Yorkshire Scare Grounds - 2011 Review
Following their debut production, HospitHell Live in 2010, the team at Fearmasters are back with a massive new show - The Yorkshire Scare Grounds. Their first issue was to find a venue and instead of just renting or borrowing existing facilities, Fearmasters went out and bought their own plot of land. With no landlord and no rules,
they have been effectively able to do exactly what they want!
When the full line up of the scare grounds was announced, it was obvious that the team were aiming high from the start. With 5 different brand new attractions, there was no room for organic growth or gradual market share – they aimed to impress from the outset. So how did they do?
Upon entering the park, guests are greeted by some of the main icon characters. The large and imposing Lord Fear was stalking round menacingly while the twisted ringmaster Jack, pranced around interacting (and mostly insulting) everyone he met. We stood for a quite a while watching these actors as they stayed completely in character and created a good opening atmosphere that got many people around us on edge from the start.
The structure of the Yorkshire Scare Grounds is such that most of the attractions take place on one long walk through a trail with just the séance introduction and Jack's fun house available separately. We visited on a quiet day and so were able to do everything in order, but can imagine on a busier day there would be a real bottle neck and delay to get into the main attractions.
The structure of the Yorkshire Scare Grounds is such that most of the attractions take place on one long walk through a trail with just the séance introduction and Jack's fun house available separately. We visited on a quiet day and so were able to do everything in order, but can imagine on a busier day there would be a real bottle neck and delay to get into the main attractions.
The Ghost of Madam Sonia Belben
The séance attraction serves as an introduction to the whole event and is designed to set the atmosphere for the evening. The transitions between the live actor and the projection effect could have been a bit sharper, but we had a few quick scares from roaming actors while we were distracted by the show.
Jack's Twisted Fun House
The entrance to the funhouse was very imposing with a carnival barker beckoning us into a twisted world with screams echoing from within. The first corridors were beautifully decorated with some quite unique theming and scare holes for actors to appear from. We received a number of really good scares through this section and anticipation was high for the rest of the maze. After a while, we broke out into a strobe light maze with chain link fencing everywhere. This section had some of the tightest corridors we have ever experienced and seemed to go on forever. Every time we thought the path would come to an end, it twisted back on itself and did another series of zigzags. The actors in here were quite a mixed bag – one mischievous jester should be praised for the sheer physicality and fun he brought to his scares, but some of the actors would just make an almost disinterested grunt in your face. Strobe mazes by their very nature are confusing, but the actors could have made better use of the timing of the strobes to perfect their scares, especially as we were in there for so long.
Wicca Wood
Following the back-story set up by their marketing videos, Wicca wood sets the scene for a camping trip gone wrong; five teenagers went into the woods but none of them survived. After our briefing we are sent into the woods to see what happened to them. We pass through their camp, the remains of their tent and (in places), the remains of the teenagers.
Along the route there are a couple of simple startle scares, but no real evidence of any detailed storytelling or character development. The whole walk needed a big exciting pay off - we never saw who (or what) had performed the killings, or felt any threat that we were next.
Along the route there are a couple of simple startle scares, but no real evidence of any detailed storytelling or character development. The whole walk needed a big exciting pay off - we never saw who (or what) had performed the killings, or felt any threat that we were next.
The Mineshaft: Subterranean Terror
On arrival at the Mine we are met by an elaborate looking façade with industrial mining sounds echoing around us. Donning a construction helmet we plunged deep into the mine itself. The whole journey through is long, very dark in places but was missing any real scares. We only saw 2 actors (one roaming, one in situ) and that wasn’t nearly enough for the length of the attraction. The mine could be amazing if more actors were added, as the atmosphere and look of the place is perfect for a dark claustrophobic maze experience.
