Halloween at Toverland 2023
Toverland is arguably one of the most beautiful theme parks in Europe. Knowing this, their Halloween Nights event was one of our most anticipated of the year. Boasting 5 scare zones and 6 separate scare mazes, there’s a lot to get through for one evening. We were particularly excited to experience ‘Now You’re Mine’ the new for 2023 scare attraction built in a custom warehouse built specifically for the maze on the outskirts of the park. Given our high expectations, how would the event fare?
Our first scare attraction for the evening was Maison de le Magie. In this scare maze we were invited to enter the abandoned home of the ‘world famous’ illusionist Oscar Pendula after one of his infamous tricks went disastrously wrong. Almost immediately we were astounded as to the scale of theming present within the attraction. The facade and initial couple of rooms were breathtaking and immediately drew us into the world of Oscar Pendula. Unfortunately, this wasn’t consistent throughout the attraction. There were long stretches where the detailed sets were replaced by seemingly never ending bland decrepit corridors. Having seen the level of detail that possible, this was a little bit disappointing to see.
Thankfully, this attraction featured some impressively punchy scares. We particularly enjoyed one of the initial encounters with the monstrous inhabitants of the mansion. Trapped with seemingly no way out, we were suddenly plunged into darkness and encircled by multiple actors vying for our blood. The cast for this attraction were relentless, their energy really stood out and ensured multiple fantastic scares throughout the experience. Throughout the maze these actors used plenty of scare tactics such as drop panels and lurching through stacked shelves to great effect! Our group was so intimidated that halfway through we were invited to take the lead. Rather laughably, this led to us almost immediately receiving one of the best jump scares of the evening in an eerily stunning chemical processing room. Sadly, at this point the attraction rather abruptly ended. No big finale, no notable final scare. Just a door at the end of a corridor leading out into a queue for the tram ride back to the park.
Now here’s one rather notable issue with this attraction. Maison de le Magie is located well outside of the park itself. This means you have to board a tram to reach the attraction itself. Now this wouldn’t be an issue normally, however on our visit the attraction broke down. Whilst the staff kept us well informed, there wasn’t the option to return to the park to experience the other attractions which were available. This meant we wasted a whole hour standing in a queue for an attraction that wasn’t open. We hate to admit it, but this definitely put a dampener on our evening and better planning should be in place if this situation should occur again.
Overall Maison de la Magie was an impressive, albeit inconsistent experience. Whilst there were some particularly great moments, there were long stretches of bland corridors which could’ve been put to better use with the scares being delved out more evenly throughout the group.
Upon arrival at the entrance to Now You're Mine (great pun!) we were welcomed into the Sevenum Mining Museum. There a rather thoughtful and intriguing plot began to take shape. This attraction has a fascinating and well thought out narrative which unfolds gradually over the course of the experience. It’s so refreshing to see an attraction take its narrative as seriously as Now You’re Mine. It follows you throughout the maze and provides context for what's happening and what you get to see within the mines.
One thing we must praise is the near perfect pacing of this attraction. In order to establish the plot and atmosphere, things start off slow, allowing you to take the sights and sounds of the mine in. Then over time, things start ramping up and before you know it all hell breaks loose. This attraction doesn’t hold back with the scares once things get going. The actors were incredibly lively, with scares coming from all directions. The ferocity and aggression from these creatures was truly impressive. There were multiple moments we nearly fell to the floor due to the impact of the scares. The attacks were fast paced and relentless, often with multiple actors pouncing in quick succession.
It’s really hard for us to praise the maze as much as we’d love to without spoiling some of the ingenious scares present within this attraction. All we can say is that there’s some very eerie use of sound, some truly disgusting foot level scares and a scene involving water that simply took our breath away! And finally the theming was simply on another level. It looked and felt like a genuine old mine, with flickering miners helmets adding to the effect.
Our next attraction was Dollhouse, which was retrofitted into the park’s funhouse, which created its own set of pros and cons. The attraction already has some pretty impressive theming that really helps immerse you into the doll's house setting. However, you can tell that underneath all the horror lies the original funhouse. That wouldn’t be so much of an issue if the funhouse elements like the spinning floors and wheel of death were incorporated into the attraction itself. However, they felt like awkward remnants which occasionally took me out of the experience.
Unfortunately, the actors always seemed to focus the scares on the front of the group. Given we were at the back of the group, we saw the tail end of most scenes and missed the main brunt of the core impact scares the attraction is based around. However, there were luckily some standout scenes that really managed to get us. The dentist scene in particular was fantastic and managed to get quite the scream out of us!
Dollhouse is certainly one of the tamer attractions in the Toverland lineup. It’s a fun experience, with some frights that are probably more targeted towards scare attraction beginners. But there are some devilishly good jump scares to be found within and the fantastic costumes/makeup are bound to terrify all those who gaze upon these dolls. We just wish there’d been more attempts to integrate the elements of the funhouse into the attraction and for the scares to be dished out along the group evenly.
