Review of 2010
Well there we are – another year done and dusted! I hope that you aren’t suffering too badly from over consumption last night but if you are, grab a drink and some headache pills and settle down to my review of 2010:
So what a year it was. It would seem that this industry just keeps on growing and 2010 brought us a whole heap of new shows and events all across the country. So many in fact that it was hard to keep up with all the new event openings and announcements!
And it’s in those announcements that I want to start my review. One of the most notable things that last year brought was the advent of “mine’s bigger/better/the first etc etc” in marketing of attractions. The industry had until now always just relied on normal marketing but this year the pissing contest went to new levels.
The problem is most of these claims are so subjective – how can something claim to be scarier or how does someone know they are bigger if they haven’t experienced their competitors?
It really showed a tide change in the way attractions are marketed and sadly it looks like the outrageous claims and statements are with us from now on. Maybe we should do a rota system and everyone could sit down and agree which superlative they will use this year “No that’s not fair, you were ‘the scariest’ last year, I’ll swap you for my ‘largest’!”
And it’s in those announcements that I want to start my review. One of the most notable things that last year brought was the advent of “mine’s bigger/better/the first etc etc” in marketing of attractions. The industry had until now always just relied on normal marketing but this year the pissing contest went to new levels.
The problem is most of these claims are so subjective – how can something claim to be scarier or how does someone know they are bigger if they haven’t experienced their competitors?
It really showed a tide change in the way attractions are marketed and sadly it looks like the outrageous claims and statements are with us from now on. Maybe we should do a rota system and everyone could sit down and agree which superlative they will use this year “No that’s not fair, you were ‘the scariest’ last year, I’ll swap you for my ‘largest’!”
The best of the year
So with all the crazy (and sometimes untruthful) marketing claims to one side, what were the attractions like this year? As many people who have followed this site will know, I probably managed to visit the most number of UK attractions this Halloween season, and saw a real mix of different styles from the massive budgets of Alton Towers, through to small farm events and the like.
The beauty of what we do is that it’s not always the big money grabbing events that make the best attractions, and often the need to be imaginative is more important than just throwing money at a problem. A great example of this was an attraction this year that utilised torches carried by the group. As we walked through, our torch flickered in and out and I wondered to myself how this small start up attraction could afford the operator controlled flashlights used in some US attractions. It turns out the answer was a lot simpler – they actually used the cheapest torches and batteries they could find which were so unreliable they had the habit of switching themselves off at inopportune times!
Another interesting development this year was the upsurgence of attractions opened outside of the Halloween period. Beside the year round shows of London and Blackpool, out of season events had never proved popular in the past with some big brand events having to be, unfortunately, cancelled at late notice. This year saw the arrival of GNG Productions, a great pair of guys who, following an opportune meeting at ScareCON in London, set up a brand new scare attraction which wowed local audiences for 4 nights in June. The success of this event led them on to the massive Hybrid X at the Magna Science Centre which ran for over three weeks, scaring tens of thousands of terrified punters.
A further out of season event – turned up in Scotland as Ghosts of Christmas set up home in the allegedly haunted basement of the Arches in Glasgow. The show has run for nearly three weeks to sell out audiences following incredible reviews in the national press and TV. Truly original, this twisted show took every single element of a ‘nice’ Christmas and twisted it into something far more malevolent and evil.
The beauty of what we do is that it’s not always the big money grabbing events that make the best attractions, and often the need to be imaginative is more important than just throwing money at a problem. A great example of this was an attraction this year that utilised torches carried by the group. As we walked through, our torch flickered in and out and I wondered to myself how this small start up attraction could afford the operator controlled flashlights used in some US attractions. It turns out the answer was a lot simpler – they actually used the cheapest torches and batteries they could find which were so unreliable they had the habit of switching themselves off at inopportune times!
Another interesting development this year was the upsurgence of attractions opened outside of the Halloween period. Beside the year round shows of London and Blackpool, out of season events had never proved popular in the past with some big brand events having to be, unfortunately, cancelled at late notice. This year saw the arrival of GNG Productions, a great pair of guys who, following an opportune meeting at ScareCON in London, set up a brand new scare attraction which wowed local audiences for 4 nights in June. The success of this event led them on to the massive Hybrid X at the Magna Science Centre which ran for over three weeks, scaring tens of thousands of terrified punters.