Sunnyfield Cemetary: Buried Memories
After a long walk through the woods with a few great startle scares, we arrived at the best set of the night. Massive steel gates stand propped open leading to Sunnyfield Cemetery. A beautifully lit graveyard path led to a ruined church in the distance, beyond which we could see strobe lights and billowing smoke. While waiting, we were entertained by a brilliant actress with a baby who was one of the best characters of the night. After a short queue, we bravely stepped through the well themed church walls, to be jolted back down to earth with a sea of Heras security fencing set up in another tight and narrow strobe maze. This maze had monsters on all sides as well as in the pathways, and as we wandered up and down trying to escape, they taunted and blocked us as much as they could. There were a number of good scares here, although it would be good to see the actors being a bit more imaginative in their use of the scenario and the intense strobe which was literally blinding for us guests walking into it.
Finally - after a lot more walking and a few sudden apppearances along the way, we ended up back in the main event field.
Finally - after a lot more walking and a few sudden apppearances along the way, we ended up back in the main event field.
For a brand new attraction, Yorkshire Scare Grounds has a lot going for it. Where completed, the sets are very impressive and are some of the best we have seen at a seasonal attraction. There are also some imaginative ideas mixed in with the scares and they have a very large area to play with, which will give them loads of room to expand in the future. Unfortunately, some of the acting issues and the overall reliance on unthemed Heras fencing slightly takes the edge of the good stuff .
After our visit, we spoke to the owners of the event who have accepted there are some issues that will be addressed going forward, such as increasing the number of actors and making changes here and there. They also told us that the planned corn field attraction didn’t materialise due to the crop being severely damaged by this summer’s erratic weather.
As a first and quite ambitious project to go straight into “scream park” territory, the team should be commended more for what they have achieved than to focus on the negatives. We certainly enjoyed ourselves (despite the awful weather) and were pleased to see something in its infancy that could grow into a real force to reckoned with in the future. The team are passionate about making this work and with a few tweaks here and there could have an amazing event
After our visit, we spoke to the owners of the event who have accepted there are some issues that will be addressed going forward, such as increasing the number of actors and making changes here and there. They also told us that the planned corn field attraction didn’t materialise due to the crop being severely damaged by this summer’s erratic weather.
As a first and quite ambitious project to go straight into “scream park” territory, the team should be commended more for what they have achieved than to focus on the negatives. We certainly enjoyed ourselves (despite the awful weather) and were pleased to see something in its infancy that could grow into a real force to reckoned with in the future. The team are passionate about making this work and with a few tweaks here and there could have an amazing event
To find out more about - visit their website
You Review - warning contains spoilers!
On Wednesday the 26th of October we ventured out into the darkness of the night to Wakefield to see what horrors awaited me at Yorkshire Scare Grounds Scream Park. Needless to say, I was not disappointed in scares, interaction, atmosphere and value for money!
Upon arrival after driving down the aptly named ‘Hell Lane’ (!) we immediately started queuing for what turned out to be - the Ghost of Madam Sonia Belben. This was a short sit down attraction, which incorporated a speech from a dummy slash ‘undead mystic of the night’ with a projected face (a feature you will recognise if you have previously visited any of the Dungeons). It was interesting enough - most importantly everyone present were all kept on edge -which was mainly down to the presence of roaming actors, which I thought was a huge improvement in creating tense atmosphere in comparison to the previous night at Spooky World. Before and after listening to the ghost’s speech there was a little bit of comedy relief from the actors present, for example a witch type character who flailed a decapitated head over the crowd, ‘spattering’ them with blood, and another was a man in a pig mask who continually snuck up behind people and snorted near their ears. He got me eventually, & throughout the entirety of Yorkshire Scare Grounds, it was extremely amusing just to observe actors, waiting for people to realise that they were looming over their shoulders.
Jack’s Twisted Fun House I have to say was the best feature of the entire attraction -primarily for scares. This was a winding fun-house style maze where creepy clowns and jesters wandered in and out of the shadows of the set, sometimes even joining our group! (I distinctly remember at the end when the back of our group became separated, leaving me at the back, a clown got hold of me, saying “Don’t go! Don’t go! Stay with us!”).