The premise for Trapped (which takes over the hedge maze) is unique, with you being tasked to go into the hedge maze as part of the pest control team in order to eliminate an infestation of rats. The problem is, these aren’t any ordinary rats, they’re humanistic and have started to wield weapons in retaliation. It really should be mentioned how incredible the rats in this attraction look. Their costumes and masks are truly terrifying and lifelike. They really put us on edge every time we encountered them.
Unfortunately, we felt that there just needed to be more impact from the scares in this experience. Being located within a maze, we feel they could’ve utilized the disorientation and misdirection aspects better. Whilst the actors did throw you down completely the wrong path multiple times, there was never really much threat or intimidation used in these interactions to create tension. Generally just the actor blocking the correct path and pointing, which just didn’t scare us. We particularly struggled at the finale, where a rather determined actor blocked the clearly visible exit and refused to move until we did a section of the maze again. We played along the first time, but upon multiple attempts to leave, we were forced back through the loop over and over until we became rather frustrated. We actually had to use our own misdirection tactics to escape, by taking the opportunity to sneak past the actor whilst they were distracted, misleading another poor visitor. We can only hope the actor has actually let them out of the attraction by now!
We then headed to the nearby Fear the Woods, which unexpectedly took place entirely indoors. Immediately, we were impressed with the clever design and layout of this experience. It was incredibly dark, with tight corridors lined with foliage and trees. It really felt claustrophobic and rather intimidating. Every so often you’d come out into an opening, only to receive one of many fantastic jump scares.
The scares in Fear the Woods came thick and fast and were shared out evenly within the group. One of our favorite aspects of this maze were the sheer variety of clever and terrifying costumes on display. You had everything from werewolf-like creatures to horrifying crows. The intensity of this attraction was on point, with scares lurking around every corner. This attraction was a real highlight in the maze lineup at Toverland. It provided constant scares from start to finish. Whilst it’s simple in concept, we found there to be a lot of variety present within the attraction. We’d definitely recommend building up to this attraction as it’s guaranteed to impress.
We rounded out our evening with The Witches Forest. This outdoor walkthrough takes you on a trail through some isolated woods around the back of the Avalon themed area. This attraction genuinely felt very isolated and had an eerie atmosphere to it from the moment we started delving into the forest. The route forwards was beautifully themed with wooden structures and ominous lighting directing us further towards the coven of witches lurking within the woods. There were some pretty spectacular scenes which played out, our favorite involving a rather ‘lively’ cauldron. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the scene based scares we did miss out on a number of scare triggers and either walked in on actors resetting or heard a massive scare occurring behind us. This was particularly frustrating as we came across an actor resetting after utilizing a scare technique rarely used in Europe. This would’ve packed an absolute punch had we been able to experience it afresh.
Whilst these situations can’t be helped and are guaranteed to happen in any maze, it felt like more often than not we were simply missing the scares that were so clearly there. It was heartbreaking to receive such a run as it was quite evident from the screams of other groups that we were just simply unlucky on our walkthrough. From what we saw, The Witches Forest has the potential to be a top notch experience, we’d just advise walking slowly throughout the experience so you don’t end up seeing the tail end of scenes from the group before.
Throughout the evening we made sure to experience each of the scare zones dotted throughout the park. Anyone who has heard of the Toverland Halloween event knows about the sheer beauty of these zones. Each tie in with the location they’re held within. For Ithaca you have the deceased, zombified DesTroy soldiers. For Avalon you have Morgana’s Frozen Knights. Land of the Toos has the newly refreshed Cirque area. Then in Magic Valley you have both Shadows of the Sea and Fiesta de Los Muertos.
Each of these zones features their own vibe. Troy felt chaotic, intense and demonic, whereas Fiesta de Los Muertos was more light hearted and had a fun party vibe (although packedin a good scare when needed). These zones were the real highlight of the event. The actors were well trained and interacted with the passers by with the scares coming out from nowhere.
In summary - Toverland Halloween Nights is an event that is still finding its place in the scare industry. It has some of the best scare zones you’ll find not just in Europe but around the world. It also features a handful of mazes that are fun, but could do with some updating. However, Now You’re Mine, their latest addition really is breathtaking. This attraction marks the beginning of a bright new future for Toverland. It’s a stellar experience which well and truly stands out and will hopefully be a huge success for them this Halloween season. We had such a wonderful time at Halloween Nights and we really would encourage more people to come out and experience it for yourselves. There’s nothing quite like this event. It’s genuinely magical, with some pretty intense scare experiences to boot!
Halloween at Toverland 2019
Toverland opens its gates once again for their Halloween season. This year they have added an additional Thursday to the openings day - for us a perfect day to see what they have created this year.
The day starts with their happy Halloween event. This runs every day during the weekends and Dutch holiday weeks. For this, they have a couple of characters walking around, one of the mazes is open and there are a couple of shows. The maze during the Halloween season is just fun and starts with a small pre-show. After which you go through the maze, which is the normal hedge maze which they use during Halloween as a haunted house. It was fun for the children who have to look for a thief. After this we watched the Bertus & Jappie Halloween show. This show is the same as last year, but good fun for the kids.