A further out of season event – turned up in Scotland as Ghosts of Christmas set up home in the allegedly haunted basement of the Arches in Glasgow. The show has run for nearly three weeks to sell out audiences following incredible reviews in the national press and TV. Truly original, this twisted show took every single element of a ‘nice’ Christmas and twisted it into something far more malevolent and evil.
Anything you can do, we can do bigger
Over at the big theme parks, Halloween continued to be a massive draw and Thorpe Park debuted the UK’s first ‘scare zone’ to mixed reviews, boosting their roster of Halloween attractions up to an incredible 6 mazes. Unfortunately, the rest of the mazes remained pretty unchanged and in a few places familiarity with attractions is starting to breed contempt.
Alton Towers on the other hand redesigned and extended their existing offering (Boiler House and Terror of the Towers) while replacing the atmospheric and tense Field of Screams with a new scare, Carnival of Screams.
Carnival really split audiences in two – many loved the crazy anarchic nature of the attraction, while many just found it laughable. The giant gorilla finale, although very impressive in execution (I’ve seen the suit behind the scenes and it is an impressive piece of kit) left many people pondering what they had paid for. Of course Alton still controversially charges extra for its 2 main attractions, which on top of a £40 entrance price is still a damn cheek.
As usual, some of the more fun and unique attractions were to be found at the farms around the country. This follows with my earlier comment about money not always be the best solution. The thing I have found with farm attractions is that the people are generally just a bit more practical. A number of places I have worked with this year have just said “yup I can build that” as opposed to having to buy something in or order. This practical nature means that many of the farm attractions are unique as the owners aren’t limited by what they can order or buy in.
Of course two farms that constantly reach beyond the ‘farm’ categorisation are Farmaggedon and Tulleys. Both of these have really shown how successful Halloween can be and as such it was easy to believe when certain nights of Farmaggedon were sold out over a month before opening!
One farm event that I particularly enjoyed this year was Broadditch. Although we only got a reduced line up, the attention to detail and level of theming inside Spooky Castle is just staggering. At the time I described it as possibly the perfect scare attraction and nothing I have seen since would make me change my mind. It really needs to be seen to be believed, especially as it is only temporary and beats most permanent attractions hands down!
Finally, whilst doing a round up, I should mention the production companies out there that created a number of temporary attractions around the UK including the incredible Panic X created by Sweet Dreams, the fun Dr Frights Halloween Horror nights , Tom Spindler's terrifying creations and the troop of attractions branded under the AtmosFEAR banner. It really was a busy year for fear!
Alton Towers on the other hand redesigned and extended their existing offering (Boiler House and Terror of the Towers) while replacing the atmospheric and tense Field of Screams with a new scare, Carnival of Screams.
Carnival really split audiences in two – many loved the crazy anarchic nature of the attraction, while many just found it laughable. The giant gorilla finale, although very impressive in execution (I’ve seen the suit behind the scenes and it is an impressive piece of kit) left many people pondering what they had paid for. Of course Alton still controversially charges extra for its 2 main attractions, which on top of a £40 entrance price is still a damn cheek.
As usual, some of the more fun and unique attractions were to be found at the farms around the country. This follows with my earlier comment about money not always be the best solution. The thing I have found with farm attractions is that the people are generally just a bit more practical. A number of places I have worked with this year have just said “yup I can build that” as opposed to having to buy something in or order. This practical nature means that many of the farm attractions are unique as the owners aren’t limited by what they can order or buy in.
Of course two farms that constantly reach beyond the ‘farm’ categorisation are Farmaggedon and Tulleys. Both of these have really shown how successful Halloween can be and as such it was easy to believe when certain nights of Farmaggedon were sold out over a month before opening!