Jack’s Twisted Fun House is certainly a well dressed & lit maze, the set was impressive, and there were ample amounts of actors for each section of the Fun House we ventured through - enough to thoroughly get at the amount of people that were sent through. All in all I thought this maze had a good structure – it didn’t feel like it ended abruptly – and also the timing and interaction was very good – something I noticed a lot of attractions seem to have a real problem dealing with when there are large volumes of people. One of the best mazes I have visited this season, & also possibly the best circus themed maze.
After bursting out the opposite end of Jack’s Twisted Fun House, our group immediately trekked on down the path, directed by a sign which said ‘Haunted Attractions this way’, which leads me onto the next good feature of Yorkshire Scare Grounds. What I thought really helped with continuity of keeping visitors’ hearts racing was the presence of actors while moving between attractions. The one I best remember was the ambush I both screamed and ran away at – a man who emerged from behind a bush wielding a roaring ‘chainsaw’ that brushed my arm, and didn’t stop attacking our group until we all fled to the beginning of the Wiccan Wood trail!
Wiccan Wood was in my opinion, the best of all of the sets – as it was a lengthy walk through a real, eerie dark forest, with only the light from a torch held by the elected group leader to navigate our way. It was very Blair Witch-esque and left the entire group silent in anticipation for what might lie ahead. I thought it was ingenious and well thought out how much there was to be revealed with the torchlight on the floor of the forest – pentagrams & other spiritual markings markings, blood and body parts – really made for a tense, gritty, realistic horror film feel. There were not many scares here apart from a few scattered actors hidden behind trees, but if there had been more scares in the following mazes & parts to follow this, I doubt it would need any additional scare factor.
At the end of the Wiccan Wood we reached the Mine Shaft, a low ceiling maze in the theme of a mine shaft as you may have guessed. Mine Shaft did have a couple of scares within (for example the actor near what seemed to be the middle of the route that lashed out in his cage and flung himself nearly over the sides to claw at passing visitors, which was quite alarming) but perhaps could have done with a few more in between? The set didn’t seem to hold its own like the Wiccan Wood, and could have used a few more actors dotted about to maintain tension, but it certainly wasn’t a bad experience – it made for a very interesting walk to say the least.
After we exited the Mine Shaft, we continued along another long, darkened woody route to the vibrantly lit Sunnyfield Cemetery where the ominous Sebastian St. John stood waiting by the gates at the head of the line of groups. Sunnyfield Cemetery was an outdoor strobe maze that was surprisingly quite good for scares, better than the Mine Shaft; however there wasn’t much of an element of surprise here as all actors were clearly visible with the brightly coloured lights. Still, it was not understaffed and the actors worked very efficiently in scaring people despite the light conditions.
All of the mazes here were extensive and generally just really well done & thought out. Despite there not being many scares along the route of the Wiccan Wood it still proved to be able to hold its own with atmosphere & set alone. In terms of value for money, I cannot fault Yorkshire Scare Grounds. To say most of the time in large scale scare attractions is spent waiting for entry to mazes, the time in-between was utilised ingeniously with long, winding routes and genuinely unnerving character interaction. This was one of the top attractions I visited this season, without a doubt - Fearmasters created a truly immersive & promising attraction, and I anticipate eagerly what they have in store next.
Upon arrival after driving down the aptly named ‘Hell Lane’ (!) we immediately started queuing for what turned out to be - the Ghost of Madam Sonia Belben. This was a short sit down attraction, which incorporated a speech from a dummy slash ‘undead mystic of the night’ with a projected face (a feature you will recognise if you have previously visited any of the Dungeons). It was interesting enough - most importantly everyone present were all kept on edge -which was mainly down to the presence of roaming actors, which I thought was a huge improvement in creating tense atmosphere in comparison to the previous night at Spooky World. Before and after listening to the ghost’s speech there was a little bit of comedy relief from the actors present, for example a witch type character who flailed a decapitated head over the crowd, ‘spattering’ them with blood, and another was a man in a pig mask who continually snuck up behind people and snorted near their ears. He got me eventually, & throughout the entirety of Yorkshire Scare Grounds, it was extremely amusing just to observe actors, waiting for people to realise that they were looming over their shoulders.