Than it was 16:30 and time to get in line for the first haunted house - Fear the Woods, which is built in a conference room, but has a pitch black haunted forest with trees and everything. The maze started with a pre-show. After which we went into the forest, to find a forester. The maze was good had a couple of great scares and the highlight for us on the night. The nights before it has been even darker inside, but now they added a little light, but not enough to see all the makeup. The house was great which isn't bad as we were one of the first groups going in that night.
After this we went to the DollHouse. A fun house changed to a haunted house. They have also added a pre-show before you enter the house. It was fun, with a couple of beautiful dolls. The make-up was also great here. But the scares could be a little bit more impactful in this house.
It was 18:30 time to get to the main entrance, where the opening show starts. There is a big vault, that releases all the creatures of the other two mazes and all the scare zones. They exit the vault with a parade and going to their area.
Just after the parade finished we headed to the witches forest. This maze is built in the forest behind Fenix on the other side of the water next to it. A fun forest trail, with a couple of good scares, but the capacity was a nightmare of this attraction. We where happy that we where queuing up early. Later on the queue time was more than 1 and a 1/2 hours.
Then it was time to see the scare zones. All were the same as last year with some minor tweaks. The most has changed in Cirque, where they have added a circus tent to it. Morgana’s Frozen Souls was stronger last year, and Shadows of the Sea felt the same. The changed the look of the fighters of troy, which now look a bit more zombie like with cool prosthetics. Finally, Fiesta de los Muertos still had the nice blacklight scene, which happens and completely changes the scare zones from party too scary.
Time for the last maze trapped. Which was in the hedges maze. Rats have taken over. The fun thing they did this year was not having a route in the maze. So you had to find your way out while being chased by the rats. This also started with a pre-show to set the story. The night ends with a fire works show at 22:45. After this all the scare actors are waiting behind the entrance. Where you can queue up to get a picture taken with all the scare zones, witches forest and trapped. They are waiting for you and an employee will take your camera of mobile phone to take a group picture with the zone or maze. So you can have multiple pictures with all groups.
During the night we got something to eat and tried out the new special menu for the Halloween season. Including a completely black burger, not only the bun but even the patty too! The food was really good.
We had a great visit at this year's event. The make-up, costumes and actors are all great as most of them know how to give a good scare. Our only niggle is that the mazes are all temporary builds, and for Toverland to take the step to the next level we think they really need to build a real maze next to the things they already have.
The day starts with their happy Halloween event. This runs every day during the weekends and Dutch holiday weeks. For this, they have a couple of characters walking around, one of the mazes is open and there are a couple of shows. The maze during the Halloween season is just fun and starts with a small pre-show. After which you go through the maze, which is the normal hedge maze which they use during Halloween as a haunted house. It was fun for the children who have to look for a thief. After this we watched the Bertus & Jappie Halloween show. This show is the same as last year, but good fun for the kids.
Than it was 16:30 and time to get in line for the first haunted house - Fear the Woods, which is built in a conference room, but has a pitch black haunted forest with trees and everything. The maze started with a pre-show. After which we went into the forest, to find a forester. The maze was good had a couple of great scares and the highlight for us on the night. The nights before it has been even darker inside, but now they added a little light, but not enough to see all the makeup. The house was great which isn't bad as we were one of the first groups going in that night.
After this we went to the DollHouse. A fun house changed to a haunted house. They have also added a pre-show before you enter the house. It was fun, with a couple of beautiful dolls. The make-up was also great here. But the scares could be a little bit more impactful in this house.
It was 18:30 time to get to the main entrance, where the opening show starts. There is a big vault, that releases all the creatures of the other two mazes and all the scare zones. They exit the vault with a parade and going to their area.
Just after the parade finished we headed to the witches forest. This maze is built in the forest behind Fenix on the other side of the water next to it. A fun forest trail, with a couple of good scares, but the capacity was a nightmare of this attraction. We where happy that we where queuing up early. Later on the queue time was more than 1 and a 1/2 hours.
Then it was time to see the scare zones. All were the same as last year with some minor tweaks. The most has changed in Cirque, where they have added a circus tent to it. Morgana’s Frozen Souls was stronger last year, and Shadows of the Sea felt the same. The changed the look of the fighters of troy, which now look a bit more zombie like with cool prosthetics. Finally, Fiesta de los Muertos still had the nice blacklight scene, which happens and completely changes the scare zones from party too scary.
Time for the last maze trapped. Which was in the hedges maze. Rats have taken over. The fun thing they did this year was not having a route in the maze. So you had to find your way out while being chased by the rats. This also started with a pre-show to set the story. The night ends with a fire works show at 22:45. After this all the scare actors are waiting behind the entrance. Where you can queue up to get a picture taken with all the scare zones, witches forest and trapped. They are waiting for you and an employee will take your camera of mobile phone to take a group picture with the zone or maze. So you can have multiple pictures with all groups.
During the night we got something to eat and tried out the new special menu for the Halloween season. Including a completely black burger, not only the bun but even the patty too! The food was really good.
We had a great visit at this year's event. The make-up, costumes and actors are all great as most of them know how to give a good scare. Our only niggle is that the mazes are all temporary builds, and for Toverland to take the step to the next level we think they really need to build a real maze next to the things they already have.
Links
Toverland Official website
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