze in a building not purposely designed for one shows a little, with a too-quiet final section. But this negative point aside, the maze is packed with bloody shocks and scares. Body bags are aplenty, together with screaming experiment subjects! Not one for the squeamish.
The new maze for 2019 is Skogen, which is set completely outdoors. Those that set foot within the haunted forest are stalked by menacing creatures! Whilst the theme and costumes worn by the actors are very good, this maze felt the least entertaining and immersive. Scares are a touch one-dimensional, and become repetitive. The music though is wonderful.
The second scare zone is very different to the brooding, menacing atmosphere of District Z. Instead, in Cirkus Bisarr, the circus has come to town, bringing its lively, mischievous clowns and freaks! There’s playfulness mixed with a sinister edge: missing-person posters are surrounded by those advertising the circus acts. A giant arcade grabber machine is filled with babies’ dummies. There are lots of details to find and enjoy, if only those clowns would stop chasing us!
Horror mazes, like horror films, are very subjective. What scares or thrills one person may not have the same impact on another. Personally, I love a classic ghost story, maybe one set in Victorian times with ghosts of murdered children! (I know, I need help). But someone at Liseberg must have similar tastes, as Vinden (Attic) is everything I could want in a maze.
A construction-site elevator, built on the outside of the building, carries you to the top floor. The industrial nature of the lift feels immediately “wrong”, being situated in such a beautiful park. Upon exiting the lift, guests walk through a room full of plumbing, pipes and gas works, all authentic. Before long we are lost within the attic, surrounded by ghostly children playing hide-and-seek; jumping out at us and then running off into the darkness. The tremendous set design is every bit as impressive as the permanent Gasten Hotel. Rooms are stacked with Victorian antiques, wooden beams creak and groan overhead, and nursery-rhyme music creates atmosphere. Towards the end of the maze, we pick a path between life-size creepy dolls which are static at first, but then begin to move and sway around us. It’s a very creepy effect, punctuated by lively scares! we absolutely loved Vinden.
Liseberg is a park of such high quality that it comes as no surprise that their Halloween event is top-class. Highly recommended!
Spökhotellet Gasten (Gasten Ghost Hotel) is a permanent scare maze, usually open whenever the park is. For Halloween, the hotel has been infected by a nasty disease, which has affected staff and guests alike. Walking through the intricately themed maze, the actors sneeze and cough as they scare, showering us with unpleasantness! It’s a rather grotesque but comic twist. But don’t be distracted from enjoying the incredible sights, smells and sounds inside this most beautiful of haunted hotels.
What happens when an office building become infested with zombies? Well, you get Zombie, a maze returning for its fifth season. The sets are realistic and detailed, and the zombies are hungry! The early rooms mimic a “typical” office environment with computers, desks and photocopiers. Posters marketing Liseberg’s attractions add authenticity, together with great touches such as employee’s family and holiday photos. As we move deeper into the maze, the sets become more impressive, including a devastated kitchen, and flooded toilet block. The actors are full of energy, and the whole maze packs a punch!
The Zombie maze can be found within the District Z scare zone, where a crashed bus crawls with zombies, surrounded by fog. The great makeup of the actors can be appreciated from up-close and personal. But don’t pose with the walking dead for too long! It’s a very entertaining spot to watch people being stalked and shocked.
The Experiment is Liseberg’s gory offering, housed within the parks Atmosfear drop-tower station building. The constraints of housing a maze in a building not purposely designed for one shows a little, with a too-quiet final section. But this negative point aside, the maze is packed with bloody shocks and scares. Body bags are aplenty, together with screaming experiment subjects! Not one for the squeamish.
The new maze for 2019 is Skogen, which is set completely outdoors. Those that set foot within the haunted forest are stalked by menacing creatures! Whilst the theme and costumes worn by the actors are very good, this maze felt the least entertaining and immersive. Scares are a touch one-dimensional, and become repetitive. The music though is wonderful.
The second scare zone is very different to the brooding, menacing atmosphere of District Z. Instead, in Cirkus Bisarr, the circus has come to town, bringing its lively, mischievous clowns and freaks! There’s playfulness mixed with a sinister edge: missing-person posters are surrounded by those advertising the circus acts. A giant arcade grabber machine is filled with babies’ dummies. There are lots of details to find and enjoy, if only those clowns would stop chasing us!
Horror mazes, like horror films, are very subjective. What scares or thrills one person may not have the same impact on another. Personally, I love a classic ghost story, maybe one set in Victorian times with ghosts of murdered children! (I know, I need help). But someone at Liseberg must have similar tastes, as Vinden (Attic) is everything I could want in a maze.
A construction-site elevator, built on the outside of the building, carries you to the top floor. The industrial nature of the lift feels immediately “wrong”, being situated in such a beautiful park. Upon exiting the lift, guests walk through a room full of plumbing, pipes and gas works, all authentic. Before long we are lost within the attic, surrounded by ghostly children playing hide-and-seek; jumping out at us and then running off into the darkness. The tremendous set design is every bit as impressive as the permanent Gasten Hotel. Rooms are stacked with Victorian antiques, wooden beams creak and groan overhead, and nursery-rhyme music creates atmosphere. Towards the end of the maze, we pick a path between life-size creepy dolls which are static at first, but then begin to move and sway around us. It’s a very creepy effect, punctuated by lively scares! we absolutely loved Vinden.
Liseberg is a park of such high quality that it comes as no surprise that their Halloween event is top-class. Highly recommended!
Links:
Break Escape website
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