One farm event that I particularly enjoyed this year was Broadditch. Although we only got a reduced line up, the attention to detail and level of theming inside Spooky Castle is just staggering. At the time I described it as possibly the perfect scare attraction and nothing I have seen since would make me change my mind. It really needs to be seen to be believed, especially as it is only temporary and beats most permanent attractions hands down!
Finally, whilst doing a round up, I should mention the production companies out there that created a number of temporary attractions around the UK including the incredible Panic X created by Sweet Dreams, the fun Dr Frights Halloween Horror nights , Tom Spindler's terrifying creations and the troop of attractions branded under the AtmosFEAR banner. It really was a busy year for fear!
The business of scare!
On a business side, May kicked off with the biggest ever ScareCON with an amazing turn out of talent and advice across the industry. Crowning achievement for me was that I managed to convince Lynton V Harris to come over and talk to all delegates, a talk that resonated throughout the venue and got whoops and applause from just about everyone in the room (until I had to try and get him off stage as he kept on talking and we were in danger of crashing our allotted time!) It was worth it though, and again I must thank Lynton for being such a good personal friend and colleague over the last year.
The evening at ScareCON finished with a mini tour of some of the capital’s best scare attractions, all culminating in a lively night in the Pasaje del Terror bar until late (those few hardy people that then followed us on to Roadhouse til 4am may just be getting over their hangovers now!)
Incidentally, keep an eye out for full details of 2011 ScareCON with a new venue, a new line up and more exciting opportunities for everyone in the industry from actors through to attraction owners to get involved.
ScareCON then spawned the ScareTOUR concept – a way for like minded people to visit attractions together and take advantage of exclusive discounts or offers. The highlight of the ScareTOUR year was an informative behind the scenes tour at Thorpe Park, for which we must thank the team profusely. Look out for even more exclusives for 2011 to be announced soon.
Then, if main ScareCON wasn’t enough, myself and a crack team of industry experts pulled off something virtually impossible as we created a mini scare attraction right in the middle of a busy trade floor at LIW. Hosted by the despicable Esmeralda, Scarezone invited people to enter a world of dreams and nightmares and very soon the NEC rang with the screams of our victims (oh yes, and the impressively loud clatter of the powerful airguns from Siga we utilised!). Over the course of three days we scared thousands of convention goers and were voted the ‘stand out’ display by the convention organisers (well, us and a portable wave surfer simulation machine, but we made a lot less mess on the floor and didn’t have to cover our neighbours’ stands in PVC to stop them getting splashed!)
The evening at ScareCON finished with a mini tour of some of the capital’s best scare attractions, all culminating in a lively night in the Pasaje del Terror bar until late (those few hardy people that then followed us on to Roadhouse til 4am may just be getting over their hangovers now!)
Incidentally, keep an eye out for full details of 2011 ScareCON with a new venue, a new line up and more exciting opportunities for everyone in the industry from actors through to attraction owners to get involved.
ScareCON then spawned the ScareTOUR concept – a way for like minded people to visit attractions together and take advantage of exclusive discounts or offers. The highlight of the ScareTOUR year was an informative behind the scenes tour at Thorpe Park, for which we must thank the team profusely. Look out for even more exclusives for 2011 to be announced soon.
Then, if main ScareCON wasn’t enough, myself and a crack team of industry experts pulled off something virtually impossible as we created a mini scare attraction right in the middle of a busy trade floor at LIW. Hosted by the despicable Esmeralda, Scarezone invited people to enter a world of dreams and nightmares and very soon the NEC rang with the screams of our victims (oh yes, and the impressively loud clatter of the powerful airguns from Siga we utilised!). Over the course of three days we scared thousands of convention goers and were voted the ‘stand out’ display by the convention organisers (well, us and a portable wave surfer simulation machine, but we made a lot less mess on the floor and didn’t have to cover our neighbours’ stands in PVC to stop them getting splashed!)
