Tulleys Shocktoberfest - 2006
Tulleys have been holding a Halloween festival of sorts since 1994 and over the last 12 years have finessed their offerings and turned themselves into one of the country’s premier Halloween attractions for the whole family.
There are a number of things to keep everyone amused from pumpkin cannons, quad bike rides, shows, storytelling, pumpkin carving etc. They also have three major haunts, which all work on the credo of “Fun by Day, Scary by night”
During the day – the attractions are suitable for most ages although our toddlers did become slightly scared by some of the effects experienced on the trailer ride. Good job we didn’t take them on the evening rides then, as this is when the fear factor rises through the roof!
With a well organised queuing and loading area, on board sound effects, elaborate sets and lighting, Tulleys’ Haunted Hayride has to be one of the most advanced hayrides in the country. Set as a journey into the Forbidden Forest the attraction does lack a cohesive storyline as you pass through different scenes including a wreckers yard, a Wild West town, a carnival and a land of dinosaurs. This does make the ride feel episodic at times but the effectiveness of the scenes and the actors/scares within each certainly makes up for this. Obviously as well, the woods are very dark and you never know from which direction things will come from.
When the actors appear they generally attack with real gusto although this year we found there were less actors climbing up and over the sides. This means guests could stay within their comfort zone of the trailer as opposed to previous years where we have had people leaning right in trying to grab everyone on board!
Despite this though, there are some very effective scares to be had and by the time the trailer starts heading back home everyone is relieved to have escaped from the forest this time.
The Field of Screams has had a massive makeover this year with more ‘indoor’ sections and some different scares. We missed all the scarecrow characters from 2005 but there’s still something very scary and eerie about walking through a maze surrounded by tall stalks of corn of which could be hiding a number of scary things.
The evening scares included a lot of hidden effects as opposed to direct contact with actors but in the darkness these were all enough to get us screaming and jumping in fright.
We found the attraction to be far more effective than its 2005 incarnation and this bodes well for the future.
Even without the actors, the Creepy Cottage is a dark unnerving experience with quite a few jump out moments. Add three enthusiastic actors top the mix and you’re onto a real winner. The design of the walkthrough is such that the actors can double back on themselves and jump out in many unexpected places. We were particularly impressed with how active the actors were and how much they seemed to be enjoying their scares.
With such narrow corridors and twisting layout the whole attraction feels very intimate and the “monsters” are very close to you when they attack. This creates the feeling of the monsters being ‘in your face’ all the time, which really helps to heighten the tension inside.
Tulleys Spooktacular October festival is not designed to be the scariest Halloween attraction around, it just aims to provide a great balance of shocks and fears with a lot of fun and laughter. They achieve this perfectly and the popularity of the event shows this. The owners are clearly passionate about Halloween and love the opportunity to entertain. Make sure Tulleys is on your itinerary this Halloween – the whole family will have a scream!
There are a number of things to keep everyone amused from pumpkin cannons, quad bike rides, shows, storytelling, pumpkin carving etc. They also have three major haunts, which all work on the credo of “Fun by Day, Scary by night”
During the day – the attractions are suitable for most ages although our toddlers did become slightly scared by some of the effects experienced on the trailer ride. Good job we didn’t take them on the evening rides then, as this is when the fear factor rises through the roof!
With a well organised queuing and loading area, on board sound effects, elaborate sets and lighting, Tulleys’ Haunted Hayride has to be one of the most advanced hayrides in the country. Set as a journey into the Forbidden Forest the attraction does lack a cohesive storyline as you pass through different scenes including a wreckers yard, a Wild West town, a carnival and a land of dinosaurs. This does make the ride feel episodic at times but the effectiveness of the scenes and the actors/scares within each certainly makes up for this. Obviously as well, the woods are very dark and you never know from which direction things will come from.
When the actors appear they generally attack with real gusto although this year we found there were less actors climbing up and over the sides. This means guests could stay within their comfort zone of the trailer as opposed to previous years where we have had people leaning right in trying to grab everyone on board!
Despite this though, there are some very effective scares to be had and by the time the trailer starts heading back home everyone is relieved to have escaped from the forest this time.
The Field of Screams has had a massive makeover this year with more ‘indoor’ sections and some different scares. We missed all the scarecrow characters from 2005 but there’s still something very scary and eerie about walking through a maze surrounded by tall stalks of corn of which could be hiding a number of scary things.
The evening scares included a lot of hidden effects as opposed to direct contact with actors but in the darkness these were all enough to get us screaming and jumping in fright.
We found the attraction to be far more effective than its 2005 incarnation and this bodes well for the future.
Even without the actors, the Creepy Cottage is a dark unnerving experience with quite a few jump out moments. Add three enthusiastic actors top the mix and you’re onto a real winner. The design of the walkthrough is such that the actors can double back on themselves and jump out in many unexpected places. We were particularly impressed with how active the actors were and how much they seemed to be enjoying their scares.
With such narrow corridors and twisting layout the whole attraction feels very intimate and the “monsters” are very close to you when they attack. This creates the feeling of the monsters being ‘in your face’ all the time, which really helps to heighten the tension inside.
Tulleys Spooktacular October festival is not designed to be the scariest Halloween attraction around, it just aims to provide a great balance of shocks and fears with a lot of fun and laughter. They achieve this perfectly and the popularity of the event shows this. The owners are clearly passionate about Halloween and love the opportunity to entertain. Make sure Tulleys is on your itinerary this Halloween – the whole family will have a scream!
This review was written by Michael Bolton and originally appeared on Haunted Attractions UK.
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