Jack’s Twisted Fun House I have to say was the best feature of the entire attraction -primarily for scares. This was a winding fun-house style maze where creepy clowns and jesters wandered in and out of the shadows of the set, sometimes even joining our group! (I distinctly remember at the end when the back of our group became separated, leaving me at the back, a clown got hold of me, saying “Don’t go! Don’t go! Stay with us!”).
Jack’s Twisted Fun House is certainly a well dressed & lit maze, the set was impressive, and there were ample amounts of actors for each section of the Fun House we ventured through - enough to thoroughly get at the amount of people that were sent through. All in all I thought this maze had a good structure – it didn’t feel like it ended abruptly – and also the timing and interaction was very good – something I noticed a lot of attractions seem to have a real problem dealing with when there are large volumes of people. One of the best mazes I have visited this season, & also possibly the best circus themed maze.
After bursting out the opposite end of Jack’s Twisted Fun House, our group immediately trekked on down the path, directed by a sign which said ‘Haunted Attractions this way’, which leads me onto the next good feature of Yorkshire Scare Grounds. What I thought really helped with continuity of keeping visitors’ hearts racing was the presence of actors while moving between attractions. The one I best remember was the ambush I both screamed and ran away at – a man who emerged from behind a bush wielding a roaring ‘chainsaw’ that brushed my arm, and didn’t stop attacking our group until we all fled to the beginning of the Wiccan Wood trail!
Wiccan Wood was in my opinion, the best of all of the sets – as it was a lengthy walk through a real, eerie dark forest, with only the light from a torch held by the elected group leader to navigate our way. It was very Blair Witch-esque and left the entire group silent in anticipation for what might lie ahead. I thought it was ingenious and well thought out how much there was to be revealed with the torchlight on the floor of the forest – pentagrams & other spiritual markings markings, blood and body parts – really made for a tense, gritty, realistic horror film feel. There were not many scares here apart from a few scattered actors hidden behind trees, but if there had been more scares in the following mazes & parts to follow this, I doubt it would need any additional scare factor.
At the end of the Wiccan Wood we reached the Mine Shaft, a low ceiling maze in the theme of a mine shaft as you may have guessed. Mine Shaft did have a couple of scares within (for example the actor near what seemed to be the middle of the route that lashed out in his cage and flung himself nearly over the sides to claw at passing visitors, which was quite alarming) but perhaps could have done with a few more in between? The set didn’t seem to hold its own like the Wiccan Wood, and could have used a few more actors dotted about to maintain tension, but it certainly wasn’t a bad experience – it made for a very interesting walk to say the least.
After we exited the Mine Shaft, we continued along another long, darkened woody route to the vibrantly lit Sunnyfield Cemetery where the ominous Sebastian St. John stood waiting by the gates at the head of the line of groups. Sunnyfield Cemetery was an outdoor strobe maze that was surprisingly quite good for scares, better than the Mine Shaft; however there wasn’t much of an element of surprise here as all actors were clearly visible with the brightly coloured lights. Still, it was not understaffed and the actors worked very efficiently in scaring people despite the light conditions.
All of the mazes here were extensive and generally just really well done & thought out. Despite there not being many scares along the route of the Wiccan Wood it still proved to be able to hold its own with atmosphere & set alone. In terms of value for money, I cannot fault Yorkshire Scare Grounds. To say most of the time in large scale scare attractions is spent waiting for entry to mazes, the time in-between was utilised ingeniously with long, winding routes and genuinely unnerving character interaction. This was one of the top attractions I visited this season, without a doubt - Fearmasters created a truly immersive & promising attraction, and I anticipate eagerly what they have in store next.
You Review 1
Absolutely terrifying. Wicked place to be !
You Review 2
Fantastic ! Never ever screamed so much!
You Review
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