Design and Support
Finally, the personal highlights for me have been the consulting and advisory work that I have been engaged in with 5 major attractions. As many people know, I advised on PrimEVIL at Norfolk Dinosaur Park, helping them turn a family friendly event into something a lot scarier. Standing outside the attractions hearing the screams and laughter coming from within was an amazing experience and one that cemented all the hard work that had been put in before hand. At the time this was my biggest client to date, but the advisory didn’t end there with flights up and down (and out of) the country as I travelled to Dublin and Glasgow and all across the UK. In fact, probably my biggest complaint has been that none of my jobs have been less than a three hour journey away!
The year has then also culminated in the incredible critical success of Ghosts of Christmas in Glasgow. I probably spent more time than required up at the attraction but the screams and squeals of delights at the end were like a drug to me and I just couldn’t get enough. To everyone who was part of it – I thank you. It’s hard to believe that the hurried design I did back in September, so we could get the entertainment license application in, has scared thousands of people since opening. You really were a great cast. Let’s just not mention what the real ghost of the Arches kept doing to us! He certainly had his fun along the way, and none of us ever liked being in that place on our own and all of us have different stories about what we have seen or experienced!
There’s also a lot of things happening that I can’t reveal yet, but all will be announced in time. I can assure you though that 2011 is already lining up to be another bumper year!
The year has then also culminated in the incredible critical success of Ghosts of Christmas in Glasgow. I probably spent more time than required up at the attraction but the screams and squeals of delights at the end were like a drug to me and I just couldn’t get enough. To everyone who was part of it – I thank you. It’s hard to believe that the hurried design I did back in September, so we could get the entertainment license application in, has scared thousands of people since opening. You really were a great cast. Let’s just not mention what the real ghost of the Arches kept doing to us! He certainly had his fun along the way, and none of us ever liked being in that place on our own and all of us have different stories about what we have seen or experienced!
There’s also a lot of things happening that I can’t reveal yet, but all will be announced in time. I can assure you though that 2011 is already lining up to be another bumper year!
Thank you to everyone
At this point I would like to take the opportunity to thank my wife Cathy and daughter Jessica for being so supportive of everything I have done. It’s not been an easy year and I couldn’t have done it without the 100% support and love they have given. I would also like to thank Sam (jokingly referred to as my ‘Halloween husband’) who has kept me sane on long journeys and provided lots of backstage support through the year.
Also, I would like to thank everyone in the industry who I consider to be good friends – you are all too numerous to mention (and it took ages texting Happy New Year to you all last night!) but you know who you are. This is a great family spirit and we should ALL be working together for a common goal. I therefore look forward to whatever exciting things 2011 brings for us all.
So finally, I wish you all a very successful and happy new year and look forward to meeting more of you at events or enjoying a relaxing beer with you after ScareCON!
Also, I would like to thank everyone in the industry who I consider to be good friends – you are all too numerous to mention (and it took ages texting Happy New Year to you all last night!) but you know who you are. This is a great family spirit and we should ALL be working together for a common goal. I therefore look forward to whatever exciting things 2011 brings for us all.
So finally, I wish you all a very successful and happy new year and look forward to meeting more of you at events or enjoying a relaxing beer with you after ScareCON!
Michael's personal favourites of 2010
Best Scare Attraction – Spooky Castle at Broadditch
Best Year Round Attraction – The London Tombs (now with new effects including the Hellevator)
Favourite Scare Character – Mrs Claus at Ghosts of Christmas
Favourite Scene in an attraction – The puppet corridor, Carnival of Screams
Moment of Sheer Panic Award – The Darkness – Dr Frights
Making the best of a bad scenario – Ben from the Ghost Bus Tours and his hysterical ad-libbed commentary as we were stuck in traffic after ScareCON
Gin Drinker of the Year - Esmerelda
Any comments? Contact me with your thoughts
Best Year Round Attraction – The London Tombs (now with new effects including the Hellevator)
Favourite Scare Character – Mrs Claus at Ghosts of Christmas
Favourite Scene in an attraction – The puppet corridor, Carnival of Screams
Moment of Sheer Panic Award – The Darkness – Dr Frights
Making the best of a bad scenario – Ben from the Ghost Bus Tours and his hysterical ad-libbed commentary as we were stuck in traffic after ScareCON
Gin Drinker of the Year - Esmerelda
Any comments? Contact me with your thoughts